In our culture nowadays (especially in the U.S.), businesses are everything. Either you are an influential corporate CEO, help manage a large company, run your own small business, or work for a local or online business. Each business has, or should have, a corporate structure (the leadership hierarchy), and a good business model to help it succeed (that is, a plan for how it is going to attract and keep its customers, and make money).
But should the business model be transferred over to leading God's Church? In a nutshell, we contend that a man-made model for a God-made institution falls short of achieving a God-ordained purpose.
Key Questions
You may be asking yourself, "Why shouldn't the Church use corporate business structures and models, especially if they work?" To this, we would ask, would God approve of such leadership structures and business models? Are there not already leadership structures and administration models within the Bible itself that the Church is to follow? What makes us think that our human ways are better than God's perfect ways? Do these models really work? And who, exactly, do these models serve and/or benefit?
A church's leadership has to make a decision as to what its purpose in attracting people to its doorstep is, and then see if the model proposed to accomplish that honestly lines up with what the Scriptures support. A leadership that is set on bringing people to Christ will be focusing on things like love, solid preaching and teaching, worship, discipleship, evangelism, maturity, godliness, fellowship, and service.
Conversely, a leadership that is set on other goals will be focusing on things like how to beat the church next door, make the next series more exciting than the previous one, what captivating props and illustrations to use, what new music to play or cool media to utilize, what special speakers to invite, what huge outreach events to host, how to impress people on their first visit, etc.—all done to attract "seekers" to their church. Can these things be used in a healthy manner? Perhaps, but that would require a very wise leadership.
And, do all these aforementioned things need to be implemented in order to bring people into our places of worship? Some would argue, yes, definitely. But in countries where some of these commodities, luxuries, resources, and practices are not available, the Church is growing at an exponential rate—while the Church in the U.S. that does have these things is struggling to survive. Clearly, these luxuries are unnecessary; nice to have, if possible, but unnecessary to advance the Kingdom, for God is the one who grows His church, His way, and on His timing.
Remember, the things that the apostles were doing that caused thousands of people to convert were: praying, evangelizing, preaching, teaching, fellowshipping, breaking bread together, praising/singing, giving, and seeing lives being changed (Acts 2:41-47). Are these the things your church is focused on? Are these really the things your leadership spends its time meeting about? This may be difficult to say for sure, but if you pay close enough attention (and are not blindsided by the next exciting event meeting and recruitment), you will find the truth.
The Corporate Structure
One of the major problems that arises when using a corporate structure to run a church is that there inevitably develops a skewed hierarchy, one where the pastor becomes a CEO-like leader—accountable to no one. In some cases, he not only serves as the CEO, but also as the Board of Directors! He makes most, if not all, of the decisions concerning the church; he alone hires potential pastors and lay-leaders (even when they may cause conflicts of interests); he casts his vision for the church; and he alone has the correct interpretation and application of any doctrine—woe to anyone who would dare challenge him!
The Lord, however, is wise in all of His ways, and He provided a safeguard from falling into this kind of leadership and model: keeping Jesus as the chief Head of the Church and having other elders or leaders alongside the pastor...that is the key to success. In this way, provided people are "connected to the vine," God protects the pastor from the very real sin of pride and abuse of power, and protects the congregation from being treated as mere consumers, employees...or worse, as slaves to the pastor instead of to Christ, at the mercy of their leader's fantastical and whimsical ideas.
The Bible teaches that there can be one "main" elder or pastor, but who is himself among other elders and deacons (servants) within a church. These other leaders help keep the pastor accountable, make important decisions in the church, keep a pure doctrine, share in the leadership responsibilities, and serve the congregation with their spiritual gifts (1 Timothy 5:17; Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; James 1:14; Ephesians 4:11). Having some form of eldership, therefore, seems to be a wise decision. But the church set up with a corporate, business-like structure is inherently not conducive to this type of team.
Why do you think so many mega-church pastors tend to fall away and sin? They let their centralized power get to their heads. These pastors are their own bosses, with no one to keep them accountable. These pastors may say they are accountable to others (and may be, to some degree) but in reality and in practice, they are not. In fact, some pastors are so opposed to true accountability that they are often wary of anyone who is actually informed about the Bible and its doctrines. Whether or not the informed individual is on staff or not, he or she poses a threat to their kingdoms—unless they can relatively control them.
What A Business-Modeled Church Produces
When was the last time you went to your church, or visited another church, and didn't think: "Gee, I wonder how the music is over at that church down the street;" or "Oh no, the coffee here is not as good as that other place's...time to go;" or "I can't believe this place does not have children's church;" or "Wow, the production quality here is top-notch, I think I'll stay;" or "So, they only have one service? Not good."? It's not that these things are bad, in and of themselves, but when these things become what we first notice and look for instead of seeking a peculiar godliness exhibited in a church's members—and pastors—we're in trouble.
But, if you have found yourself thinking thoughts like those stated above, you're not alone, and it is not entirely your fault. The Church as a whole is partly to blame—but especially its leadership—for this consumer Christianity. The Western Church has fed people's natural desires to consume, consume, and consume some more. The Church has fed people's inclination to judge things by what they would like to see, hear, touch, and experience, instead of judging with spiritual discernment and focusing on the things above, which are at work, or not, in a church's members (Colossians 3:1-2).
The Church's leadership throughout Evangelicalism is mainly to blame for this identity problem. This is a by-product of running a church as if it were a business, catering to the needs (but mainly, wants) of its visitors (or "customers," many of whom are not even believers) and its members (some of whom don't even give). This problem is a result of trusting man's ways instead of God's ways, regarding the administration and expansion of His Church. The desire of leaders to toil for multiplying the numbers (members, attendees, and visitors) betrays their apparent faith in God for provision, sustainability, and membership growth.
Instead of placing their trust in God for numerical (and sometimes even spiritual) growth, many of today's church leaders trust in man-made organizational structures and models to accomplish what is God's job to do (Matthew 16:18). This ironically feeds the "my-pastors-will-do-it" mentality (regarding evangelizing and discipling) of the average churchgoer because they are not given the chance to see God work. All they see is a bunch of leaders frantically prepping for next Sunday's production, or the upcoming "outreach" event.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, the use of business-like structures and models has infiltrated many churches; and partly because of this, many a church today resembles not a fellowship of born-again believers led by godly men, but a center for willing volunteers to be led by a CEO-like pastor and his employees, who seem to be all too set on growing the church, more so in numbers than spiritually. As a result, the modern Church has become more of a business than a witness; more about innovation than transformation; and more about pragmatism than dogmatism.
Does this sound a little too much like your church? Then ask God for guidance as you seek to please Him, praise and worship Him, and serve Him with your life, talents, and resources—even if you must make the difficult decision to congregate elsewhere.
Recommended Resources
