is too much american business philosophy in the Church?

Though there are always exceptions, the office has historically been a place where you find men clean-shaven, wearing suits and ties, with women also professionally dressed as an enforced matter of policy.

The office is a place where its human resources sip coffee in frequent business meetings as a Boss sits at the head of the table approving or shooting down anything proposed he/she personally does not like.

The office is a place where there is a staff under CEO’s, Presidents, Vice Presidents and Office Managers who are in charge.

The office is a place driven by time and money.  By money and time.

The office is a place where company politics reign supreme.

Political incorrectness is the cardinal sin and when one courageously refuses to say something just so everyone can hear what they want to hear, there are repercussions.

The business world is often found to be a cold one, where people will back-stab, slander, lie and deceive in order to get what they want (whether it’s winning a promotion or it’s a quest of getting rid of someone).

The business world can be hyper-critical and often defines people by their weaknesses and short-comings more than all they do well.

The business world is a place where man lusts for power and control over others and will do anything imaginable to get it.

The business world is a place where you punch a time card and when your shift is over, you clock out and you’re free from your duties. 

Until the next.  Appointed.  Time.

This is the world in which we live.

But the Church is to be different than that.

The beautiful thing about the Church is that it is made up of the redeemed of God who have been forgiven…called out from living as the world does…being raised to walk in newness of life…shining as lights in an earth of darkness & doing the will of God rather than conforming to the world.

There’s no need for CEO’s or Presidents or Vice Presidents in the Church – KING Jesus is the one and only Church Executive Officer (Colossians 1:16-18).

There’s no need to confine our fellowship and our praises to Him to 60 minutes of Business Time.   Every second of our existence is His!

There’s no point in wanting more and more money.  Every cent we have has come from Him and belongs to Him.

There’s no need to climb the corporate ladder and to be fueled by the American Dream.  In Christ, each disciple is wealthy beyond imagination (2 Corinthians 8:9).

If we take a close, honest look at the American Church, how many of these American business philosophies would we find at play?

Is the Church driven by The Things Above or by The Things Below? 

On one spectrum, “church” has come to be defined as just another consumer product where people take inventory of which mega-church meets their checklist of needs as they shop for which assembly to attend.

Consequently, sometimes such places directly or indirectly operate as competing businesses as they war over out-doing the other-

“Church X has a rock concert-style praise band, but Church Y has that plus flashing lights and smoke machines.”

“Well, Church Z doesn’t have that cool of an atmosphere but their preacher is famous plus they have a coffee shop and hand out free latte shots on your way in,” etc.

But on the other spectrum, the American business model is manifested in a Professional-Formal dress code and where one of the most egregious offenses can be when one does not abide, not by the apostles doctrine but by American business convention.

When someone is reprimanded and admonished as an evangelist because he didn’t wear a suit and tie to every assembly that year (where the New Testament  places no emphasis on dress, aside from the importance of modesty, not worrying about clothing and not showing favoritism regarding how people are dressed)?

When a man is asked to pray and then told he couldn’t minutes later on account that he was wearing a blue dress shirt and not a white dress shirt?

When a church has a mandatory background check for a preacher?

When a preacher needs to have an MBA degree to have a realistic shot at meeting the qualifications for an evangelist opportunity?

Is there too much American business philosophy in the Church?

Where in far too many places the Church is content with mens committees and a Board of Trustees posing as elders in place of actual shepherds and pastors?

Where congregational decisions are made not by the biblical model but by a democratic process?

Where shaking hands has replaced heartfelt, intimate Christian embracing?

Where formal Business Meetings are religiously held in place of briefly listing the needs and concerns and spending the majority of the time in specific and passionate prayer together and then going out and doing it (after calling on God’s wisdom and power rather than just pretty much doing whatever the most aggressive personality in the room wants done)?

Where there tends to be a greater emphasis placed on external beauty (clean shaven/flashy suits and dresses) than internal beauty?

In any case, it’s wise to constantly ask ourselves, “Which is having the greater impact – the Church on the world or the world on the Church?”

I hope the Church is influencing the world and not the other way around.  I pray that as the Church, I am influencing the world rather than the world influencing me (Romans 12:2, 2 Corinthians 6:16-17, 1 Peter 4:1-4).

Paul certainly became “all things to all men so he could by all means save some (1 Corinthians 9:22),” yet that didn’t stop him from identifying the earthly philosophies that invaded the thinking of the Church so she may repent and grow (1 Corinthians 1:1:10-13, 5:1-6, 6:1-8, Galatians 1:10, Philippians 2:3-7, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-7, etc.).

But since the Church has always been made up of people who inevitably fall short, as we are not perfect in every way as our Father is, we must constantly test ourselves  and constantly take inventory of the principles we are clinging to.

And seeing if the principles we are abiding by and living by are the commands of Christ or the commandments and traditions of men.