Pros
There are a few really good people there who truly value ministering to people The church has been blessed with a lot of financial resources Reasonable compensation Good PTO
Cons
Poor leadership has created a highly dysfunctional work environment that leads to an extremely high turnover rate. Dysfunctional culture has the unfortunate consequence of driving away the real pastors and replacing them with people who are content to advance the brand and have little to no theological training. Leadership is pushing Menlo to become more and more of a massive corporate religious enterprise rather than a church, leading to an excessive emphasis on "branding," outward image, and numerical growth. The church has a rich history of thoughtful theology and spiritual formation, but those things are becoming less valued and the trajectory of the church is to become more shallow and "dumbed-down." Annually takes the Best Christian Workplaces Institute survey and the results indicate a "toxic," or just above toxic, environment. Leadership then promises change, hires outside consultants to guide it, reorganizes the staff, comes up with new slogans, and the cycle repeats the following year. The organization has a habit of driving out people by re-writing employee job descriptions, then telling the employee they are welcome to apply for a different job at the church, typically one that is below their skill set. Multi-site model grows by poaching other Christians from established, smaller churches in community. The pulpit used to be shared by several of the pastors on staff, but is increasingly limited to just the senior pastor, so that capable staff are unable to develop and grow their preaching abilities.
