The Tragedy of the Unemployed

Unemployment is a perennial problem in the world economy, but nowhere is it a more poignant tragedy than in the Christian Church. And what deepens the tragedy of evangelical idleness is the fact that it is so unnecessary because it springs from a fundamental misunderstanding of the Church.

To the average man, the “work of the church” involves serving on the official boards, teaching in the Sunday School, singing in the choir, or ushering. The work of the church has come to mean what the church is doing for herself through the maintenance of her own life and program and organization. The impression prevails today that the church is an institution preoccupied mainly with her own survival. A patronizing attitude rises toward the church, and groups of citizens feel that the church “certainly should receive more support than she does from the community.” The church is thus regarded as an entity separate and distinct from those who compose her. She is seen as an institution—one of many community organizations—that ought to be supported by the community along with all the other organizations.

Whether local or national, the church is viewed as an agency to be served, in direct contrast to the New Testament view of the church as a servant.

ONE VIEW OF THE MATTER

Prospective applicants for church membership generally evaluate a church in one of two ways: “What can the church do for me?” or “What can I do for the church?” They think of the church as an institution that does something for them or for which they are expected to do something. The number is legion of those who go to church—or don’t go—with an eye on what the church will do for them; and numberless others are idle because they are unable to find anything “to do for the church.”

Burdened pastors are soon exhausted by the effort of finding something for activistic members to do so they can be “working for the church.” Many a pastor’s effectiveness is diminished or destroyed because of the pressure of finding a way to keep people “busy for the church.” If he is not careful, his pastoral duties suffer and he is pressed into the role of personnel manager who, in a kind of quiet desperation, must invent jobs to satisfy the insatiable appetite of members who crave “work in the church.” Special committees plan special programs to integrate new members (old ones too) into the “work of the church.” Yet, despite all the ingenious activity, the task is a hopeless one, for there simply is not enough “work” in the church to absorb the membership.

The frustration is vividly dramatized by two situations. For nine years the writer was a member of the staff of a church of 7,000 members, said to be the largest in my denomination. If one in four were male members, there were about 1,750 men in the church. The official boards enlisted 90, there were about 30 men in the choir, 15 in the Men’s Council, 20 ushers, and perhaps 150 to 200 teachers and officers in the Sunday School. The church, in other words, required a work force of about 300 to 350 men (the figure is actually exaggerated, since many of the officers also sang in the choir, ushered, and taught Sunday School). This left 14000–1500 men without “jobs in the church”—1400–1500 unemployed Christians, if the work of the church is assessed in terms of the official boards, choirs, ushering, and teaching.

At present the writer is pastoring a church of approximately 700 members, of whom more than 200 are men. The official boards comprise 36 men, the other “jobs” require 40 more. This means that three-fifths of the men are doomed to idleness so far as “the work of the church,” as commonly understood, is concerned. A perceptive church member will quickly see that, by the law of averages, there is little chance for “a challenging opportunity to work for the church.” And a serious-minded pastor who accepts this view of the work of the church will get tied up in knots trying to find things for men to do before interest evaporates.

Generally, the men who are called into leadership in the upper echelons of their denomination are men who have been “proved” (to use a church administrator’s term) at the local level. This means that the “working force” of the denomination is in inverse ratio to its membership in the levels above the local congregation. No matter how much a church grows, the work force remains relatively static. Literally millions of members will never have an opportunity to do “the work of the church.” Many, unwilling to be idle, become busy in civic and community activities which lack any direct relation to the church and which, in some cases, become competitive and woo members from the church. To be sure, some are content to occupy a pew for an hour on Sunday morning and let this crown their religious activity. They patronize a religion that makes no demands, carries no obligations. Their discontent increases whenever the program of the church threatens their status quo.

But others will never be satisfied to vegetate in the pew, for they dignify life with a purpose that demands their utmost dedication and allegiance. And if they cannot find this expression in the church, they will seek it elsewhere! They will not wait indefinitely to be involved, especially when it becomes apparent how few demanding jobs exist in their church in ratio to the available manpower. Life’s greatest challenge then lies outside the church, in business and industry and the professions, which demand man’s highest concentration of energy and ability.

INSTITUTIONALIZING THE CHURCH

Paralleling the misconception of the “work of the church” is a corresponding notion that the real influence of the church in the world is institutional. To exert an influence commensurate with her claims, the church must therefore strengthen herself. The effort to increase her influence then involves preoccupation with herself—with her own strength and size and efficiency. The church becomes an agency to be served instead of the servant her Lord intended. And she is a stranger to the priceless lesson on grace learned by the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

The real impact of the Church on the world is not institutional! The real impact of the Church is not that of world councils or national councils or denominational councils, necessary though they be. The real impact of the Church on the world is not the influence of a gigantic, monolithic organization overwhelming the opposition like a juggernaut by the sheer might of her size and power. Neither the influence of council or clergy, nor the influence of church boards or administrators, is her power index.

The authentic impact of the Church of Jesus Christ in the world is the collective influence of individual Christians right where they are, day in, day out. Doctors, lawyers, merchants, farmers, teachers, accountants, laborers, students, politicians, athletes, clerks, executives—by the tens of thousands, by the millions—quietly, steadily, continually, consistently infecting the world where they live with a cantagious witness of the contemporary Christ and his relevance to life.

God’s method is men, not machinery. God has his men everywhere! They are there everyday, quietly invading their worlds for Christ—beachheads of the Kingdom in business, education, government, labor, and the professions established by regenerate men doing their job daily to the glory of God as servants of Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Church!

It is not what goes on when the Christian occupies the pew that counts, but what he does when he leaves the pew; not what happens in the sanctuary, but when the sanctuary is deserted. The measure of the effectiveness of the sanctuary on Sunday is its carry-over downtown Monday through Saturday. Indeed, the measure of the pastor’s effectiveness in the pulpit is the measure of what happens when he has stopped preaching. Everything done inside the church and for the church is in order that the real work of the Church might be done in the world. The work of the official boards, teachers and officers, choirs and ushers is the means to the end of the church’s work.

The work of the Church means a perpetual witness next door and around the world, the daily, consistent Christlike influence of every Christian in his home, on his job, in his social circle, around the clock, seven days a week, to the glory of God. This is the work of the Church and it requires every member! Evangelism is everybody’s business in the Church, the task of every Christian without a single exception. The relatively few who are employed in “official business” are there to equip the whole membership to do the work of the Church everywhere.

Unemployment in the Church will be eliminated as the Church abandons secular ambitions of bigness and institutional influence, as she “apprehends that for which Christ has apprehended her,” and then dedicates and equips herself to do the thing her Lord commissioned her to do in the beginning. “Ye shall be witnesses unto me.…”

“When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. His gifts unto men were varied. Some he made special messengers, some prophets, some preachers of the Gospel; to some he gave the power to guide and teach his people. His gifts were made that Christians might be properly equipped for their service, that the whole Body might be built up until the time comes when, in the unity of common faith and common knowledge of the Son of God, we arrive at real maturity …” (Eph. 4:8, 11–13, Phillips).

Jacob J. Vellenga served on the National Board of Administration of the United Presbyterian Church from 1948–54. Since 1958 he has served the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. as Associate Executive. He holds the A.B. degree from Monmouth College, the B.D. from Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary, Th.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and D.D. from Monmouth College, Illinois.

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