Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Big churches: why I'm not a fan

So I've been reading this book by Henri J. M. Nouwen. It's really good stuff. It's called
In the Name of Jesus. I found this quote and I wanted to post it:

When the members of a community of faith cannot truly know and love their shepherd, shepherding quickly becomes a subtle way of excercising power over others and begins to show authoritarian and dictatorial traits. (Pg 62)

In this passage, he's basically discussing the issue of Christian ministers and how they are just as vulnerable as their own congregations. Just because a minister has a M Div, does not mean that they are completely invincible. They are just agents of God's plan and their job is this:

Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:12

They are to teach their congregations who God is, how to serve God, and to walk with them in that journey. I think the biggest word in this passage is God's, because its his church in the first place. He's the one in control.

What I'm getting to is this: There needs to be some accountability in the church. Ministers are just servants of Christ. They are not invincible people. Huge mega churches really bother me because of this. How are ministers suppposed to build up the church, and walk the journey with their flock if their church is so huge that they don't know everyone in it? If there are so many people in one area, why are they in one church? Why aren't they starting other churches in other areas of town to reach the people there? How is one minister serving an entire congregation that's in the thousands if they cannot reach them or get counseling with them? How is there accountability when the minister is too busy preparing for three services packed with thousands of people?

Why is success in the ministry measured by numbers? I don't think I'll ever understand this.

1 comment:

Nathan said...

Amen, sistah, amen.

Kristen and I went to Bon Air Baptist in Richmond once... wow, way too big.

I also agree that too many ministers get a big head... I understand it's easy, but even if ministers are "slightly closer" to God, we're all incredibly small compared to His Majesty.

Check out my blog for other links that might stimulate your thinking... :)