I Object

Recently I heard some friends complaining that church is just another business, run by the same principles and practices as any for profit company and with the same (lack of) regard for people. I generally don't agree with them for the most part, but they've had some experiences that have really hurt them and helped them reach that (tragic) understanding.
I don't agree, but I do understand. It is often true that important decisions in churches are made with a strong eye to the financial bottom line and the strategic plan. Of course, churches do need to be financially responsible and there's no reason to assume that God is any less present in the development of a strategic plan than He may be in a moment of passionate worship. Where I have an issue is when decisions are being made with a sense of objectivity.
It happens sometimes at tough meetings that someone will suggest that we need to look at something without our personal bias and be more reasonable. There are times when that is helpful, but it feeds a false and dangerous delusion that we can and should be objective in our spiritual leadership.
The postmodern scholars have shown us that there is really no such thing as raw objectivity. All of us have overt and subtle influences that prevent us from acting in a totally distanced and unbiassed way. And that is a part of what it is to be made in the image of God.
The Christian story is of a God who refuses to remain objective, ever.
God chooses to create, to have relationship with his creation, to temper his justice and anger, to forgive, to abandon his glory and enter our reality, to suffer the indignities and the atrocity of death, and to promise to return to rectify all that has gone wrong from the beginning. Nothing could be less objective.
Our appeals to objectivity are usually just a way of saying that we think our biasses are better than someone else's. We think we're being reasonable because we can see the other person's subjective priorities; but we ignore or miss our own.
I would love to see a church leadership take the time to be open about their preferences and prejudices and then have a real conversation about an issue with the understanding that the lack of objectivity is part of their calling. (I've seen a couple glimpses of it and I will always admire the people who had that much courage).
Please, never treat me objectively, I am not merely an object, God's church is not an object, theology is not an object, and we are not meant to treat people as anything that diminishes them as beloved recipients of God's truth and grace.