A Church Demonstrates Congegational Repentance and Reconciliation

Loved this story of a Baptist church in Memphis practicing reconciliation and healing after a near church split. The excerpts below are from an article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper.

"Since 2006, there have been several heartbreaking situations that have occurred in our church family that resulted in broken relationships, broken trust, divisions within our church family and a damaged witness in our community," Dr. Charles Fowler, the church's senior pastor, wrote to the congregation last month....

....Church leaders and members had been battling each other for control for years. One pastor resigned in 2006, citing "the protection of my wife and children" after a long and bitter dispute over church governance. Three years later, another pastor resigned after an angry dispute over worship styles and other issues.

Pastor Charles Fowler led his church through a season of repentance for division and then a worship service of confession and forgiveness.

On Sunday evening, Jan. 29, in Germantown, Fowler called his flock together to confess, forgive and repent corporately in a special service he called "Grace Applied."

"We have prayed so long for this service," Fowler began as hundreds of past, present and future church members and leaders filled the seats of the worship center. "Your Holy Spirit has prepared the hearts of many, many people who have a desire to be here tonight."

Fowler had prepared for the service by writing a declaration of confession and forgiveness for the congregation to read aloud together. He also set the stage with three chairs, three basins of water and three white towels.

A Really Scary Halloween Costume

 Humor Hat Tip:  The Sacred Sandwich:

The Broken Heart of God

No one can break the heart of God like His own people.

from: Nakedpastor.com

Long Time No Confess

In light of the big announcement this week by Pope Benedict regarding a new way for Anglicans to be received into the Roman Catholic communion, I though the cartoon above as both humorous and apropos.

For news stories and commentary see here, here and here.

Cartoon from Disenchanted Anglican Congregations Invited to Adopt Catholic Brand « Thinking Out Loud

Learning From Your Critics

Billy Graham's grandson, Rev. Tullian Tchividjian, is the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida. This is the church founded and pastored for 50 years by the late Dr. D. James Kennedy.

That church has just gone through a leadership struggle. When discussing that situation, Tullian shared with Christianity Today Magazine a lesson his grandfather taught him about handling conflict and controversy. - Allow Your Critics to Teach You .

"I have talked to him about it on numerous occasions. His encouragement to me is, 'Simply, by God's grace, I've weathered many storms just like this, and if you submit to what God is trying to teach you, he will make you wise and humble and useful.'

In other words, don't become proud and self-righteous. Be teachable. And God will make you useful.

Don't become bitter, in other words. Allow even your most vocal critics, who may criticize you unjustifiably, to become tools in God's hands to teach you something. Emerge from this more of a gospel man, more of a God-centered man."

Wise words from the good Dr. Billy.

The Heart of the Problem

From a post at The Sola Panel comes this "heart-warming" story:

An eminent and well-known English preacher was approached by a congregation member who complained about some aspect of church life. It may have been that he didn't feel welcomed, or that he was finding it hard to make friends and fit in; it could have been that he was finding the service dissatisfying or the preaching too long; it could have been that the music was not to his taste or that his family was not being catered for to his satisfaction. The details of the complaint have been lost in the telling and re-telling of the story.

The preacher listened to the complaint, paused, and then replied with five words that cut straight to the heart of not only the man's problem, but the problem with all grumbling and complaining in church. He simply said, “It's not about you, stupid!” and walked off.

Well, maybe I would have (hopefully) said it in nicer words, but he was and is right. It's not about me, nor about you: It's all about Him. The sooner we all learn that the better off we'll all be.

Monk Wars

From Kelly Randolph at Ecclesiophilist comes this simultaneously humorous and depressing report. From the Ecclesiastical Wierdness Files

In what has to be one of the strangest stories of the day, rival monks had a brawl at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The fight broke out between Armenian (not arminian) monks and Greek Orthodox monks when the Armenian clergymen marched in an annual procession commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus. The Greek Orthodox monks said the Armenian monks had no right to march through the church, so they blocked the group from marching. Israeli police rushed in to break up the fight.

OK, let me get this straight. Two groups of guys who supposedly revere Jesus Christ decided to beat each other up on the very site where Jesus is reported to have died for our sins and rose from the dead. And this fight broke out while one of the groups was celebrating the discovery of the cross that was used to crucify Jesus.

Silliness tends to break out when so-called Christians have more reverence for religious relics, holy sites, and ecclesiastical authority than they do for Jesus or the things He taught. Lest we think that this kind of nonsense only takes place among the Catholic groups, we need to remind ourselves that many a Baptist business meeting has broken out into verbal brawling over things as trivial as colors of carpet and who is going to be in charge of the potluck this month.

There are certainly times when Christians differ over substantial issues. Sometimes these disagreements are hotly debated. This is appropriate when gospel issues are on the table. But more often than not, Christians fight over things that have little biblical significance. Such arguments are driven more by personalities and power-grabs than by a passion for Christ's kingdom.

Sadly, the outcome of these brawls has devastating consequences for the testimony of the church in the world. The irony of clergymen fighting in the very place they celebrate as the empty tomb of the resurrection is not lost on a watching world. Let's not waste our energy fighting about silly, trivial things. We have real enemies to fight. Not least is the enemy of pride and self-importance which prods us to raise ourselves and our cause above everyone else.

The story was also covered by Ben Witherington, who commented:

It may be hoped that the parties involved in this disgrace will repent, and then apologize to each other. In the meantime the Jesus who died on the cross on this very spot shakes his head and says--- "I died for this? I died so my followers could behave like this?" I think not.

So lets review: 1) the Muslims opened and shut the doors of this church yesterday; 2) the Israeli Jewish police came and stopped a fracass in the foyer of this church; and what did the Christians do while Jews and Muslims were watching--- 3) THEY PUNCHED EACH OTHERS LIGHTS OUT!!!

Father, forgive us, we do not know what we do.