And as such should be taxed. If you don’t believe that the church in America is big business then you’re either ignorant of the inner workings of the organization or you’re not facing the facts truthfully. Church IS big business (most of the time). And virtually all small churches have aspirations of becoming big businesses. Though their profit margins are smaller, they all virtually all of them long to be profit kings.
After being in ministry for five years I’ve seen the grim reality that most ministers, and especially their most church members, don’t care nearly as much about discipling believers or living like Christ did as they do about “growing” their church. They can’t care because they don’t have the time to care. They’re much too busy getting more church members.
Why would a minister or a member want to grow their church? The reason usually sounds something like, “because we want to share the Good News of Jesus with as many people as we can” and at first blush that sounds good and noble, but it’s regurgitated tripe. Most people hear that explanation and think “Hey, that’s a very Christ-like attitude.” But it’s not. And what’s more troubling is that at best this attitude is a front, a farce, a play-show, and at worst it’s an excuse to be either an egotist or greedy.
Christ was never concerned about the numerical size of any church. Furthermore, as per the New Testament, churches were never large, as a rule. Jesus is concerned with how many people are in His family, that’s true, but he never cared a lick about how big any given church was. “But”, you say, “Doesn’t a bigger church translate directly to a bigger family of God?” No. It doesn’t. Here’s why.
The larger the church, the more bureaucracy is needed
As a church gets larger it needs red tape, protocol, and bureaucracy just like any other business. And as we all know (thanks to the government) bureaucracy caters to two groups of people: the wealthy and the vocal. It overlooks, as a rule, the needy and the silent sufferers. As a church gets bigger the same pattern develops.
Don’t believe me? Ask any minister who is willing to be honest with you if they have to carefully consider any action they want to do for fear of pissing off the “faithful givers.” Unfortunately, Christ called Christians not to cater to the wealthy or the vocal, but to the silent, the needy and the suffering. Bureaucracy in a church = sin.
The fact of the matter is that a larger church just isn’t capable of being nimble enough to help those who need it. Only a smaller church (read: house church or small church) can effectively minister to it’s members and their needs.
We all know that small government works better than big government, so why would we think the church is any different?
Ministers are paid like drug dealers
What most people don’t realize is that many street-level drug dealers, or “grunts”, often make about the same money that they would flipping burgers at McDonald’s and end up living with their moms. However, the higher-ups in a drug organization make ludicrous salaries. The same is true for ministers. Everyone knows that low-level ministers are barely scraping by, but a lesser-known fact is that ministry leaders in top-level positions regularly make six figure salaries.
Ministers are driven by attendance, not spiritual growth
Every minister wants to make more money, or at least, they want to make enough money to buy a house and a couple cars and a dog and 2.5 children. So how does a minister make more money? By getting more people to come to their church. They don’t get paid based upon how Christ-like they are, they don’t get raises in salary because they’re men (or women) of character. And they certainly don’t get to a top level position because they’re good at discipling. They rise through the ranks of the organization based upon how well they attract people to their particular church.
Keep in mind too, that in the effort to attract people to your church, anything goes. Canvas neighborhoods, steal members from other churches, MORE FLASH, MORE FUN, MORE MORE MORE. That’s how you grow a church. If you don’t believe that’s the case then you’re living in a dream world.
Church members buy off their guilt and responsibility
The church in America is in a dire situation. Every Christian is called by God to make disciples, to minister, to live a life devoted to Christ. But just like parents buy off their guilt pdf in picking up their children late, so church members schlep off their responsibility to minister onto the paid staff because that’s what they’re “paid to do.” B.S.
Conclusion
The church Most churches today is are big business. They have profit margins, a paid CEO and subordinates. They even has a marketing strategy. It’s goal is to attract customers by providing a better product than any other church in town. And believe me, they needs those customers because they has business expenses. They have bills and salaries to pay. Without paying customers, the church will go out of business.
Is this what Christ envisioned when He died on the cross? Did He really envision this marketplace of buying and selling that now embodies the church today? I shudder to think.
