Escaping the Machine

 

One of the dangers for any organization is that it can put promoting the organization over the purposes for which the organization exists. The Christian church is not immune to this tendency, which I call the machine mentality. We can put increasing the size and possessions of the organization over the reason for which the organization exists. I have written earlier of this concept on the organizational level. But here I want to deal with it on the personal level. How do we as individuals avoid being pulled into this way of thinking?

The primary thing we need to remember is what our purpose is. The purpose of the Christian church is to build up believers in the faith (Colossians 1:28,29; Ephesians 4:11-16; Romans 12:3-8) and to invite others to embrace the message of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15). This should result in believers loving God and their neighbor (Matthew 23:36-40; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3) and reaching out to help others in a tangible way (1 John 3:17; Luke 10:25-37; Galatians 6:9,10). That is not necessarily the same thing as an increase in numbers and finances. But it is easy to confuse the two and to assume that because an church is growing organizationally, it must be growing spiritually. If often takes hard and careful thinking to distinguish these.

Therefore, as individuals we need to look carefully at our activities and involvements. We need to ask, is this carrying out God's purposes or merely furthering the organization? If we do this, we may find ourselves in conflict with those who see promoting the organization as paramount and expect people just to conform. There are some in leadership who may expect people just to conform. There are leaders who look for yes-men who simply affirm their agenda. Now there is a place to respect those in authority over us (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12,13; 1 Timothy 5:17-20). There is also a point at the opposite extreme where we need to serve God rather than men (Acts 4:19,20; 5:29; Galatians 2:11-16). But there is a considerable space between these that calls for thoughtful, rather that mindless, obedience. And an attitude which  looks beyond the mere welfare of the organization and sees its real purpose.