Your church might be Institutional if…
May 14th, 2009 | By art rogers | Category: Church, Missional…everyone starts pressing the few young couples in the church to procreate so there will be babies in the nursery.
…people want to know the plans for the new program to get the neighborhood kids “in the church.”
…when a person needs some money, you respond, “The benevolance committee isn’t here right now.”
…your evaluation of whether the pastor is doing a good job consists of driving by the church to see if his car is in the parking lot during office hours.
…you’re afraid of small groups in homes because you don’t know how to collect the offering.
Any others?
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A unsaved person comes to Christ, and is put in a “sunday school class” with mature Christians studying Habakkuk, and they can’t understand why that person would be bored, and leave the church
… when changing bathroom tissue suppliers is a decision to be made by the Deacons.
… when the church accepts a new member by “transfer of letter” from a church where the new member hasn’t been in that church for 15+ years.
Bob Clevelands last blog post..My Cup .. Once Again .. Still .. Running Over
How about when you have to find out who donated something to the church and talk to them or their descendants before moving it from it present location?
Or when our attendance board is the universal measuring stick to the health of the church as well as the way to determine how the preacher is doing?
Both churches I’ve been at had deacon bodies that told me it was time to add more deacons not because they had too much work to do (which they certainly did NOT) but simply because the present deacon body was getting old.
–I am going to take issue with Habakkuk though. Thats my favorite book. I feel it has a message which easily reaches folks with little church background…screaming at and complaining to God when His hand is not evident in our mess and simplicity in our response required. I’ve shared it many times with the unchurched folks who said they read it after my visit and were comforted. But I totally get your point.–
…you have more people on the flower committee than you do deacons.
…your church fails to recognize every member as a minister and thus the only ministers in your church have Dr., Bro., or Pastor in front of their names.
…you hear, “What do we have for the kids & youth?” rather than, “What are the kids & youth doing for others?”
The Missions Committee asks WWJD (What Would Jerry [Rankin] Do)?
The church has become convinced that giving to the CP is missions.
People get overly concerned with the minutiae of the church’s Constitution and Bylaws.
We measure our faithfulness according to what “everyone else” is doing.
Deacons are asked to do what Scripture never asks them to do (e.g. serve as the Pastor’s “boss”).
Pauls last blog post..Sebastian’s Voodoo
The pastor announces the Sunday night service has been canceled and someone complains that “no one has the right to cancel church.”
Just thought of a good one. I was making a point once about essential elements of worship and ministry versus cultural traditions. I told my folks repeatedly before and after my illustration that I was not suggesting change right then…just illuminating a point. I talked about how Sunday School was only a couple hundred years old. That meant that for 1800 years we did church without it. Pews, suited preachers, hymnals, hymns themselves, all this and much more are actually not only very young in the Christian church’s lifetime (so to speak) but also not even necessarily found worldwide in Christian churches in this present day. They are not essential elements of a church. We can minister and evangelize without them. Again I repeatedly said I am not now advocating change.
I still got a visit Monday morning.
Micheal just used Habakkuk as an example,I also love and have personally used Habakkuk’s prayer many times.
Cool. Thanks brother. I do admit it is a little obscure though. Sometimes the hidden gems are the best.