April 11, 2008
Resignation
I just learned that my adult Sunday school teacher has not only resigned from teaching, but he and his family also pulled their membership from the church. The condensed story goes like this: One of the elders called to tell my teacher that he must have a meeting with all of the elders. The teacher declined because [my paraphrase] he’s been tarred and feathered one too many times. Since he wouldn’t meet with the elders he was then told he’d no longer be allowed to teach and that “an elder will take control of the class”. I’m not surprised, nor am I upset. We’ve watched all the other adult classes get eliminated and this last remaining class of old timers has been a thorn in the side of staff. Really, it was only a matter of time, so whether it was this week or the next, it makes no difference. On a positive note, now my teacher is only under the authority of the Word…the staff and the elders have no authority over him. It’s going to be interesting to see how people respond to another death in the family.
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5 comments:
Hi Gail,
I just learned about your blog site a few days ago. Since then I have read everthing posted to date. I have not attended said church (or any other for a long time.) I feel an emptiness in my heart,and I miss the fellowship. About ten years ago I attended a sister church in Parker, CO. I cried during the service because it reminded me what our church services were once like. It felt like home.
I am very disturbed by all things I am finding out about the changes going on in the church, I know that I should have been there to stand with the body of believers, but my heart is just not in it. I have backslidden so long that I not only feel like an outsider, I am an outsider. I sure my name is no longer on the membership list. I am going to start looking for a church where I can worship, sing hymns, and feel welcomed as part of the body. Change is very scary I guess that's why I have done nothing.
When you and Bill were leading the Weigh Down class, I felt closer to God then that at any other time in my life.
Thank you for letting me vent.
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
I had to laugh when you posted as Anonymous and signed your name. Since you haven’t attended church in a while you’ll still be anonymous because some people will be thinking, ‘Debbie who?’!
Quite honestly I have no idea who knows about the blog or how many folks read it. It’s not something that I promote…I’ve left that up to the Lord to use as He will. If you’ve read over two years of blogs in a few days, I’ll take that as a compliment. Most writers want to be the author of a novel that readers just can’t put down; maybe I can boast of having a blog that a reader couldn’t turn off!
I know what you mean about attending the sister church that reminded of how ours once was. When we started the Sunday Night Bible Study and Fellowship [the leaders won’t allow us to have Sunday Night Services] we sang hymns – from the hymnals. For the first few weeks I couldn’t get the words out of my mouth because of the lump in my throat. I couldn’t believe that we could finally sing hymns again and all I could do was sort of hum along. Reconnecting with those beloved hymns is so emotional.
Debbie, many of us who’ve been regular in attendance also feel like outsiders, with or without having backslid. God knows you’ve been absent from fellowship, but relationships at church have been so shattered and deliberately restructured that (sorry to say) no one even knows you were missing. I’ve bumped into people who, because they haven’t seen us in the building, think we’ve left the church, and Bill and I are there every Sunday. The other day I submitted a bio that was needed for public information and I had to call the church to see if I was still a member.
There seems to be a lot of baby churches starting up and two that I am aware of are rising from the ashes of our church. People in these churches are hurting and trying to heal, so you’ll fit right in! It is scary, hard and sad to leave a church where third and forth generations of our families have worshiped and found salvation.
I too loved our Weigh Down time together! Debbie, the same Spirit you had in Weigh Down is still in you. You just need to be refreshed, renewed and fluffed up a bit. The Word of God can do that.
I love you.
Gail
Hi Gail,
I signed as anonymous because I couldn't figure out how to do the user name and password. I'm not terribly computer literate.
Thank you for your encouragement. I would like to know something about the two churches that are starting up. Some of my family has been going to Victory Baptist, but I have not visited it.
I certainly mourn the loss of the values and direction that the church is going through.
I don't understand the thinking of a ministerial position as just a job. I always thought of ministry as a calling to serve, which includes visiting the sick, couseling, preaching, teaching, and nurturing the flock. Not just a social hour on Sunday morning.
It really disturbs me that the church does not extend the invitaion of baptism every Sunday.
Does the church have Sunday school for children? I got the impression that they do not. How disturbing.
Love in Christ,
Debbie
Hi Debbie,
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.
Many of us are in mourning for our congregation, as are others across the nation. Just as a public school system can lose a generation of children by experimenting with new programs (sight reading, modern math), I think the church is in danger of loosing a generation of believers.
There have been so many changes in children’s Sunday School that I really don’t know what’s available. At one time children could only attend Sunday School if they were accompanied by their parents. I was soooo glad that I no longer had school age children.
When I mention churches in the blog I refer to them as XYZ Church, so now I’m in a bit of a quandary. Let me just refer you to the April 14th blog which notes the time and meeting place for the newest church plant.
Gail
Gail;
-----A few years ago, I bought a new computer. I moved my old computer to a different location and dedicated it to a different task. In order for it to perform its new task, I had to upgrade it with more memory, more and larger hard drives, a faster processor, a better video card, etc. The old programs serving its old purposes were also removed and replaced with new instructions. Once my computer was reprogrammed, it served my new purposes very well.
-----People are very much like that computer. They are programmed for the purposes they serve. Although one can not change and modify the hardware, the software is open to tampering. When the new “ministers” changed the purpose of your church, it meant all the computers there had to be reprogrammed, or go down the street to a church where their current programs would operate more effectively. When I was dealing with my computer, there was nothing unethical about requiring a change of software, because I owned it. The Bible is clear about the fact that ministers do not own the church people.
-----And, unlike my computer, what makes a person a person goes far beyond just the physical body. The software is part of who that person is. And if that person indeed belonged to me, yes, if all of the people belonged to me, who each and all were would also belong to me, because the software in them all would belong to me. Now, that means the church would belong to me, because the church is the people who are there. I could do with the church according to my own conscience, and it would be proper. But the people belong to God. Each one belongs to God. So the church belongs to God. And the software belongs to God. Not just the collective software of the whole church, but each program within each individual belongs to God. Only God has the right to order the changing of the software.
-----Yet who had the pomp to challenge God’s ownership? Yes, the same who had the audacity to demand the software change. It was he who had the arrogance to proclaim God told him to do it. And now, not only the precious Debbie’s of the church are finding themselves unrelated to it because of this software incompatibility, this serving of the “ministers” purposes (claimed to be God’s purposes), but many who have stayed are also finding themselves cut out of the church’s interest. Unplugged, so to speak, in the “come plug-in” church. Disconnected in the church of connection. Thank God, honest and truthful in the church of the deceitful, the arrogant, the owners.
Maybe coming out is a good idea.
Steve Corey
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