Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Churches & Body Counts

Jesus Christ established His church to be His representation in the world in which we live. "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, ..." This is the mission of the church. And in many regards I believe the church is doing a pretty good job.
However, I have noticed a disturbing trend in many churches. Or maybe its not a trend at all. Maybe its not new; maybe its been happening for a long time but I'm just seeing it more clearly over the last few years.
Sometimes it seems in the churches' zeal to do the work of the Lord, corners are being cut. Feelings are being hurt. Good, godly people are being pushed aside in the interest of ministry (or growth, or church politics, or whatever.) Exaggerations are made. Is it too strong to say that, in many cases, lies are told?

The bottom line is this: Far too often, I'm seeing churches that are "on the move for Christ" leaving a body count along the way. While they celebrate their growth, and all they seem to be accomplishing in the name of Jesus, they don't notice the wounded people limping out the back door.
I wonder: Does anybody notice when the people who were such an integral part of God's work in a church body are suddenly gone? Does anybody ever wonder what happened to them?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Possibly because some, knowingly or unknowingly, are disciples more of Peter Drucker (the management guru whose ideas have so heavily influenced much of Rick Warren's activities) than they are of Jesus Christ?

Alfred of Wessex, England