Why I'll probably never work for a church again (December '06)

Someone recently asked me how I had become disillusioned with the modern church and specifically the church in America. In formulating a response, I thought it might make for a pretty decent blog.

Some of you have not been reading this blog for very long, and many of you don't know me in real life, so I'll give you a little bit of background.

Following about five years of formal religious education, and close to ten years of informal experience in various youth ministries, I took a job as a youth pastor at a church here in GA. The job was interesting, and all in all the kids and the parents were pretty cool. Ultimately, I ended up in a position where my philosophy differed from that of the church leadership, and I left the position. I haven't worked for a church since, and I probably won't. There are more details, but they are pretty unimportant, and the church made me sign a "don't talk about the details" letter when I left, so I'm not sure what I can say and what I can't. Suffice it to say that there was nothing huge or scandalous, just a serious disconnect when it came to ideals and beliefs.

So how does that one experience lead me to a place where I will probably never work for a church again?

In thinking about the problems and the process, I came to a couple of conclusions.

The conclusions I drew were:

1: No matter how noble and pure a church may be at inception, it ultimately tends to get organized. When it gets organized, it is therefore an organization, and thus assumes the two primary goals of organizations. Those two goals are self-preservation and growth. The original goals often get lost in the shuffle, and the church becomes a parody of what it is supposed to be.

***edit for further explanation: The church should exist as a group of people who combine resources to learn from one another, to support one another, and to aid the needy in the community. Once a church becomes an organization, it loses an outward focus and becomes an inherently inward-facing community--a parody of what it should in fact be.

2: As a result of the fact that churches are made up of regular people who are part of society, they tend to maintain the values and structure of that society. Thus, the leadership tends to be comprised of the wealthiest and most respected members of the community. These leaders, well trained in business management and often ill-trained in church leadership, go on to make decisions accordingly, and once again, the original goals are scrapped and the church becomes a parody of itself.

There are other, more detailed conclusions, but I think that those two are weighty and serious enough for one blog.

The church should not be a business, as business is not the business of the church. Think about it, and respond as you will...