IMPERFECT CHURCHES AND CLERGY HAVE A CALLING
One of the continuing stresses of being a pastor is to watch a member choose to leave the church. I’ve spent 50 years in the ministry seeking to nurture, challenge and grow the members of my church. Paul says in Romans 3:23, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Few of us would, in abstract, declare that our lives are perfect. So, if we are to proclaim the Gospel, it is going to challenge people’s lives. Yet it is one of the most difficult moments in ministry to watch a long-time member leave in anger over one issue or another.
ANGER AND SPLITS
For years I was able to nurture the majority into staying, but even then, there were some who chose to separate. In many cases, I think they have let themselves down as well as their church. I have an exercise I use in trying to help a church learn to respond to conflict creatively. I place before them several of the major splits in the history of Christianity. For example, the split between the East and the West, or the Reformation. I also list some of the splits that have led to the different denominations. I ask them if they know what the central issues were that caused the divisions. Sometimes a few will have vague ideas, but for the most part, the majority of them can not explain the issues that led to the split. Yet the One Body of Christ is split.
A NEW COMMANDMENT
Then, I quote John 13:34-45, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I ask what it means that our church history is filled with our inability to obey this basic commandment of Jesus. Clearly, the history of the church, and often the history of our local church, gives evidence that our hope is based not on our ability to win our doctrinal or social arguments but in the power of grace to enable imperfect people and communities to form communities that demonstrate the power of God to work through them.
GOD IS NOT DEFEATED
Over the centuries many, both individuals and parts of the church, have separated from the Body of Christ over one issue or another. What is it that we fail to nurture in people’s faith that doesn’t allow them the strength to continue the journey when they are challenged? Sometimes in moving to another church a person is rejuvenated in their journey. In such cases, God provides a new arena for growth. I think God has continued to work through our many denominations, but it doesn’t deny the fact that what led to splitting the Body of Christ reflects our disobedience to Jesus’ commandment.
A WITNESS WHEN TRUTH HAS DISAPPEARED
In an age when any objective bar of truth seems to have disappeared in most areas of life, consider the power of a witness to the truth that not only is not divided by disagreements but even grows from staying in community and dialogue about those differences.
OK, that’s my sermon for the week. Ministry is stressful among contentious and imperfect people, but your pastoral efforts and challenges raised by proclaiming the Gospel among less than perfect people is not in vain.
