The news just hit that another fabulously popular megapastor has been fired, apparently because of a long-standing, toxic culture of absolute power. I’m not very old, but I’ve already watched three cycles of this—a pastor who becomes THE guy to listen to, builds up a huge following, and then disintegrates in a blaze of glory. And these weren’t false teachers or prosperity gospel people either. They were legitimately gifted people with passable doctrine, preaching some great sermons.
I don’t think the contemporary church’s struggle is anything anomalous in the big picture of things. Take a look at the history of Israel, what the New Testament predicts (Matt. 24:5–13; 2 Tim. 3:13), or church history. People slip up because they’re people. The marvel is not how conspicuously we blow it but that we ever do anything but blow it. Also that God manages to put up with us.
But I do think there is a contemporary foible that leads, among other things, to these catastrophes. Why do churches need to have 12 site campuses with everybody linked up by video feed so they can drink from the pure font of one guy’s leadership? Is that one guy so special that we need him to be at the center of a sprawling franchise? Can that one man know anything about the lives of 12,000 people? Most significantly, can any human heart sustain that level of attention and stay spiritually healthy?
I have a bizarre theory that I’ll explain with a comparison. Sociologists have long observed an unintended consequence in polygamous societies—you end up with excess males that have to be kicked out. Babies come, after all, in roughly equal ratios because we were created [gasp] to live as one man with one woman for life. Mess up that recipe by letting somebody marry five women, and four young men have to get kicked out of the community.
What if God gifted the church with intended ratios of leaders for the people they care for? What if the ideal was that each truly gifted, called, and prepared pastor cared for a group of people he could actually know, love and disciple? What if every pastor was also called to replicate himself by actively seeking and training the next generation of young men to lead? And then let’s imagine that some guys create massive franchises where you obviously can’t and don’t know your people. Chances are they don’t really create true leaders; certainly don’t invest in them. Being a crazy, awesome celebrity pastor with a ton of satellites is enough to fill anyone’s time, after all.
If that were ever possibly true, my guess is that there would be a lot of young men God meant to become leaders that would never rise up and do it. Probably churches would turn into deformed, unhealthy, behemoths of things, perpetually dependent, ever hoping for a celebrity figure to bring them solvency instead of prospering as they should. And I would also guess that human flesh being what it is, the celebrity leaders would be a little off. Humans all crave being perfectly right all the time, with an entourage of lauding followers. “You will be as gods” still lies within us. And if we get what we want, we can’t last more than a half decade or so before we fold in on ourselves like a black hole, sucking everything else in.
If you’re a pastor, don’t gloat. Look at the mushroom cloud and fear. Next time you wish for 12 site campuses, 8,000 members and endless worldwide media presence, stop and thank God you still have your family, your life, your ministry. Thank him that He didn’t put you into that stupidly destructive situation. Don’t try to create a church bigger than you can reasonably love and shepherd. How much richer if you could naturally calve portions of your congregation into new groups of church plants, led by other men you’ve loved and invested in!
If you’re a believer, don’t help to create the next catastrophe. We follow celebrities because we love imagining that somebody out there, somewhere gets to live above the daily frustration of life under the sun. It’s a lie. We’re all just humans down here. There is no human above it all except Jesus, and He voluntarily chose to take on our pain. The best pastor you can find is a person that loves Jesus, preaches His word faithfully and knows you personally. Go find a church like that and pour your life into building up not a franchise or a movement, but people.
Because in the words of the only leader ever worthy of our total praise, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave” (Matt. 20:26–27).
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