Church and Management

Church and Management

There has been an incorporation of Corporate/Political style management into the Church over the last century that has been to the detriment of the gospel, discipleship, and the Church. My hope is that as you read this that the Lord with the accompaniment of the Holy Spirit may reveal what is being taught here even though this may fly into the face of the majority of Churches and Christians today to teach you how to lead.

What Jesus taught to us and later revealed to us through the Gospels and Epistles is that leadership in the Church should be a servant-leader. Corporate/Political leadership has the top down effect. The leader on top and everyone else below in their subservient roles. The servant-leader is the opposite of this. The servant-leader is the servant to everyone else or has the bottom up approach. Which means that the lives and agendas of others takes precedence over the servant-leader. The servant-leader holds others in higher esteem then oneself (Philippians 2:3-4). In Ephesians 4:11-13 the Churches plan is for leadership to give towards others so that others will do the work of the ministry. The purpose of this is so the body will be built up, reach unity in the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, become mature, and attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

In Ephesians 1:22-23 Paul describes the Church as Jesus Christ being the head over everything for the Church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. You take one person not being allowed to be taught and matured will not allow the fullness of Christ to be represented. The servant-leader who gets in the way and does not allow to have someone else’s life to take precedence will stop the process of maturity and fullness of Christ from happening.

Matthew 20:25-28 shows Jesus Christ teaching us this very principal of the bottom up approach to leadership. Jesus after learning that the Son’s of Thunder (James and John) wanted to sit at Jesus’ right and left proposed an alternate method of leadership. Present day leadership wants to Lord it over you and exercise authority over you but it should not be with you (talking with Jesus’ disciples). But Jesus continues and says if any of you want to be great in the kingdom than one must be servant and even slave to all. Jesus then tells the disciples that He did not come to be served but to serve. Jesus takes an additional step by saying that His life is to be given as ransom to others.  Price for redeeming or liberating slaves, captives, property, life is to die to oneself.  Jesus described his entire ministry as one of service in giving his Life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45).

There is a cost to a servant-leader and that is to promote others above oneself. That oneself is to die to their own life. The rest of the life of a servant-leader is to help others reach the fullness of Christ. When one loves others above oneself is producing the new commandment in John 13:34-35; John 15:12 that tells us we are to love others as Christ has loved us. Christ loves others by ransoming His life so that others will benefit. How much are you or your Church leadership giving or ransoming their lives to benefit others above their own life, positions, and agendas?

It saddens me and am sure that it grieves the Holy Spirit that most Churches, ministries, and para-church ministries want the Holy Spirit to move but He does not. Most of the time it is due to the management style of that ministry. When it is using the worldly way of management and not the Jesus taught way of management the people are being controlled and held back. Thus squashing or grieving the Holy Spirit in that particular person or churches  life. When that happens exponentially across the board then the Holy Spirit is stopped in His tracks. Those ministries need to stop being conformed to this world and let the Jesus management style of His church to run free. Where there is freedom, there is the Holy Spirit being set loose to do the job that God has sent Him to do. We as leaders need to come along side of and help others to grow even at our own cost. True discipleship is in the servant-leadership form. The question to ask is are you or your Church using and demonstrating this type of management style? If not, then what are you going to do about it?

Christianity is not an Island Unto Thyself

On July 7, 2011 the Oakland A’s were playing the Texas Rangers. In the second inning, one of the A’s hit a foul ball that went into the stands, then bounced back onto the field. So as a friendly gesture, Rangers outfielder, Josh Hamilton picked up the ball and tossed it to a fan in the stands. Hamilton’s toss was a little short, causing the man to lean over the railing in an attempt to catch the ball. Unfortunately, this caused the man to lose his balance, topple over the railing and fall head first to his death.

I can only imagine how badly Josh Hamilton feels. Although he intended no harm to this fan, his action resulted in the death of this man. As I have listened to the news reporters and sportscasters comment on this sad event over the weekend, I couldn’t help but think of a spiritual application. For how many times does this very thing happen in our homes and in our churches. How many fathers and mothers will make spiritual decisions that are not intended to harm their children, but they do that very thing. A period of “spiritual slumber” for mom and dad results in the unintended faithlessness of their children. Harsh words, judgmental attitudes, and a critical spirit unintentionally sours a child, spouse, or neighbor and they rebel against what they’re told is “Christianity.”

Friends, "no man lives to himself, and no man dies to himself" (Romans 14:7). We all influence other people for the better or for the worse. Give diligence to make sure that the choices you make in life don’t have unintended consequences that will haunt you later.

Definition of unintended consequences: A positive, unexpected benefit (usually referred to as serendipity or a windfall). A negative, unexpected detriment occurring in addition to the desired effect of a choice. A perverse effect contrary to what was originally intended (when an intended solution makes a problem worse), such as when a policy has a perverse incentive that causes actions opposite to what was intended.

This is the very reason why the Apostle Paul continues on in Rom 14 and says we should not judge one another in any form or fashion. Judgments have unintended consequences beyond our own scope, ability, or intended action. We are all accountable to God, God is God and we are not. We should always choose love over everything else, for the intended or unintended consequence of love is always love.


Rom 13:8
8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.