Staff and Stuff
Brant brings up an interesting question over at Camp Krusty:
"If all the paid pastor positions in all the churches in the U.S. were suddenly de-funded, would the Kingdom suffer?"
I would just comment on his blog, but I'm too lazy to sign up for the xanga thingy. Anyway, today I spent the afternoon walking around an old Target building that is being renovated to house a satellite campus of the local megachurch. Our company happens to be the mechanical engineers on the project and I needed to gather some more information with my co-worker Jack before we start designing a duct system. But beforehand, Jack and I were quietly eating lunch and struck up a conversation about our common lack of motivation for this project.
Now Jack is a no-B.S. good ol' boy from Oklahoma. He hasn't read any of the books a lot of the readers of this blog have read or even heard of the "emerging church". He could care less about megachurches or The Purpose Driven Life (which he hadn’t even heard of). He likes common sense answers to common sense questions. So during lunch, Jack and I were discussing how a project like this gets off the ground, who pays for it, and what is involved in maintaining a mostly-volunteer organization to run things.
The answer to those questions begins to point to an answer to Brant's question above. Large churches get large and build large buildings by very well meaning people, godly people. The energy level in a church embarking on a project like the one working on is incredible. People get really, really excited about buildings for some reason. When people get excited, they pull out their pocketbooks. Money flows from all manner of sources and things get paid for. Then, in a flurry of desperate activity, the building gets built and the church moves in. Staff are hired and people are brought through a process to help recognize where they "fit in". (That's when I brought up PDL and Warren's bases).
All of this activity and excitement is wonderful to be a part of. It is thrilling to feel like you are a part of a church that is "on the move." But this is what begins to point to Brant's question and possibly why he is asking it. All of the activity, the excitement, the buildings, the staff, the meetings, the programs...what of it really constitutes the essence of church? If all of those staff people had to find other jobs for some reason or there was no building to go to, what would happen to all that energy and excitement? Would ministry, specifically the ministry of God’s kingdom - where what he wants done is done - stop happening? Well...I don't think so.
Now, I am not arguing that paid staff people are worthless. I am not arguing that churches should do away with their staff and their buildings and everything else. It just seems to me, and Jack agreed by the way, that maybe sometimes we get a little too wrapped up in that stuff to see what following Jesus is really all about.
Isn't it interesting how many of the megachurch pioneers are now investing huge amounts of time and resources in issues like the AIDS crisis in Africa and third world debt relief. I wonder if it has less to do with a theological shift and more to do with boredom. So you can build a church of 20-gazillion people. Who cares? What about the places of pain in the world that no one else cares about? All that energy and influence can go a long way in helping to bring God’s kingdom to those hurting places.
So no, the kingdom wouldn’t suffer the loss of paid staff positions or massive church buildings. It grows – unrestricted - through simple and everyday people recognizing places of pain and joining God on his mission to fix the world.
I think Coach J said it best 20 or so millenia ago:
“Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge: "Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.”
By the way, just for the heck of it, when I googled "Palm Beach Gardens church" tonight, our pee-wee group was the fourth church listed. The other three range in size from 800 – 15,000. We have about 30.
We live in a new world, Dorothy.
"If all the paid pastor positions in all the churches in the U.S. were suddenly de-funded, would the Kingdom suffer?"
I would just comment on his blog, but I'm too lazy to sign up for the xanga thingy. Anyway, today I spent the afternoon walking around an old Target building that is being renovated to house a satellite campus of the local megachurch. Our company happens to be the mechanical engineers on the project and I needed to gather some more information with my co-worker Jack before we start designing a duct system. But beforehand, Jack and I were quietly eating lunch and struck up a conversation about our common lack of motivation for this project.
Now Jack is a no-B.S. good ol' boy from Oklahoma. He hasn't read any of the books a lot of the readers of this blog have read or even heard of the "emerging church". He could care less about megachurches or The Purpose Driven Life (which he hadn’t even heard of). He likes common sense answers to common sense questions. So during lunch, Jack and I were discussing how a project like this gets off the ground, who pays for it, and what is involved in maintaining a mostly-volunteer organization to run things.
