A REVOLUTION OF NOBODIES

One of my Facebook friends posted a question on one of our denominational group pages.  She vented her frustration with pastors and leaders in the church.  And then she referred to herself as a “nobody” in the denomination.   This is my reply.

I'm a pastor, but I haven't been in ministry very long.  I'm not a presiding elder or a bishop.  I've been a CME all my life, but  most of that lifetime was spent as a lay member of the church.  So, I feel pretty low on the totem pole of authority in the church, but I have had a chance to observe some of those way higher up than me do their work.
And here's what I see for whatever it is/ isn't worth.

 

We have

(1) UNSPIRITUAL CHURCH PRIORITIES. At annual conference the reports of many new souls saved get a nod, but the reports of paying financial assessment "round across the sheet" get a standing ovation.

We're taught and prompted to care more for the dollars than for the souls.   And that is what "successful" ministry (supposedly) looks like.

This leads to:

(2)  INCONSISTENT BOTTOM-UP EXPECTATIONS.  From that twisted concept of successful ministry local churches come up with inconsistent ideas of what a pastor should be.   

From the bottom-up, a "good" pastor means something different to different congregations.    Some churches will let you steal the furniture and even carry it out to your truck for you just as long as you give 'em a good hoop on Sunday morning. 

Down the street, the next church expects a leader who can guide multiple community-based outreach initiatives, but turn a blind eye to lay people who treat the church treasury as a personal investment account.

Around the corner, they want absolute integrity but they refuse to do anything to save another soul or add another member beyond the 4 they have.

One town over, they only respond to pastors who cuss out the official board and manipulate the internal drama, and they'll raise a million dollars for a preacher like that.

Which result in:

(3) LIMTED TOP-DOWN OPTIONS.  From the top-down, bishops and elders work with what local churches produce to supply the convoluted and inconsistent demand for "good" pastors.

A bishop may personally disagree with a preacher's approach, but if that preacher has produced the membership and financial numbers that we applaud, , plus congregations loved them; how can a bishop justify setting that person aside for someone who can't produce those same numbers?

And then there's the what-about-so-and-so argument which sounds like: "Oh, you want me to stop because I 'borrowed' a few dollars from the benevolent account.  What about that preacher who slept with the entire alto section of the choir?"

Thus causing

(4) THE NOBODY EFFECT. Watching all of this happen from outside the bar of delegates and from outside the voting majority at church conferences does make you feel like a "nobody." 

You think, "Does nobody else see how crazy this is?"

"Does nobody else realize that we're arguing about minutia while people are starving to death across the street?"
"Does nobody else want to actually learn more about God?"

And conference after conference when nobody else seems to see what you see, you think, "Well maybe I'm the nobody."

Simply reviving that feeling year after year isn’t a viable solution. So we need something that goes deeper than revival.    

We need:

(5) A REVOLUTION.  Revival’s bring back the current state with fresh energy.   Revolutions change things at a fundamental level.  

We need a revolution that deposes the financial report as the most important report at annual conference and installs the review of evangelism as the chief concern. (Oh, wait.  We don’t review evangelism in any meaningful way at annual conference.)

We need a revolution that makes Biblical mastery the non-negotiable standard for every minister on trial/ would-be CME preacher.  And part of that revolution is understanding that getting a theological degree is not the same as understanding, knowing, and BELIEVING the Word of God.

We need a revolution in which the many, many, many preachers and lay persons who just want to serve Christ can stop choosing their words carefully and can speak boldly in the assemblies of the Lord.

The problem is that revolutions are inherently messy and disruptive.  There are always unexpected consequences, and there is the possibility that along the way the revolution will itself become as corrupt as the status quo it wants to overturn. 

Revolution is risky, but we don’t  really have a choice.   
 Well, actually we have 2 choices:

(Option A) Continue this death spiral of decreased memberships and diminished spiritual integrity.  Eventually a map of the CME Church will show mostly empty buildings with a handful of massively thriving mega-churches in America, and probably a vibrant network of churches in Africa that feel isolated from the Biblically inconsistent congregations over here.
At that point, the big churches will break away, the African churches will break away, the little churches will die, and some theology student will write about  us for her doctoral thesis.

(Option B) Revolution.

But hey, that’s just how I see it; and I’m nobody, too.

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

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can read more on Pastor Graves's personal blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  .

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