The Power of Negative in the Body of Christ
In the trailer for the film, Betrayed: The Clergy Killers DNA, the film suggests that there are people who actively seek to do harm to the clergy leadership in at least 50% of Christian congregations. Often, the film suggests, this may only be 5 to 10 people, but their constant negative behavior has a powerful, destructive result on the clergy and the congregations that they serve. This is an example of the power of the negative to be disruptive to the community. It doesn’t take many aggressive, negative people to be disruptive to the whole community.
A World Shaped By Fear
We live in a world that is shaped by fear. When a person is too trusting of others, for example, we speak of that person being naive. Even in the Christian community, there seems to be far more emphasis on the power of sin than on the power of hope. We may speak of faith, hope, and love being the core of the Christian faith, but we act as if we need to guard against certain sins rather than build on hope. If, for example, someone remarks on the remarkable effect that a youth worker is having on the youth of a church but someone else starts the rumor that perhaps s/he may have acted inappropriately with a young person, which is going to elicit the strongest response from the congregation.
Does Hope or Sin Shape Our Churches
The Gospel of Mark describes Jesus ministry beginning with these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news.” When you read that sentence, does the word “repent” or “believe” stand out for you. The Gospel is built on the positive power of hope in God’s capability to work through a very human community to effect good news, but many congregations are inclined to believe that cleansing the church of “perceived imperfections,” frequently focused on clergy leadership, is of key importance.
Reluctance to Speak up
A significant question that I will explore in our next blog is why does the larger community, be it church or nation, allow the aggressive minority of negative people to have so much power. Even more importantly, how can a church resist that temptation and “believe in the good news” of the Gospel.
