Purpose Is Boss

It seems like in every organization people want to know who is in charge. “Who’s the boss?” is the perennial question. That’s not necessarily a bad question. There is value in knowing where the proverbial buck stops. It is important to have a means to reconcile value conflicts and to decide between competing demands. Bosses do that kind of thing.

The answers to the question are varied. Some will say, “The pastor is the boss.” (Pastors, of course, are fond of this answer.) Others will observe that the deacons are the boss while yet others will point to a governing body like a church council. And there will be some who will say, “Well, the church is the boss.” Though we use a congregational form of church government, it is hard to operate and administer a church by monthly business meetings

And let’s be honest: for many, tradition is boss. Some people take the Doxology and try to run the church with it: “As it was in the beginning, it is now and forever shall be.” Or maybe you’ve heard it like this: “We’ve never done it that way before.”

Of course, there will be at least one pious soul that will say that the Lord is the boss of the church. I can’t argue with that. However, when it comes to deciding on budget issues, He doesn’t typically write in the sky to tell us on what we should spend our money. We need something a little clearer.

Yet that last answer does get us closer to where we need to be. Jesus Christ is Lord of the church and He has given us our reason for existence, which is to make disciples. Here is the answer to the $64,000 question: purpose is boss.

Our purpose, which is making disciples as commanded in the Great Commission, should decide every question. Every potential step we consider should be prefaced by asking, “What does purpose have to say about this? How does this help us make disciples?” Every line in a budget, every event on a calendar, and every decision in a church business meeting should be decided by purpose, not precedent and not preferences. The buck should stop at purpose. Everything—the music, the building, the budget—everything should be determined, yea, even “bossed around,” by purpose.

I have to wonder how things would look different if purpose truly was boss. On jobs in the past, I’ve noticed that things changed when the boss showed up. I’ve noticed that surly attitudes suddenly became sweet in the presence of the boss. And I’ve noticed how questions that were once inscrutable became crystal clear when the boss walked into the room. Maybe the same could happen for us.

Probably the only real question is this. Are we listening to the boss? Are we doing what he commands?