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Headlines like these are all over national and local media news. It happened here in Dallas, so both the public reaction and local commentary have been strong. For a couple of opinionated articles, click here or here. The video clips are there. Simple recap: A young police officer chases down Ryan Moats, NFL player who ran a red light with his emergency flashers on to get to the hospital. His wife and other family members were in the car, and they were making a visit in haste to see Moat’s wife’s mother, who was moments from her death. The police officer, on some sort of powertrip, refused to acknowledge his humanity and decided to stick to the letter of the law. He made Mr. Moats wait outside, arguing him into submission, while he wrote him a traffic violation and caused him to miss the passing of his mother-in-law. Talk about heartless. Here’s a transcript of the high points in the conversation:

One of the saddest moments of this whole story is that this young police officer didn’t believe he did anything wrong after being forced to watch the video replay with his superiors. He didn’t see a problem with his actions.

Which begs the question: what is the purpose of the police force?

Are they supposed to “serve & protect?” Or use their power to enforce the letter of the law at all costs?

Unfortunately, it seems that (at least for this officer) the duty to enforce the black and white of the law superseded the call to serve & protect. If I understand it right, then the purpose for becoming an officer is to serve their community. To make the streets safe, and for the welfare and well being of the citizens to be of the utmost importance. And yet it can go horribly wrong, like when an officer’s motivation for career and even training lead the job to be about being given the right to wield the law to its fullest extent.

And for all the links and pictures, that’s really as far as my analysis of the situation goes. There are enough people who are in better positions to critique this man and the incident. 

So why write about it? 

Well, naturally, I was thinking about how it applied to church & ministry. And unfortunately, I think it applies very well. 

It seems that the call to ministry should be to serve & empower. But perhaps it’s superseded by something else. 

Some people seem to think it’s about bashing people over the head with “authority.” And even others think it’s about using the power given to them as the “minister” to expand their territory, ego, and/or influence. Some use their career-given power and authority to enforce an austere moral authority through guilt, control, and all sorts of legislation. 

You see, here’s the thing: the purpose for the “power” distributed by the systems of law enforcement/general citizens is mutually agreed upon for the welfare of the community. So while it seems like the police hold the power, actually the power should be held by the responsibility to serve the common good. The cops gain the power when it’s in the best interest of allowing them to uphold the public good.

And the same is true in ministry. Congregants submit to ministers because of the mutual agreement that the spiritual growth & discipleship of the community (which means the spiritual growth & discipleship of the individual) will be the most important thing. So what’s supposed to hold the power is not the pastor, or the lay person, or even some lay-governing body—what’s supposed to hold the power in the Church is the common discipleship and growth of the people. The common good. 

I call upon those of you in churches to examine where the power extension of the minister(s) or even lay people violates the common discipleship of all. If not, you may end up with a situation like the police and the hospital. The power of the minister or even the organization will take precedence over the good of the people. And that’s a dangerous way to expose the family of God.