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In my denomination (conservative church of Christ), [the offering is] actually a part of the communion service. And if you examine a typical budget, the vast majority of the collected funds go to support the underworked, overpaid "minister." And most congregations have more than one. Pulpit minister. Youth minister. Family life minister. Associate minister. Involvement minister. Education minister. And for the life of me, I can't figure out what any of those guys do. And when all is said and done, when you examine the annual budget, most of the money goes to support the guys who, nobody can figure out what they do. Because they definitely don't "labor in word and doctrine." The rest will likely go to pay for the air conditioning, padded pews, expensive real estate, gymnasiums, excercise facilities, etc.

Sounds like you have a huge problem with the ministers and accountants hired by your congregation!

It's not just the church of Christ. We actually get much of what we do (various ministers, the Sunday school program, revivals/gospel meetings, fellowship halls, gymnasiums, etc) from the very denominations we denounced for so many years.

The Church began in Acts 2. Over the 2,000 years since then, it has morphed into some big business, corporate model that bears no similarity to its beginnings. That's the problem.

Members don't want to study. So we hire "preachers" to do our studying, teaching, thinking, for us. And as soon as the membership gets stupid, then they're ripe for any kind of unscriptural innovation or doctrine.

They're also ripe for preachers to do less and less. Modern preachers are notorious for preaching the same sermons over and over. They just stick in different illustrations, and most members never catch on. Preachers are no different from anyone else. They will do only what they have to, to get by. And as the preacher goes, so goes the congregation.

We need to get away from the corporate church model. Remember, in Romans 16, Paul greeted Aquilla and the church in his "house."