He sees what you see.
Broken Rising Blog | 003
By Gary Don
My father ran a successful medium sized small-town business for years, he owned and renovated over a dozen store fronts as the business grew in size and locations. One of the things that you’ll notice in most shops that you’ll walk into, is the wall. It’s the wall that separates the front of the store from the back. The front of the store is usually pristine, has all the flashy advertisements, promotions and attractive displays to grab the customers attention. The front is for greeting customers with a smile and to discern and accommodate their needs in as a pleasant environment as possible. Out back however, can be a different world. The walls are drab and unpainted drywall, there’s shelves full of stock, organizers full of parts, work benches for repairs and usually a less than inviting staff washroom. There’s the unseemly calendar from three years ago, schedules and charts and notices pinned to the walls and of course the staff lunchroom, replete with a diesel-powered refrigerator still chugging away from the 1970’s keeping your lunch just a degree above safe eating temperature. The Front is what you want the customer to see, but the back is where the ground level work happens. The back is also the realm of “staff only” and other privileged souls. It’s where the employee’s talk shop, where you find out what people really think of the company. It’s where the rules are sometimes broken, and bosses are often verbally burned in effigy. “In the back” away from the showroom floor, is often what’s really going on in a company.
Unfortunately, too many churches have a “back room” as well, and they can be as powerfully negative as any spiritual stronghold fighting against the church. It might be the church office, the staff or board room, the worship team’s “green room”, or not an actual physical location in the building at all. However, too many churches have a back room. Now, when church staff interpersonal relationships are healthy, there’s not a whole lot of difference between the front of the church, and “in the back” of the church. In a healthy church, it’s leader and staff have as much Christian character in the back as in the front. As an assistant/youth pastor I always tried to bring as many young people into the back through leadership, serving, and internships with (mostly) positive results because there were many seasons of healthy ministry relationships taking place where greater spiritual influence and exposure to the church staff and lay board was not only safe, but life giving. Of course, until that wasn’t true, then the breaking under began.
Staff pastors and lay ministry leaders see a lot of stuff in the church that the average pew sitter doesn’t. It’s the simple fact of life behind the front counter. For the staff pastor or lay leader that has, or is, being abused spiritually and emotionally by a leader, you see what’s going on “in the back room” of the church and it’s killing your child like faith. You hear the complaining about good people you respect in the congregation, you see the blatant hypocrisy in the conduct of the church in areas like finances, and the uneven and almost retributive way church policies are applied to some and not others in and outside the church. The list unfortunately goes on. For some of you, you’ve seen it all and you are growing angry and disenfranchised against the church because of it. Understandable. But know this, God sees it too, and He’s no happier than you are.
Unfortunately, too many churches have a “back room” as well, and they can be as powerfully negative as any spiritual stronghold fighting against the church.
The thing you must do is to fight the growing cynicism growing in your heart caused by the church’s “back room” dealings. Your first priority is to protect your faith and passion in Jesus, by not participating in any ungodly thing happening in the back. Jesus when warning the disciples about this very issue of leadership hypocrisy of the pharisees guarantees that eventually, inevitably, ungodly backroom dealings will come to the light; “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. (Luke 12:1-3). Stay away from the rebellious talk at the water cooler, shut your ears and walk away from the quiet whispers you hear in the lobby. Mind your words around other staff. Hold your Christian character high and represent Jesus well in the back room. When you do, you’ll not only stave off the cynicism growing in your heart, you will set yourself up for spiritual promotion by doing so.
The last thing is this. Jesus calls you to set in place something better, no matter where you are. So in the area you lead, whether a staff pastor, lay leader, Sunday school teacher, or volunteer worship director set in place a kingdom atmosphere of trust with those under your spiritual care. Every organization, including the church, will have some kind of backroom on a day to day basis on a functional level, but it’s up to you to set in place a safe, trusting kingdom atmosphere in the area you lead where everyone can achieve success together in the church, no matter if they serve in the front or the back.
God sees what you see, and there’s a reason He’s letting you see it – to put in place something of God’s design, a better kingdom leadership atmosphere.
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