Our Purpose/Role as Church Administrators:
Church Administration is comprised of many elements, but the overarching concern of church administration is the fulfillment of the purposes of the church of God. It exists to enable the local church to fulfill its six-fold purpose:
- To glorify God (I Cor. 10:31)
- Through loving the Lord (Matt. 22:37-40)
- Through loving our neighbors (Matt. 22:37-40)
- By evangelizing people to Jesus
- Developing people to Christ-like maturity
- Equipping people for ministry in the church and world (Matt. 28:19-20)
As Church Administrators, we must know and realize that Satan uses offense as a design against believers, to get them out of our local church or to not attend church at all! There are many statistics on the reasons people leave churches, however, one of my favorites and most eye-opening with regards to offense simply says:
- 10% – Leave to go be with the Lord
- 12% – Job relocation
- 12% – Prefer another church
- 66% – Offended, bent out of shape!
Hence the problem that needs to be addressed – it is amazing that 66% of people will leave a church because of an offense. People will and do leave for silly reasons; misperceive what someone says or an action that was taken – yet more and more church leadership is more concerned with church membership, demographics, nepotism, or simply believing that if the offense is ignored, it will go away. This is contrary to God’s instructions to us in the BIBLE (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth). I believe, as Church Administrators, we can help change the percentage of people who leave because they are offended.
What does being offended do?
- It distracts believers from their destiny. It will destroy their vision & dream. It takes believers away from God’s plan for their lives.
- It causes them to surround themselves with people who agree with them. Men’s opinions become the basis on how they direct their lives more than God. Hurts & wounds will cause people to isolate themselves from the rest of believers.
- When one is offended, they lose their joy, their strength, their peace, their excitement for the things of God. One can become depressed, worn out, critical and open to betrayal.
Part 3 will answer the question: How do we fix this number one problem? Don’t miss the conclusion of this important article.
Written by Dr. Cynthia Howard