I’m Tired of “The System”

Some of you may know what I’m writing about just from the title. Some of you may not. Here it is. The “System” is the religious/political side of the church. This is when people bring their own personal agendas to ministry. This is when programs and numbers are more important than people coming to know Christ. I have several friends who are in church ministry and have been burned by the System. Some of them have emerged from the battle scarred but healed. It’s all behind them. They don’t forget about their experience, but, because they are free from it, there is no need to rage against it. There are other, though, who can’t seem to get free from it. They never let it go. They never get free. They can ‘t escape it. For the sake of this blog, let’s just call them Prisoners. Here is the danger in being out of the System, but, not being free from it. According to the Prisoner, everything anyone in the church does is considered “System”. If someone in the church disagrees with the Prisoner – its System. If the Prisoner disagrees with someone else in the church, the Prisoner labels them as “System”. If the agenda of the Prisoner is not regarded as Holy Doctrine, then it’s because of System. There are enough problems in the church today. The last thing the church needs is ministers blasting other ministers. I’m trying to remember where the Bible talks about pastors and lay people being the judge of the people. As pastors, we are called to be shepherds and not judges. There is certainly nothing wrong with correction and accountability, but, the rules change when we turn accountability into judgement. We are called to love everyone and to serve everyone even if the people we are serving don’t have the same theology or agenda or political thought.