Betrayal Happens

“If you haven’t been betrayed in the church, you’ve been living on a desert island.” Dan Allender, author of Leading with a Limp: Take Full Advantage of Your Most Powerful Weakness and Leading with a Limp: Turning Your Struggles into Strengths. In February Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois hosted an arts conference for Christian artists, which was simulcast all across the country. Speakers, pastors, and teachers are given permission to speak truth at conferences and retreats in ways they can’t from their own pulpit. Dan Allender was one of the presenters at the arts conference, and this was just one of his many quotes that punched me right in the gut. Church betrayal is a reality that is so often hushed in the local churches. Look, bring this truth out into the light so we can deal with it. There is freedom that comes when we acknowledge the truth of our weaknesses and then work together towards change and strength.

Willow Creek Community Church is a vibrant, growing church. While the focus of their attention has shifted a bit in recent years (wisely so), they still seem as determined as ever to give the artist a place to serve in the body of Christ. I grew up in a church where drums were not allowed in the church sanctuary, and going to the movies was strongly discouraged. I was not allowed to take dance lessons as a child because dancing was “against our religion”, and the idea of ever performing a play or monologue on the church platform was stuff of which fairy tales were made! The gift of eternal life is the most amazing gift God ever gave His kids, but talent is a close second. Whether you are an actor, dancer, painter, builder, architect, gardener, clothing designer, or short order cook, you are an artist. If you create – you are an artist.

There has been, is, and always will be a huge amount of discourse in the arts based ministries of the church. The reasons for this phenomenon are many and varied, but one thing that cannot be disputed – the heart of the artist is a sensitive one, and working with artists requires great patience and wisdom. I’ve heard people refer to the theatre as “the devil’s playground”, rock and roll as “the devil’s music”, and Hollywood as “the devil’s home”. Listen, no matter how dark the room, God’s light will always break through! It is our job to bring God’s light into the darkness. WE have kept God out of the arts. WE have done that! God does not want to be left out. We say, “Until the whole world knows”, but then we parenthetically add, “except Hollywood and The Ice Capades – no good Christian would be caught dead there.” God has called the artist to go into the art jungle!

The music and/or arts department at church is as much a jungle as the farthest corner of Africa, or the tiniest island of Indonesia. When I see betrayal happen in the church, I see it happen most often in the music and/or arts department. We argue over music styles, stage time, and the relevance of skits and dramas in the service. We disagree over the ratio of ability vs. heart (this is a whole other topic!), and we make assumptions about one another’s motivations. The artist is overly sensitive, wildly passionate, and sometimes emotionally volatile. Instead of focusing on the strengths, working through disagreements, and coming together as a team, we resort to all forms of betrayal. Shame on us!

Get off the pew and speak the truth! Betrayal happens! That is the truth! Don’t hide from it, don’t sweep it under the sanctuary carpet or bury it under the thrust stage. Deal with it! Get off the pew and deal with it.

What is our Business Model?

Every year Willow Creek ministries, which operates out of the Chicago, IL area, sponsors something called, "The Leadership Conference". This is an incredible 3 day event that happens in Mid-August each year and is simulcast all over the country (and other parts of the world as well). The Leadership Conference is an amazing time of challenging inspiration. Leaders share their visions, their successes, and their failures, so that church and community leaders might learn. Church leaders have been attending this impressive event every Summer for many years.

A few years ago, a large contingency of Spiritual leaders decided to no longer attend the Willow Creek event because they were offended by the non-christian business leaders that had been asked to speak. Apparently they didn't see the value in learning from the unsaved. We can be so arrogant!

Jennifer has been on staff at a church for a year and a half. She was hired to assist the part-time music pastor and as part of her duties she created the screen media for each of the Sunday services. She created the files which projected the words of the worship tunes up on the screens as well as the pastor's notes, and she chose the creative backgrounds as well. She's very good at what she does and her talent and intuition is appreciated by staff and parishioners alike. She is, in fact, so good at what she does, that she has been asked to create the screen media for all services held at the church in the past year and a half - Christmas Eve, Woman's Ministry events, Men's breakfasts, etc...

Six months ago a new Senior Pastor was hired and he immediately added services and responsibilities to Jennifer's plate. Jennifer's hours doubled, but her pay remained the same. She was becoming exhausted and overwhelmed. In the "real world", large successful companies would never get away with making these kinds of demands on their employees, but this is church. Sometimes it seems that we translate "heart for ministry" to "slave labor".

Last week Jennifer went in to talk with her boss. She brought with her a list of ideas - ways they could simplify and streamline, and ways to be a bit more efficient. Her boss listened and wrote down all her ideas and seemed to be sympathetic to Jennifer's exhaustive plight.

After listening and making notes, he looked at Jennifer and said, "The pastor has decided to move in a different direction and you are being fired."

Jennifer loves her job and was excited about the new pastor and the new direction he will be taking the church. She was really looking forward to being a small part of this new adventure. This is not the way you treat faithful, honest, gifted employees.

"The world" doesn't treat employees this way and it is no wonder that the Willow Creek team invites un-churched world business leaders to teach the church. But shouldn't it be the other way around? The church should be setting the standard and the business model for the world. After all, Jesus himself is our teacher and role model.

It is often said that if churches were run like businesses they would be so much more successful. Get off the pew people. We need to stop running our good people ragged, then discarding them when we decide to go in a new direction. Anyone who is willing to work twice the hours she's been contracted to work for the good of the ministry, is someone who is willing to move and grow in a new direction.

Jennifer has the talent, the motivation, the drive, AND the heart for service and ministry. This is another example of a good person being used, worn out, then thrown away and unnecessarily wounded. Get off the pew Church! We should be setting the standard--the business model. Get off the pew.