Reorganizing Religion: Why the Church Bureaucracies Have to Go

Touchstone ^ | September 2004 | David Mills

[sauerkraut]

A few years ago, a high official in the Church of England announced that the new prayer books would cost the parishes millions of pounds but the Church of England would make a small profit. It was a slip, of course, but one that revealed how deeply those at the center of the Western churches identify their central structures with the churches themselves.

This is a very bad mistake, because these structures have an unfair advantage over the local and personal, from which the most effective, and generally the most orthodox, ministry come. They take from them more than they give, and misdirect their resources and energies even when acting quite sincerely and with the best of intentions. They are the sort of friend who “for your own good,” weeds your library, changes the settings on your computer, replaces your furniture, and rearranges your finances—and then charges you a large fee for doing so because “we’re all in this together.”

[Destro]

I don't know what's wrong with the English. Just end the thing and return to the Christian church of your ancestors:

THE FALL OF ORTHODOX ENGLAND

[redgolum]

This isn't just about England, but can be applied to any church body (or business for that matter).

Organizations go in cycles. The first few generations tend to be innovators and have high ideals and enthusiasm. They collect a group of like minded and oriented people to centralize resources and manpower. That is why bureaucracies get built, to cover all the bases and put people in positions where their gifts are most suited.

The Apostles did this when they appointed others to take care of the widows and the poor. Bureaucracy is not a bad thing in and of itself.

It gets bad when the process or system becomes an end unto itself. Anyone who has worked in a large business or government can testify to this. Often time the purpose of the committee or department is to grow its own little empire, with the true function of the group as a secondary or tertiary priority.