Opus 2026-399: Let It Go

A friend of mine is involved in one of those typical things which causes a church to rot from the inside instead of being brought down by Satan on the outside.  It’s really a dispute over superficial nonsense.  Of course that’s my view because I’m not involved in it.  If I was in the middle of it, I might have a different opinion.

We have a church that used to be large and thriving, but has dwindled away to almost nothing, at least comparatively speaking.  They still have enough residue to be bigger than most common churches but there is that recovery that they’re hoping for.

They’ve called a new pastor.  Everyone seems enthused.  It seems that he’s preaching the gospel and reaching out to new people.  That is all well and good.  But you have these people who are more intent on being the big frog in the little pond.

There are three Sunday school classes which have a long history in this church.  I’m not sure how big they are at this point, but I would guess between 10 and 15.  As my friend said if you subtract a couple younger people in his class, the average age is probably above 90.  We are not talking here about frisky cutting edge, middle ages or even elderly who are out making a difference in the world.  There’s talk of electric golf carts bringing people to Sunday school classes from the parking lot.  I’m sure that walkers and wheelchairs abound.  One of the big issues is does the PA system broadcast loud enough for everyone to hear.  All of that is just part of life.

Now we come to the point where forces unknown to me are trying to get these classes to move forward in someway.  It seems like they have many more people wanting to teach then they have classes to be taught.  We’re talking here about retired ministers, ex missionaries, school teachers. All of them probably have the ability to do a good job.  None of them has the support of everyone.  None wants to sit down and be quiet.

So they fuss and fume and bicker.  They vote.  They have meetings.  They rotate through the teachers.  That would be OK if they just left it amongst themselves.  The problem is, they are dragging the pastor into it.  I am only getting one side of the issue, but my guess is that you have at least three different power structures in the church who are trying to get the pastor to back them to do it their way.

Now my point.  I know you were wondering when I would get to it.  At what point do we stop standing on our gold plated wisdom, and back off and let it go.  We’re not talking here about debating the divinity of Christ.  No one is denying the physical resurrection.  There are no major doctrines under discussion.  It simply a matter of which group wins.

Again, I’m on the outside, so my opinion is rather empty.  My suggestion though is that they all have an attack of humility and you have a competition where everybody starts backing out and saying “Whatever you want”, and may the last man standing be teaching the class.  Maybe the next one standing could be president of the class.

But please do not dilute the energy and the focus of the pastor with your petty arguments.

homo unius libri