The Church is a beacon of light and hope to the community, and even to the world. For two thousand years the Church has built hospitals to heal the sick. They’ve built orphanages and provided adoption agencies to give children a home off the streets. They’ve dug wells in third world countries, and sent doctors overseas where medicine cannot be found. They’ve worked with people to break their addictive behaviors. They’ve provided counseling for troubled people and couples. They’ve comforted families during times of painful death, and celebrated with families during times of joyful birth. They’ve provided the foundation for education and have been prolific in publications. They’ve been a part of changing people’s lives. More importantly, they’ve provided the framework for a community to connect with God.
If the Church’s accomplishment is a banner flying high, then the Church’s failure is the black eye, exposed for all to see. We’re not speaking of missteps, where the Church fails to show compassion, or fails to close the back door and members are lost. We’re talking about systemic failure that has tarnished the Church, both locally and world-wide.
Three words come together that may stand at the root of the Church’s darker side: Power, Politics, and Protection.
- Power is the ability to manipulate or control the direction of the Church, or its membership. Leadership uses their power to force people in line (Mk. 10:42) instead of serving them. They will resort to intimidate, threaten, and verbally assault people to comply with their wishes. Being right is more important than doing right. Members exercise their power through attendance and contribution. The fact is money talks, and congregations need people in the pews and a means to finance ministries. Members resort to manipulation in order to achieve their own personal agenda.
- Politics skews right and wrong, and justice is lost. Politics involve the abuse of power through key individuals. Maybe they have money. Maybe they have influence. The result is that certain subjects are not addressed, and certain individuals are never confronted. Too many preachers have been forced to sell out their own integrity for fear of offending the wrong members of a church; truth has often been sacrificed for position.
- Protection is a Biblical mandate, but only in regard to the weak and vulnerable (Jam. 1:27). However, when certain members, because of money, position or family connections, commit indiscretions that are covered up, then protection is flipped on its heels. For years the Catholic Church protected priests who abused boys in their diocese. The abuse fractured the Church, but the cover-up sent shockwaves beyond the Church.
In an era when Church’s reputation has been tarnished, when Churches are viewed as irrelevant, and when the good the Church has accomplished has been outweighed by the bad it has done, the Church needs to be proactive in securing its own integrity. John tells us that “light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:5). Light needs to continually shine in and on the church in order to prevent the dark side of the church to overcome the light.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e. Only God is Glorified!)