Why I still hold out hope
It is not a secret that much of the evangelical church in the United States is in trouble. I can name churches across the United States where the leadership has abused or mistreated their pastor. The precipitating event is different in nearly every case, but the pattern is the same. You can read about the pattern here. When I get together with my pastor friends we swap "war stories" and show each other the wounds we've received from churches that batter their shepherds. Indiana, Ohio, Washington, Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Arizona - just the ones I'm personally aware of is staggering. There should be some sort of "Abusive Churches Watch List" for pastors, much like there is for terrorists.
But once in a while the church acts like the Body that it is called to be. I am excited about the health of a church I visited recently. I went to a reconciliation service there two weeks ago on Saturday night. The elders apologized to the 200+ people who have left and to the pastors that they had disagreements with. It was the first time the church had celebrated communion in nearly a year - a tangible symbol that the leadership recognized their part in broken relationships AND confessed it publicly. The two previous pastors helped serve the communion, and there were HUGE hugs all around as relationships were restored. It was quite simply AWESOME. Its one of the reasons I still have hope for the church in the United States. Sometimes leadership listens to the Holy Spirit and repents. No finger pointing, just real simple confession, with no excuses..... It triggered the same kind of action from the Body - people confessed their holding of grudges and bitterness. In the end, it left me wondering - what would it look like if that happened in some of the churches I know of that have similar pasts? I would love to see it happen - but for now a special event at a church in a nearby state gives me hope.
But once in a while the church acts like the Body that it is called to be. I am excited about the health of a church I visited recently. I went to a reconciliation service there two weeks ago on Saturday night. The elders apologized to the 200+ people who have left and to the pastors that they had disagreements with. It was the first time the church had celebrated communion in nearly a year - a tangible symbol that the leadership recognized their part in broken relationships AND confessed it publicly. The two previous pastors helped serve the communion, and there were HUGE hugs all around as relationships were restored. It was quite simply AWESOME. Its one of the reasons I still have hope for the church in the United States. Sometimes leadership listens to the Holy Spirit and repents. No finger pointing, just real simple confession, with no excuses..... It triggered the same kind of action from the Body - people confessed their holding of grudges and bitterness. In the end, it left me wondering - what would it look like if that happened in some of the churches I know of that have similar pasts? I would love to see it happen - but for now a special event at a church in a nearby state gives me hope.
http://meltingearth.com/P3T3RK3Y5/2007/09/success.html
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