Churches and Christian organizations must end performance culture

By Tim Crawshaw, Op-Ed Contributor Tuesday, June 23, 2020

As long as churches and Christian organizations align with worldly principles and management structures relating to performance, they encourage people to work in the flesh instead of the spirit and prevent God’s glory and Kingdom being revealed.

Churches and Christian organizations who go “corporate” often prevent access for God to work supernaturally in and through them because performance-orientated culture encourages people to work in their own strength, not God’s.

They often neglect a Kingdom attitude that is spiritually oriented where God’s will, goodness and supernatural power are able to be manifested. Instead, they forfeit the spiritual power of God for worldly valued principles such as professionalism.

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Subscribe

A church or organization full of robotic Christian professionals identifying initially with their denomination or work role before Jesus does not glorify God, manifest his kingdom or lead people to Him.

Performing is synonymous with conditional approval or love. It is not from God. It is essentially physical, effort based and driven by the will or the flesh. It often requires a person to work according to a role determined by the organization to fulfill a position description and performance outcomes. People are expected to align with values, ethos and guidelines of the organization regardless if it is or isn’t part of God’s will.

Performing can also lead people to burn out and to feel mechanical because they are working in their own strength while confusing their Christian work role with their true identity in Christ, which is a source of power to draw from.

An emphasis on education and training in order to be considered worthy by a Christian Church or organization to work for them is another performance-orientated trait saturated in worldliness. In this context, education is valued before spirituality. Knowledge such as theology does not substitute for supernatural experience and relationship with God. Jesus does not need a person to have a degree in order for him to carry out miracles through them.

God does not want Christians to work primarily in their own strength because he cannot be involved that way. The way of the Kingdom according to Jesus is childlike dependency with God, not an “I can do it myself” attitude which is valued by the world.

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).

Jesus wants to be glorified or manifest his kingdom through us. He wants to use people as vessels.

Christians who have felt the power of God flowing through them by the Holy Spirit can testify that it took no effort on their part. People who have experienced miracles through the Holy Spirit will also say that they could not achieve the desired result with their own strength.

This is the whole point.

Why then if Christian organizations and churches who have access to the miraculous power of God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit do they not use it? The answer is that worldly culture prevails before a Kingdom of God mindset. This is unacceptable if people are serious about putting God first.

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

Measurement of individual performance being prioritized before manifesting God's glory and Kingdom is a sign of a Christian organization that has lost its way.

The solution is simple. Organizations need to make operating in the spirit a priority.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests” (Ephesians 6:18).