Bad habits are hard to break. Ask anyone who is trying to give up using tobacco products. Ask anyone who is needing to change eating practices. Ask anyone who is attempting to cut back on playing video games.
Bad habits are hard to break – even when it comes to life in the Body of Christ. One habit within the Body of Christ? Taking on a secular business model and couching it in religious terminology.
Church leadership might say, “We need to grow this church with an evangelism program!” Business says, “We need sales representatives to push our product.”
Church leadership might say, “We need to increase our members’ giving to support our staff and programs.” Business says, “We need more paying customers to improve our bottom line.”
Church leadership might say, “We need more programs to attract more people.” Business says, “We need a better advertizing campaign to expand our customer base.”
The CEO of a company has an office. So does a pastor. The pastor’s office used to be called a “study” but rarely is it called that anymore. Why? Because often the pastor is viewed by the congregation as the CEO of the church.
When did the Body of Christ allow itself to be conformed to various ways of the world?
I think it happened when society began to define success in terms of greater membership, financial income, and power given to persons in leadership positions.
It is time to break bad habits. The church was not called into being to compete among itself for greater numbers. It was not called into existence to be rich and flashy. It was not called into existence to dumb-down the message of the gospel to show how easy being a Christian can be.
The church was called into existence to represent Jesus Christ in every aspect. Was Jesus flashy? No – quite the opposite. He was humble. Was Jesus rich? No – he came from humble beginnings. Was Jesus powerful – at least according to worldly standards? No – he was a person of weakness to the world’s powerful, but powerful in the eyes of God. Did Jesus live an easy life? No – he was beaten, whipped and crucified.
How does your congregation represent Jesus Christ? How do you represent Jesus Christ? What bad habits need to be broken in order for his love, grace, mercy, and peace to shine through?
Imagine what the church would be like if all bad habits were shunned.
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview’s pastor.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FROM THE PULPIT: Taking the business model out of Christianity