I remember visiting a church years ago and thinking to myself, When is this pastor going to finish his introduction and get to the text?
Before I knew it, the pastor closed in prayer. His “introduction” was the entire sermon, sharing entertaining stories and therapeutic applications, only lightly (and vaguely) touching Scriptural truth. I attended church that day to hear from God, and I heard a message that could have been on Oprah. I felt conned.
What should a Christian do if they find themselves in a church that doesn’t preach the Bible? There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but we can exercise wisdom as we approach the situation. Read More
2 comments:
The article suggests 4 alternatives:
1. Pray.
2. Seek godly counsel.
3. Talk to your pastor.
4. If you feel called to stay, be a godly influence in your church.
5. If you feel called to go, find a church committed to biblical ministry.
But for some reason, the article fails to mention the one thing that has been recommended throughout all of the history of the Church, which can read in our Article XXVI "... it appertaineth to the discipline of the Church that inquiry be made of evil ministers, and that they be accused by those that have knowledge of their offences; and finally, being found guilty by just judgement, be deposed."
We all recognize that the brokenness of the Church (into separated churches) is a reality. The suggestion that you should go to a different church is a recognition of that reality, a decision born of pragmatism and probably of cowardice. A more righteous decision would be to NOT accept that reality and to pursue opportunities to bring the wayward church and her ministers to justice.
The options that the author of the post presents are the kinds of options that are available to someone attending a church that is autonomous. It may participate in a cooperative arrangement like the local associations and state conventions of the Southern Baptist Convention or it may not be a part of a denomination or church network at all – as in the case of a non-denominational church. Non-denominational churches are on the increase while denominational churches are in the decline.
In both instances the disciplining of a pastor whom a member of the church judges not to be biblically orthodox on the basis of his teaching ultimately falls to the church elders or congregation, depending upon the church’s leadership structure. It would normally involve the same procedural steps as disciplining a member of the church. In a number of non-denominational churches, I must point out, the pastor is accountable to no one other than God and his conscience. He may have an advisory board but the board does not have the power to remove him.
If the church elders or the congregation do not agree with the church member’s assessment of the pastor’s orthodoxy, that individual really has no other recourse than severe his relationship with that church. If he remains in the church and seeks to persuade other members of the church of the validity of his assessment, he risks being labeled as divisive and being expelled from the church himself as a troublemaker.
The danger here is that of a church member who becomes unhappy with a pastor’s teachings which, even though they are biblically orthodox, are at odds with the individual’s opinions – with what he defines as biblically orthodox but which actually may be on the fringes of biblical orthodoxy or even heterodox. That church member may be so convinced of the rightness of his opinions that he becomes a disruptive influence in the church and may even cause a church split. In his pursuit of what he views as doctrinal purity, he may unwittingly ally himself with the devil who is only too pleased when church members begin to fight amongst themselves over doctrinal issues and become distracted from the church’s primary task of spreading the gospel, making new disciples, and enfolding them in new churches.
Where an autonomous church is a part of a collaborative arrangement like the local associations and state conventions of the Southern Baptist Convention, the only steps that these structures can take when a church’s pastor departs from what they regard as biblically orthodox teachings and the church elders or congregation refuses to discipline the pastor is to distance itself from that church and declare itself no longer in fellowship with the church.
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