There’s a reason why those who have business degrees do so well in ministry while those with Bible degrees struggle. The church is a business. You say, “But the church isn’t in it for the money.” I say, “Bull shit.” Every church is in it for the money. You ask how I got so bitter. I ask how the church got so vain.
Update: certain terminology has been changed to remove the “absolute” nature of my thoughts..
32 Comments
Sometimes Ben you are so full of shit I’m surprised your eyes don’t change colors.
I’m not going to bother to argue with you on this because we both know how the other feels.
@Ron: That’s exactly the kind of reaction I was looking to evoke. Seriously, I’m not mad at you, I appreciate your disagreement.
I happen to completely agree with every word you wrote in this post Ben. This is one of my favorite blog posts that I have ever read.
I believe that church’s operate as a business in order to survive. I don’t believe that this is the best method of spreading the word of God or operating a church; but what else are we to do?
My wish would be that “the church” could use marketing as a means to reach people for the altruistic goal of spreading the word of god, not to make money.
What are you doing about it?
@Chris: There are actually very plausible alternatives. The early church were house churches, and they were that way on purpose. It’s a much more efficient means of ministering and supporting each other.
The solution is to take money out of the equation, and house churches do that. Paid staff is simply unbiblical, as are paid missionaries. The fact of the matter is we’re all ministers, we’re all missionaries. There is no biblical precedent for “paid staff” as that’s a fairly recent development. Paid staff were needed as, you guessed it, churches got bigger.
The best solution is for Christians to have a secular job, whose purpose is to make money, and then minister all the while as they’re doing it. “Ministry” was never meant to be the job because ministry and money don’t go together. They’re not even remotely related.
@Joel: Unfortunately all my schooling is in ministry (I have a B.S. in Family Ministries) and all my professional work experience is in churches. So to some extent I’m stuck in that it would be hard for me to make a lateral change (income-wise) to another vocation, but I don’t plan on being stuck forever.
If I were single I’d simply quit my job and cease supporting an organization that doesn’t work and isn’t biblical. But since I have a family I have to make the best of things until a viable income alternative presents itself. Currently I’m looking strongly in the direction of web development/graphic design.
Don’t get me wrong, I think ministry can take place in a church. But then again, ministry can take place in a concentration camp. Doesn’t mean it’s a biblical or healthy place to be
P.S. - OK, that was an unfair comparison
Plausible alternatives? Yes. Realistic alternatives? No.
Although it would be nice, I don’t think that this trend is going to change anytime soon. I think that there may be a happy medium between the mega-church and house church, because this format may not work for everyone.
I think that there is something to be said about the small town type church. The one typically referred to as a “sleepy church.” These establishments can do a better job ministering to a smaller group of people.
I think it is important for everyone involved in a church to not loose sight of the true purpose of church, and that is God. And unfortunately, that is what happens all too often.
@Chris: OK, I’ll grant you that
. You and I do agree that these small-town type churches can do a great job ministering amongst themselves. I have personally been a youth pastor in a small town church like that. About 80 people there on Sunday mornings, 5 students in the youth group, 3 children in the children’s ministry. I was fired because I didn’t “grow the children’s ministry and the youth ministry.” The church itself was dying, but I was fired because I didn’t reverse that trend.
There’s a common saying spread through ministry circles: “If a church isn’t growing there’s something wrong.” I quickly follow that up with the fact that I believe that even in a house church situation, people should be “converting” to Christianity. But the problem is that once a church gets established, it greatly contributes to lethargy. Now the church members don’t have to worry about telling others about Christ, that’s what they pay a pastor to do.
You’re right in that small town churches are really where the ministry is at, but they’ve still got overhead, they’ve still got staff to pay, bills to pay and as such they’re concerned about income. I suppose in once sense money is just a necessary subject to deal with. But my problem is that every church I know of is driven by it. They’ll use different words, but in the end it’s the same thing.
Of course, one thing I should point out is that I think many Christians have great intentions, but are ignorant of the inner workings of large churches. Also, I like to believe that there are at least some churches out there who “get it.” I’d like to find one of those churches.
