Church Business: an oxymoron

At his blog World of Your Making, the Rev. Rick Lord gives his post-General Convention thoughts on reading the book The Missional Leader: Equipping your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk. In doing so, Lord quotes a passage from the book about the difference between a church and a corporation,

"The denominational systems that came into their own in the twentieth century were modeled after and came to look like North American corporate organizations. But a congregation is not a business organization, nor is it meant to be run like a minicorporation through strategic planning and alignment of people and resources around some big plan. The congregation comprises the people of God, called to be formed into a unique social community whose life together is the sign, witness, and foretaste of what God is doing in and for all creation" (The Missional Leader, p. 14).

I remember an annual meeting in an Episcopal Church about a decade ago when the Senior Warden—a well known and quite successful local business owner—described a financial decision made by the vestry as "a bad business decision." He went on to say, "But fortunately we are not a business and it was the right decision so we made it and we stand by it."

It was refreshing to hear how a group of church leaders who came to the vestry largely with their business experience were able to separate out the difference between doing business and being about the business of God's kingdom.

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor + King of Peace Episcopal Church