Politics and Politics
For those of you who haven't heard - and the only reason you would have heard is because i would have told you - Central Church of Christ has decided to close it's doors. This is the first time I've been a member at a congregation that has made this decision - and it's startling how many people are tied up in un-christian attitudes and situations during this whole process. I have heard about several churches being broken over things like this, and I do admit that people at Central are really striving to make this as healthy as possible - the politics are, however, astounding. And it leads me to the question: why, if everyone is striving to have the mind of christ do such differences happen? I mean, I KNOW why - Satan, yadda yadda, inner sin, yadda yadda, but it is just so frustrating.
On the other side of politics, I think I've discovered that politics are interesting to me. I think I could see myself becoming an aide to a polititian. Can anyone else see that potential in me?- or is this like the time I wanted to be a horse when I grew up?
6 Comments:
are there still people who want to attend? was this a congregational vote?
i only want to know, because i want to understand. if the congregation wants the church, and they are paying for the church to exist (not the body, the actually day to day, that's how i'm using the word church)... how do some of the people decide to close the doors?
i don't get it. and what are visitors told in the meantime?
i want to get it.
the elders made the decision - based around the way our finances look for the upcoming year. Many of the members support their decision based on: well, they're our elders and we trust that they've prayed and this is what God wants.
I feel for visitors as well - last Sunday a lot revolved around healing for the congregation and i think the visitors felt very out of the loop.
understand yet?
me neither.
I used to be torn on this issue, but the truth is, Eric and I have been looking to attend other churches for a while now. I don't look at the situation with a dollar amount.... to me we were good at playing church, but mediocre about being Christ to our community. It's a sad thing where lots of people are at fault, and yet no one is to blame. Someone told me that there are people at Central that want to serve, but are told they can't (because their ideals are radical and non church of christy)... and there are people who don't want to serve are told they don't have to.
There's a lot I could say.... but maybe this blog isn't the way to go about it. We should Chang it up in the near future....
huh. i'm just so sad for the people this will hurt. i've been part of a split, which i know is different, and people used it as the excuse to never go to church again. i'm just so sorry for the spiritually unstable.
i suppose, that's all of us, in some way, central or no.
i've been in the middle of a major church split, which ended up looking a lot more like the church closing and opening a new one with those of us that were like-minded, only in the same building. long story. anyways, i've experienced how painful all of that is, and how quickly "godly people" and "godly leaders" turn VERY worldly and petty...bickering, making personal jabs and such.
so, i'm praying that Central can avoid these common pitfalls. and i'm praying that all of you will come to Living Streams :)
and, about politics...i vote no. because i can't stand politics in ANY arena, and therefore our friendship would be greatly effected/affected by such a career choice. VETO.
when i was six i told my mom i wanted to be one of those nice people in the orange jumpsuits who helped to clean up the side of the road. my mom told me she hoped i never became one of those people, and that there were plenty of other ways i could be kind and help keep things clean.
it wasn't until i was thirteen or so that i realized that those kind people in the orange jumpsuits were inmates.
way to go mom
#1: I do think that there are enough people at central who have the right heart - that everyone else could leave and the rest of us could have a wonderful congregation. Finances would be tight for a while, but God would really bless the work there - however, that would not be seen as an option by all the other people - so we can't just ask them to go. Perhaps some of us will start a new congregation in the area, but Central itself has to die first.
#2: No matter how much I love you Bre - for some really strange reason I really want to try something in politics. I can't explain it and I would do my best to not talk to you about it, but I do want to look into it.
#3: When I was little I wanted to be a stewardess. One day when I was 11 I mentioned this to an elderly lady in our church who practically drove into my mind that it was just a glorified bartender and that wasn't ok with God. I was really sad that God wouldn't allow me to be a stewardess.
Post a Comment
<< Home