Disorganized Religion

This blog is being posted after I have taken the mandatory 24 hours to cool down about the events I'm going to comment on. A very dear and competent friend of mine was fired from his ministry position due to it not being a "good fit." The church was one of those multi-site, techno-churches that is supposed to have its act together, with one of the favorite pulpit guys in the tribe. My friend is one of the most inventive, gifted, dedicated young men I have ever met. He is enthusiastic, hard working, focused, and Spirit driven in the best sense of the word. So what happened? Who knows? I'm betting he can't give you a clear description. So here are some of my observations about church "management"
1. Any organization that leaves the final decision-making to a group of untrained amateurs is bound to fail. Individually, these guys can be the nicest guys in the world, and usually competent decision-makers. Put them in a room together, and you end up with some of the most knuckle-headed decisions, that individually they would never condone or enact.
2. In the rare cases where the protocol of the church is left to ministers, they rarely have management skills, and pile on conflict-avoiders and people pleasers, it becomes easier to fire an associate than to tell a member (or group of members) to grow up.
3. The preservation of the organization is more important than the individuals involved. Have you ever seen a situation where the leadership group took the bold stand of saying, "these are our guys, we are staying with them." By the way, have you ever noticed that when a minister is hired it is Spirit-led, but there is no Spirit when the firing takes place? I wonder where all that goes, was he brought in by the Spirit? if so, what right do elders/senior ministers/deacons have to fire him? Look it up, there is no mention in scripture for that kind of authority, none. But even if you do fire him, if the concern is spread equally between members and ministers (particularly the one fired) have you ever heard of the management group staying in contact with the fired minister to make sure he is okay? Too bad that the concept of "shepherding" gets tossed, this is when it is needed the most. Beverly and I have gone two years since we were bounced out of ministry and not one elder from that group has called to say, "you guys okay? found a church home? Can we help?" We've heard from members, a lot of them, no one from the leadership.
The ministry casualty rate in churches today would make a battle-hardened platoon squeamish. you ever wonder why it takes so long to fill a ministry position? Because there are fewer and fewer ministry candidates that are still naive enough to stick their heads in that crocodile's mouth. How sad, how epically sad for the kingdom.
anyway, for all you guys/gals still in that world, Godspeed. You are going to need it.
Don