Body or Business?
by R.C. Sproul Jr.

Perhaps nowhere is the battle between the corporate worldview versus a corporate worldview (or to put it more clearly, a business mindset versus a body mindset) more heated than in the church. The body of Christ is being told that the only way to survive in these trying times, the only way to grow, is to treat church members as customers, pastors as CEO's and elders as management teams. One of the largest and fastest growing evangelical churches in Orlando not long ago required of its elders that they read The E-Myth, by business consultant Michael Gerber. Mr. Gerber, an unbeliever, writes in the book that the problem with failed businesses is that everyone thinks they are different. His model for business success is the turn-key franchise, wherein employees are only interchangeable parts, nothing more essentially than trained monkeys (and he includes swell tips on how to make sure the monkeys feel good about being monkeys).

This particular church is not that unusual (in fact, like other franchises there are churches just like it in every town). The only difference between their approach and most other churches is they skipped the middleman. Most churches afflicted with the church growth disease catch it from believers who write books and jet around the globe as consultants. Usually only the consultants read consultants like Gerber and men of his ilk, give the theory a quick dunk in the baptismal font, and deliver the good news from Madison Avenue.

The consultant I prefer is the apostle Paul. He gives us a host of analogies for the church. We are called to train like an athlete, we are called the bride of Christ. We are, more often than anything else, compared to the body. Nowhere, however, does the Apostle suggest, "The church is like a business..."

In a business model what do you do when one of your cogs breaks down? You get rid of it. None of the other cogs are terribly concerned about this broken cog. With a body things are different. When a part of it is injured, the whole body feels the pain. When my feet ache my eyes don't without out, "Well, we're felling fine, and that is what counts." In the business model none of the cogs even know what is happening with the other cogs. In fact, when the business model "succeeds" the result is often a church so large that the cogs can't possibly even know each other. But it's worth it all to have all those "giving units" (business-church speak for families that know how to use an offering plate).

The church growth gurus, of course, are not the only guilty parties. Those in the pews often also have more of a business than a body mentality. These are the good folks who see themselves as customers, and who affirm that the customer is always king. These are the folks who visit churches "shopping" for one with all the right features. It's not enough to have the Word preached, the sacraments taken and discipline practiced (in fact discipline for these folks usually goes in the con column in the church shopping calculus). Is the youth group vibrant? Does it offer convenient times to meet (it has been reported that Bill Hybels, the guru to beat all gurus, recently created a video marketing his Saturday evening service as ideal for those who like to hit the links on Sunday) Is the pastor close enough to David Letterman to make it worth an hour's investment?

When the church is a business, the body withers. If I see myself as a consumer I will be no closer to those around me in the pews than I am to those who shop at the same grocery store as I. And then of course I'll have to try another store, or church which provides good fellowship.