About a week ago I noted here that the unsecured creditors of the Crystal Cathedral were suing its founder, Robert H. Schuller and member of his family. The creditors weren't seeking any money. Instead, they wanted the Schullers' claims subordinated to other creditors. In other words, they want the Schullers to get paid last, which means, if there's not enough money to go around, that they'd get nothing.
So far I've seen only news reports of the allegations of the creditors. But now their 21-page complaint is on line. Check it out here. Allegations do not equal proof; assertions aren't the same as the truth. But many of the statements in the complaint appear to come directly from the records of the Crystal Cathedral so it remains to be seen how the Schullers will respond to them. (Well, there has been a response of sorts. Here is a report in the L.A. Times that Robert Schuller claims that at all times the Crystal Cathedral board acted in good faith. That's not enough to get the Schullers off the equitable subordination hook.)
Of particular interest is the purely contractual model of church governance. In other words, Robert Schuller and the member of the board simply hired and fired his son as senior pastor and then hired his daughter.The Crystal Cathedral holds itself out as affiliated with the Reformed Church of America. I don't know the details of the ordering by-laws of that denomination but I believe they would include governance of local congregations by a body of elders elected from the congregation, not a self-perpetuated board of directors.
Mixing models of modern American corporate governance with ecclesiastical forms of church order is a recipe for disaster; churches should not be run like the autocracy of a closely held corporation. That recipe seems to have baked the concoction of the Crystal Cathedral. It also opens the church to attack in the civil legal system and brings disrepute on the many churches that have avoided the cult of celebrity.
So far I've seen only news reports of the allegations of the creditors. But now their 21-page complaint is on line. Check it out here. Allegations do not equal proof; assertions aren't the same as the truth. But many of the statements in the complaint appear to come directly from the records of the Crystal Cathedral so it remains to be seen how the Schullers will respond to them. (Well, there has been a response of sorts. Here is a report in the L.A. Times that Robert Schuller claims that at all times the Crystal Cathedral board acted in good faith. That's not enough to get the Schullers off the equitable subordination hook.)
Of particular interest is the purely contractual model of church governance. In other words, Robert Schuller and the member of the board simply hired and fired his son as senior pastor and then hired his daughter.The Crystal Cathedral holds itself out as affiliated with the Reformed Church of America. I don't know the details of the ordering by-laws of that denomination but I believe they would include governance of local congregations by a body of elders elected from the congregation, not a self-perpetuated board of directors.
Mixing models of modern American corporate governance with ecclesiastical forms of church order is a recipe for disaster; churches should not be run like the autocracy of a closely held corporation. That recipe seems to have baked the concoction of the Crystal Cathedral. It also opens the church to attack in the civil legal system and brings disrepute on the many churches that have avoided the cult of celebrity.
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