leadership injustices
its been a long damn time since i've posted here... i'm regretful of that, to be sure, but not having a computer is making it a bit hard. anywho...
so, it is utter and complete frustration that has led me to break the blogging silence. what could have me so utterly and completely frustrated? two words: un-checked leadership.... especially leadership in the church. a friend of mine is on staff at a church in the town where he lives and is having huge trouble with the pastor of the church. he has been very careful not to share delicate and private things with me, which i admire, but the things he has shared with me has got my blood up. stories of power abuses, of trumping decisions at the very last minute because the pastor 'isn't comfortable' with some element of the service (even though people had planned and prepared for them), of exhibiting Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde-like personalities (he likens it unto a drunk husband: you never know which person you are going to get and when they hurt you, they may apologize about it later, but you know it will happen again) and it has happened again and again, not just with my friend, but with other people on staff there.
i almost didn't write this post because i wanted to try and formulate my ideas and frustrations before writing, but i decided i needed to get some of this stuff outta my head and at least start a conversation about it. i see and hear about all these injustices happening and i nearly go crazy because either no one knows about it or they do know about it, but don't have any idea what to do about it (unfortunately, i am a member of this group). to see abuses of power like this in a church makes my stomach sick. how the hell could these people get away with treating people the way they do. and then to get up in front of a congregation on sunday mornings, with their plastered smile in place, and pontificate about how we need to love people and love God. can anyone else see the disconnect there?
so, is there anything we can do? i have no interest in sitting back and watching things like this happen. i don't want to see this happening anymore, no matter where it should happen. please help me.....
4 Comments:
Josh,
I certainly do not have all the answers to these kinds of problems. However, it seems that the structure of church government in any particular church will either bring greater or lesser chance of abuse. No matter how much we want to avoid it, the power and authority of every church body will reside somewhere. Ultimately this is supposed to be Christ and His Word. However, practically this has to be carried out by someone or some group (a pastor, many pastors, or the people). In order to curtail the abuse of power, some people have suggested (because they think the Bible teaches it) multiple church pastors with equal authority, to prevent abuse that can come from one leader having all the authority. In other words, there is no one "head" pastor. John Piper's church is an example of this. He is the pastor or elder that preaches on Sunday, but when it comes to church decisions, he only has one vote among many elders.
Another way people have tried to deal with the abuse of power in the church is to place ultimate authority in the hands of the congregation. This looks different in different churches. Some churches invest a certain amount of authority in a leader or leaders (like above); however, the hiring and firing still belongs to the congregation as a whole. Other churches invest little authority in the pastor. He is allowed to preach and teach what he wants, but major church decisions are always handled by congregational vote.
Most of the above strategies stem from a more Baptistic view of church government. The authority structure is more bottom up. The opposite extreme is seen in the Roman Catholic church, which has a complete top down structure of authority. For example, a congregation often has little to say about who their priest will be. Priests are often rotated by the powers that be. The Presbyterians are somewhere in the middle of Baptists and Catholics.
Part of the problem is that wherever there are sinners, there will always be ways to abuse the system. There is no perfect set up. However, I think there are certain forms of church government that lend themselves to greater chances of abuse than others. We probably need to reinvestigate what the Scriptures actually teach generally about authority and power and more specifically about church government.
I hope this helps a little.
Troy
A helpful summary Troy..
I also think that part of the problem is that as churches try to modernise - to become "more culturally relevant" - what happens is that they borrow a few too many ideas from secular society about organisational structure and management. Certainly the focus on business style leadership from church leaders I've come across has in my opinion meant pastors have wandered from the traditional (and what I regard more biblical) idea of 'pastor/overseer'.
This is one of the key areas where the balance between 'shaping culture or adapting to culture' is so crucial.
But when it comes to power grabbing, no matter what the systemt, as Troy rightly states, it's always open to abuse. It is probably more down to the individual than the structure. It's a shame that the emphasis on church "leadership" is so strong at this time. Leadership is only meantioned in 1 out of the 3 lists Paul talks of when talking about the body of Christ.
Personally, I wish the emphasis was much more on shepherding or overseeing.
Dave
thanks for your insights guys... i agree with both of you. Troy, i agree that in any form of leadership structure where there is a certain measure of power, there is bound to be some abuse; absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is why i wish, in most churches i have seen, there was a more distributed seat of power or decision-making. Dave, i like what you said about the church borrowing 'a few too many ideas from secular society about organizational structure and management,' thats so true and something, i think, we found out together.
you know, the more i thought about this whole thing, the more i realized its not this certain person that i am writing against, but its the system that has encouraged/allowed this type of behavior to happen that i have serious problems with. in all my study and reading about emerging church thought, or alt.worship, or whatever it chooses to call itself, the call for a new and more grass-roots, starfish-type 'leadership' structure seems to be central... and its situations like this that truly underscore the need to seriously rethink church leadership.
Dave, i also agree with your disappointment with the fetish-like focus on 'leadership' in the church these days. like you said, there are many more beneficial things that the church should be teaching their youth/young adults. when is the last time you saw a church sponsoring a weekend course on truly serving others? instead churches are inundated with countless leadership courses and books and DVDs and blah blah blah. its especially damaging to see them pedal a leadership system that is seriously flawed... this whole focus on leadership is doing nothing but perpetuating the problem.
thanks guys, keep the thoughts coming...
Josh,
I, like you, hate it when leaders sin because they lead others into sin.
Pastors should be kept in check by other pastors.
Unfortunately, it's not your fault entirely to be bitter. But there is something you can do about it: proclaim the truth with a pure heart.
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