I say all this knowing full well that I’ve had at least two deacons tell me flat out that I have to be concerned about what the old people want because if I don’t please them they’ll stop giving and then who’s gonna pay my salary?
I think there is bad, but good, too. Really, the imperfection of the church in America is nothing new.
I would disagree that NT church was small. 3000 added on the first day? I believe that being inbred is a pattern from the NT church and that they had as many significant problems as we have today.
After all, even Peter had issues with not wanting to evangelize the heathen.
That all being said, the business part is not unique to us, either. Church history shows that.
I would agree that church history shows that the “business” part goes way back, but the trail stops at the Roman Catholic church. That’s where we get into paid staff, big buildings, etc.
And while it’s true that 3,000 were added on the first day to the family of God, they didn’t then go and rent an assembly hall so they could meet every Saturday. They went and started house churches which generally maxed out at 30 members or so.
I think we need to realize that Jesus had to eat and his team. It seems clear they accepted money and provisions to live.
The biggest mega-church here in SoCal (Saddleback) has more people in small groups than who go to their services. This proves to me that really you cannot paint such a legalistic view of what size a church should be–the Bible simply does not prescribe or prohibit in this realm.
I hear what you’re saying, Rich. And you know I wholly respect you and what you do for a living.
The interesting thing about Saddleback is they’ve realized just like everyone else that true ministry can only take place in small groups, hence, the literal abundance of small groups at Saddleback
So my next question is this: why, if true ministry only takes place in these small groups, do we need a main Saddleback campus? What’s it there for? The best answer we can give is that it’s there for organizational purposes. At worst I tend to think it’s there to pad Rick’s pocketbook and his ego. Saddleback is just taking the old church model and putting a new marketing spin on it.
But while it’s evident that Christ, Paul and the like did accept money from the church, it’s interesting that Paul exclaimed that he always had a job of his own to support himself so that he would not be a burden to any church. Surly Paul would be a good example for ministers to follow.
I quite church altogether, cause no one cared anymore it was mostly about the bucks, big shiny new buildings and big numbers in membership.
Sadly now I feel depressed and lost without a home church. **I really need the fellowship and belonging**
What is this? Shouldn’t just knowing God be enough? Why do I need a physical building?
Maybe I should just return.
Pray for me.
I just said a short prayer for you, Judy. As much as I may dislike large church organizations I do think it’s essential (not to mention biblical) to meet together regularly with other believers for worship and edification. I’d encourage you to find some kind of regular meeting with other Christians.
I go a fairly large church ~900ish and have been there for over 15 years. We have a very strong leadership and a solid board. While I don’t disagree with you that SOME churches are about business I would have to disagree that all big churches are big business - my church is not.
While small or home churches can lean towards a more personable approach to ministry - they can also lack in many areas as well - this has led to bigger organized churches.
Small/home churches often lack solid teaching - the person(s) leading the group may be under qualified and discipleship may suffer.
Small/home churches often lack programs - while a 20 something married couple may feel all of their needs met - those with small kids or teens often do not get the programs and peer groups to meet their needs.
Small/home churches often lack accountability and may follow useless trends or false teaching easier than a larger church tied to a denomination and reporting to a board.
Small/home churches often lack consistency - friends of mine who attend a home church often have it canceled because a few people can’t make it.
I know that there is an equally long list for what mid/large churches lack - and I certainly don’t want to get into the mega-church list - I just want to make sure that we realize that no earthly plan is going to be perfect. “The Church” IS God’s people - people are sinful beings - no single model alone is going to work for all people in a perfect way.
For me– I have found a church with solid leadership & teaching - good worship - great programs for those in the church and in the community with ample opportunities to get into smaller groups for discipleship –while not perfect– I think it is the best I am going to get here on earth!
As a side note: Small/house churches often lack a gymnasium - as a Canadian I need that to play floor hockey with the youth
I don’t buy it. I know many big churches who have under qualified teachers and lousy discipleship. The whole idea of “we need ordained ministers” didn’t come about until the fourth to sixth century with Roman Catholicism. It was they who set up a professional priesthood. We may say “every believer is a priest” but in practice we still put the pastor in the place of a priest. Virtually the same function, different name.
