The circle of blame

When an organization is struggling, people look for someone to blame. This is true whether the organization is the automobile industry, the government, your favorite sports team, or the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The need to blame someone usually creates a circle of blame. In this circle of blame everyone blames someone else for the problem.

Consider your favorite sports team. If the team is not winning, the fans blame the owner for being more concerned with making money than having a winning team. The owner blames the manager for not getting the best performance from the players. The manager blames the players for collecting big salaries and then not hustling on the field. The players blame the owner for not paying high enough salaries to keep talented players on the team. The owner then blames the city for not building a new stadium that would attract more fans and provide more money to hire better players. The circle of blame is now complete. The team is still losing, but at least everyone has picked someone to blame.

A circle of blame is present in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America.

Areas of concern

The church in North America is struggling. It has some key areas of concern:

1. Growth. Anglo-American churches are not growing.

2. Stewardship. In an increasing number of conferences, tithe is not keeping up with inflation.

3. Youth. Our teenagers have an unacceptably low level of denominational loyalty and faith maturity. ¹

4. Church attendance. On an average Sabbath only about 30 to 40 percent of members attend worship services. Many Adventist churches face a "missing generation" problem, with few 18-35-year-olds in attendance.

5. "Laodicean " condition. It is difficult to find people who will assume church leadership positions, become involved in personal evangelism, at tend prayer meeting, or even arrive at Sabbath school on time.

6. Vision. Church leaders seem unable to communicate clearly their vision for the church, thus allowing "in dependent ministries" to project their vision and mission and draw support from church members.

These and other concerns have set in motion within the Adventist Church the circle of blame. After all, someone must be responsible for the problems so visible in the church. Who is to blame?

Who is to blame?

Church members often blame the pastors for the problems in their church. They complain that pastors visit members too infrequently, baptize people before they are ready, and preach boring sermons or, even worse, "new theology." They also gripe that pastors lack organization, manipulate the board, and do not listen. Members also blame denominational leaders. The conference wastes money, and there are too many layers of church organization. Church administrators are not "spiritual" and not caring about small struggling churches. Members of a church in a multi-church district often complain, "If the conference would make us a one-church district, we would then grow."

Pastors can also become involved in the circle of blame. They might blame members for not giving adequate time or money in the support of the local church. Some may feel that members are more secular than spiritual, and that the local church cannot change until members change their hearts and attitudes. Many pastors believe that the denomination's tithing system takes so much money out of the local church that there is little money for the church's local mission. Some feel that the conference's boarding academy and the union's college require so much money that there is no adequate support for the local church school. They believe that in creased funds at the local level would make stronger churches and church schools. If members and denominational leaders would only change, the pastor could then be successful.

Conference leaders may also find it easy to cast blame. "If pastors would boldly teach and preach stewardship, tithe would in crease." "If pastors would spend less time coddling members and more time giving Bible studies, baptisms would increase." "If pastors visited members more often and preached better sermons, spirituality and church attendance would increase." Conference leaders may also blame higher levels of organization: tithe percentages sent to the union and General Conference do not leave adequate resources for a strong conference program.

The General Conference can blame local conferences and members in North America for being self-centered and not having a worldview. The union conference can blame local conference leader ship for not having strong programs of evangelism that would increase membership and tithe.

And the circle of blame keeps going.

Breaking the circle

But the circle needs to be broken if the church is to grow numerically, spiritually, and financially. There is a difference between blame casting and problem solving. In the circle of blame there is far more blame casting than problem solving. When church members, pas tors, or administrators complain among themselves as to who is at fault for their problems, they are casting blame. When they discuss their concerns with those who can do something about them, problem solving can begin. Here are seven principles that can help break the circle.

1. The problem needs to be recognized for what it is. The circle of blame destroys morale. When church members tell each other that the pastor is to blame for the church's problems, should they be surprised when people become discouraged and stop attending? How can pastors, at a board meeting, criticize conference leadership and policy and at the same time expect board members to be supportive of the conference? Statements of blame build distrust and cause people to become discouraged about their church. Blaming also builds hopelessness. It seems as though nothing can change. The problem is someone else's fault and beyond one's power to change.

The problem of blaming others is not new. Adam blamed Eve and God. Eve blamed the serpent. Ellen White states: "The spirit of self-justification originated in the father of lies; it was indulged by our first parents as soon as they yielded to the influence of Satan, and has been exhibited by all the sons and daughters of Adam. Instead of humbly confessing their sins, they try to shield themselves by casting the blame upon others."²

2. Assuming responsibility helps greatly. In the circle of blame, no one is willing to assume responsibility, because the problem is seen as some one else's fault. For example, many churches have few 18-35-year-olds in attendance. Several reasons are given:

a. The pastor's sermons are not interesting to this age group.

b. The church members are too judgmental.

c. The conference does not hire enough youth pastors.

d. The church schools and academies do not adequately teach commitment to the doctrines of the church.

e. The youth and young adult publications are too worldly and secular.

