LifeWay Christian Resources
President Thom S. Rainer gives a presentation during the annual SBC meeting on
Tuesday, June 11, 2013. This post has a negative perspective
to it. I freely admit it.
I addressed the positive perspective
of it in a recent podcast.
Sometimes we have to face the
reality of a sickness before we are willing to seek treatment. Please read the
next sentence carefully. Indeed, many of the problems we think we have are
really just symptoms of the breakdown of unity in the church.
The early church in Jerusalem
thrived because it was so unified. Acts 2:47 says: "(They were) praising
God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to them
those who were being saved" (HCSB). The phrase "having favor with all
the people" refers to those on the outside looking at the church on the
inside. They saw a selfless and unified church, and were thus attracted to it.
So what are some of the key reasons
we are seeing the breakdown of unity in our churches? Though my list is not
exhaustive, allow me to share fourteen of those reasons.
1. Gossip. Church members talk about one another instead of
talking to one another. Paul calls church members who gossip people
"filled with all unrighteousness" (Romans 1:29, HCSB).
2. Actions cloaked in darkness. I recently heard of a church personnel committee and a
few church staff members who worked in darkness to fire a pastor without ever
meeting with him first or giving him reasons for his dismissal. Then they
refused to respond to church members who were asking questions.
3. Failure to confront church
bullies. Some church members seek power
in a church they can't get elsewhere. They are devious and dangerous. They must
be courageously confronted.
4. Self-serving church members. Some church members insist on getting their way for
everything from worship style to the order of the worship service. Biblical
church membership, however, is selfless and more concerned about others.
5. Lack of prayer. A church that does not pray together is likely to
fragment into special interest groups.
6. Fear of confrontation. Too many church members would rather sweep problems
under the rug than deal with them. I know of one church where two deacons were
known to be having affairs. No one wanted to deal with it.
7. Adopting the hypercritical spirit
of culture. This reality is especially
true in blogs and social media. I've seen many pastors attacked publicly on
Twitter and Facebook.
8. Low expectations. Many churches have no clear guidelines on what it
means to be a part of the body of Christ. If you expect little from members,
that's exactly what you'll get. And some of them will use their idle time to
gossip, criticize, and tear down.
9. No church discipline. The majority of churches with which I have familiarity
have no process for church discipline, or they have a process in place in
theory only.
10. Churches known more for what
they are against rather than what they are for. This negativity becomes pervasive in the congregation
and destroys church unity.
11. Fear of losing members. I am familiar with one church plagued by a spirit of
divisiveness by one particular member. No members have confronted him because
they don't want to lose one of the biggest givers in the church.
12. Failure to be evangelistic. I have never known a church member who is both
evangelistic and divisive.
13. Power groups. Sometimes the bullies in the church get allies to form
power groups. They may be informal groups, or they can be formal groups like
elders, deacons, staff, or personnel committees.
14. The silent and fearful majority. One church member said it is not always good to know
the truth. Such a statement is unbiblical and symptomatic of members who let
evil exist because they are afraid to confront it.
One of the greatest problems in our
churches is the breakdown of church unity. It is insidious, debilitating, and
destructive.
Paul urged us "to walk worthy
of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with
patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keep the unity of the
Spirit with the peace that binds us" (Ephesians 4: 1-3, HCSB).
Jesus said in John 13:35: "By
this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another."
No comments:
Post a Comment