The answer to those questions begins to point to an answer to Brant's question above. Large churches get large and build large buildings by very well meaning people, godly people. The energy level in a church embarking on a project like the one working on is incredible. People get really, really excited about buildings for some reason. When people get excited, they pull out their pocketbooks. Money flows from all manner of sources and things get paid for. Then, in a flurry of desperate activity, the building gets built and the church moves in. Staff are hired and people are brought through a process to help recognize where they "fit in". (That's when I brought up PDL and Warren's bases).
All of this activity and excitement is wonderful to be a part of. It is thrilling to feel like you are a part of a church that is "on the move." But this is what begins to point to Brant's question and possibly why he is asking it. All of the activity, the excitement, the buildings, the staff, the meetings, the programs...what of it really constitutes the essence of church? If all of those staff people had to find other jobs for some reason or there was no building to go to, what would happen to all that energy and excitement? Would ministry, specifically the ministry of God’s kingdom - where what he wants done is done - stop happening? Well...I don't think so.
Now, I am not arguing that paid staff people are worthless. I am not arguing that churches should do away with their staff and their buildings and everything else. It just seems to me, and Jack agreed by the way, that maybe sometimes we get a little too wrapped up in that stuff to see what following Jesus is really all about.
Isn't it interesting how many of the megachurch pioneers are now investing huge amounts of time and resources in issues like the AIDS crisis in Africa and third world debt relief. I wonder if it has less to do with a theological shift and more to do with boredom. So you can build a church of 20-gazillion people. Who cares? What about the places of pain in the world that no one else cares about? All that energy and influence can go a long way in helping to bring God’s kingdom to those hurting places.
So no, the kingdom wouldn’t suffer the loss of paid staff positions or massive church buildings. It grows – unrestricted - through simple and everyday people recognizing places of pain and joining God on his mission to fix the world.
I think Coach J said it best 20 or so millenia ago:
“Jesus sent his twelve harvest hands out with this charge: "Don't begin by traveling to some far-off place to convert unbelievers. And don't try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously. Don't think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start. You don't need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.”
By the way, just for the heck of it, when I googled "Palm Beach Gardens church" tonight, our pee-wee group was the fourth church listed. The other three range in size from 800 – 15,000. We have about 30.
We live in a new world, Dorothy.
posted by Mike Bishop at 11:02 PM
3 Comments:
I just read this post right after watching part of a Discovery special on killer ants. So as you were describing the frenzy of building the ol' church machine, visions of millions of African Siafu soldier ants milling about was going through my head. These ants do amazing things as a collective organism. And interestingly enough, the Siafu are completely blind. They build and work day and night. Light means nothing to them. Hummmmmm... Not saying anything else!
In the middle ages a Cardinal is said to have boasted: "See, the church no longer can say silver and gold have I none."
Another replied: But neither can the church say "Rise, take up your bed and walk."
I wonder if the hype, my word for your subject matter, revolves around creating a little bubble for Christians to live in where they FEEL comfortable and/or like they are really achieving something. However, why not go out and find homeless people and feed them? How many homeless people are packed into mega churches?
Excitement is good. I got excited about THE PASSION OF CHRIST, Mel's big movie too. But I was hard pressed to by the key chain, t-shirt, poster, and journal that went with it all. That stuff serves some world order other than the Kingdom of God where smelly people are welcome into our worship services and homes for fellowship and food etc... It is easy to FEEL that we have reordered the world because some theaters got sold out. But Star Wars and E.T. did that, and still the world rocked on business as usual then too.
Why are you working on this project? Ever think about contesting it? Such a move might be prophetic. It might earn you a prophets wage too. Perhaps something less rash is in order, but maybe not too.
Anyway, mostly I thought I'd just suggest that perhaps the hype is about insulation. If that is right, then it should be confronted and resisted. However, it probably needs further consideration first. But do not kneejerk react and dismiss it too quickly - at least.
Good post. I like it.
Many blessings...
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