Programs?! That’s Western civilization talking now. The idea that we have to separate and divide families in order to “minister” to each age individually is wrong and ineffective. I learned that in college with my degree in Family Ministries.
Again, plenty of big churches fall into false teaching. And if they find that their “board” doesn’t approve they’ll often just change denominations or go independent.
I know churches who’ll cancel church because there’s a threat of snow whereas a house church could decide to meet anyway.
I respect you, Andy, and I’m not frustrated with you or anything. It’s just that I’ve thought through these points you bring up. When you look at all of them together they seem like a good set of reasons for big churches, but when you start analyzing them individually they quickly fall.
Hey thanks Ben, I needed that at the moment!!! Good subject here, but a risky one. Two things for sure, God is always where we invite him. And we can not nor should not, judge a church by it’s cover. It is the inside of man that God judges.
Gods many blessings to you Ben!
I would tend to respectfully disagree with you on this point Ben — I have been doing youth ministry for over 15 years and I would argue that teens need to be with peers to remain engaged in the church — not saying that this can’t happen in a small/house church — likely more difficult.
I do struggle with programs for program sake — I have always tried to have my role in youth ministry be a relational one — however it is tough to build relationships if they are not together — in a group.
I don’t want to comment much outside of my personal experience but I would question the validity of having one service for all age groups being capable of being equally effective for each of those age groups.
–Thanks Ben– the respect goes both ways
I am not sure if I found the only good (big) church or whether things are vastly different here in Canada — but they are out there (or at least out here).
I am not claiming to be an expert but I too have thought through these points and have had many discussions around this topic with people on both sides of the fence– I think my points were valid for small/home churches and as you pointed out - can also be valid in a big church model. In the end you need to find a church that you (and your whole family) can grow closer to God in no matter what the size. Ultimately you need to be able to respect the leadership and be able to trust them as well.
I respect your struggle and that you are at least being willing to think through these issues.
@Andy and Rich: That’s a great thing about us, Andy, Rich. That we can respectfully disagree and still go on encouraging each other :).
I’d like to ammend one thing in that I don’t think that house churches are the “only” way to be a biblical church. But I do think that once you start getting hundreds and hundreds of members that the biblical model for what a church is supposed to be starts to fall apart most of the time. I say “most of the time” because I obviously can’t say “all the time” because I don’t personally know all the churches on Earth. A technical error on my part, but my feelings are still the same.
@Rich: Truly, yes, I do fully respect what you do. If I came across as not respecting you I apologize because in my heart there’s no disrespect.
Ben- I’ve graduated from seminary, worked in para-church organizations and churches…Now, I work in corporate America. Why? It has been my experience that I am able to much more effectively minister to people when I have no label attached to me. People open up faster and I don’t have to break through more walls. That being said, I appreciate your post and it expresses most of why I can’t stand ‘church’. Plus, I might add (and you probably know), the true church is the body of Christ…not some building. So I ask, ‘Why must I go to what I am?’ I can get fellowship, teaching, accountability, encouragement, etc… without attending a Sunday morning service (actually, I get very little out of a church service as it is)…AND I can more effectively care for the body and challenge the hearts and minds of non-believers without a label. I’ve given up on ‘church’ as we know it in America because, in my experience, it is very ineffective. Thanks for the post!
@CT: You’re welcome. I’m glad the article was something you enjoyed.
Yippee! Skippy! You hit that one out of the ballpark, Ben! Thanks for a great post, even though you got a lot of stereotypical reactions from your readers. “Yeah, dude, I hear what you’re saying, but MY church isn’t like that. It’s big and I make a lot of money, but we’re cool. We’re not into the bling.”
Yeah, right! (groan)
Keep it up, my trouble-making friend!
Thanks for the post. Really hits home with me.
Hey just wanted to let you all know I went to a really small country church last night and WOW God was there!!! I am home at last!
Ben, we’ve had our differences in the past, and usually due to things like the language you even use in this article, which I don’t find becoming of a child of God.
