"Like every human organization the Church is constantly in danger of corruption. As soon as power and wealth come to the Church, manipulation, exploitation, misuse of influence, and outright corruption are not far away.
How do we prevent corruption in the Church? The answer is clear: by focusing on the poor. The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation. When the Church is no longer a church for the poor, it loses its spiritual identity. It gets caught up in disagreements, jealousy, power games, and pettiness. Paul says, "God has composed the body so that greater dignity is given to the parts which were without it, and so that there may not be disagreements inside the body but each part may be equally concerned for all the others" (1 Corinthians 12:24-25). This is the true vision. The poor are given to the Church so that the Church as the body of Christ can be and remain a place of mutual concern, love, and peace."
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Nouwen on wealthy churches
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Good stuff!!!
ReplyDelete"The poor make the Church faithful to its vocation."
ReplyDeleteI love this, Randall. It frustrates me that my church seems to want to move in the other direction..reaching the rich with coffee shops and bigger buidings. I feel like we went the wrong way by building next to a golf course.
It has been my personal experience that when the church doesn't have a big budget or a building or the other extras that go along with wealth, it is generally a much more humble, simple group. Those among who attend usually watch out for one another, and the people among them with lesser incomes.
ReplyDeleteSo I've been bugging God lately about that cause and effect thing. Is it wealth and "Blessedness" that make us so self centered?
Nouwen helps point me in the right direction.
Ah, just read the title. ;)
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a quote from someone. Who said it? I'm curious.
ReplyDelete