What I Don't Miss (Part 1)

Part One of this series dealt with what I miss now that I am doing "secular" ministry after thirty years as a parish pastor.
Links to
Introduction
What I Miss: Part 1, part 2, part 3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Perhaps this section needs an epigraph. Here's one from writer James Baldwin:

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What then is there about the Institution that I won’t miss? Probably most of it. But the basis of what I will not miss is the underlying issue that the survival of the Institution is often the #1 priority. Yes, it’s often said in terms of “mission” or “purpose” or “doing God’s work.” But it’s often really about keeping the Institution alive.

Naturally it is true that if the Institution is alive and healthy then the work of God can more fully be done. No argument there. It is also true that there has to be an organization of some kind. (At least it appears that way as early as the Book of Acts.) But the Institution often becomes the end-all and be-all of the life of the Institution. That then gets translated into the Institution existing to serve itself and those who are its shareholders- its members. The Institution has to continue so there’ll be a place to be married, to have my children baptized, and then someone to bury me. I can only get truly interested in bringing outsiders in if they help the survival of the Institution.

Now that I’ve gotten all that cynical stuff out of the way let me get more specific. But first, a disclaimer. Much of what I’ve said is not necessarily a bad thing. The Institution in some form or another (or many forms or others) is a necessity. The work of God has many variations and facets and aspects. No one of them is the only thing to be done. Acts gives us the best and probably first example way back at the very beginning. The Apostles had their task to do- spread the Gospel by preaching, teaching, and baptizing. But the widows and orphans who were “members” of the community weren’t being supported and served. This was seen as a task as essential as that of the Apostles. You cannot ignore that work and still be doing God’s work in your community. They found the workers who had that gift. The work could now get done. We’re not talking about a hand-holding ministry or providing fun and games at youth group. This was life-supporting work. The widows and orphans needed physical as well as spiritual help. No one else was doing it; God wants it done (see the Prophets); they did it.

This is organization and institution. That it not optional. The question becomes one of extent, purpose, mission, and control. The result in many a modern Institution is far more internal or even self-serving. Nine times out of ten when you mention “outreach” or “bringing in new people” you will get, “But we have to take care of ourselves first. We can’t help them if we can’t do it for ourselves first.” Nothing happens. The metaphor of a country club for the saints is probably overblown and overused. It is much narrower than that. It usually has more to do with control and image in order to assure that the Institution remains like I want it to be.

Examples abound.

Budgets are often so bare bones and filled with fixed, nearly unchangeable costs. Yet by the arguments at most congregational or board meetings you’d think it could be changed by wishing it were so. All figures have to be to the penny. None of this rounding up or down.

Board meetings last forever. Everyone has to have a say. Everyone has to get the final word. Everyone is The Boss. Everyone is an owner. In many instances that leads to a lack of trust of everyone else, especially if they have a different opinion.

This is the unfortunate part of the Institution- it is made up of human beings- sinners and imperfect. It doesn’t appear as if God has a Plan B, however. It’s not going to change, of course, since that‘s how these kind of institutions work.

It doesn’t help a lot to use business or other non-profit models as if they were the solution. Our bottom line is not greater profits or shareholder satisfaction. We can, however, learn from healthy, efficient corporations about effectiveness and support and human resources. In those areas we’re still back in the 50s. They, too, we must remember, have their own fallible imperfections. I’m not sure that we think that we can be fallible in the church since we are supposed to be the Body of Christ, forgetting that Jesus was not an Institution.

After thirty years of control politics and micro-management, I don’t miss it at all. I don’t have to keep trying to have all those juggling balls in the air. I don’t miss those church meetings for even a minute.

It would appear that this has had a negative tone to it. I realize that as I scan what I have written. But I am talking about the things I won’t miss. The Institutional nature of the church is not something I will miss. I used to enjoy the “politics” but have come to realize that we often use the politics in very un-Christ-like ways to control, to shame, to win over others. Some of the things I have seen happen to church leaders is worthy of a dog-eat-dog organization.

So, yes, there will be a negative tone to how I feel. For that I ask your indulgence until I can put this all back together in what I would do differently if I went back.

For now, then, simply hear the sadness under the surface that we have been so unaware of what we do, and confession for the fact that I am not innocent of this myself.

More next week on what I will not miss.