11.12.2003
A group of church people decides they want to do good things in the name of Jesus. A few churches join forces, and they get some good things done. They do. Then someone asks the question. If doing ten good things in Christ’s name is wonderful, how much better would a hundred good things be? How about a thousand?
Of course, if you mean to do a thousand good things for Jesus, you better get organized. You’re going to need a lot of people and a lot of money.
The organization of people who want to do good things for Jesus grows until it can only be run by professionals and insiders who operate in a very tight, “good old boy” network. A person could make a career just learning how to negotiate this network, learning which hands to shake and which votes really matter. Soon, regular church people cannot comprehend the complexity of the organization, but they foot the bill for it. In an effort to keep the money coming, the insiders turn more and more of their efforts toward marketing the organization to their own people.
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What you end up with is millions of people paying thousands of people to manage the doing of good things for Jesus.
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And that, my friends, is what we in the business call a denomination.
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I think maybe I’d like to do just ONE good thing for Jesus. You know, just one good thing and give all of myself to it.
I wonder what would happen if everyone found one good thing to do in this world. I'm talking about regular people now, not organizations with videos and budgets and all of that. Just people; just you and me.
If we quit managing thousands of good things and did one good thing, I think we would know the joy of work and the pleasure of rest. We would know the rhythm of week and Sabbath, of work and play, of night and day.
And if all of us were doing one good thing, wouldn’t that add up to millions of good things?
- real live preacher
Of course, if you mean to do a thousand good things for Jesus, you better get organized. You’re going to need a lot of people and a lot of money.
The organization of people who want to do good things for Jesus grows until it can only be run by professionals and insiders who operate in a very tight, “good old boy” network. A person could make a career just learning how to negotiate this network, learning which hands to shake and which votes really matter. Soon, regular church people cannot comprehend the complexity of the organization, but they foot the bill for it. In an effort to keep the money coming, the insiders turn more and more of their efforts toward marketing the organization to their own people.
...
What you end up with is millions of people paying thousands of people to manage the doing of good things for Jesus.
...
And that, my friends, is what we in the business call a denomination.
...
I think maybe I’d like to do just ONE good thing for Jesus. You know, just one good thing and give all of myself to it.
I wonder what would happen if everyone found one good thing to do in this world. I'm talking about regular people now, not organizations with videos and budgets and all of that. Just people; just you and me.
If we quit managing thousands of good things and did one good thing, I think we would know the joy of work and the pleasure of rest. We would know the rhythm of week and Sabbath, of work and play, of night and day.
And if all of us were doing one good thing, wouldn’t that add up to millions of good things?
- real live preacher