Yesterday, Pastor Byron started us off on the book of 1 Corinthians 1 & 2. You can listen to it here. Today, I’d like to talk about Paul’s address to the Corinthian Church about division. Human nature, as it is, is prone to divisiveness. Selfish motives often masquerade as holy justifications and often leads to broken relationships within the church. Ever hear joking statements about church’s splitting over the color of carpet? As we see in 1 Corinthians 1, the threat of division was just as present in the 1st century as it is in the 21st century. So let’s look at the issue of divisions in the church.
Division Over Preferred Leadership
In most of the modern churches there is typically a head leader that directs the body. Solo pastorates and rectors have been the norm for quite a while. Sure there are some congregational churches as well as brethren churches that adopt a different model, but the majority of churches tend to have one lead pastor (who may or may not be subject to a presbytery board). Even then, the lead pastor is the most visible person in the church. Due to this phenomenon, churches tend to skew toward a cult of personality culture. This week, such a trend has been highlighted in the wake of Harvest Bible Chapel’s firing of its Senior Pastor James MacDonald.
Though it is sad to see this so prominent in the public arena, it is a reality. The way we have elevated leaders in our churches has inevitably led to the elevation of certain personality types that can potentially divide and harm congregants. Even in the immediate wake of MacDonald’s dismissal, there will be people on both sides, some defending James with the message of grace and forgiveness, others defending the dismissal with the message of higher standards for teachers in the church, and everything in-between. I am not a part of Harvest Bible Chapel, so I will refrain from airing my opinions–as it is not my place.
Sadly, this will lead to people losing faith in Harvest and possibly losing faith altogether. For some, James MacDonald is their pastor. For others, he is not their pastor.
Churches built on the personality of a forefront leader often struggle during transition to the next generation, because it is a cult of personality structure. This is because we as a people tend to put our flesh and blood leaders on a pedestal and follow them as opposed to following Christ. The issue is, when our leader falls, it causes a sort of identity crisis in us. We find this stable force in our lives being moved, like a support pillar to a house. Such is the nature of elevating leaders.
And Paul warns against this cult of personality culture. Even in his day, people were claiming to be part of Paul’s Church, or Peter’s Church, rather than Jesus’ Church. They were gauging their spiritual prominence on their baptizer, not their heavenly Father and Savior. Paul spoke with great authority in his letters because he baptized very few people in Corinth, and was glad for it. In fact, as we read through the Pauline Epistles, we see an increasing number of people showing up at the churches with “credentials” and misguiding the churches. A church environment that favors certain personality types in its leaders is conducive to abuse by said leaders. Even well-meaning leaders who come into such an environment are easily tempted over the years to slowly begin preying on the church for selfish reasons.
Division Over Pet-Peeves/Pet-Projects
Pet-Peeves and Pet-Projects are another source for division within churches. I have seen this play out in a few different ways. Several years ago, a friend of mine was candidating for a local Bible Church. It was a small church. One of the elders was known to be a contentious man (probably shouldn’t have been on the board to begin with). Apparently, after years of contention, the head elder started getting tired of this man’s antics. However, another man was coming to the church who was very wealthy, to the extent that much of the church budget depended on his giving. It just so happened that during my friend’s candidating process the lead elder confronted the contentious elder, who then left, as did his friend. At that point, the church no longer had a budget to fund a full-time pastoral role. Now there are a lot of things that could be said about this. The point I am making is that people (even Christians in church) aren’t above manipulation to get their ways instead of trusting the Lord to bring things about. The contentious elder manipulated the elder board with subversive threats of him and his wealthy friend leaving. They had their pet projects and used their money to get their way.
Pet peeves are another source for division. In another instance, I knew a minister who was well-versed in biblical understanding (that is not a universal given for pastors). He allowed a small group of congregants to explore some of the more supernatural “spiritual” gifts within a biblically allowed framework. This allowance set certain members of the church off, who then conspired and had said pastor removed from office. In the end, that church lost a quality pastor and has suffered great financial set-back because of a few people’s belligerence toward their pet peeve.
No Church Is Perfect. Yet Christ Still Reigns Supreme
Is there a lot of fallout in churches due to humanity’s tendency for division? Without a doubt. Yet along with that, Jesus will not be conquered. Those who are hurt by the church and its leaders can still find healing and redemption. Just because the person who baptized you falls from grace, it doesn’t mean that all you’ve learned and received for your spiritual nourishment is useless. The Holy Spirit uses broken, ignorant, and even arrogant leaders to still bring about the message of salvation and spiritual growth in people. For those who look to Jesus for their ultimate guidance and comfort, a fallen leader will not shatter their faith, nor will the manipulations of backroom church politics. Jesus will continue to look after his church. But he does issue a severe warning about those who would abuse his followers (children). “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).
We are prone to division. It is the duty of the elders and pastors to ensure a healthy unity for the churches. We (I include myself) stem division by staying united in the Holy Spirit. We create an environment that favors unity. Elders and Pastors are not to be dictators, but rather exemplary influencers toward the Gospel mandates in word and deed. This helps reduce the cult of personality environments found in many churches. We also make decisions through counselling together and not allowing backbiting and gossip to happen to other leaders.
So yeah! Today’s was a bit of a heavy topic. When I looked over the passages, this is what stuck out to me. I take that as an indication of what I needed to reflect on. I hope you were blessed by Pastor Byron’s message yesterday and by this post. I also hope the rest of our 1 Corinthians’ series blesses you in new ways in the coming month.
May this series continue to help you experience our Lord’s