Downgrading Your Ministry
Downgrading in ministry seems like an odd concept. Ministry is all about gearing up. Yet the economy of the church is forcing the downgrading of ministry which leads to conflict if church members are expected to care — and we do!
The first move in downgrading is to move to part-time leadership. This is so effective in killing Christian community that congregations rarely return to full-time ministry.
Part-time leaders are forced to prioritize ministry. They are paid for doing only so much. The priorities are usually taking care of the existing parishioners. They even call themselves caretaker ministers.
Downgrading is the function of management. Management wants numbers to work in its favor.
Evangelism, on the other hand, is activated by passion. Right brain/Left brain.
Managerial thinking snuffs the fire of the Spirit. New ideas are NEVER part of a budget.
Managers in the church run the strong risk that their pursuit of viable numbers will hurt the people who support the numbers. Downgrading ministries does just that. Soon subsistence ministry is expected. If it is done well, it is rewarded. The Church is populated with thousands of congregations that are just getting by.
Church is different from any other human endeavor. Passion makes it different.
Closing a church is not like closing a business. If the corner hot dog stand closes, we buy hot dogs somewhere else, make our own, or start eating pizza. Passion and faith are more difficult to replace.
In matters of faith, we want to live by different standards. Our Scriptures and constitutions are written to nurture evangelical passion.
Today’s church managers operate under legalities. Synods have legal counsel on retainer. In our synod, the legal counsel is usually seated at the right hand of the bishop in meetings. This is intimidating to congregations — and it is meant to be!
The role of legal counsel is to ensure winning. Here’s the problem in the Church. Legal counsel hired by the regional bodies or the national church are often used in conflict with congregations. They are paid with the offerings of the congregations. Congregations in conflict with a regional body must not only pay their own legal counsel they have also contributed to the payment of legal counsel of the regional body. (This is why an early step in church conflict is for the regional body to “terminate” their opponents, so the congregations do not have the rights afforded to them as church members.)
This has proven to be a prescription for a mess.
Taking conflict to the courts may seem like a good idea, but as the Bible predicts, it replaces the values of our faith (reconciliation, peace, forgiveness and love) with the values of society (win at any cost). Better to be defrauded, the Bible wisely says.
The theology of winning doesn’t really exist, but we practice it all the same.