#church split

Oh. My. Friends. In this week’s PODCAST, I have a hunch that your sense of self-worth is about to make an enormous leap. Enjoy!!! Thank you for listening, and for sharing this message!!! Please remember that depending upon your web browser and connection speed, it may take up to 60 seconds for this podcast to begin to play. God bless you richly as you listen.

Never Losing the Light: Storms Price!

Storms always have a price tag. Did you know it would be so high? (No, of course not.) For this storm the price was enormous, yes? But… I do not speak of it to inflict guilt. (No.) I want you to take a moment with Me and survey the debris. As far as you can see, and much further, this storm has left it’s tracks of destruction on men, women, and children. The storms price has been high. Do you see…

As you are about to hear in this PODCAST, we have come to a defining moment in Early Church History—one precious period of time, two events of staggering significance—of which you and I are the direct beneficiaries.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/thesafehaven/Paul_in_HD_27.mp3

This will explain so much, and put so much into its proper perspective.

Thank you for listening and for sharing this message.

Zondervan published this little gem in 1997:

Chapter 7: Conduct Unbecoming an American Believer. 

MALLEABLE MODERATES OPEN DOOR TO RELENTLESS MODERNISTS

The second largest Christian denomination in the USA, with roughly half of its 13million global members living in the United States, has agreed to split over the issue of same-sex marriage.The United Methodist Church, a denomination long home to a wide mix of theological opinion, has been experiencing tensions for decades. The split, which has been a long time in coming, is the inevitable outcome…

The reasons why people decide to leave or stay after a church split can be varied which each side thinking they are in the right. But regardless of which side you are on, the ones who stay or the ones who leave; a church split is always painful and can bring out the worst in people. 

When our church split (not once but twice) and we lost that community, I took it really hard. The first time, a little more than a third of the congregation left to form a new church effectively reducing our numbers (ironically it was still within a 5 mile radius in the same town which resulted in some awkwardness whenever we ran into a past member at a local burger king or grocery store). The adults numbers were reduced by a third while the youth group was reduced by almost half. We still saw the other kids from the YG because we went to the same joint retreats every year, but I learned that their church was also struggling and every time I couldn’t help but think, how nice it would be if were were still together under one church? 

We tried our best to move forward, however the church never seemed to recover in terms of membership, passion, and vitality. Eventually the families who had young kids left altogether to find a different church. 

Whenever someone left I felt hurt, abandoned, and betrayed and wondered what were their real motivations for leaving. Oh sure we had some people say that they felt that “God was leading them into another direction” but didn’t it seem convenient that the direction happened to be towards the mega church with +1,000 members?

To add to that,  every couple of years the elders for whatever brilliant reason would decide that the best way to ‘revitalize’ the church was to replace the lead pastor (a decision that at the I was most upset about because somehow all the PKs (Pastor’s kids) ended up being around the same age as me and they were some of the best friendships I ever had). Every time this cycle happened of bringing a new pastor in- getting close and forming new friendships with new kids - watching the elders force the pastor to leave - saying goodbye -- and having to start all over again with  the new pastor, the PK’s, and JDSN was incredibly frustrating. 

But for some reason my family never left and we stayed throughout the changes and it’s something I’m still trying to figure out looking back all these years, why did we stay?  

And now here I am, years later looking back and wondering whether I should stay or go. I’m learning that maybe the first two splits have affected me more than I thought, and that these feelings of bitterness and resentment are still being harbored deep inside, threatening how I form new friendships and relationships as an adult. 

Maybe there is no clear cut right or wrong reason why people leave or stay, maybe the reasons are as varied and complex as the people themselves and it’s different for each person and the situation and life stage they are in. I don’t know what else to do other than to watch and to wait, so I guess I’ll have to wait it out. But I hope that one day, God will use this story of brokenness and redeem it for His glory.