What is the "Leadership Model" of Your Church


I remember the first time I heard a preacher in my church at the time refer to his "leadership style." It sounded just like the buzz words that rotated through academia. Every few years there would be required seminars on the bureaucratic buzz words of the years. When I run into friends still in the academy I like to ask what the current buzz words are. 

It turns out the pastor at that time, and probably pastors everywhere, attended "leadership conferences" where the presenters are not other preachers but are corporate executives. The corporate buzz words and corporate concepts have been inserted into churches.

The link is a preacher who laments this trend. He has attended many such conferences himself.

The link author believes this corporate kind of leadership is bringing down Christianity. He notes that the rate of sexual abuse and dishonesty among megachurch Protestant preachers is much higher than the population average. He explains what he thinks is the source of this terrible behavior.

At the top of the heap in corporations is a personality type. It is a person who has confidence and thinks well of him/herself. Corporations are always eating each other so to stay on top of competing firms risks have to be taken. Thus, the best corporate CEO's are by nature risk takers.

The presenters at church leadership conferences are these vary people, self confident, self focused and risk taking corporate executives . If ever there were characteristics made for abuse of other people, including sexual abuse, these are the ones, the link author believes.

It is almost unthinkable how much collection plate money is going to pay for travel and fees for preachers and board members to attend these "leadership" conferences. Preacher Bill Hybels' annual conferences were so large he apparently could live well on the revenue itself and not need his preachers salary. His net worth was over $10 million when sexual abuse brought him down. It seems like there is a new huge personality every week. 

While sexual abuse and the incompetent way it was handled make bigger headline, megachurch Protestant abuse is perhaps even more common. Like the Catholic issue, it has helped bring down the popularity of Christianity in the U.S.

Comments

  1. Bryan KMarch 2, 2021 at 3:31 AM

    I don't think equating the concept of "leadership", which is a legitimate academic discipline, with corruption is the correct tact to take. The concept of leadership transcends corporate profits into everyday life. People can exercise leadership skills in the way they plan a social night out, in the way a family is run, or even coaching a sports team.

    I believe that there is actually something of a revolution occurring in corporate America right now, where corporate leaders are learning that these leadership skills are important for corporate success in regards to employee perception as well as in regards to public perception.

    I know little about how religious institutions are run, but I imagine a similar situation is at play. People have figured out that scaring people into submission only works for a little while. Meanwhile, the age-old practice of dividing and conquering only works so long as the main group stays large enough for additional sub groups to be "divided".

    In other words, I view this as a good thing.

    ReplyDelete

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