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how to serve in a church where your leaders don't trust and support you?
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how does one deal with the situation where your leaders in church do not share (or even go against) your approach to sharing with, and teaching to fellow brothers and sisters in the church?
some background: i am from a rather conservative prebyterian church (with a congregation of around 400 members). i've been serving as cellgroup leader for more than 4 years and have been teaching sunday school for about 2 years. i don't subscribe fully to all the traditional teaching of the church. e.g. i don't accept calvinism totally (i accept it partially only - particularly the point on eternal security). i differ from the church's view that charismatic teachings and practices are wrong (i am open to certain charismatic teachings and practices. i believe there is no perfect church - be it envangelical or charismatic - and we can learn a lot from one another). i don't support the cessationist view that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer valid for today. and personally, i prefer teaching/preaching methods/approaches that are not restricted the ones taught in traditional bible colleges (which is contrary to some of our pastors, who all graduated from the same bible college). because of my differing views, and because i've been boldly sharing them, i've been questioned on a few occasions by some leaders in my church. some of my leaders are confronting me on the way i share with fellow brothers in sisters in church (through mass emailing), and the way i teach my bible school classes (i'm teaching a class of upper secondary students). i feel very disheartened by the entire episode. instead of focusing on the fact that i've been encouraging my brothers and sisters in church through my sharing of the Word, that i've been teaching the Word with joy and enthusiasm, and that i've been sharing the gospel with zeal and leading people to Christ, my leaders are picking on the way i share and teach. and instead of telling me specifically what are my errors in terms of theological viewpoints, and what damages i've done to the unity of the church so that i can retify my mistakes and help to restore those i've stumbled, some of leaders are suggesting that i should get my emails vetted by them first before sending them out. they are also considering "demoting" me from a cellgroup leader to an assistant cellgroup leader (so as to allow them "to buy some time to thrash out issues"). i have decided to submit to the leader's authority and have agreed to stop my mass emailing to certain selected groups in my church (something i've been done for more than a year) and adjust the way i teach my sunday school class. but i feel very discouraged (and lost). what should i do now? keith (see attached for a recent correspondence between a pastor from my church and myself. names have been replaced or changed to protect the identities of the parties involved) ________________________________________________________ hi pastor p,
>just sometime not very comfortable about ur open >sharing and action which maybe u r not aware of, might >cause demage to church unity. i know you have the interest of the church at heart. and i share the same desire to see the church grow and mature. i habour no intention to cause disunity in church. in fact, it breaks my heart to see disunity among believers. it is the Father's heart to see us walk as one in the Holy Spirit, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. so please remind me when i do stray beyond the boundaries of the church. i keep hearing the refrain that my sharing and my actions may cause damage to church unity. but so far, i'm still waiting for someone to shed light on (1) which points of my sharing are considered "wrong"; (2) what are the actions of mine that are considered "detrimental" to the church unity, and (3) who in true grace church has/have been stumbled by my sharing/actions. sincerely, i would personally apologise to, and try my best to restore anyone who stumbled in their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as a result of any of my words or actions.
>again i say, i am not pointing finger against u. i am >also asking the question 'why growing up with all the >others, but u view point seem so different?' then i >realise that many r holding different view point but >dare not to share. yes, i think you have come to the right conclusion about many of us in church holding different views but not daring to share. i suspect that not many spend much time meditating on God's Word or ponder about faith matters, so they do not have much to share. others simply do not know how to share, or do not have a channel through which they can share. i was surprised on more than a few occasions during personal conversations/discussions, by the lack of knowledge and understanding (and most importantly, interest) regarding our faith among many of our brothers and sisters in church.
>thanks for being brave to share ur view. forgive me if >i do offended u, but hope that u will agreed that as >church pastor which holding the responsibilities of >the congregation, we need to be more conservative to >safe-guard them. i appreciate you position. and i understand and respect what you are doing. but i would really appreciate it if you could be more specific when you give me advice. like in the previous email, i felt i was maligned by your allegations that i've been teaching "charismatic prophecy" and that i was openly on "the against side of Predestination". i feel that if you had read my emails more carefully, you would not have painted such a picture (which i felt was not very fair) of me infront ot the leaders in the church. but rest assured that i'll stop my mass-email sharing from now onwards. i understand your viewpoint and your concerns.