Nonetheless, I wanted to state that I agree with a lot of what you’ve said here.
I’m not entirely in favour of house churches, and I think they have many dangers. However, the large churches of today, have very serious issues. I would naturally tend to side with a lot of the arguments Andy raised, like the lack of solid teaching, and accountability in a house church. But, churches like Saddleback, are guilty of the same thing.
Deacons, Elders, and denominations aren’t what make a ‘church’, but, are merely the fruit of a church. But, because the family relationship between members is imperative in a church, it often becomes difficult to sustain once it reaches a certain size.
Whatever the case, I’m glad you brought this up, because at the very least, it seems to have benefited Judy.
The church we attend has 4 services - 1 saturday evening, 2 sunday morning and a satellite building where the message is beamed in electronically.
They have been looking for suitable land to build a new building and last sunday an urgent evening meeting was held because a piece of land came available where it was required that action be taken as of yesterday. So, lots of questions followed by a vote which was defeated being 77% rather than the 80% mandate. Following the meeting 3 more ‘yes’ votes were found pushing the in favor side to 80.18% (it’s sounding like florida to me). Anyway presumably they have dropped the 2mil down payment on the property which in itself is a complicated deal with risk attached.
So, I have to wonderif a- they’ve listened to the Lord for guidance and b- if you would consider this too close to be making as serious a decision as it is.
Hey Ben, Great article. I could tell when I read it that you just got done with some kind of VBS thing. VBS always pushed my buttons too! Anyway, I have done lots ‘o’ research on the house/simple church movement and I really like it. I subscribe to House2House which is a house church publication and it had some statistics in there. The one that caught my eye was that 66-78% of house church folx also attend a conventional style church and 6 out of 10 consider that to be their primary church (issue 10). I was like, What??!! That makes no sense… unless there is a bigger picture here. Is it consumerism finding it’s way into simple church? Is it the need for a more larger corporate experience? Do they see house church as just a Bible Study? I personally think that, based on my own insides, that house church provides group intimacy and a healthy push to not be a spectator. But the conventional church supplies the larger corporate practice of worship and also variety (people-wise). I would think that the home group people would be more challenging to the status quo of conventional church and bring a healthy dose of critique. We have a few home church people in our church and they certainly do just that. Personally, I would like to see the conventional church get non-conventional in it’s approach to corporate life (more dialog, less monolog, more sharing, less silence) and be a launching point for Christ-followers to go OUT THERE and create house churches with non-believers & believers anywhere they can (a la Neil Cole) without being pressured to actually attend the conventional church every week. Maybe even organize these church planters around a five-fold ministry mindset and look out! It could cause a big shift in conventional church (and certainly lessen control issues). Simple and conventional can work together, I think. Oh, and Frank Viola makes me cringe in a healthy way. BTW, your brother (the elder… can ya believe it?) tells me about some of your church politics issues and I shake my head. Dude, hang in there. Keep humble but on edge. Thanks for your honesty.
Hey Mike,
Coupla questions about your post:
Why does VBS ‘push your buttons’ ?
If we open up big church to more dialogue, more sharing, aren’t we then just opening up people to confusion and a misunderstanding of the gospel? Truth is not debatable.
Lastly, can we be prideful of our humility and simplicity?
Hey Greg, Good questions. Here’s my best shot…
1) Personally, I always found VBS to be a huge lump of effort and manpower that tires everyone out especially the person(s) heading it up. Usually everyone is spent for the summer afterwards. And in my neck of the woods it’s VBS overkill come summer since every church has a VBS and usually with the same 2 or 3 themes. It gets monotonous. Nothing wrong with the concept of VBS, mind you. Just the working it out. Oh, and the music is usually really bad.
