A recent Christian Leadership article reveals the heart of a hireling...

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I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. -- John 10: 11-13 (ESV)

https://careynieuwhof.com/when-to-panic-and-when-not-to-panic-when-people-leave-your-church/

The transformation of the church over the past few decades has set the stage of the end times events the Bible speaks of, including the embracing of the one world religion and the acceptance by the church of the mark of the beast. The Bible speaks in Matthew 7 of people standing before Christ on the last day and saying Lord Lord. These people were clearly churched but not saved. If that term is foreign to you, be aware that it is not to your pastor. The term "churched" entered into the pastoral lexicon with the introduction of the Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren. Not the Purpose Driven Life. The Purpose Driven Church was written for pastors in 1995 and is the blueprint for the unbiblical and destructive theories of church growth that have spread like a cancer throughout the body of Christ over the past 30 years. Terms such as "lost" and "unsaved" were considered negative stereotyping and replaced with less abrasive terms such as "unchurched." That may seem like a small thing but beloved it is not. It has radically changed the focus and goals of churches across this world. Instead of being concerned about the person's salvation, pastors today are concerned about whether they attend church. The problem is standing in a church doesn't make you any more saved than standing in a garage makes you a car.

As the purpose driven movement took root and began to fester, we saw an entire support industry arise around it. National conferences on leadership and faux revival became big business. Almost as big as the churches themselves. Lakewood Church for example takes in over $600,000 per weekend in tithes and offerings. Kenneth Copeland has a net worth of over 600 million dollars and lives in a seven million dollar mansion that he writes off as a "parsonage." Besides conferences on leadership, we have seen the rise of Christian Leadership gurus who have entire businesses geared to raise up, grow and equip a generation of hirelings. The key verse reminds us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd whereas the hireling cares nothing about true doctrine because he ultimately does not care about the sheep. One such leadership guru, which I have featured before, is Carey Nieuwhof. His most recent article entitled, "When To Panic and When NOT to Panic When People Leave Your Church", can be found at the link above. As we once again reason together in review, keep in mind that this is written to pastors with the intent of teaching them. This is the absolute garbage your pastor is inundated with every day.

"Most leaders I know fear losing people. I do. And I'll bet you do. After all, you spend a lot of your time trying to build your ministry. When it comes to the mission of the church, it seems almost unthinkable to reach fewer people. Eternity really does hang in the balance. In any organization, none of us really want to reach fewer people or have less impact." -- Carey Nieuwhof

This is always the premise beloved. This is the escape rationale that purpose driven leaders fall back on whenever criticized. It's all for Jesus! Never mind the book deal I signed, my new car, or that parsonage! It's all about growing the kingdom! Wink wink. There are some inherent flaws in this thinking starting with the fact that it is not the job of the pastor to build his ministry. That is the responsibility of God. I am not kidding. Read the Book of Acts. The pastor teaches, preaches and tends to the sheep the Lord has entrusted to him and God adds to the number as He sees fit. A large part of the problem is that like the Pharisees of old, the purpose driven pastor is more concerned about reaching people than what he is reaching them with:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. -- Matthew 23: 15 (ESV)

John Calvin once said that zeal without doctrine is like a sword in the hands of a lunatic. Eternity really does hang in the balance so pastors should be more concerned about their theology than their outreach efforts. If you reach a thousand people with a false gospel and I reach 100 with the true Gospel, who has the greater impact? Nieuwhof continues:

"And yet, sometimes, one of the best ways to grow your ministry is to let the right people leave.

It might kill you to entertain the thought of people leaving (it still kills a part of me). But hang on. Sometimes losing people in your church or organization is a bad thing. Surprisingly, other times it's not. Knowing the difference is critical to effective leadership. Like you, it bothers me every time someone leaves. And it should bother you. Only sociopaths don't care when people leave. You can end up with people-pleasing as your main goal. You will lead in a way that you hope is going to prevent the greatest number of people from leaving. That's a terrible strategy.

