There's a certain type of thinking that many people engage in that some of my friends and I call "corporate mindedness." It's the type of thinking that places norms of American business and legal practices above other methods of doing things. It's the type of thinking that says that a CPA with an MBA working as an accountant for a large corporation would make a better deacon than a regular Joe who runs his own janitorial service. His corporate training in following company policy makes him more qualified to handle the church budget than somebody who merely needs to feed his kids. It's the type of thinking that says that a man trained in the most prominent of seminaries is more qualified as a pastor than a man with a bible, the Holy Spirit, and experiences in the trenches of life.
It is the type of thinking that will seek counsel from attorneys, corporate professionals, licensed "experts" before reading God's word. It places state law above what the bible says. It looks at a man's earthly accomplishments as approved by a system as better than a humble, selfless servant who will do what it takes regardless of what man's laws say. It places more weight on how something will look to a judge in court than how it will look to The Judge on judgment day.
Corporate mindedness isn't limited to academic and business elites; it can be brainwashed into existence in the most common of people. The more you hear something, the more you believe it. Corporate mindedness has infiltrated the church, and the kingdom suffers.
AMEN STEVE
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Corporate Mindedness In The Church
I lifted this directly from Steve Scott's fine Blog, From the Pew. Steve is a great man of God and I appreciate his writing. He nails this one so dead on I thought rather than just link it, I would repost it. I have certain readers who tell me they will read what I repost, if I just link, not so much. I think this tenancy to make the CEO of the Corporation the Head Elder or Congregational President is a flawed governance. Read his post here or on his Blog.
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2 comments:
Give me the man with the Bible and the Holy Spirit. Give me men and women with heart's to put our Savior first and give Him our best, not what is left and squeezed in. Truly love God with all our heart's, all our soul's, all my strength's and all our mind's. We have let the bad things in our world creep and slither into the church.
Thanks Gene for posting this wise and timely piece from a godly layman. Yes, this seems to be what the popular culture is buying into, not only in corporate America, but in a very observable way, in the models for church growth that are driving the successful pastors and why not say also the evangelical publishing houses as well. Let me hasten to add however, that we dare not label it altogether "bad". As a practical anthropologist (cross cultural missionary),and therefore using 'culture' as in cultural anthropology, I see this as more than a passing fad, but deeply embeded in the culture of North America. We who have the living Christ, as he is testified to in the Bible, and the blessed gift of His very own Spirit, in one sense have all that is sufficient to be on mission with him as his Church. But we are sent into the world, and if we hope to be heard in our own culture, we all can learn much from these same ministries without joining in their folly.
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