2)I have to agree with the authors of “I Once Was Lost”, a book by IVPress. “One of the greatest acts of love we can give is to ask good questions and help our friends learn how to ask more questions for themselves. We live in an age of too much information, too few questions. Let’s be the ones to ask the great questions.” That was written in the context of dialog. Speaking as a pastor, who has taken the plunge into more dialog sermon styles for about 2 years now, I can say that if someone is told something is true, they may agree that it is true, If someone experiences something that they are told is true, it becomes truth. To have dialog is to have experience b/c it is a two-way street of conversation that connects and creates community. We learn something about ourselves, not just learning something about a concept or doctrine. And someone usually shares something that is more clarifying to someone else than what i had written in my notes. It also breaks the wall of expert/student that we have in the church because I can say that someone out there has experience in something I am talking about and can, therefore, teach me (even though I am the one with the notes). I really trust my people to teach me something. And that means I must trust my people, period (you would be surprised how many pastors don’t really trust their flock). There is a risk of “heresy”, sure, but I have found it really never crops up and if it does the church is a self-centering organism if most see Jesus as the center-point (or Morning Star in 2 Peter 1:19). Disagreement creates tension which creates understanding and maybe agreement if the pastor doesn’t freak out in the midst of the dialog. The most memorable sermons in my church have been the ones with the best dialog, not the most insightful three points. I love it, personally. Check out “Rethinking Preaching” by Doug Paggitt for more info about dialog messages.
3) We can be prideful about anything! We’re human, after all.
Sorry for the lengthy reply. Thanks and take care.
Rather grim assessment Ben. I’m not saying I disagree that this is sometimes the case, but I think you are generalizing way, way too much. There are good large churches and bad large churches and good small churches and bad small churches. I think it’s a tragic mistake to assign blame re: Christianity gone astray to the fact that there are large churches with big budgets. There are many large churches that are having an enormous impact on making disciples and growing people spiritually in Christ. I’m in a rather small church myself, and I know we aren’t interested in numerical growth but spiritual growth — yet I’ve seen other small churches that were the opposite.
I think we need every dang church “model” we can get and then some. House church, cell church, coffeehouse church, megachurch, “traditional” church, you name it. The model isn’t the problem. Hearts are the problem. If people’s hearts are aligned with the heart of the Father and care only about seeing the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth and Jesus’ name raised up, then I think any model will work. Models we haven’t even thought of yet. But if people only care about their own little empire and promoting their own agenda, every model will fail. Even a house church.
I appreciate what you’re trying to convey, Ben, but I believe in criticizing by creating as Mark Batterson likes to say. So maybe you would do well by creating a church environment you believe God will honor and talk about that.
Blessings, Jared
I know what you mean and I have seen the same here in my country too, but I never expected in other countries, now I believe it’s the same everywhere in the whole world.
The best way to talk to God is in a lonely and quiet room and I really love it, yes it’s always better to share this feeling with the people who actually love the same.
Sad is, going to the Church is something different, it’s great at heart especially at great occasions as I find, all together with friends and families, it’s awesome indeed, but that is also true the Ministers are happy about their raise for getting more church members.
I hope everyone will understand and know the truth, knowing the truth is our right, religion is very sensitive and we should protect it from these assholes.
It was very much shocking to read this first but then again when I think it’s just what and nothing but the truth.
I know what you mean and I have seen the same here in my country too, but I never expected in other countries, now I believe it’s the same everywhere in the whole world.
The best way to talk to God is in a lonely and quiet room and I really love it, yes it’s always better to share this feeling with the people who actually love the same.
Sad is, going to the Church is something different, it’s great at heart especially at great occasions as I find, all together with friends and families, it’s awesome indeed, but that is also true the Ministers are happy about their raise for getting more church members.
I hope everyone will understand and know the truth, knowing the truth is our right, religion is very sensitive and we should protect it from these assholes.
I have a question for you Ben.
First let me say, I totally agree with your article, it was very helpful to me.
My question is how do believe tithe should be handled in small groups? I know Biblically that tithe is a requirement, but my stance on it is that it goes to God’s glory (feeding the homeless, spreading the Gospel, etc.), and it’s not a requirement that it goes to your ‘local church’. May I have your thoughts?
2 Trackbacks
[...] appears that his frustration with the machine just boiled over: The church today is big business. It has profit margins, a paid CEO and subordinates. It even has [...]
[...] Gray at Openswitch writes: Most Churches today are big business. They have profit margins, a paid CEO and [...]