Why High Achievers Struggle With the Church

"There's affirmation for every other calling, and there's a brake-pedaling on their calling." Feat. Jerry Bowyer & David Bahnsen.

For those of you who don’t know, the firm I work for (Bowyer Research) has a podcast. Recently, we hosted a conversation between two of the sharpest minds I’ve had the privilege of working with: my boss Jerry Bowyer & veteran financial advisor David Bahnsen. We had a particular segment during that conversation that I found really enlightening - one of those moments where you go “I’ve always wondered if that was the case but never heard it articulated that way.”

Jerry & David got onto the topic of why Type A, high achiever types struggle to relate to much of the modern church. This exchange was too good not to pass on.

DB: What happens is that Type A people will join the church, they’ll be marked as a tither, so it’s a transactional relationship between the church and Type A — because there’s no theological message for them, there’s no discipleship. It builds resentment, spiritual resistance, and people falling away from a church community. I would go so far as to say that this has become systemic — high-achieving people are very often in a position where they become bitter at church, because they rightly perceive that their presence is only requested for what they can bring to the tithing plate.

JB: I find it very difficult to find entrepreneurs who have good emotional feelings about their church experience. They’ll show up, because it’s duty and community, but maybe 1 out of 20 is really happy with it. And you can say they have a bad attitude but they’re showing up, okay? They have to have a pretty good attitude to show up someplace they don’t really feel that good about. At what point do we ask: why do they feel so bad about it? Because there’s no affirmation for their calling — there’s affirmation for every other calling, and there’s a brake-pedaling on their calling.

The entire conversation is well worth listening to, esp. if you sympathize with a lot of this. Listen below:

David Bahnsen on Why High-Achievers Struggle To Relate To the Church

Note: *none* of this should be taken as casting aspersions on my childhood or experiences with being the son of a pastor. Every time I even mention anything remotely connected with being a pastor’s kid, someone always messages me in an attempt to make it about some weird dirt-throwing sentiment I have zero interest in. Listen to the podcast and quit trying to eisegete every PK lived experience to validate your own issues.