Never let the fear of losing a few override your desire to help many." -- Carey Nieuwhof

What Carey is omitting is this teaching is also straight from the Purpose Driven Church. Rick Warren calls it blessed subtraction. This is the notion that anyone who does not fully support your "vision" for the church can be shown the door of the sheep pen. There are slaughtered sheep dotting the Christian landscape today because the man in charge with shepherding them instead kicked them out. The only thing worse than being sociopathic is being dishonest about it. You cannot say in one breath that people leaving should bother you and then present the case for why it is good when people leave. That is disingenuous at best. Notice here that people-pleasing is a terrible leadership strategy. This is a recurring theme among the leadership gurus and conference speakers within the Purpose Driven Industrial Complex. It is always couched in these self-serving false pious terms. Never let trying to please a few stop you from helping many. NONSENSE. Preach the Gospel and tend to the sheep. Nieuwhof now goes into his six scenarios when someone leaves:

"1. When one of your best people walks out the door - There are usually only a few scenarios I can think of where you should panic when you're losing people. We'll start there. It's never a good thing when one of your best people walks out the door. By great person, I mean someone who's on board with the mission and vision. They give. They invite friends. They serve. They're healthy people who love God and love others. In other words, they're simply good people. So always be looking to see if great people are walking out the door. If they are, do some soul-searching, and try to figure out where you may have gone off mission." -- Carey Nieuwhof

Ugh, off mission. Putting that aside, take a look at how pastors are being taught to evaluate the sheep of the Lord. Apparently the foot of the cross is uneven to the purpose driven mind. Pastors are being taught that people are "great" if they do not disagree with your "vision", give money, serve in ministry, and invite other people to come to church. In contrast we will see Nieuwhof considers other people "toxic" if they have the temerity to disagree, even if that disagreement is biblical. Think about how insidious this is beloved. Individual greatness evaluated by pastors all based on metrics having to do with the church instead of the person or even God. You can have someone who is living a healthy Christian life but recognizes that the purpose driven slop that is being served up to the congregation is nothing more than rotten meat. Once they bring it up, they move from great to toxic and are deemed worthy of blessed subtraction. Remember, the hireling does not care about the sheep. He continues:

'2. When There's a Vision Shift - The most grey scenario you'll face as a leader is probably when there's a vision shift. Vision shifts usually happen when a new leader comes in and changes the direction of the church. It also happens when an existing leader pursues a new direction. During a vision shift, a variety of things can change--the music changes, the programming changes, the preaching changes or the whole DNA of the church shifts. When a vision shift happens, it's inevitable that some people will leave. In the midst of the shuffle, ask yourself this clarifying question when you see someone leaving: "Is this the kind of person we can build the future of the church on?"' -- Carey Nieuwhof

I must have missed that great epistle where Paul taught about the tumultuous doctrine of "vision shifting." That is because there is no such thing in the bible. Vision casting is also part of the Purpose Driven Church. Warren teaches that pastors are not shepherds anymore but rather they are vison casting CEOs. Mega-heretic and Warren adherent, Andy Stanley is on record as saying that we should not even use the term shepherd anymore. This is not a vision shift beloved. It is a shift from pastoral oversight to hireling oversight. What escapes the Rick Warren's of the world is that God has already provided the vision. It is the Gospel of His only Son and it alone has the power to save people according to Romans. Not your grandiose and narcissistic vision casting. Not you light shows and smoke machines. Do you know what happens when your vision is the Gospel? It never changes! A new pastor comes in and he can pick up the Gospel right where the last guy left off. The music can change, the programming can change, and the pastor can change. None of it would matter as long as the Gospel doesn't change. Realize here that Nieuwhof is talking about those who realize that their church is being infiltrated and overrun with false teachings. If my church used to sing How Great Thou Art and now was singing Jesus Culture and Hillsong all the time -- I would complain too. Look at the sociopathic question he is teaching pastors to ask! Is the person who is leaving my sheep pen the kind of person we can build the future of the church on? Are you serious Carey? I feel bad for the many pastors who will stand before the Lord and answer for every soul they deemed not worthy of building "their" church on. How utterly disgusting but expected from a teacher of hirelings, who as we remember, do not actually care about the sheep. Onto Number Three:

"3. When Someone Who Doesn't Care About the Mission Leaves. You always have people in your church or organization who care more about themselves than they care about the mission. Losing them is not a reason to panic. After all, people who are off mission will never help you realize THE mission. Often you'll run into people who think they're the mission. Don't try to hang onto them. Don't focus more on who you want to keep than who you want to reach. You'll die trying." -- Carey Nieuwhof

Mission is being used interchangeably with vision here. How dare a little sheep expect to get fed at their church! That is actually what we are talking about here. You see the purpose driven model markets the brand to the lost; I mean the unchurched. So the worship is always cheery and sappy but not necessarily biblically correct. In some cases it is simply secular music. We have seen recently ACDC, Miley Cyrus, and the Backstreet Boys make their way into worship sets at mega churches. After all, it is about entertaining the goats, not worshipping the King. The sermonettes are motivational or self-help in nature and never deal with sin or the need to repent. It is not even milk beloved -- it is spoiled milk. Don't want to scare the "seekers" away with something as pesky as the truth. The people who raise their hand and object are the people Carey Nieuwhof is saying are off mission. Disgraced mega-heretic Perry Noble once referred to such people as the "jackasses in my church." The reality is that they are the ones who correctly see that the mission is not God's mission. The purpose driven mindset is revealed here in that pastors are taught that who you reach is more important than who God has already entrusted you with. If for every sheep that is escorted out of the pen the hireling finds two goats willing to come in, that is actually considered a net win. It is counted as gain even though that sheep is now wandering alone without a shepherd.

