I'll admit that I like to pull a Scarlett O'Hara when it comes to the less attractive side of church leadership, like getting the parking lot paved or turning in a budget. "Fiddle dee dee!" I shrug. "I can't think about that now! I'll think about that tomorrow..."
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I think the business of church can be excruciating. What do you get when you take a room full of over-committed volunteers, mix in some underpaid staff workers, and toss in hundreds (or thousands) of church-goer expectations? How about business leaders who are used to managing corporate dollars combined with under-resourced and over-ambitious "kingdom" plans? Welcome to church business.
The ministry-minded among us tend to be jazzed by relationships, not regulations. We look upon tomes of policy with disdain, fearing death by legalistic rules and passion-less programming. But it's a fair argument to say that avoiding this church business is not being a good steward of the resources that God provides each of our communities.
We do have to make sure the plumbing runs and the paychecks get cut. We need lights and A/C and erosion control. But church business can take a toll.
I talk to pastor's wives, whose eyes betray the battle scars their family has endured at the mercy of "business." I consider my own experiences helping raise a new church from its infancy, and recognize that nothing has the power to fracture and divide a community like the need to get something accomplished.
Nicole Unice loves being a "professional talker" in her roles as counselor, speaker, and writer. She works part-time in a private counseling practice, specializing in teenage girl and women's issues, as well as serving as director of women's ministries for Hope Church in Richmond, VA. You can catch her blogging about faith and life at The Stubborn Servant.
