The Church is a what?

I’ve been hearing it all my life. “The church is a business.” It’s funny, I never read that in the scriptures. I’ve heard very good men whom I highly respect say this; men who would are committed to that old phrase “speak where the Bible speaks...” And I’ve heard all sorts of practices and concepts buttressed up by this concept.

Typically I’l cringe a little and sort of give in - “yeah.” But unless someone can show me I think those days are past. The church is many things, but it is not a business and to try to run it that way or cast it in that light demeans all that God intended it to be, lessens that which Christ shed His blood and closes doors to many. It is an army, a body, a “people”, a family, a kingdom, but I don’t see how we can call it a business.

And, now let me really go out on a limb. Some would counter “yes, but we must practice good business principles.” Well, I understand what you mean, but may I respectfully say - NO!

Before you pick up stones to cast let me explain, cause I think I understand what you are getting at. Yes, it looks like there are principles in the business world that we can learn from but truthfully, the exact opposite is true. The truth is if the business world has a practice they are doing that the church would do well to learn - they, the business world, learned that principle from the church, the church’s influence or the church’s Book. Go ahead, bring it: “Being honest” - that one’s too easy. “Pay your bills responsibly” - Romans 13:8. “Do what you say you’re going to do” - Ephesians 4:25. Select men who are good business men to be elders - sorry, I won’t give you that one, that’s what has gotten the church in trouble in too many places. Selecting businessmen instead of God’s men who might happen to be good at business.

You see what happens when we go with this false premise is that we begin to view our leaders as man who are in business instead of men who are in shepherding. We begin to make decisions based on what is best for the business instead of what is best for the individual. Worse we begin to operate based on the “bottom line”! We begin to inadvertently develop the dog eat dog, step on others, strive for the top mentality of the world. We end up “firing” the failures instead of giving the second, third, etc chance the Lord commands. And we forget the very nature of the Lord’s bride.

And a lot of churches with their mission statements, organizational charts, method of selecting leaders, budgeting techniques and marketing plans are looking a lot more like a business of man than a Design of God.

Yes, sometimes the decisions we make will look like ones that are “good business practices” but that will be just because the business world happened to have learned a principle from God. God gave us in His Book the principles we need to “run” the church and think we can improve on that by some man’s craftily laid “business model” is, well, blasphemy.

So, I’d like some of you to argue with me. What have I missed in this?