The Church as a business?

In my short life I have been a part of a grand total of 5 churches. Each of those churches have been different in size, leadership structure and denomination. From a conservative Baptist church in my upbringing, to a classic Bible belt Southern Baptist Church in college, to a missional church plant in Wyoming to a boomer targeted suburban church and an Evangelical Presbyterian mega church in the suburbs of Denver my church experiences have been relatively diverse.

In seminary I have had the blessing of immersing myself in the studies of exegesis, biblical interpretation, language study, homiletics, theology and also leadership courses. Each of these disciplines have been interesting, perplexing at times, challenging and valuable. While I know that I am not the first and will not be the last to write on this subject, one of the trends that I have seen in the North American Evangelical church culture is to attempt to combine business principles with leading a church. I have read corporate leadership books such as Good to Great and do see the value in reading books like this to help you become a better pastor and leader.

Here is the rub I have discovered recently. In my opinion too many pastors think that by reading the Wall Street Journal and watching CNBC they are well versed business men. Thus they begin to attempt to run their churches like a business instead of a church. Like I said before, following good leadership principles especially if they are biblically grounded is a great thing and can be universally used no matter the leadership venue. The problem is that most pastors that I know would make horrible business men. I include myself in that group. I am wired at my core to be a pastor/shepherd. It is who I am. That doesn’t mean I have it figured out, and to be honest, I have only recently grown to the place where I am comfortable in that distinction.

To try and explain further…

When running a church like a business certain attitudes begin to creep in. Such as:

fear – in as much as I understand corporate America, fear plays a huge role in determining success. Fear of the bottom line, of keeping investors/employers happy, of maximizing sales… in my experience, when business principles are central to the leadership of the church, yet poorly applied and followed, fear plays a major role in decision making. Personnel decisions are not handled with grace and truth but with tenacity and fear.

personal goals – don’t get me wrong I am a firm believer in setting goals, I do it all the time. However I have seen that when running the church like a business, personal dreams and goals begin to trump the true intention of the church which is to bring glory to God by drawing people into a relationship with Jesus and the building up of disciples.

I do not claim to have all the answers to this problem. Obviously I am writing out of my own frustrations and experiences. I do know that as a pastor my role is to be a shepherd to the flock that God gives me. Nothing more, nothing less. I only hope that as I continue to grow as a leader/pastor/shepherd I do not get swept away in the latest leadership hype, but maintain a consistent view of who and what God has called me to be.