A Pet Peeve
I have a pet peeve. Well, likely a good many but one which comes to mind right now because it’s related to my various fields of interest.
I’ve attended a fair number of churches in my time, either for a visit or, significantly more rarely, a longer stay. I’ve now made churches my profession of sorts, though not being paid by a church does mitigate that reality I suppose. I’ve also helped out in other creative projects and participated in arenas in which the mediocre thrived (my high school) and the amazing become more so (my college). I’ve seen a curious thing over the years which surprises me. The great things that happen are often because the people involved are doing something for themselves, that is they are making something, or building something, or leading something which they enjoy for its own sake. They would go to it even if they didn’t lead.
On the other end I’ve seen a larger number of people putting together projects or events or whole congregations which would in no way attract them otherwise. They expect others to participate in something they themselves wouldn’t participate in. Pastors often lead churches they would never, ever attend. Projects are put together which hardly any of the participants would really enjoy if they weren’t responsible for something.
It’s sad. And as I’ve noticed it over the years, part of my own philosophy has been to be real cognizant if what I do would actually intrigue me if someone else had done it. Would I attend a church service I put together? Would I visit a website, or read something I wrote, if I wasn’t so personally involved with myself?
This has made it hard because over the years I’ve occasionally come to the stark realization that “no” I wouldn’t in fact attend the place I am working at, or visit the project I am helping with.
Imagine what the Church would be like if instead of the concerns always being what “someone” else should do, each and every pastor or church worker actually helped create the sort of place they would attend even outside of leadership.
I used to go to a church like that, where the founding pastor created a context to address what he saw was missing in other contexts. He made a place he wanted to attend, and others with like minds also, it turned out, wanted to attend. Unfortunately, this pastor left, and the church “grew up” or some such thing and became exactly the kind of church it was originally founded to contrast. Sad, so now churches are springing up in response to the kind of church this church has become. It’s a vicious cycle, mostly it seems, because the leadership don’t help create the kinds of places which would attract them. Maybe this is a bit what Jesus meant when he said it’s better to be a servant. Servants work from the bottom up, for others, rather than top down to others.
It seems a fine model, which at its heart is the key bit about such places being from beginning to end a place where leaders themselves fully enjoy the whole show, whether or not they are leading. How many pastors would attend their own church if they were not paid?
It’s likely a very, very small percentage. Which, I think, says something profound about what’s going wrong in our communities.
