Who owns the Church?
Who owns the Church?
I was talking with a fellow Pastor the other day and he was sharing about a problem that plagues the church that he pastors. He identified the problem as ownership. Members were giving him a hard time because believed that, that Church belonged to them. Time is being diverted from developing the people of God to fulfill the mandate, as given in what is known as “The Great Commission,” to preaching about the fundamentals of the church. I listened because this problem is not unique to this pastor but it is also plaguing other parishes and parishioners as well. The troubled pastor described some of the actions as being confrontational. This perturbs me; for it is quite evident that the owner of the church is Christ Jesus, who died for the church. The pastor happens to only be the steward of the church. This brings about with it the responsibility to care for as well as give leadership to the church in the ways of Christ (this is just a synopsis). The people in the structure of the church are members/disciples. This gives credence to them being servants (the pastor is a servant as well) who have been disciple to carry and conduct themselves in the way of the Master Teacher who is Jesus the Christ.
Scripture clearly indicates that Jesus is the chief corner stone we are merely lively stones. Ownership status can never be obtained by any man or woman. It cannot be obtained through longevity or through family. This is clearly evident in Holy text. This is the Christians blueprint for how church gets done. Yet I am sad to report that these biblical truths are deliberately ignored or they are selectively followed for convenience. The absence of the bible for governance is unequivocally the absence of the Holy Trinity (God the Father/God the Son/God the Holy Spirit). This absence has led to a perpetual miscalculation and misled assumptions that create tensions in the church along with confrontation. What happens in these instances is that the energies of the church are now focused intently on the fundamental basic knowledge that all Christians should have and that is that the church belongs to Jesus Christ. And it is not what the By-Laws and Constitution say that governs the body on the contrary; it is what the bible says. Let me clarify here. I am not suggesting a throwing out of the Church Constitution and By-Laws. They are not evil in and of themselves. They are a useful instrument if and only if they are birthed out of the bible, reference back to the bible and are subject to the bible. Another pastor offered comically, yet with some validity, that the reason we (Christians) refer to the Constitution over the Bible is because we know what the Constitution says and not what the Bible, the Holy Word of God says.
So when a statement like we’ve been here longer than you and my family has always been here arise remember that Christ died for His Church and it belongs to Him. Our responsibility is to merely stewards over what is not ours and disciples to our Master Teacher living by and according to how he has lived.
It is not ours it belongs to Him. It is not yours it belongs to Him. Let’s talk. What you think?