Searching this list for someone to blame does not solve the problem. The questions that need asking are: What part of the problem am I responsible for? What can I do to help bring change? Local church leaders could discuss at church board meetings what would attract more young people. Pastors could prayerfully consider how they might better relate to this age group. Conferences could endeavor to strengthen conference-wide youth and young adult programs. Educators could reexamine the role schools play in faith development of young people. The editors of the youth and young adult publications could review their policies.

People may need to confess their sins. They need to assume responsibility for the portion of the problem they can change. The local member cannot change the percentage of tithe sent to the General Conference, and the General Conference president cannot change the amount of time spent by members in personal evangelism.

However, individuals can bring about change in their own area of influence.

3. Local members can change the local church. One thing they can do is assume more administrative and nurturing responsibilities of the church. This would free the pastor to spend more time in evangelism, lay training, sermon preparation, and crisis intervention. Members who believe that administration and nurture are roles of the pastor need to realize that there is a denomination about our size that has no paid pastors. In the Mormon Church all pastors are non-paid lay-members. These members do all the visiting, preaching, and evangelism, as well as handling the administrative functions of the church. The preaching pastors, the youth pastors, the visiting pastors, the administrative pastors are all laypeople.

Laypeople should also recognize that the local church is no stronger than the spiritual condition of its members. Each member might ask, "If all members spent as much time in Bible study and prayer as I do, what kind of church would we have? If every member gave of their time, money, and talent as I do, how strong would the church be?" Examining our shortcomings and recognizing God's power to strengthen us could lead to a mighty revival in our hearts. Seeking to find the shortcomings of others leads only to church conflict and bitter feelings.

4. A rediscovered vision of the world church and its mission would strengthen the denomination. Criticism of denominational leaders has caused some to decrease their support of the tithe fund and mission offerings. Many members have little information about the world church and may not have a clear vision of its global work. If each family would invest in a subscription to the Adventist Review they could keep current on world church news as well as faith and doctrine.

The world church is heavily dependent upon the tithe and liberal giving of the North American division members. The early Adventist pioneers had a vision of a world church, and that dream has become reality because of strong financial support from the North American church in years past. This support is dwindling. When members stop returning tithe or divert their tithe for other projects, the ability to take God's last warning message to the "uttermost part of the earth" is decreased.

Every local church has problems. The problems can be solved only as laity and pastors become partners together in prayer and ministry.

5. Pastors can play a major role in breaking the circle of blame. The pastor has great power in the pulpit. Preaching can change the church. Preparing a powerful message from the Lord must become a top priority for pastors. Pastors should also be involved in training laypersons in visitation, preaching, administration, and other aspects of the local ministry. Ellen White counsels: "The ministers are hovering over churches which know the truth while thousands are perishing out of Christ. If the proper instruction were given, if the proper methods were followed, every church member would do his work as a member of the body. . . . They should be taught that unless they can stand alone, without a minister, they need to be converted anew, and baptized anew. They need to be born again." ³

Pastors can influence the giving patterns of their members and thus the financial strength of the denomination. They can educate members about God's call to return tithes and offerings, and why these funds should be sent to the conference. They are not responsible for whether members give or not, but they are responsible for teaching principles of giving. Some members are so heavily in debt that they feel they cannot give tithe or offerings. Teaching classes in financial management or giving personal financial counseling could be time well spent by the pastor.

6. Administrators constantly need to evaluate the role of structure and mission. Administrators should honestly scrutinize the contribution their level of organization is actually making to the mission of the church. In every organization there is the temptation for top administrators to devote their time to the preservation of the institution. Often anyone questioning the "institution" is seen as being disloyal and a troublemaker. Administrators must not only allow but encourage questions about the "institution." No institution or level of organization should be seen as untouchable.

Administrators must recognize that money spent for administrative costs is money that cannot be spent at the local church. Every salary, trip, perk, and meeting is taking funds from the place where ministry and evangelism take place. Money spent to maintain conference or union institutions can not be spent again.

Each conference president needs to ask whether every employee in the conference office is essential for carrying out the mission of the church. Conference administrators and lay leaders must be brave enough to ex amine whether every conference needs a boarding academy. Union presidents should be willing to discuss openly whether the North America Division really needs 9 colleges and two universities, and whether operating all these institutions is good stewardship of our limited resources. And do we need nine union and/or more than 50 conference offices and staffs to serve North America?

Conference and union presidents could also review the time they spend on issues relating to other levels of church organization. Looking at my 1994 calendar, I discovered that I scheduled 17 days for the two hospital boards I serve on, 28 days for various union meetings, and 18 days for North American Division, General Conference, and ASI meetings. This makes a total of 63 days that I am not directly working on advancing the mission of Ohio Conference churches. Some pas tors spend many hours serving on committees of the conference. Union presidents spend much of their time serving on institutional boards and other committees of the North American Division. Certainly organizations would be better served if its leaders had more time to spend on local problems.

7. Dialogue with each other is essential. The circle of blame cannot be broken by talking about each other. However, talking with each other can break this vicious circle. We must kindly dialogue with those we have previously seen as causing the problem. Together we can break the cycle of blame and bring revival and new confidence in God's church.