Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 107:426 (Apr 1950)
Article: The Minister as Administrator Part 4
Author: Charles F. Ball

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BSac 107:426 (Apr 50) p. 195

The Minister as Administrator
Part 4

Charles F. Ball

(Concluded from the January-March Number, 1950)

The church is an organism—a living, breathing, vital organism. Christ Jesus is the head of the church, we are the members of the body. Through the New Testament you are aware that the relationship between Christ and His church is told in many ways. Figures of speech are used to express its blessedness. Some of these figures magnify Christ’s headship. Some tell of our responsibility and interdependence. The church is called the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, the temple or building of God. These truths are vital, and when Christians really lay hold on them they become intelligent members of the true church, and are delivered from the unworthy and partial views of church membership which are popularly held.

There is another side to the study of the church, however, as you gentlemen studying for the ministry will rudely and suddenly learn. When you get beyond your “flirtation, marriage and honeymoon” and at the place where the glamor of your early sermons has worn off and your evident genius in the pulpit is more or less taken for granted, you will find yourself staring into the eyes of a board of business men whose habit it is to sharpen the lead pencils and scan the total picture for results.

This is hard on a man who lives in the clouds. His meteoric flight seems to be shorn of some of its glory. He will be immersed in a maze of practical considerations which will bring him down from the clouds with a bump. And when he regains his composure he finds himself in the hands of men who look upon the church as a business. To them “the

BSac 107:426 (Apr 50) p. 196

organism” is a splendid mountain-top view and persuasive to unity, but the organization looms large, seems altogether practical. They say, The church is a business; it is our business; we are all responsible for it and should care for it; behind and underneath each department of the work is organization and leadership and drive.

In a very great measure these men are looking to their minister to supply that organization and leadership and driving power. They are wanting to see if, besides his keen ability in the pulpit, he has an orderly methodical mind in the conduct of the affairs of the church. Virtually he is regarded as the president of a corporation and the fathers of the official church family as the board of directors. They are responsible to the stockholders. They are anxious to know about the machinery of the church and its smooth working. They hear the monthly report of the president and judge if the results justify the outlay.

It may be quite true that they ar...

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