Cult of Personality
It was a song by Living Color in 1988 but more and more it seems to drive people's lives. Don't remember the song? Check it out...
I've heard more than once recently someone say, "I go to church to hear (name of pastor)," "I'm here because of (name of pastor)," "(name of pastor) says..." Don't get me wrong, some of this is a healthy respect. However, there is another part of these statements that Brad Abare comments on in his observation at Church Marketing Sucks, what he calls the "personality-driven church." Having been in the process of reading, studying and living out the process of being a pastor, and starting a new church, there appears often times to be a greater following for personalities over Jesus Christ. And it doesn't have to do just with new churches.
Christian Schwartz points out in his book Natural Church Development, that most materials from megachurch leaders, reflect unreproducible models of leadership. Schwartz's study found that most of the pastors leading healthy churches are not well known at all.
I think that points to one of the continuing fallacies most often paraded about in Christendom today, namely that everything rises and fall on leadership. Is leadership important? Yes, but the question is, who is in charge? If all we're going to look to are personalities of preachers then were falling short of Paul's challenge when he asks,
There are some engaging personalities in our world. People with great ideas who challenge and persuade us. Personalities who connect to us in very personal ways. They exist in religion, politics and entertainment. They are in our families and neighborhoods. Brad asks the pointed question,
May I Ask: What consequences does the Church experience from personalities?
May I Suggest: Take a moment and consider what characteristics are important to you in a leader? Do you have them? Do the people you follow have them? What are the possible consequences of these leadership traits?
I've heard more than once recently someone say, "I go to church to hear (name of pastor)," "I'm here because of (name of pastor)," "(name of pastor) says..." Don't get me wrong, some of this is a healthy respect. However, there is another part of these statements that Brad Abare comments on in his observation at Church Marketing Sucks, what he calls the "personality-driven church." Having been in the process of reading, studying and living out the process of being a pastor, and starting a new church, there appears often times to be a greater following for personalities over Jesus Christ. And it doesn't have to do just with new churches.
Christian Schwartz points out in his book Natural Church Development, that most materials from megachurch leaders, reflect unreproducible models of leadership. Schwartz's study found that most of the pastors leading healthy churches are not well known at all.
I think that points to one of the continuing fallacies most often paraded about in Christendom today, namely that everything rises and fall on leadership. Is leadership important? Yes, but the question is, who is in charge? If all we're going to look to are personalities of preachers then were falling short of Paul's challenge when he asks,
When one of you says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos"---aren't you acting like worldly people? After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow. Using the gift that God gave me, I did the work of an expert builder and laid the foundation, and someone else is building on it. But each of you must be careful how you build. For God has already placed Jesus Christ as the one and only foundation, and no other foundation can be laid. (1 Corinthians 3:4 & 5, 10 & 11 GNB)
There are some engaging personalities in our world. People with great ideas who challenge and persuade us. Personalities who connect to us in very personal ways. They exist in religion, politics and entertainment. They are in our families and neighborhoods. Brad asks the pointed question,
...there does seem to be something lacking in the personality driven churches. If the church is not being built to last for generations to come, then what is it being built for?
May I Ask: What consequences does the Church experience from personalities?
May I Suggest: Take a moment and consider what characteristics are important to you in a leader? Do you have them? Do the people you follow have them? What are the possible consequences of these leadership traits?
5 comments:
Ken,
Excellent points. Strong servant-leadership (an often misunderstood and missing concept) is of course vital to any congregation, but as I like to remind our church, any church is only as strong as its NEXT generation of leaders.
Thanks for posting this, Ken. There are days when I think the whole USA church has gone totally NUTS in this cult of personality / (false-style) "leadership" thing.
Just to hear someone else point to this as a problem is a sign of hope to me.
Dan,
Indeed. Which is why it concerns me just how were training the next generation cause I'm not sure we're paying attention to who is actually training them.
Craig,
Yeah, it seems more like "Almond Joy" than "Mounds" a lot of the time.
Wonderful post! And 100% true. We do get caught up to much in the personality of the church.
Ashley,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! It is great to have your input.
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