America Turned It Into a Business

Another book I am reading in my Transforming Contemporary Culture class is The Church Between Gospel & Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America, which is a collection of essays edited by George R. Hunsberger and Craig Van Gelder.

One of the prevalent themes this book explores in the North American culture is individualism. Here are a couple of thoughts:

The erosion of the church from being a covenant community, along with its transformation into a crowd, club, or corporation, has made Christianity largely a spectator sport or a business activity. (pp. 148-9)

Which points to this footnote:

Richard Halverson puts it succinctly: When the Greeks got the gospel, they turned it into a philosophy; when the Romans got it, they turned it into a government; when the Europeans got it, they turned it into a culture; and when the Americans got it, they turned it into a business. (p. 149)

What a sad and sobering thought.

Comments

[Richard Clarke]

Good post Tamara,

I have recently had several opportunities, not necessarily by choice, to view the decision processes of several churches and Craig's book, and your comments, hit the nail right on the head.

Even as I am currently involved in a church plant, and trying to not ask for anything in exchange for the time and effort that we are putting out in the process, there is the temptation to quantify the time spent and expect that the payback will be temporal rather than eternal. Because that is the expectation that has been raised historically in our society.

This subject, and the discussions it engenders, are becoming a more significant topic when Christian workers gather and/or discuss the events and processes that make up the workload of the typical Christian leader.

My question is this: If Christian workers, pastors etc., did not get paid and therefore could not do much of the work of the ministry that currently they do, would that in and of itself remove much of the excuse for those in our fellowships to avoid those same needs and begin to re energize the chosen? Or, would the work not get done at all?

[Henriet Schapelhouman]

It is a sobering thought to think that the church has been turned into a business in the United States. I served as a volunteer pastor (by choice) from about 1989 through 1999. Though I approached the work as if I was paid staff, many people in the church did not view it in the same light. Currently, there does not seem to be a system in most churches that values Christian workers and their contributions so that people serve with joy and commitment.

I think, in response to Richard's comment, that just removing paid staff will not in and of itself create a community where the rest of the people in church will adopt their God-given roles and assignments. It seems that a better system of honoring, ownership and celebration needs to be created before people might re-engage. As Reggie McNeal puts it, it's a scoreboard issue. What gets measured and reported will receive the attention and rewards. People are used to paying attention to the scoreboard. Once we measure and celebrate individual contributions - in the community and in the church - I think people might participate rather than spectate.

That's what we're counting on at Semper Vita. We want to give people an opportunity to find their right fit in the church and in the community. We do this by helping people discover their wiring and then helping them to find an appropriate serving opportunity. We believe that everyone has a role to play that God designed.

[Joe Miller]

Hi, I just found your site because of the Halverson quote. I live down south of you near Tacoma. Nice to meet a neighbor.

Hey, considering some of your discussion of American individualism, I thought you might like to read this bit of history that shows, in large part, how the church became a business.

http://www.morethancake.org/2007/08/church-in-crisis-introduction.html