don’t connect the dots

I had coffee this morning with a good friend of mine. She’s an executive coach in the business world. We always have great conversations. She’s not afraid to ask me hard questions. I need that! She was telling me that more and more companies, employers, and bosses are recognizing the importance of spirituality in the workplace. I said that it is very important to realize the subtlety of what they’re doing. To promote spirituality in the workplace may be important for the health of the individual and for relationships. But there’s an incredible danger of promoting spirituality just to increase production and profits. Profits are important for a business, and necessary for its survival. Spirituality is important also, but for entirely different reasons. Of course, a healthier individual makes a healthier worker, producer, and profit-maker. Companies are recognizing this, and investing in promoting it in the workplace. Some are just concerned with the health of their workers. Others, maybe not. The risks are enormous, aren’t they?

In the church, it is even more important to be aware of this. The church must not have undue concern for its own survival, which is vastly different than business. Then, even more so, I think the spiritual health of the church’s members must not be linked to the income and profitability of the church as an institution. These two dots cannot and must not be connected.