Religious Meltdown

The news feeds abound these days of how the recent financial meltdown is impacting churches and ministries. I caught The Hour of Power recently and Schuller seemed even more desperate than usual when he pleaded for money. I also have been reading about how other ministries like Focus on the Family and Oral Roberts University have been forced to enact large staff layoffs.

So I was intrigued when I read Lee Grady's article titled Preparing for a Charismatic Meltdown. In his article he reported on three churches:

In Tampa, Florida, Without Walls International Church is facing foreclosure. The megachurch, which once attracted 23,000 worshipers and was heralded as one of the nation’s fastest-growing congregations, shrunk drastically after co-pastors Randy and Paula White announced in 2007 that they were divorcing. On Nov. 4 their bank filed foreclosure proceedings and demanded immediate repayment of a $12 million loan on the property.

In Duluth, Georgia—northeast of Atlanta—sheriff’s deputies arrived at Global Destiny Ministries and ordered Bishop Thomas Weeks II to leave the property. According to documents filed in state court, Weeks—who divorced popular preacher Juanita Bynum in June—owed more than $511,000 in back rent to the building’s owners. He was escorted out of the building on Nov. 14 while a church service was in progress.

In another part of the Atlanta area, leaders of the Cathedral at Chapel Hill announced that their church is officially for sale. The massive Gothic building—which at one time housed one of the nation’s most celebrated charismatic churches, with a membership of 10,000—has slipped into disrepair after lurid sex scandals triggered a mass exodus. The church’s founder, Bishop Earl Paulk, has turned the 6,000-seat church (valued at $24.5 million) over to his son, Donnie Earl, who in recent years has abandoned orthodox Christian doctrines and embraced universalism.

I found this statement to be one of the most interesting sentences in the article:

"The wrecking ball of heaven is swinging. It has come to demolish any work that has not been built on the integrity of His Word."

This graphic image presents a somewhat black and white image of God and the way that He interacts with His people. Unfortunately, IMO, it is not all that simple. Firstly, just because God allows religious leaders to make unwise financial decisions that lead to bankruptcy does not mean that He is the cause for the failure (i.e. demolishing) of those ministries.. God should not be blamed with some sort of wrecking ball imagery.

A second and very important element of these breakdowns is the unhealthy focus on very charismatic ministers. When these folks failed (through divorce or in some other way) or when the ministers changed (as was the case with Schuller and his son) things went downhill fast.

Recently I received an email message that contained two letters from very prominent Charismatic leaders that preached gloom and doom for America because their candidate was not elected president. One of their letters began this way:

"I feel certain that many in my stream of the Church want a statement from me concerning Tuesday's presidential election."

Did you catch the self-importance in that statement? It is further evidence of this unhealthy focus we have on ministers.. charismatic or otherwise. Maybe the wrecking ball is set in motion by these unhealthy focuses?

Most importantly, I think that, while God is not the author of these meltdowns, these crises offer many of us an opportunity to reflect on the stewardship of our own lives and how we handle the resources that we are entrusted with.. including where our charitable donations go.

I think that many of us have set that financial wrecking ball in motion by the ways that we live and spend. The financial crisis of these days is affecting everyone.. but I think that only the wise will come out of it wiser.. everyone else will remain in a financial stupor.