Systems and more Systems. I may eat my words in a few years but I think too many systems and strategies can kill a church. I am not saying things should not be organized or planned. I think that is essential and is the key to good stewardship. But systems on top of systems make ministry work harder, more stressful and less spiritual. The bottom line is systems have the potential to kick God out of the church.
Sitting with a group of pastors one time I heard “a respected” one in the group say of a church that was growing in our area, that they were growing by accident because they did not have any structure. Meaning systems, and strategies.
But what if a church could grow based entirely on the movement of God…
Is that still possible?
Could a church grow only because God is moving or is God hindered if the church doesn’t have more than enough systems in place to handle the growth?
We live in an age where “the right church systems” are the new traditionalism, and are the new church leadership dogma.
Why is that? Here are three possible reasons…
Maybe church systems are only there to make the church look like its running smoothly and as planned. Maybe they are just there to make the church look good under the guise of functionality. If this is the answer the church’s god is the systems it creates rather than the Savior.
It wasn’t until this past weekend when I was talking with a friend of mine that it dawned on me that maybe the reason a system oriented church feels dead is because it revolves around making the leader look good instead of Jesus. They have all the systems in place to stimulate growth, to make things as perfect as possible, to attract people, to give the WOW factor and to make the Pastor look good, but they lack Jesus and His spirit though they preach His name.
Or maybe it’s the lack of faith or a lack of understanding who Jesus is and how He works in the world to build His church.
I’m not not sure what the real reason is but this is what I know…
Jesus said He would build His church and I just want to follow Him as He does it. And if that means having some systems great… if not awesome, because I just want to see Him work and draw people to Himself so His kingdom and His will can be done…
not mine.
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