This is the fourth of four entries
Parachurch Problem: What’s the Church to do?
So what problems do parachurch ministries cause? There are a number of significant things that can affect the Church’s future health and especially a Christian’s spiritual growth. Here are a few:
1) Watered down doctrinal statement – because the parachurch works with various churches and denominations it can not be too specific or detailed on its theological positions. A matter of fact, the more general and ambiguous the better! Because of that, most parachurch ministries will not define important doctrinal positions. Yes, they will get the gospel right most of the time, that’s a given. But isn’t the rest of the scripture as important? Aren’t they getting into discussions with participants on specific theological issues? Let’s take baptism for one. A person gets saved through a college campus ministry Bible study. After they get saved, they hear they should be baptized. When they ask a campus minister he suggests they get sprinkled because of his Presbyterian background, but the new convert is invited to a Baptist church. One of the well meaning Bible study attendees suggests that they go over to the college pool and baptize them immediately because that is how they did it in the Bible? No that’s conflict!
2) Disjointed generational ministry – A Christian father once shared with me his heart break about his kids. When the kids were teens, he got them involved with a parachurch youth organization. It was exciting to see a hundred kids from different churches and high schools get together for fun and Bible study and outreach. The problem was when he graduated from HS and went to church, the son thought it was boring, he did not know any of the kids his age and really did not know anyone at the church. Most importantly, he did not have a relationship with a pastor or church leader to help him continue to grow. The parachurch youth leader had moved on to the new crop of students! Because most parachurch ministries focus on one age group or one life stage or one gender, it misses out in what the church has to offer – doing ministry while involved with multigeneration of people.
3) Human resource crisis – There are only so many Christians and especially mature Christians and leaders. A church has a difficult time finding, recruiting and engaging people to do ministry. Now a parachurch comes along and starts luring workers away to help fill its needs. And most of the time, the parchurch leaders don’t feel it’s necessary to go to the church leaders or pastors and ask permission of the church to recruit its people. They are very independent and do not see its need to defer to the church. As a pastor it is heart breaking to disciple, grow, and prepare a person in your church with the design to use them in a specific role. But most times you don’t tell them until they are ready. Then you learn that some other ministry has invited them to serve.
4) Myopic ministry strategy – The word myopic has the idea of tunnel vision or single focus. Most parachurch ministries focus on one area of ministry – let’s say evangelism! And so it works at leading people to Christ, which is fantastic. But it has little forethought on discipleship, connecting them into fellowship, helping them develop their gifts and start serving. You see, only the church can provide that type of ministry strategy – a holistic approach. Now if an evangelistic organization were to come into a church and help it be more effective in winning the lost – then it is fulfilling why it is there – “coming along side” the church!
5) Conflict in discipleship, counseling and discipline – When you minister to people there is a loyalty and love that develops. My dad came to Christ through a Billy Graham crusade. To his dying day, you dare not say anything negative about Dr. Graham and he gave the Graham Association money regularly 30 years later!!! The other thing about working with people is that every now and then someone goes off the tracks spiritually and needs direction. Some get so entwined in sin they need loving, yet firm discipline as outlined in Matthew 18, which is solely entrusted to the church. That mix of love/loyalty and the need for discipline gets real messy when the parachurch is involved with counseling and discipleship outside of the bounds of the church. A young man started attending our church and he was in the midst of a divorce. When asked where he was getting help he said a counseling center. The counseling center never directed him to go back to his church and the disobedient wife never was confronted with her sinful behavior and attitude. Today there is such a spirit of independence in the Christian community, but the church creates accountability, support and Biblical fulfills its role as the shepherd of people’s soul.
6) Unqualified leadership – As I previously mentioned, there are not enough mature Christians to go around and what I have observed over the years is a constant willingness to lower the standards of qualifications when it comes to leaders in the parachurch. Most times people in leadership in the parachurch could not cut it in the church. Not to mention, women take front and center leadership in these organization. Not that women should not have significant roles in the church; however if they are involved in gospel ministry and doing teaching and preaching, they should not have authority over men.
7) Competing Fundraising efforts – Look you can’t spend a dollar twice! There is only so much money to go around! The tithe belongs to the church. The Bible is clear that you don’t split the tithe between the church and other ministries. I also hope the parachurch has the integrity to encourage its supporters to give to their church first and then to them. However, I have not heard that message much for parachurch leaders.
8) Failure to hand back ministry to the church – In 1991, Bill McCartney the founder and president of Promisekeepers proclaimed that PK would be around 10 years and then turn the men’s ministry movement back to the local church. In is 2007 and PK is still renting stadiums! That is just one parachurch ministry – but you can tell the same story over and over and over. If a parachurch is truly there for a “moment of ministry time’ and then its intention is to turn what they start back over to the church – then why doesn’t it happen! Simple overhead and some one needs a job!
There you have it: the reasons I am troubled with the parachurch organization. Let me say it again, “I do not think everyone is wrong, unbiblical or sinning!’ However, I do believe they have overstepped their bounds, they have supplanted the church’s authority and they are confusing Christians in how they do ministry and how God desires ministry to happen! I do not believe that the parachurch will ever go away; but I do believe that the church will and must get stronger and no longer provide excuses for why parachurch ministries are needed. What is the church to do? Become discerning and always – always – always – defer back to the church as the ministry authority in their lives. If you have a bad church and so you are drawn to the parachurch – DON’T GIVE UP ON THE CHURCH!!! FIX IT!! And if the church doesn’t desire to change – go find another church. But for goodness sake – stop walking on the side of your foot. Walk steadfast in the organization and organism in which ordained to do His bidding on earth!