When the organization becomes the central focus

Bob MumfordHistory shows us the departure of the church from its created purpose and the drastic measures God used to return her to the New Testament charter (see Revelation 2,3). When this departure occurs, the organization—secular or religious no longer hears the voice of God or that of the original founders. The participants are then forced to increase effort, works, programs, or procedures to keep it alive. Under the pressure of the emergence of the system, moral convictions and religious intent are stripped off as loose veneer. Existential pressure is so intense as to cause the philosophy to emerge that the end justifies the means.

So desirous are we of self-preservation, so fearful of not being included or being rejected and suffering personal loss that even as Christians with kingdom values and convictions, we are swept up in the tide created by the ruling force. C.S. Lewis, in his small treatise entitled, The Inner Ring, reveals how subtle and how intense the desire to be included is. It can override and even reshape our deeply held kingdom principles.

This is a pivotal point in the life of an organization. If it was created for beneficial purposes and deviates from its created intention, it becomes a bad system. Because it has taken on a life of its own, the entity ignores, refuses, or rejects the created purpose. Invariably, its agenda begins to change, reflecting the dynamic of acquire, possess, and control. People are used and the organization, rather than its mission, becomes the central focus. The group begins to succumb to the life force the organization has taken upon itself, revealing an increased propensity toward the neglect of the hurting individual.

The motive now is self-preservation of the persona, abusing and using the ones for whom it was designed and intended to give care. Because of the presumed protection of the system, individuals have an assumed anonymity and a loss of personal responsibility creating room for behavior and cruelty that would not be present if one were free from the influence of the system. Within the thing, we act differently than when we are apart from or on the outside of it.

Every one of us have experienced this. Once the corpus or the thing departs from its created intent, it becomes a ruling force. This force takes on, assumes, or is given power and authority that was not originally intended. The persona, i.e., the corporation or corpus, begins to exhibit coercion and tyranny.

With some discernment, it can now be seen as a spiritual force, injuring and using people. Our attempts to avoid responsibility and employ self-justification when we see the system injure and control are enhanced by excusing negative behavior with such statements as, "Well, you can't fight city hall" or "This is just the way it is done here." The system not only condones wrong actions, in some cases it encourages them for the strengthening of the authority and influence of the entity. This happens not only in secular organizations but also in churches and ministries around the world.