As churchpeople, we sometimes assume that we are immune to the temptations of power. We don't make much money. Society gives us so little power that we think ambition--the drive to succeed, achieve and have prestige and influence over others--is a problem only for people in business or politics, not for people like us.

We thus sometimes fail to see how we get caught up, for the very noblest of reasons, in the same ambitions that motivate everybody. Eventually, the people climbing to the top of the body of Christ can look just like those scrambling to the top of General Motors. Often you can't tell much difference between our leaders and those of the gentiles.