If I Was CEO...Oh Oh!!

Series: If I Was CEO of the Church Tomorrow…

This week’s theme asks “if I had a ‘cosmic wand’, how would I wave it?” My disclaimer is that my idealism is somewhat subjective and I realize that “Mic’s World” may not be how God intended to “do church.” I like what William Abraham says about tracking renewal movements across America’s history and how sometimes these movements impose different purposes and agendas, making an ecclesial chaos. That is how I would define people who try to act as a “CEO” of a church…chaotic.

In the last supper Jesus invites his disciples to have a meal with him. The narrative begins with Jesus serving his closest friends (and enemy) and a challenge to his followers to embody the incarnation, remember the mission, and live like a people who hope for a new creation. After the meal it will seem that the Way of Jesus (the church) will crumble and fall into chaos. Chaos brings about selfishness and agendas, often embracing a leadership quality that is “looking out for the best of their flock” (Luke 22:9-51) or “financial greed” (Luke 16:8-9; 22:4-6). I am grateful that God quickly reminds us of our intent, accepts our inequities, and pours out the Spirit (Acts 2ff). So my understanding of Church somewhat exemplifies the table experience and a model of the Trinity.

God as Trinity provides a broad but firm foundation of what the model of Church is. The Trinity functions as living within diverse circumstances but in unity. I’m not recommending a relativistic claim (“can’t we all just get along”) of unity, but a commitment to reclaim a communal identity that reflects Trinity, which learns to authentically be unified in our current plural context. The criterion for success is not effective programs, functional committees, and consumer approval of a product.

As “CEO,” I recommend the following (as I wave my cosmic wand):

Christian Virtues when going to the Table: God calls us to reflect on our selves before sitting down at suppertime. Virtues (i.e. morals, ethics, intellectualism, wisdom, etc.) create a powerful communal immunity that attacks and defends against congregational disease.

Love the World as Much as the Church: We need to invite the mistreated to the Table. Richard Hays says that the church, being the transformed image of Christ, becomes a living metaphor for the power of God. This witness to the world must exemplify God’s love.

Koinonia (Trinity/Communal living): The Table is about the person across from you. As Henry Nouwen suggests, the only God that can save is a suffering God. In the same sense, no person can lead a church except the one who is crushed by its inequities. We cannot do the “Me Only” church. Our entire understanding of church leans towards encountering Trinity.

My last thought: Since I advocate for looking out for the interest of others. My final recommendation is firing me.

My prayer is a statement by Brother Barton Stone:

All…should agree to reform their lives, to be holy, humble, and obedient to all God’s commandments- if they would agree to cease from their unhallowed debates and striving one against the other, and to unite as one to promote godliness and brotherly love in the earth.

Mic Biesboer

Stephenville, Texas

Works Cited:

Abraham, William J. The Ecumenical Future., 2004, 176.
Hays, Richard B. The moral vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New
Creation, 1996, 304.
Nouwen, Henri. The Wounded Healer, 1979, 73.
Stone, Barton. Christian Messenger, 14 (May 1844), 4-5