THOUGHTFULLY DRIVING THE PORCELAIN BUS

A Column by John S Schroeder

February 16, 2002

There is a phenomenon that occurs in parallel with the sprint to contemporary worship that troubles me a great deal as well. I call it the "cycle of professionalism." In a nutshell, as the mainline denominations are dying, the staff sizes are growing! In naked financial terms, that sure is a backward trend.

What happens is this -- dying churches start adding programs, and those programs require people to carry them out. Where do those people come from? The traditional model is that volunteers in the church develop a new program. Maybe at some point it gets big enough and important enough to warrant its own staff person, or maybe not. The new model is very different - staff people are hired to start and run the program from the beginning. Financially, the program becomes a major and risky investment.

This happens for a variety of reasons. In general, volunteerism is becoming harder and harder to find in churches, women are working, people are busier. Most Pastors and Boards do not look past that fact, and decide they must take the financial risk of adding to staff. I contend that there are other reasons as well, and they need to be carefully considered. I think people do not volunteer so readily because: 1) They do not approve or support the new program and/or; 2) They do not feel equipped to participate in the new program and/or; 3) They do not receive any personal fulfillment participating in the new program. Each of those reasons cited is an entire column unto itself, and they are on the list to do so, but right now, I want to concentrate on the effects of this trend.

Usually the hires made to get these newer programs going are part-time and usually they are people within the congregation, or friends of someone already on staff. The problems here are rife. The appearance of nepotism is ugly indeed. Now, of course, no one ever wants to suspect the motives of the people involved, so the nepotism charge is politically dangerous territory. "Well John, I know it appears that way, but you know me, I would never do that, beside, this really is a good idea." The people involved always have the right credentials, everybody already knows them; the start-up time will be cut to nil because the hire is already in the groove. All true statements, but maybe a fresh and outside perspective is what is needed. Maybe existing staff needs someone less safe to challenge their thinking.

We had a rule in Young Life, male leaders do not spend time alone with female kids. The staff guy that trained me did not follow this rule very well and I called him on it. "John, you know me, I would never do that -- besides, as ugly as I am what teenage girl would want to sleep with me?" Well he was ugly. But every poor, lonely, and less than perfect (or believed they were less than perfect) girl in the high school was starving for the attention of an older man, even if he was ugly. A few years after I left Young Life this guy was run out for sleeping with club girls. Two are known publicly, but.... The lesson I learned from this is that most rules exist for a reason, and even if you think you are the exception to the rule, you probably aren't. This includes the rules about nepotism.

Speaking of rules and exceptions...most mainline denominations have very long, extensive, and cumbersome procedures for adding ordained staff. These new hires are all non-ordained, and therefore avoid all that bureaucratic nonsense. That is one of the major appeals to them. They avoid things like having the ruling bodies of the church take sufficient time to consider how the hire REALLY fits into the plans and programs of the church. They allow you to say, we'll find the money somewhere and not have to do all the detailed financial planning needed. In other words, these hires violate a lot of the accepted rules, not just the ones about nepotism. The best people can fail under such circumstances because their job has not been thought through sufficiently.

When the hire comes from within the congregation, I find it really troubling. Usually, it is someone who has worked in or on the program, and "just can't do anymore unless I get paid." I cannot help but be troubled when one's level of service to Jesus Christ is tied to compensation. Paul's First Letter to Timothy talks about "honoring" those that work for the Lord. The sense is; however, something very different from compensation. The sense is one of serving the Lord, and having the people that benefit from that service give a gift of thanks. In other words gifts are rendered in both directions, but that is very different from compensation.

In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul says, "¹¹If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you? ¹²If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ." (NAS) The apostle makes it clear that money can often get in the way of the proclamation of the good news, and by example makes it clear that when that happens, the money should be sacrificed, at great personal cost, but not the proclamation of the Gospel.

Which brings us back to the "old" way of doing things. There is a reason that ministries should have to reach a certain critical mass before professionals are added. It is a simple statement of priorities. Hiring the pros first makes it about paying them. Doing the ministry first makes it about the ministry.

I have far from exhausted this topic. The reasons for a lack of volunteerism discussed above have much more to say, but I am writing a column not a book. Until space and time allow us to explore this more -- God Bless!