I see hundreds of comments on media by church people saying things like... "I think the devil is laughing over all of this." The idea that because people are talking about this stuff it some how is creating a black eye on "The Church".
Oh good grief.
Here was my reply at one point.
"I think the enemy laughs even more when it's not exposed and found out, because the abuse continues. Silence and secrets are what cause sin to grow. I think the enemy is shaking in fear, not laughing, because of this exposure. Now believers can build a loving community with loving leaders.
Why is it we think the world is shocked and surprised when some of the churches leaders have issues?
We think it puts a black eye on "Church". I don't think the world is surprised at all. This Forbes article seems to ask why we are not questioning our power-centric leadership models and leaders more often. No one in the community is looking down on the church when they expose and address abusers or narcissistic leaders. They applaud us.
I think we Christians are more concerned with the image of "the church" than non attenders are. We are more shocked at the revelations than they are because we have an unwritten rule: hush it up, sweep it up as quickly and quietly as we can, bury it, move on, pretend it never happened, and never never ever talk about such things ever.
And then we invite people to this lie - A large church that never has messy relational issues and dynamics? Oh really? This stuff is not really shocking.... it's actually normal. It just has bigger fall out in multi-site popular churches and we sit up and notice because the more people know about us in the good, the more people know about us in the bad.
Anyway, I personally do not see much gloom in this. Mark will recover, Mars hill will continue. The believers leaving will be in other communities, those seeking Jesus will be taught up front that they need to seek Jesus, not celebrity.
Jesus still stands."
The other lesson in all of this should cause us to examine the affects of persecution and money. We are ministering at the upper edge of affordability in the west. Typically, 90% of our money is required to prop up that building, programs and staff salaries we are juggling. There is little left for "Go to all Nations", we have our hands full floating this church structure we inherited. It's stating a reality, not a value judgment.
We are not persecution proof.
Knock out our leaders and many things fall, or simply will lack someone to "run it". A few members leave, and we are in a major financial crisis.
Tamper with our money flow (Government) and most of our institutional forms will fall.
Are we really that easy to topple over as a church body in the west?
How would we build a little differently if we considered a day when we could not build public structures and just had to live one on one discipleship? I think these things should at least be in the back of our minds. Because, we have forgotten that though the church has this stuff, it does not NEED much of this stuff. How much does people discipling other people, and meeting together as the body really cost in the end?
Learning from Church in China.
Take out our pastors, and we still gather because we are all pastors (Priesthood of all believers)
Take out our leaders and we still have vision. Because we all seeking Jesus' will and seek to serve others.
Take away our buildings, We have homes, or we can meet in two's or three's anywhere.
Take away our money. Well, and we discover bible study, relational discipleship, prayer, and helping others with the sweat of our brow are, in the end, surprisingly, all free. We don't need to gather as much money as a group, and now we release people to sow generously into the needs of people around them in each individual mission field, or people can pool together resources for a common mission.
Does not take much for church to survive in the end.
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