The corporate model had a special appeal to a certain element of church person: It allowed for order without the special demand of spirituality. Under the corporate system the work of local churches could be defined by a comfortable hierarchy where everything flowed from the top down, and the process had the oversight of middle managers like Sunday school superintendents, youth directors and choir leaders.

Key to the corporate model was the Board of Trustees (sometimes labeled with other biblical titles) whose function was to be responsible for financial matters, management of the church property, and were accountable to congregation and government for tax and legal matters. Because of the power this corporate trustees held, their decisions often held sway over the Board of Elders or Deacons who held the spiritual portfolio.

Thus, in many churches throughout the United States, and later the world, institutionalism grew, but spiritual progress waned. The corporate mentality and the corporate hierarchy within the institution known as the church was often able to extinguish spiritually driven impulses for relationship, growth and change.

Too often Trustees thought of themselves as corporate executives whose sole task was to perpetuate the institution of the church. They did not recognize that churches which were not actively meeting human needs through spiritual means might not be worth perpetuating. They felt that the ultimate administration of the institution was in their hands, not God's hands, and the spiritual dimension was not given priority.

As a result of these and other influences, churches moved away from the style of leadership taught by the founder of the church, Jesus Christ. They adopted the corporate system, which is now being abandoned by business corporations themselves.

The corporate system is losing it's place because business is learning that the hierarchical system is designed to serve the institution itself, not the people related to the institution. Local churches must learn this lesson also and return to biblical patterns of church leadership.