the church is on a leash

misconception: people can’t handle the power of the church and thus shouldn’t be trusted with it.

although i’m sure this isn’t verbalized among leaders in the church and many seem hard pressed to get more people into leadership roles in the church, the sad fact is it isn’t happening. leaders in the church just aren’t willing to relinquish the power to people in order to get the best out of the church because there isn’t a sense of trust towards the congregation.

i do wonder if it has to do with the current leadership paradigm that we have in place, this hierarchical structure of a few or one on top and everyone else is on the bottom. the problem with this is a limited access to leadership, an “untouchable” or “unapproachable” mentality can occur from being on top. in fact, it’s built into the paradigm. those on the bottom of the pyramid can’t even touch those at the top–the only ones with actual access are the next level down. not only that, but the weight of the church is placed on their shoulders producing the “i have to take care of it all, because it’s my responsibility and if it doesn’t work or fails then it’s my butt” mentality. (i think this is especially true when we take the pyramid and flip it upside down, saying you’re the servants first–how intimidating is that, not the servant part, but the image that shows the weight of the church is on their shoulders!) i think this is a failed paradigm that breeds a sense of “i can’t fail” (not pridefully thought, but fearfully) resulting in the lack of trust in the congregants and strapping the leash onto the power of the church because there’s just too much uncertainty of what they’re capable of.

(sidenote: maybe this is how we got into the business/ceo model of doing church)

it’s so hard to get involved in a church. i’ve never really understood this to quite the extent that i do now once i stepped out of paid ministry. ideas fall on deaf ears, suggestions are met coldly, even book recommendations are met with contempt. there seems to be a cold reception towards the congregation with an attitude of, “we must help them, they’re here to be served. they need us and they need this.” this is commendable, but there’s never the idea or concept of turning them loose…only a select few that go around the bases, and then only the top few from that. i’ve heard it said that the top 2% of high school athletes go on to play college sports and from there only the top 2% go on professionally. it seems as if that’s the same principle we apply to letting people minister. we preach and proclaim that every member is a minister, but then we don’t allow them to do anything. we create hoops for people to jump through (which is good and necessary, but often times it gets redundant, ridiculous and exclusive) and then only allow them a short leash. of course we lengthen it…but never too far, what if they fail! “it could destroy them, it could destroy their ministry, it could destroy the church!” but what if they succeed? what if we could unleash the total power of the church? i’m tired of hearing how much potential a church has, or how much potential certain individuals in a congregation have… turn them loose! trust them. set the church free!

we expect the congregation to trust and support the leaders, but we never expect the leaders to trust and support the congregation–we only expect them to “lead”. it’s time for a change.

the snowflake is a great example for leadership. there is no hierarchical structure in a snowflake, although there is still a central authority that holds the whole thing together. if you’ll notice there are paths that lead from the core to the outermost edges of the snowflake. everything is interconnected. we need church like this.

the core is the leadership of the church (jesus, elders, staff, deacons/ministry leaders), centralized but not on top, not on bottom. (there is no up and down structure only outward from the center.)

running out from the core are the lines of communication and support. this is a two-way street making leadership fully accessible by the people and the people fully accessible by the leaders. it must be used two ways in order to work properly, or the structure will break down…it’s all based around community. if you don’t have a core, you can’t have a snowflake. if you don’t have the outer-parts you can’t have a snowflake. if you don’t have a leadership that trusts, expects, and empowers, you can’t unleash the power of the church. if you don’t have people that are trusted, trust, expected, expect, empowered and empower, you can’t unleash the power of the church.

we must free our people. we must unleash the total power of the church. empowered by the spirit, amazing things could happen as the church takes the world by storm. but, everything rises and falls on leadership.

[manifesto:]
[part 3]
[part 2]
[part 1]
[introduction]

Related posts:

1. manifesto of frustration./
2. manifesto of frustration.
3. manifesto of frustration./// (a rant)
4. manifesto of frustration.//
5. the status quo

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