“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.” Lord of the Rings
During the past few months, The Wartburg Watch has taken a look at some serious conflicts within several churches and within a "family of churches" called Sovereign Grace Ministries. The churches we have investigated include: Two Rivers Baptists Church, Nashville, Tennessee; First Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida; Pray’s Mill Baptist Church, Douglasville, Georgia; Wonderland (fact or fiction); and Sovereign Grace Ministries. Next week we will turn our attention to Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. We have postponed a very special and unusual post about FBC Jacksonville to give our guest blogger sufficient time to do due justice to his subject. We guarantee that this particular post will present something rarely seen in the blogosphere. We are also getting ready to change our blog format to make it more user friendly. Don’t worry. Our posts will continue to be just as hard hitting.
During several discussions amongst ourselves as well as comments received by our intelligent readers, we have seen a number of common elements present in these churches that we believe contributed to,and even caused, the brouhaha. We thought it might be interesting to list the problematic issues that have been raised by the conflicts at these churches. We will be developing this list over the next several months and would love input from our readers. For now, we will call these problematic issues "Wartburg’s Signs of a Dissonant Church". We plan to give due credit to anyone who submits a suggestion that is used on the final list, if so desired.
Here's what we have so far…
1. A high degree of authoritarian leadership. (All of the reviewed churches)
2. An apparent dissonance between what is believed and what those in leadership practice. (All of the reviewed churches – this will be discussed in depth tomorrow).
3. Pastor compensation, gifts, benefits and lifestyle that is noticeably excessive in comparison to the average members of a congregation. (All of the reviewed churches except Wonderland-fact or fiction)
4. Elder/Trustee/Deacon groups dominated by pastor “yes” men. (all)
5. Church discipline is the method of choice to respond to members who express concerns and differing points of view from the pastor. We are not talking about clear-cut Scripture violations such as found in the Apostle’s Creed. (all)
6. A seeming lack of grace and love amongst the church leaders when responding to members who have a conflicting point of view. (all)
7. Fear of church discipline is used to keep members in line. (all)
8. Retribution – once an individual who participated in a perceived conflict leaves and tries to join another church, pastors and/or church leaders attempt to prevent membership in the new church. (all)
9. Sexual misconduct which might include pornography, affairs, pedophilia, etc., or the concealing of past sexual issues or the overlooking of warning signals of ongoing sin. (Wonderland, SGM, Prays Mill, and allegations at Two Rivers)
10. A lack of transparency with regard to the finances of the church. (all)
11. A lack of accountability of time on the part of pastors who may be involved in activities not directly related to their primary role as pastor. (Such as writing books, speaking at other churches). (all)
12. An elevation of secondary issue such as the age of the earth or church polity to primary issues. (all)
13. Limited input by women in the governance or planning of the church (all)
14. Appointment of family members to paid positions within the church. (Pray’s Mill, FBC Jax)
15. Derision instead of bridge building with other religions in the community. (FBC Jax)
16. A cult-like worship of the pastor that overlooks the possibility of pastoral sin. (all)
17. A misuse of denominational resources and personnel to “protect” an errant pastor. (Pray’s Mill, FBC Jax, Two Rivers)
Obviously, the list is already rather long. We bet that our readers have suggestions for issues not covered and disagreements with the current list. Remember, this is a work in progress and, with your help, we will be able to flesh out the core components in the coming weeks. Upon its completion, we believe that this list needs to be made widely available to churches in America. This list will be prayed about and determined by the Holy Spirit that inhabits each life in the “priesthood of the believers”.
Finally, we believe that love is the main element that is severely lacking in these conflicts. Whether you agree with the aggrieved parties or not, the church leadership should be the role models of love and kindness. They should be the first to confess sin and be the peacemakers. The recognition of leadership is earned, not by words, but by example. Jesus showed us the Way. He rarely “tooted His own horn”, choosing instead to be born in a cave in the shadow of Herod’s magnificent palace. He grew up working as a laborer and walked the dusty, hot roads with “no place to lay His dear head”.
This last week, we remembered a performance of a song on American Idol that was a beat box version of Bon Jovi’s hit, “You Give Love a Bad Name”. The beat box phenomenon is all the rave in Europe. You’ll get it when you see it. Here are the lyrics, along with the performance. Do a few of the words ring true about these hyper-authoritarian pastors? Praise God that the Holy Spirit is present in our pain!
“Shot through the heart and you're to blame Darlin,' you give love, a bad name
An angel's smile is what you sell you promise me heaven, then put me through hell Chains of love, got a hold on me when passion's a prison, you can't break free
Whoa! You're a loaded gun yeah, whoa… There's nowhere to run, No one can save me, The damage is done
Shot through the heart and you're to blame, You give love a bad name I play my part and you play your game, You give love a bad name, You give love a bad name
You paint your smile on your lips, blood red nails on your fingertips A school boy's dream, you act so shy, Your very first kiss was your first kiss goodbye
Whoa! You're a loaded gun whoa… There's nowhere to run No one can save me ,The damage is done, Shot through the heart and you're to blame You give love a bad name ,I play my part and you play your game,
You give love a bad name You give love…Shot through the heart and you're to blame ,You give love a bad name I play my part and you play your game, You give love a bad name,
Shot through the heart and you're to blame ,You give love a bad name
I play my part and you play your game ,You give love a bad name, You give love a bad name.”
http://www.kovideo.net/lyrics/b/Blake-Lewis/You-Give-Love-A-Bad-Name.html