https://ubcentral.org/2008/12/02/who-owns-your-church-part-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=who-owns-your-church-part-2 News From The United Brethren in Christ Church Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:22:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://ubcentral.org/2008/12/02/who-owns-your-church-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:38:14 +0000 http://ubcentral.org/?p=256#comment-42 I think Adam’s point is excellent – laity and clergy alike can forget that the Church belongs to Christ. There is always a strong temptation to become the big fish in the small pond. Empire-building can be subtle and seductive, whether for laity or clergy.
However, I offer two observations.
1) More UB churches struggle with “lay ownership” than “pastoral ownership” issues
and
2) God raises up leadership, equippers in particular, for a reason. With that comes authority (in the sense of authorization, not necessarily in the sense of influence).
We have developed a [UB] culture where all too often lay people who think they ought to own the church slap down pastors who begin to lead. They often use a similar argument to “its your vision but I’m not sure its God’s vision”. In reality what they are saying “this is my church and your vision is not my vision”.
Many pastors, aware of our own tendency to run ahead of God, or fearful our own ego was behind our motivation, tend to back away, afraid that maybe there was just cause in the accusation.
I would suggest that the reality is that if God has truly placed us as His overseers of His flock in a particular time and place, then our vision is the preferred vision and “control” so long as we are obediently following where Christ leads.

]]> https://ubcentral.org/2008/12/02/who-owns-your-church-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-41 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:23:34 +0000 http://ubcentral.org/?p=256#comment-41 A lot of pastors talk about how “controllers” in the congregation think it is their church. But I think we pastors get that way too. I can see from personal experience that when it came to pursuing programing to fit our vision, sometimes, I did it with out asking God. Then, when it would flop, I’d blame God and ask Him why He caused me to waste trust, goodwill, and resources on a failed plan. The truth is that I wasn’t asking God what He thought. He gives the vision for the church, but we also need to consulte Him when it comes to implementation. Like you said, it’s His church!

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