Yes, I know some of you think it is not my place to discuss "church," after all I am a woman & therefore a fool but for the record these are just my random thoughts on some church issues, pure personal reflections & opinions.
Friday night something sad happened. A church that is near and dear to our hearts, a church our son is attending while in the northeast, had a vote. After 2 1/2 years of arguing, sessions, presbyteries, counsels, gossip, lawyers, accusations and other tomfoolery, the vote was finally had. The outcome was known ahead of time. 49/51 one way and the church split. 51/49 the other way and the church split. The church is now split. One half is gone and my guess is that in a couple of years the other half will be gone also.
I have been a church member my entire life. And I have traveled around the country quite a bit. I have seen up close and personal 3 or 4 real church splits.
The first one was in Rockford, Il.
When Tim and I traveled around the country it was pretty easy for us to find a church. We got out our Alliance Prayer Directory and found the nearest Alliance church. That worked well since we only lived in each place a little over a year.
The church in Rockford was memorable. It was started by a group of former hippies who had been lifelong friends. During the 18 months we were there these friends became enemies. This was over 20 years ago but we still keep in contact with people from both sides and we still get sad thinking about what might have been.
Later in our "Gothard" church (remember my Gothard Files?) we watched the ATI people breakaway after trying to hijack the elder board. It appeared that their strong belief in accountability only mattered when they were in charge. This seems to be a standard accountability practice. If you want to find true authority don't look at the guy pounding his chest look for the quiet guy washing feet.
When we moved to Alabama we asked our PCA pastor in Md if he could recommend a church. He said, "No!" He would not recommend any PCA church anywhere. Nor any other church. Apparently, we were leaving the last known faithful church in the world. So we came to North Alabama and began church shopping which some consider church hopping. We have tried about 10 churches in the last 3 years. Many of them for only one Sunday. We have certain things that rule out a church right away. Bill Gothard teachings being a big one.
The PCA has several church plants, church splits and church starts on the "rich" side of Huntsville. They must have 10 churches over there. They have a church or 2 in Decatur and then no churches at all in podunk Limestone County.
We have found that there is a socio-economic factor to fitting into a church. If everyone makes quite a bit more money than you they are going to have a different value system. They may be loving, Christian families but they will not understand why your car broke down again. It is really hard to have a conversation with someone with a lot of money when you are a buy books,eat beans kinda person.
"And then I said to my personal trainer,'Repent and be baptized,'" she giggled.
" I just agonized over whether to serve the pesto or the artichoke dip until I prayed about it."
"Who will buy the champagne for the baby shower?"
"Do my nails match my purse? I just hate to be a bad testimony."
So it has been a rough row to hoe. We have learned a few things along the way. If a church is pastor or personality driven...run for your life(and do a little research on narcissistic personality disorder). That man may be biblical today but tomorrow he will have a bee in his bonnet that will sting everyone.
Speaking for myself I would love to attend a church where more than one man preached every week. No matter how wonderful a preacher is, he inevitably sticks to the same talking points. Having several "speakers" would help keep things in biblical perspective. Even a plurality of elders does not help if one man becomes the dynamo though. So far no one has called to get my opinion. I will let you know if they do. I have a lot more opinions about Church but I will crawl back into my role of homemaker for now. Toodles.
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