Yet lip service is often all it is.
Now there are many ways of rigging an election process - no, not rigging an election as ballot stuffing and such - but a rigging of the process itself so that no ballot stuffing is necessary.
One such way is popular not only with communist dictatorships like North Korea, but a great number of churches of all denominations and sects across America.
Consider it from their point of view. They are open to the public, and any who profess to accept their tenets and/or get baptized are then full members. How dangerous that must seem to the current crew of heavy tithers who having invested so much in what they have come to regard as "their" church, do not want to see that damaged or took in a different direction then they believe is "correct".
Yet, at the same time, they can hardly wish to simply - and honestly - say, "Yes, it will be we few that decide things, but all of you keep donating and tithing and serving."
So what's a church to do?
Take a church I am familiar with. I won't name it because so many other brands/faiths do it, too.
They choose their board by a process not unfamiliar to North Koreans. The board picks some "choosers" from among their own ranks, or if they feel comfortable, some who they know can be counted on. Those choosers then pick a "nominating committee", made up of board members and those deemed safe.
That nominating committee is then in theory choosing a name for each slot based upon prayerful seeking of divine guidance. In other words, they are claiming that the names they provide are not based upon their own personal desires, but that of God Himself. A bold claim, and if you've seen most church boards, a rather blasphemous one, yet really no church in America fails to make it.
Those names then being chose, the slate - with no opposition candidates whatsoever - is presented to the church members, who may then vote "yes" or "no". And like in North Korea, any who do not vote "yes" will be regarded with dark suspicion forever more, and any dumb enough to vote "no" will be quizzed as to why, and then will be in the position of having to report problems about various leaders that were already known - but will be denied and then the leader appointed anyway, there being rarely more than one who would be so foolish or idealistic enough to complain.
And then that "no" voter can be ostracized. You may imagine how many would be critics that silences in advance.
Unsurprisingly, most "votes" for the names pre-chosen for the positions - which will bear remarkable similarity to the previous holders - garner a 100% vote of approval.
Again - much like North Korea. If by "much like", one means "exactly like".
Still, sometimes a church runs it's affairs so poorly, and the danger of grumbling is so great, and the problems with the current leadership so obvious, that they must go even further.
Announce the "election" without full board approval. Rush it so that a slate can be put in with the members having only six or seven days notice to prepare. No two week notice, no general business meeting to get all the members involved, just let it be a random 25% of such members that typically show up for the weekly service. Don't give the members the names to be took home and prayed over. Don't wait for the new minister to arrive, get your slate jammed in before his arrival so he's stuck with it.
I see those tricks, and always think to myself, "When they break their own rules, then even they know they're up to something." The breaking of their own rules lets me know that such is not done innocently, but with full intent.
Oh, such leadership is not entirely dumb, they know to pull some razzle-dazzle. On a regular size board, appoint some token outsider unlikely to have the intellectual capacity to cause trouble or rock the boat, or even one that probably won't be bothered to attend much. On a large board, you can appoint even three or four such, on a really large board of around 20, you could get away with five.
Let some few leaders be "demoted" for a term or so, but make sure their spouse, brother, sister, cousin or in-law has it. Thus they still feels comfortable supporting the church, as they still actually have as much say as ever.
And, best of all, if any do complain, they may be branded as "un-Christ-like" or "power seeking". Picture the irony of the Communist Party of North Korea accusing some upstart reformer of merely being in it for the power! It's the same irony to be found in various American churches when those who've had a hammer lock on titles and status for years, shut others out, then brand them "devil-inspired" should they complain.
How does this hurt the people, how does it "scam" them?
Well, the rank and file members, good hearted and there for spiritual guidance and fellowship, are judging things by how their own hearts are, and so will not be likely to really ponder this and realize what's up. And they derive a benefit socially from their church association, they may have been in it all their lives, and all their family and friends may be from there, so they only need the flimsiest of excuses to grab on to, anything that sounds good and can justify them not speaking up about any concerns they may well have.
And thus a large group of people continue to throw good money after bad for an entrenched leadership that having wasted tons of it in the past, will now continue wasting tons of it in the future. Were tens of thousands of dollars took in, but little or no outreach done? No matter, no leader will lose his job, as the members have no real recourse.
In spite of loans and gifts and such, amounting to half a million plus, is the church still a quarter of a million dollars in debt? No matter, the leaders can continue on, changing and correcting nothing, as it isn't like they'll lose their titles, position or authority if they don't.
Unable to meet even the monthly budget? Why would this concern them or cause them to correct anything? Again - they still won't lose their status or be called to account.
Because if any one - like a person not raised in the church and not reliant upon them for all their social interactions - complains, that person can be branded "outsider", "power seeker", "devil inspired", "title hungry" and such.
Thus with no real feed back, no meaningful accountability, no checks and balances, and no means of correcting the flawed system, church after church after church in America goes under, goes bankrupt and fades away. Abandoned church buildings dot the land, not mostly for people not believing in God, but for an unaccountable leadership running it into bankruptcy while all those who have it in their hearts to donate - but know in their heads that the leadership is scamming - simply move to a better run church.
Because those who cannot truly vote with their hands tend to eventually vote with their feet.
And maybe the new church will have the best doctrine and maybe it won't, but at least when it's donated to it won't just be squandered away on stuff that isn't even about "personal gain" for the leaders but just about "ineptitude". For most all church leadership at the local level is far more ignorant than greedy. They aren't squandering the money on fur coats, pinky rings and yachts, but they are squandering it all the same on needless repairs, over priced contractors, useless feel good mailings, videos and other unproductive "outreach", silly pet projects and all other manner of things none of which really does any good in drawing in new members at all.
I've seen the leadership of a church let a perfectly salvageable half a million dollar chapel sit empty for four years while they squabbled among themselves till it was so dilapidated that what could have been repaired at $10,000 would now take $250,000 plus to repair! And each of them would in all sincerity blame the other, and none would actually have personally profited, but there was no democratic process, no means of the membership to snap their fingers and wake them up, and so an entire church building must be torn down.
And every one who participated in that? They've been re-nominated for yet more terms, excepting some few who are letting their wives, brothers, and such have a go on their behalf.
Recognize then this Election Scam, know it for what it is, and choose then carefully where you give your donation dollars. Churches may claim to be of God and under Christ's authority - in fact, all of them claim that - but I doubt God or Christ truly wishes this kind of nonsense to go on, where all the good hearted donations of the flock get flushed down the toilet by such modern day Pharisees.
Go to any church you want - but when it comes to any desire to do the Lord's work, you may wish to investigate as carefully as you would any other investment.
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