>regarding the teaching issue, frankly i am not >comfortable when u said u feel that as long as reading >the bible made youth to love God more, it is ok, again, i think there is some misunderstanding here. how i wish we could have taped our discussion so that we can have an objective review and verification what we have said...(that's why i have preference for writing, because everything is in black and white and is verifiable). allow me to state my position: i DID NOT say that "as long as reading the bible made youth love God more, it is ok". it would be irresponsible and could be dangerous to say such a thing. i believe most of us fully appreciate that it is possible to love reading the Bible as merely an intellectual pursuit and out of religous pride. it is also possible to gain an erroneous understanding of God from reading the Bible without proper guidance (like the religious pharisees). it is possible to love and be zealous for God in the wrong way. so i'm quite sure i did not say the statement which you quoted me as saying. i believe what i said was something like this: "when i teach the Bible, i don't want to bore my students. i make sure i tell them the necessary background information and scholarly findings and commentaries, but i don't harp on such. one of my main aims is to instil an interest among the Youth to read the Bible. i'm don't restrict myself to any particular teaching approach/method. i hope my students find my lessons help them see more of the Love of our Father and our beautiful Lord Jesus Christ, and realise how inspired, how interesting, how amazing, how wonderful, and how useful the Bible really is. the Bible is the Living Word. it is the Love Letter from my dear Father. i want my students to become truly enthusiastic about the Word. regardless of the teaching methods i use. of course, i'm aware of the risks of the different approaches, that's why i always remind my students that there are many different schools of thoughts out there, in terms of approaching and interpreting the Scriptures. i make sure i tell them what are the more conservative and widely accepted ones, and what are the more controversial ones. furthermore, i always remind them that when they read the Bible, always focus our loving Father's beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. the most important issue is that the focus is correct. as long as we don't teach heretical teachings that destroys our faith in the God and His Word, i am of the opinion that different teaching approaches/methods are ok ." and i believe i've made it clear to you and pastor m that i will take into consideration the maturity of my students and not subject them to too many non-traditional views. i hope the above black and white renderings will help to mitigate our apparant gap in mutual understanding and further clarify my position :-)
>during the last youth minister meeting. and maybe that >is why i am so mad about it. i sincerely hope that >they love God, but also knowing the right way to >understand the bible, and the way we approach is >usually the way our teacher teach. thanks for the >passion to get them learn with joy, just hope that >more safe-guard factors r considered. yes. during the meeting, i said that during my lessons, whenever i was sharing the more "interesting" things to my students (such as typology in the Old Testament - e.g. Noah's arch being a type of Jesus Christ, and Noah's family being believers secure in Him despite of the surrounding storms), i've always made my position clear that these are the subjective views of certain scholars or theologians that are interesting and worth considering, but may not necessarily be the correct way to interpret the Word. i told you that i trusted my class to be discerning and mature. and during the meeting, after hearing the concerns raised by the rest of you, i admitted that i might not have made a fair assumption with regard to the maturity of my students and their ability to discern. and although i question the view that being conservative in our teaching is the best way to help students mature (i belong the other school of thought that believes in subjecting my students to MEASURED and CONTROLLED exposure to the various alternative teachings), i agreed with the rest of you that i need to adjust the way i teach my sunday school lessons. obviously, we hold very different views when it comes to approaching the Bible. for instance, pastor m stated his stand that the youth members should establish a firm foundation in the OT before we cross teach anything else in the NT. but my personal conviction is that christians should first and foremost get a firm grip of the NT teachings before they are able to accurately understand the OT. i strongly believe that Christ Jesus and the doctrine of Salvation by Grace is the indispenable and most important foundation of the christian faith. i also defer from your way of teaching Sunday School. unlike you who is more in favour of