2 Cor 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers?
Gal 1:7-8 “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
It was more than 20 years ago, but I still have feelings of hurt and betrayal. It started as I privately challenged a small group leader with the fact he was sleeping with his girlfriend. Others made it public, and it led to the church imploding. I’m not sure if the people attacking me were unbelievers or believers who were deceived. Either way we did not need to be yoked together. And the church was not able to survive the confusion caused by our being unequally yoked.
I would like to say there were two camps – those who didn’t see the Bible as our authority – and those who did. But in reality there were two different camps. Those who didn’t see the Bible as our authority, and those who didn’t know what to think. I realized the church had never been prepared to take a stand against sin. Preserving peace in the community became a higher priority over holiness.
After this, a Pandora’s Box of unrelated issues became volatile and personal. I made mistakes, but I tried to lead the church in accepting Scripture as God’s authority for those issues. For this I was accused of not being sensitive. The church was a mess and my attempts at resolution were futile. After a few years, I left the church.
What can we learn from such a tragedy?
First we need to lead people to Jesus (not just a denomination) with the help of our Anabaptist roots. I was attracted to Mennonites partly because of the historical tradition of being radical communities taking the Bible seriously. Anabaptists became a powerful movement because they rejected a cultural, nominal church. But now it had come full circle and many in the Mennonite church (and many other denominations) had become part of that nominal Christianity itself. We need to tell the stories of people who suffered by loving their enemies. We need to encourage the next generation with the exciting legacy of people being persecuted for their practice of baptizing only people who had repented of sin.
Secondly, we need to establish healthy communities of faith. Some people advised me to take a break from pastoring. I did take a 6 month sabbatical, but I was not going to allow a bad situation drive me away from my calling. The toxic environment of that church created a yearning deep inside me to work even harder for a healthy church environment.
What makes a healthy church community?
One answer would be to call members to live according to the standards of Jesus’ life and scriptural authority. We need to help people be prepared for the things that would deceive us. Several times Jesus and Paul warn God’s people against being deceived. One way to do this is to train leaders how to lead the church into appropriate study and application of scripture. We are working on ways to equip leaders in this way for Good News Fellowship.
The last thing I’d say is we need to ask the Lord to help us create an environment where we can experience joy as we serve the Lord. Church is to be a fun adventure. We can fail in our personal life. We can make mistakes as we try to do ministry, but joy is on the other side if we learn from our failures. A church constantly fighting over issues loses its joy. On the other hand, a church growing in grace attracts people to find out more about a Jesus who gives people true freedom.
Dave Lambert
Pastor, Cellebration Fellowship
Primary Leader, Atlanta Area
