A well-to-do couple in our church has offered to buy our softball team's church-league equipment and uniforms if the church will elect the husband as a deacon and name him chairman. If this request is as haywire as I think it is, how can we respond as a church?
Most people would consider such a request improper at best. Rarely would a church sell a position in exchange for softball equipment. The situation becomes more serious, however, when the general principle described arises in less obvious forms.
Most, if not all, churches face the dilemma that occurs when someone seeks a return on a gift made. Pastors and finance committees are familiar with gifts that come with “strings” attached. Sometimes, the request is as simple as putting the donor's name on a building or a plaque. Other times, the request may involve positions on committees, or simply that something be changed so that it is done the way the donor wishes, whether it is the order of Sunday service or hiring and firing staff. Often, the request is not expressed verbally or in writing, but in a manner that leaves no room for doubt.
The problem occurs because people expect the church to function the same way the world functions. People, particularly those who have financial and civic influence, simply are used to playing within that set of rules. We see it in every level of government and in business.
The church, however, cannot play by those rules. This very idea was a major factor in the Protestant Reformation. In 1517, Pope Leo X established a system of paying for the renovation of St. Peter's Basilica by selling indulgences, or the forgiveness of sins. Fronted by a Dominican friar named Johann Tetzel, this unashamed exchange of forgiveness for “alms” aroused the ire of Martin Luther, who focused many of his famous Ninety-Five Theses on the sacrilege of this practice.
The basis of Luther's argument was that the gospel was not for sale, and if it became available for sale, it would cease to be the gospel. Much of the Reformation's emphasis on grace, and the resulting doctrine held inviolable by Baptists today, relates directly to this issue.
Few would argue that buying softball uniforms or even paying for new buildings in Baptist churches today would be viewed as trying to buy salvation. Generally, influence or prestige is the value sought. Nevertheless, the church must stand firm in proclaiming these values are not for sale any more than salvation. Christ is blatant in his description of how one attains influence and prestige in the kingdom of heaven, and it has nothing to do with money and power, except, perhaps, in the total rejection of each.
Simply put, there must never be a “for sale” sign posted in the ministry of a church, visibly or otherwise. Some things truly are priceless.
Van Christian is pastor of First Baptist Church in Comanche, Texas. “Right or Wrong” is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene, Texas. Contributors include Baptists from Virginia, Texas, Missouri and other states. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.