Pastor Rick’s words hit me like a Yosemite lightning bolt, bursting out of a cloudless sky. Though he had one meaning in mind when he uttered the words, the exact opposite could not have been truer. As his words thundered through the corridors of my brain, I realized our whole church system was an absolute failure.
Let me stop here for a moment. This is not a statement I reveled in: I realized our whole church system was an absolute failure. It makes me sound like a desperate pilgrim searching for hidden truths on that Easter morning, but that was not the case. I was just an average, forty-three year old business man sitting next to his wife on a padded pew, listening to Pastor Rick.
At the time, everything about my life seemed picture-postcard perfect, or so I thought. Most people would have described me as a rock-solid, Bible-believing, tithe-giving, non-alcohol drinking, conservative-voting, evangelical-Christian. Yet in the days which followed, gossipers whispered new words about me, such as rebel, heretic, and back-slider.
(Excerpt from Deceived Dead And Delivered by Larry Nevenhoven, soon to be released e-book)
What is the #1 concern for American churches?
Abortions? Gay marriages? Helping the poor? Elections? Euthanasia? Divorces? Sex trafficking? Racism? Missionary work? No, none of these.
The #1 concern for American churches is getting new members who have money in their billfolds so the churches’ bills can be paid each month. This is a never-ending concern for almost all of the 350,000 churches in our nation.
Can I back up my statement?
A few years ago, the Barna Group estimated that almost 70% of all church offerings went towards mortgages, rents, maintenance, and salaries of staff. In today’s economy, the percentage is probably much higher.
Do I have a radical answer for this concern?
Four or five years ago, I was involved in an online discussion with a progressive church pastor. He had definite ideas on various issues and so did I. He backed his ideas up with Thoreau, Gandhi, Immanuel Kant, Dalai Lama, and a smattering of quotes by Jesus. I used only scriptures to back up my views.
Finally, he wrote: “You fundamentalists may know your scriptures, but you never care about the poor.”
“I do care about the poor,” I replied. “In fact, I’m much more radical about this issue than you are.”
He listed all the efforts done by his church to help the poor in his area. To which I replied: “That’s not radical. It’s what every Christian organization should do.”
“Okay, what would you do?” he wrote.
“If I were you, I’d sell your church and its property, and give the money to the poor and needy. Then, I’d get a job so the church members would not have to pay me a pastor’s salary. In this way, 95% of your church’s offerings could go to help the poor and needy,” I wrote back.
He, of course, replied: “We could never do that. It’s too radical!”
So, how radical of a Christian are you?
(Continued in Part 2)
Larry Who 
ugh huh,,,,yep. got that right.
Naphtali,
Hang on. It may get worse.
Bring it buttercup…
altonwoods,
Keep your eyes on the road and no thinking about Ernie’s sandwiches.
It was like I’d died and gone to Jewish heaven! Over a lb of meat…lol
altonwoods,
Oy vey!
The people with the money in their wallets also dictate what the pastor can preach on and how long the worship can be. The mortgage and other expenses associated with running the machine are the collar around the pastor’s neck that keeps him from doing and saying what the Lord would have him say and do.
Tony Puccio,
Thanks. The money is the tail that certainly wags the dog in the American church system, not only the prince in the pulpit, but also the puppets in the pews. More in this in later articles.
I actually think your advice is a healthy start…:)
chasingtheperfectmoment,
Thanks, now to go further.
I just love your Spirit. How many books have been written on church leadersip? How much money spent on attending and organising church leadership seminars? All along the answer to good leadership is lying on their own hands: Lead by example and pick up the cross you speak of and follow Jesus. Put your life in His hands and not in the hands of your church congregation. Sell the fancy church buildings and the state of the ark worship and video equipment, and then simply follow Jesus’ lead, believe that He is indeed ALL you need to touch other people’s lives with His Spirit. The rest is the flesh and idolatry and there lies the answer to the failure of today’s Church to bring people to want to know Christ and to also keep those who once were part of it already.
Keep it up Larry! More stones need turning.
Mercedes
Mercedes,
Bingo! I think you understand the Church Derby. Thanks for your comments.
God bless you, Larry . . .every radical bit of you. 🙂 Loving that comments too. Thanks for showing that there IS a way.
Debbie,
Thanks. This will be interesting.
I used to think as you did, Larry Who. As congregational president, I was always wrangling a budget just trying to keep the lights on and the bills paid (no state of the art equipment, here). I used to think that if we sold the building we could save maintenance and do mission only.
I’ve come to realize the solution lies somewhere within the swing of the pendulum. Not in a super church with lots of staff and not in deleting it all. Somewhere in the middle.
I’ve come to discover, for the continuity of effort, there needs to be a structure. A structure to work from. It’s difficult to get people to gather when the location/meeting place changes each week. Believe me, we’ve tried it when our campus ministry outreach was no longer funded and we used borrowed venues. Try as we might with new exciting programs, it was hard to get consistent participation when we kept moving around. And then sadly, the opportunity for students to just drop in and talk when there was an emotional/spiritual crisis was completely lost in our campus ministry (without a campus building).
I can’t tell you how many times I find people in our sanctuary, having a good cry or desperately looking for something–anything to help them. Strangers. Just people who were driving/walking by and came in for relief.
So I’ve had a slow change of heart and mind. A building is useful. Some full-time staff is very useful. For me they’ve become our BASE of operation with our emphasis outside the 4 walls of the church.
I don’t know about big wallets dictating the message. I’ve never been in a church like that. I’m sure they exist. It’s not my intent to argue. I just wanted to share thoughts on how I’d changed from thinking: we should get rid of the system to daily work on: what are the real needs and how can we serve them. (Sorry to take up so much space.)
lutheranladies,
Thanks for your input. I can see your points and they are solid ones, especially considering how 90% of us Americans view what churches are.
But also, if you are building a church in a slum like BASECO (Manila, Philippines), you are going to have to have a main building because most of the homes are small shanties.Each home has barely enough space for the family.
Watchman Nee felt churches needed to fit the city, rather than a single church model fitting every city. His view was what may work in this city may not work in another.. I tend to agree with him with a few added tweaks.
When I went to Bible college to get a Bible degree and incurred a huge debt as a young man doing what I thought God and my parents desired, I began to notice all the fine buildings on the campus with rich people’s names plastered on the sides of them. The ball fields were the same.
It began eating on me about 3/4ths of the way through that experience that I was learning many wonderful things and all about the mysteries of the universe and creation and the age to come and all that. I was even learning how important it is to give and yet not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing right in those buildings with those names on the sides of them. I kept thinking it would eventually all make sense one day….
That day has come.
It makes sense that my school, like the larger culture to which we should have been counter, had sold out to the money game. I was sold to the bank too.
I am willing to bear that burden with a smile and I will not grumble. But as I work a secular job to afford me to eat and find my views keeping me on the outs with the group I signed on to serve, I find that my ministry focuses more and more on the poor who cannot repay. I limp along, by my culture’s standards, but then I find messengers like this blog every now and then that really encourage me.
Thank you.
Blessings from Texas
earning a prophet’s wage,
Thanks. The only thing that kept me out of a Bible school was total lack of money and a family. Otherwise, I would also be bemoaning my fate.
Hi Larry. Do let me know when your book is out. I would love to read it. I enjoyed read part one. Off I go to part two.
Blessings,
Gladwell
Gladwell,
Thanks. I will let you know.