Church Politics

The last couple of nights (Sunday & yesterday) had me ticked off, so I'll address Church politics. I'm not going into the details, but hear me when I say this: Politics have no place in church because of hidden agendas. Some people get into church leadership to push their agenda, and the politics get worse if board members are cool with some of the congregation. The congregation speaks into his/her ear, and that board member will vote in favor of their supporters. In this aspect, church politics and general politics go hand in hand. Church is supposed to be a hospital, where sick people come for healing. Almost every religious organization has a leadership team which consist of a Bishop, who's the head of the organization, and his leadership team. The Bishop and leadership team is tasked with overseeing the hundreds of churches under it's umbrella. From time to time, the Bishop will travel to a few churches as a guest speaker. Other times, he (the Bishop) or a representative will show up just to monitor church operations. When a pastor resigns or retires from a church, the Bishop & leadership board, as well as the church board come together and seek God for the next pastor. This process can take anywhere from 6-12 months, or longer. When searching for a pastor, that requires serious consideration. Is he filled with the Holy Spirit? Is the pastor of high moral standing, and if so, does he have people he's accountable to? A pastor with no accountability is a dangerous person because (s)he's left unchecked. That pastor can push whatever agenda they see fit. Now, onto the good part: I said that every church has a board, right? Correct. You would think that a CHURCH board is able to seek God together for the direction of a church, but that's not the case. People have motives that always come out at the right time. You don't believe me? Let your pastor resign from your local church, and the search committee get together to find a pastor. One person is going to have this criteria, another is going to have this, and so on. Conflict will happen because anytime you get a group together, there will be differing viewpoints. Some church members are close with the board so they're able to influence the board to vote a certain way. Example: A pastor preaches a couple sermons as part of the interview process for Sr. Pastor. Next couple of nights, your church hosts a Q&A session where church members can ask the candidate whatever's on their heart. This pastor admits his moral failure, been through restoration and has never committed that sin again. A couple members can't get past his moral failure, so they bring it up EVERY chance they get. Depending on what denomination the pastor is a part of, restoration is a definitive NO. Ok, if God can forgive & restore, what's the Assemblies of God's problem? This is the nonsense that makes unsaved people want nothing to do with Christianity. From a church perspective, a process of selecting a pastor should be in place. This way, the congregation can have a say in who their next pastor is. The only time I'm against politics in church is when there's hidden agendas. You don't know who's on the church board with hidden agendas. All church members can do is pray that the board is doing their job correctly. It doesn't mean the members agree with the board's every decision, it means that the search committee is being led by the Holy Spirit, and NOT their agendas.