Guilt-Ethic

‘Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’—Romans 5:1



“The Method” is an approach to acting which was pioneered by Stanislavski in Russia and popularized by Lee Strasberg and others in New York City in the late 1940s. Marlon Brando and James Dean represented this new form of acting which emphasized the actor creating a character based on internal feelings rather than external props and gestures. One primary element of the Method is understanding and developing the motivation of the character. What is the underlying motivation of the actions the character?

What is your motivation as a church leader? We all have a part to play God’s drama, what is the motive for your part? There are many worthy motives from the desire to help others to the impulse to praise God.

One motivation which plays a larger role than we care to admit is guilt. Sometimes we serve in the church out of a sense of guilt. We feel guilty because we forgot to send someone a get well card. We feel guilty because we did not do enough at the food pantry last week. We feel guilty because we did not turn in a newsletter article on time. We go to church because we would feel like we were disappointing our dear departed grandmother who was a pillar of the church. And so it goes.


You can get a lot of work done with a guilt-ethic, but it will not sustain you over the long haul. Even worse, it discourages new leadership whenever the existing leadership guilts them into serving.

At the heart of the Gospel is the removal of guilt. Jesus forgives us for our sins—including all those mistakes we have made in leadership positions. Because we are saved by grace we have no need for to sustain our lives or validate our egos by our own good works. Everything we do can be done out of pure gratitude.

Do you need to shift your motivation from a guilt-ethic to a gratitude-ethic? As a church leader, are you motivating people with guilt or gratitude?