It is natural to use the institutional concept to measure success in the church. Let me show you how this is done. Jesus is the C.E.O., Chief Executive Officer. The elders are the board of directors. The deacons and ministry leaders are management.
Members are the work force.
That is the institutional concept. Most members of the Church of Christ who either grew up in the church or spent most of their lives in the church think of the church in these institutional terms. But there is a critical problem with our institutional concept. We have made a critical assumption for a long time. We assume that the church is an institution.