"4. When Someone In the Crowd Leaves - Every church has a 'crowd' -- even small ones. By 'crowd' I mean people who attend but never engage. The crowd in your church is really divided into two sections, those who are leaning in and those who aren't. Those who are leaning in are people who are new to faith or new to your church who you hope will make decisions to follow Christ, get baptized and become engaged members of your community. When you start losing people from that section, pay attention. Those are people you don't want to lose. On the other hand, you have some people in the crowd who will never engage. You've tried everything. They simply want to attend. That's it. No matter what you do, you can't engage them. You will inevitably see some loss from that group. There's not much you can do about it, and you shouldn't really worry about it." -- Carey Nieuwhof

You really shouldn't worry about them. Wow. How breathtakingly callous. Notice again how the purpose driven pastor is taught to value people. By whether or not they are engaged in your church. In other words -- are they working for free in one of your ministries? The truth is that most mega churches are cold by nature. There are just too many people. Many do shy away. Many have social anxiety issues. Many people have multiple jobs, special needs children or any number of legitimate reasons why they are "not engaged." Are purpose driven pastors encouraged to work harder to help and reach these folks? Nope. They are taught that they are not "great" people, potentially toxic, and not worth worrying about. Nieuwhof continues:

"5. When a Serial Church Shopper Leaves - Serial church shoppers are a thing. Don't get too worked up about their coming and going. If someone left 5 churches in the last 5 years, they're probably leaving yours too. Let them go evaluate someone else's church. They don't need to take up energy at yours." -- Carey Nieuwhof

Yeah! We can't be bothered actually shepherding someone! I just love the notion of someone preaching on the love of Christ and then casting someone out because they have had a hard time finding a church. We can't have them using that thing to evaluate your church"you know" the Bible! So according the carnal mind of the purpose driven pastor people who have had a hard time finding a church must be not worth our energy. We all remember when Jesus taught about not letting people suck up our energy, don't we? Thankfully, we come to the last scenario:

"6. When You've Lost a Toxic Person - As much as you may not want to admit it, there are toxic people in this world and in the church. An unhealthy person can infect your team like toxins infect the human body. After some exposure, everyone feels sick. The optimist in you and me hopes toxic people will become better. The good news is, sometimes they do. Unhealthy people can grow healthier with the right care and attention in a healthy environment. But some toxic people just don't. Some remain difficult, despite all attempts. And as you know, if you don't address toxic people--or worse, let them gain influence--they can infect your whole organization, diminishing your effectiveness and taking everyone's focus off the mission. When they leave, be thankful." -- Carey Nieuwhof

We all remember when Christ was thankful that people left His teaching? No? That's probably because it never happened! This is the blueprint for creating an army of hirelings beloved. We have gone from "Is this the kind of person to build my church on" to "don't worry if they leave" to "be thankful if they leave." All based upon some carnal and subjective measurement of "toxicity" which is largely based upon whether they buy into the pastor's flesh-driven vision or insist upon biblical standards for a church. Are there genuinely some toxic people? Sure, we are all human but do they still count to God? Are they somehow beyond His redemption? Are they outside of His grace and mercy? Or course not but Carey Nieuwhof and the Purpose Driven Industrial Complex do not care about growing the kingdom. They care about growing the church building. If they have 100 they want a thousand and if they have a thousand they want ten thousand. All for Jesus of course, wink wink, pass the offering plate.

The key verses remind us that a hireling has two primary facets. They do not care about doctrine by allowing the wolves to enter the sheep fold and they do not care about the sheep. The Purpose Driven Industrial Complex exists to perpetrate the brand. It exists to grow the business. Carey Nieuwhof appears very genuine in what he believes. I do not doubt his sincerity; only his doctrine. He is raising up an army of hirelings who do not care about the Bible and do not care about the sheep. He will answer one day though as will every hireling who sought only to grow their personal kingdom at the expense of the blood of God's sheep. Time is running short beloved and Jesus is coming back. Salvation is not measured in the carnal tricks and sleight of hand displayed here by Carey Nieuwhof and it is time to ask ourselves an uncomfortable question. Am I saved or merely churched?

Reverend Anthony Wade -- October 11, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.