It’s been a few weeks since I’ve checked in at the ol’ church, but from what I hear, it’s beginning to look more like:

Of course, Noone expects the Spanish Inquisition* until it’s too late! (Among their chief weapons are Suprise! Fear! The Pageant! And fanatical devotion to the unrestricted budget!)

More seriously, quite a few folks have suddenly found themselves summarily booted from ministry roles, on shaky grounds. There is always a veneer of spiritual truth to justify the ousting, but strung together, they’re more of a political house-cleaning.

It’s important to remember that even good ideas can be used to do the wrong thing — think of Jesus’ reaction to the Pharisees seeking to stone the woman caught in adultery, or even of the amount of harm done in the name of nationalism.

I know many people are incredulous that things have gone so wrong so quickly at the church; I’ll try to spend a little time later this week jotting down my thoughts about the “big idea” the staff is using to justify these inquisitions — and why that idea has some serious flaws.

* The Spanish Inquisition is an old Monty Python sketch.

You’ve heard “missional,” which is threatening to become a church-growth Rorschach test — everyone projects a different meaning on the same blot.

I think ‘missional’ is most useful to describe the idea fact that the Gospel must be present in action and proposition: it makes no sense to believe the right thing and act the wrong way; the theory cannot be divorced from the working out.

So — does the structure of church reflect this working-out of the Gospel? The modern church seems to have trouble figuring out just where the pastor belongs in the community. I have been reading a few church planting books, and several try to place the pastor outside the community that other believers must function within. They’ve got a special niche, apart from the accountability and community that the rest of the members must operate within. And it’s not just pastors supporting that view; there’s always a number of people who think church governance is like a law of nature — discipline of the leaders is left up to God, which is a short way of saying that God would have to audibly speak before they might question the smallest jot of a religious professional’s vision.

My point is this: church structure shouldn’t be an amatuer social science experiment. If the Gospel is to be lived out, and if the church is the group of people living out the Gospel, your choice of structure (how you relate to each other) says something about how the group views the Gospel. Structure can stunt corporate unity, or foster it; it can promote accountability, or recklessness; it can view the pastor as part of the group, or as someone apart from the group. Polity, as boring as it sounds, is actually a set of choices about living out the Gospel together. “Governance” discussions can be difficult, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

A New York judge has allowed a suit against an archdiocese to continue.

“To the extent that Ms. Cale’s executor may be able to establish through discovery or otherwise that the Archdiocese had actual or constructive knowledge about Monsignor Woolsey’s propensity to exert undue influence over parishioners to obtain gifts of money or property, the plaintiff may have a cause of action [against the diocsese] sounding in negligent supervision that does not run afoul of the First Amendment,” the judge wrote.

The church also argued against the claim of vicarious liability on the grounds that Woolsey’s actions lay outside the scope of his duties as a priest and were not reasonably foreseeable on the church’s part.

But the judge said a jury could conclude that the monsignor’s solicitation of personal gifts from Cale was so intertwined with his solicitations on behalf of the church that “his conduct could not be viewed as a total departure from the Archdiocese’s business.”

The case is Naegele v. Archdiocese of New York.

(click headline)

HUDSON [Florida] – A 45-year-old woman is accused of stealing between $20,000and $30,000 from First United Methodist Church, 13123 U.S. 19 in Hudson, since 2003, authorities say, money that parents were paying to the church for children’s day care.

BANGOR – The pastor who helped build Abundant Life Church from 22 members who met in motel function rooms to a congregation of nearly 800 with a $2.5 million facility on Outer Broadway was indicted Monday for allegedly stealing more than $100,000 of church funds.

From the Sterling Colorado Journal Advocate:

A former bookkeeper who offered to plead guilty to stealing a $1,400 church computer may not face any prison time. [...] The First Presbyterian Church accused her of stealing $180,000 over her four years of employment. Attorneys on both sides also agreed to allow her to make restitution for the missing money, court files say.

The business manager of a catholic parish was fired and the pastor resigned as about $180,000 in church funds were reported stolen, the Archdiocese of Omaha reported Saturday.

UPDATE: According to WOWT, the pastor resigned for the good of the congregation, and not because he participated. WOWT goes on to say that the fraud was discovered in a second round of audits.

It used to be churches focused on the message and weddings and baptisms, but accounting no longer takes a backseat like it did years ago.

“It’s only holy and completely righteous before God,” said reverend Schneider. “But we deal with each other at this level and the temptations are always there.”

The First Baptist Church of Cold Spring, KY finally accepted the resignation of Larry Davis, the pastor who admitted a few weeks ago that he had stolen money from his church. Earlier news stories indicated that many members of the church had already left, and that the remaining congregants might not accept his resignation.

Former church business manager sentenced.

Anderson pleaded guilty in July to felony theft for stealing the money from March 2000 to August 2003. She was also sued in civil court by her former congregation and reached a settlement with the church in which she and her husband agreed to pay $320,000. That figure includes $70,000 in interest and attorney fees, according to defense attorney Chris Bailey.