August 04, 2006
Getting on Board
The selection process for elders in our church has been revised and stretched beyond Biblical requirements. A few years ago during interviews, an elder candidate was told that we were on the Purpose Driven Church path. The last qualifying question asked of the candidate was, “Can you get on board with that [Purpose Driven Church]?” It’s of no surprise that today all of our elders are in complete agreement with the direction the church is heading. After all, a nominee isn’t considered for the position of elder unless he’s already ‘on board’. Is it any wonder that members of the congregation are jumping ship? Man overboard…
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3 comments:
Gail;
----I don't think people understand how spiritually dangerous this practise is to the church. In I Corinthians 4:6, Paul warns us not to go beyond what is written, otherwise we will puff up against each other.
The result of going beyond the Word of God is to operate from the mind of mere men, because there is no definitely communicated thoughts of God outside the Bible. We have seen many, many results of going beyond what is written. Gail listed a couple in her post of August 3. To those can quickly by added Edgar Casey (Christian Scientists), Charles Taise Russell (Jehovah's Witnesses), Joseph Smith (Mormons), and Ellen G White (Seventh Day Adventists - but she's not the founder). The list of those who have brought serious errors into the church extends all the way back through history to include Simon Magus of the book of Acts.
----Indeed, the prevalence of going beyond what is written is so great in the church today that I do not know of any gathering of His saints who do not make this mistake. That is why we have a denomination for every street corner. Unfortunately, we must accept a certain level of this problem in our churches today, because people are in the mix of the organization and guidance of the church, and whatever people are involved in becomes involved in people's errors.
----Most of those must be tolerated because they are deeply ingrained in the hearts of our brothers and sisters and come from subtle diferences of Scriptural interpretation. The wandering beyond the Word that is serious disobedience to the Lord in our churches is the error that has no basis in Scripture at all. Gail posted about the Henderson Hills Baptist Church accepting membership without baptism - a good example of beyond what is written without scriptural basis.
In one of our own local churches the leadership has gone beyond what is written in that they truly believe that if they can reach unity on an issue, then that is what God wants for the church - a rediculous idea. A particular group of like minded elders might turn the Sunday morning worship service into a cocktail party.
----As the end of this evil age draws near, churches are moving ever more deeply into the ways of the Laodicean church of Revelation. The Book of Revelation describes a time when God draws a well defined line in the dirt and calls man to sort out in respect to it. As that time draws nearer, I believe like Paul that it is ever more important to become sober and watchful. I believe that it is ever more important with each day to find in the Word the line that the Lord is drawing in the dirt of each situation and step to the right side of it. How far beyond what is written have the leaders of your church gone?
Gail;
----The church my family visited Sunday happened to be having their communion service that day. We somehow misread their schedule, so we had the opportunity to sit quitely for an hour and watch the preparations for service. Among the adjustments here, conversations there, and an hour long choir practise, there was the preparation of the communion table.
During that preparation a lady brought out a chalice and placed it among the trays and other items.
----We all looked at each other, silently at first, with grimmaces slightly appearing on every face. Soon one of us was brave enough to speak up, "I'm not drinking out of that! Not with all of the stuff going around anymore. That's too unsanitary."
----"Me neither!"
----"Not if anyone else is going to drink out of it too! Daddy, do we have to? "
----"No. I won't either, no way!" I finished for eveyone, "And none of you have to either!"
----After a few more moments of conversation Char and I began to realize that one of the stacks of trays on the communion table were obviously the small, individual communion cups. We comforted each other with the conclusion that the chalice was ornamental. I still wondered, though. There were only two trays of communion cups, and that seemed hardly enough for the number of people who were beginning to gather. My suspicions would not leave the chalice!
----Communion time was a bit different in this church, and it was the final ceremony of the service. Rather than the elements being passed around the sanctuary, the elements were dispensed to the parishoners as they moved, row by row, to the front and then back to their seats. After our row had emptied into the center isle, while there were maybe a dozen or so people in front of us, Pastor Mark took two steps backwards and set down the tray of communion cups from which he had been dispensing. I supposed that he had run out of grape juice, and that he would get another try. But I knew that someone else was dispensing from the other tray. Then it happened! Paster Mark picked up the dreaded chalice! OH NO!
----"Calm yourself! He's only going to refill the communion cups, he's only going to refill them" I tried to reassure myself - not realizing that would be nearly as bad as sharing the chalice itself.
----As a lady stepped forward to Pastor Mark, he dipped his finger in the chalice, then let the drop he collected there drip on her tongue. He took a couple steps backwards again and set the chalice down. Then he stepped forward with that comforting communion tray in hand.
----After I had been reseated for a few moments, it dawned on me what had just happened. Pastor Mark knew his parishoners. He knew that lady stepping forward for communion held in her heart the concept of communion from a chalice, not from little plastic cups. Pastor Mark did not chastize her for that antiquated thought. He was willing to serve her. Or maybe it was all the others desiring to receive communion from little plastic cups whom he was unwilling to chastize, but willing to serve. All I know for certain was that these leaders were willing to recognize the makings of the hearts of the flock in their care.
----I sat there a few moments amidst thoughts of how love grows on tiny deeds the way raindrops grow on tiny dust specks. And the refreshing showers of love that soaks to the soul when a people are taught the importance of those tiny little spots in the heart, and the tiny little deeds done for them. A tear formed in my eye and escaped down the side of my nose. For six years I had been trying to get the elders of our church to understand this. But they wouldn't understand. And after wandering and wondering, having had Char and my memberships terminated by those elders, I sat there experiencing the actions of love that they had told me were not possible. The next tear broke straight down my cheek, and I left home without my hanky. I couldn't stop weeping. I couldn't sing the doxology through the tears, or participate in the benediction. I just wept, and wept, and wept. It was just a tiny, insignificant thing. But it spoke a whole library to me, and even more to the lady who received that drop on her tongue.
Thanks for sharing, Steve. A very thought provoking and memorable experience for you...and now for us.
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