“I personally failed to project the cost in terms of my own integrity and pastoral credibility with the people of God of north and central Georgia,”
That may be the understatement of all understatements, made by Atlanta Roman Catholic Archbishop Wilton Gregory after he was called out for building a 6,400 square foot residence for himself at a cost of 2.2 million dollars.
That he didn’t think about the “cost” to his integrity and credibility in doing such a thing says as much about his personal character as having the extravagant home built in the first place.
Honestly.
Is he an example of a growing number of church leaders who have become so materialistic that they no longer have a conscience?
I want to believe the answer to that question is NO, yet it is quite true nonetheless that materialism is a serious problem in the church.
Pope Francis is dealing with it in his communion. He has called on clergy to live modestly, and even went so far as to suspend German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst for extravagant living.
But American Protestant clergy and churches also struggle with materialism.
The comfortable life most churches provide clergy becomes a deterrent to prophetic preaching that addresses social and economic injustices in our nation, made worse by church members seeing themselves as consumers who expect their needs to be met without having their views, lifestyles, or priorities questioned.
And when it comes to buildings, well, multi-million dollar campuses have become the goal of churches big enough to build them and the envy of those that cannot. Millions of Christians sit in comfort and sometimes luxury on Sunday morning while most of the world is poor.
Is it any wonder that different surveys confirm the same thing, that the church has lost respect and credibility in the eyes of the public?
You can have many things, but a rich church in a poor world is not one of them.
The truth of this story is that what the Atlanta Archbishop said confirms something we all know deep down – churches don’t practice what they preach, and then act as if there are no consequences in doing so.
We are wrong.
Despite the illusion mega-churches have created that people are going to church by the thousands, in truth only about 25% of professing Christians actually attend on a regular basis.
This is especially true among the Millennials (18-30 years of age) who cite the church’s nasty anti-gay attitude as a primary reason why. They are rightfully turned off by the self-righteous and judgmental argument that the church can love the sinner, but hate the sin.
It is another example of the church’s hypocrisy.
The way things are going many people are wondering what the future of the church holds.
Will it even survive?
Nobody knows, of course, but I don’t think that’s the essential question anyway.
The real question is not will the church survive.
It is, instead, will the church’s survival even matter?
