CHURCH BUSINESS?

There is a certain phrase I hear a lot in Christian circles, and I expect to hear it even more in the next few days, so FYI: The Church is NOT a business.

Walmart is a business.  Bank of America is a business.  The gang of armed boys selling drugs on the corner is a business.

The Church is not a business.   

The Church is the church. 

We are the body of Jesus Christ, the vanguard of the Kingdom of Heaven, a spiritual insurgency in territory occupied by an already defeated force.  The Church is the triage unit where the spiritually sick recover.  We are the lookout tower to which the lost come for direction.  We are the Bride of Christ. The Church is many things, but we are not a business.

Now, the Church does have business to conduct.  The Church does do some business; but that business is conducted as a means not as an end.  The business of church business is necessary to support the purpose and mission of the church  ---- the gospel. 

Consider Walmart.

Walmart provides many services and much philanthropy, but Walmart is not a service.  Walmart is not a charity.  Walmart is a business.  Service and charity are done as part of the overall mission of Walmart to make money and acquire economic power. But make no mistake.  If Walmart discovered that it could make more money and attain more power by ending its food services and ceasing all philanthropy, the shelves would be empty and the grants would be cancelled by the end of the month.  Business is their end.  Service and charity are part of the means. 

But it is not to be so among us.  For the church, charity and the gospel are the ends.  Business is just a means.  So, if the/ a church should discover that it can deliver the gospel and help people without making a financial profit in the process------ shouldn't it do so?

Whenever the prospect of profit is the chief factor in deciding the direction of the/ a church, the fellowship has ceased to understand its purpose.   Churches are not franchises.  We are not Walmart. 

We are the Church. 
Our bottom line isn’t money; it’s souls.  Our mission isn’t to control market share; it’s to free people from spiritual bondage.  Our purpose is not to attain economic or political power; it is to receive and manifest spiritual power.  If we define ourselves otherwise, we lose our identity.

I was watching a show on the Food Network featuring a restaurant housed in a  “converted” church building----- steeples, steps, and repurposed pews intact.  From the outside it looked like a church.  On the inside though, it was just another business.

I pray that we don’t find ourselves likewise converted.  I pray that we do not allow financial necessities to rework our internal purpose.  I pray that we remember who we are.

We are the Church.

And the Church is NOT a business.

Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money].” 

Mark 11: 15     So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16     And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17     Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’ ? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”

18     And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer and consultant for education and ministry.

Call him at 334-288-0577
Email him at atgravestwo2@aol.com
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