This morning, Sharon and I leave for the 75th International General Assembly of the Church of God in Orlando. As I prayed this morning I found most of my prayers dedicated to the state of the Church of God. I admit that what follows are the reflections of a single pastor. But I have more than three decades of service to the church as pastor, missionary evangelist, and service on regional and national denominational boards.
If fear that we are caught in a spiral of missional self-destruction for which we are all responsible.
There is a widening gulf between executive leadership and “the field.” Over the years we have developed a leadership paradigm of executive leadership and executive privilege. First, please let me affirm that the executive leaders are people of integrity. I know many of them and believe them to dedicated servants of Christ. But the culture of our denominational leadership is toxic. The two greatest temptations of the executive culture are power and money. Even men and women of integrity can become intoxicated by this brew. The executive culture protects its privileges and funding with Machiavellian skill. As a church we have acknowledged the problem. One of the recent denominational issues was “Building a Culture of Trust.”
One can discern the gulf in the language used by executive leaders. They often distinguish between themselves and “the field.” The field is the local church. The pastors are the soldiers charged with following the orders of the executives and funding the executive purse. God help the pastor who fails to send in the monthly report with the appropriate funds. That pastor is often bi-vocational and under paid, with no health insurance and no retirement. But the report must be paid. On the other hand, the executive leaders are well paid with handsome salaries, full benefits, and because of their notoriety they have ample opportunities to receive large honorariums. Another thing, God forbid that an executive leader ever have to pastor a church!
We have made feeble attempts to correct the problem. We have mandated that half of the Executive Council be pastors. But that has not produced the intended result. Why? Because we elect mega-church pastors to fill those seats who have little in common with the average pastor. That’s not the biggest problem, however. The problem is that when a reformer is selected for an executive office, the reformer is often intoxicated by executive privilege or co-opted by the executive culture.
We have defunded our missions outreach. I was opposed to the reduction of the tithe fund support of denominational offices because I knew that the executive culture would protect itself at the expense of mission funding. Some will point to successful ventures to suggest that I am wrong. But the fact remains that we no longer have systematic funding of world evangelism. As denominational budgets are tightened, funds are being designated to protect executive privileges; and to maintain loans, buildings, and programs. If we don’t target funds for mission outreach we will not prosper.
The problem is not limited to denominational offices. Many pastors and laity have little concern for mission. Local church budgets are tight. Pastors and local church bills must be paid. Many local churches have opted to do maintenance instead of mission. Many congregants are not tithing or giving to missions. If we are concerned only with self-preservation we will decline. Only those churches committed to the mission of Christ will prosper.
We are systematically de-fellowshipping ourselves. Since we no longer have Teen Talent at the General Assembly the assembly is no longer a family affair. The exhibit halls seem abandoned. This also means that the General Assembly has become a ministers’ only event. Lay families have little reason to attend. This is happening at the regional level as well. Attendance at annual camp meeting and conventions seems to be declining. The church stands on the foundation of apostolic teaching, mission, worship, and fellowship. If our fellowship is in decline, then our mission is in decline.
Now, let me state my hopes. The Holy Spirit finds a way to renew the church in spite of our self-inflicted wounds. Maybe some things need to die so that they can be raised to new life. But that move of the Spirit requires our cooperation. We must be willing to hear and discern what the Spirit is saying. We must have open hearts and heads so that we can love anew and our minds be transformed. That is my prayer for the Church of God.