treating and interpreting the OT events solely in their historical context, i am always more inclined to also cross reference to the NT when i teach the OT. i understand there are shortfalls in adopting this approach, but i don't believe we should throw the baby out with the bath water. i believe if done carefully and properly, one can reap much benefits from such an approach. frankly, i would be at a lost as to how to teach the OT in my sunday school classes if you insist that i adopt the same approach as you. you see, almost 1/4 to 1/3 of my lesson is typically dedicated to NT teaching when i teach the OT. i'm not saying any particular teaching approach is right or wrong. i'm just want you to understand that i have a preferred teaching approach that differs quite significantly from some of you (who are better trained and more experienced). i know your method is well grounded, establised and widely accepted by certain circles of christians. and i don't question the validity of it. but i do hope that you understand the philosophy and my primary basis for preferring to teach in another way (which i believe is not totally unacceptable, right? :-) i think the best way for one to appreciate how and what i teach in my sunday school classes is to observe my class personally, rather than base one's assessment merely on information one hears from someone else. and as far as i know from feedback gathered from y - apparently the only one from the youth group to raised some concerns to pastor m about my classes - his faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible has not been shaken a wee bit. what was perhaps shaken was his belief that there is only one system/ correct way to read and interpret the Bible. i think we need to see things in perspective and differentiate clearly between a shaking of faith in Jesus Christ and the Bible, and a shaking in a certain system or approach of teaching/learning the Bible. these to me, are no doubt connected, but they are not the same thing. alternatively, i may even suggest that i tape all my lessons for the rest of you to review, if deemed necessary. otherwise, i can take a break from teaching sunday school until further notice by the leaders of the Youth Group. i think you understand how difficult it is to serve in a ministry if there is a lack of trust and support from your leaders.
>about the demotion, it did come >across my mind. but it is just a thought come across >as a safe-guard to buy time to trash out the issue. as i've suggested above, the church leaders may like to consider absolving me from my current responsibilites until they are comfortable with me. i fully understand the concerns of the leaders, so i shall take things positively in my stride, if that is what is deemed to be in the best interest of the church. i should think i would welcome and enjoy this "sabbath" for me, after all these years :-)
>feel free to share with me, maybe a talk over the >coffee is a better idea. thanks for your feedback and advice. and thanks for giving me a chance to clarify my position. indeed, the cell group leaders should get together one of these days, and i'm sure there are many things that we can share over coffee :-)
>last, lets set a side the differences in theological >view and focus on the new lap to come. yes. let us focus on the fact that we are all one family in Christ. differing theological views should not cause disunity in us. i'm not so concerned about whether my brother subscribes to calvinism or is a follower of armianism. we are all followers of Jesus Christ and beloved childen of God. "what, afterall, is Appollos? and what is Paul? only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the Lord has assigned to each his task" (1 cor 3:5) let us encourage one another to fix our eyes on Jesus our Lord. let's revel in His Grace and Joy. His, Keith
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Messages
Outline:
Reply to Keith, by Interested , 2001, Oct 27
thanks for your feedback and advice by Keith, 2001, Oct 27
Hi Keith by Royston Ong, 2001, Oct 27
Hi Royston, by Interested , 2001, Oct 27
Oh i see by Royston Ong, 2001, Oct 27
Hi Royston, by Interested , 2001, Oct 28
Hi Interested by Royston Ong, 2001, Oct 28
Hi Royston, it is my turn to be surprised! by Interested , 2001, Oct 28
You are right to say Charles was evangelical by Royston Ong, 2001, Oct 29
To Royston, Ah! now I get it. by Interested , 2001, Oct 29
As iron sharpens iron... by Royston Ong, 2001, Oct 30
thanks royston by Keith, 2001, Oct 27
Thanks for your candidness, really appreciated it by Royston Ong, 2001, Oct 27 
Thanks Royston. I'll check out the website as you've recommended. eom. by Keith, 2001, Oct 29
Hi Keith, by Interested , 2001, Oct 27
thank you, interested :-) by Keith, 2001, Oct 27
Some pointers by RTC, 2001, Oct 28
Thank you. Useful pointers indeed. eom. by Keith, 2001, Oct 29 
Very Easy..just leave church by JL, 2001, Oct 29
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