Quote:
Originally Posted by Sabby
Yes, this was Phil. This is in the context of the Culture of the times.
A question was asked earlier on this thread if the acrimony between the district and the school existed before Don Fisher arrived. Yes, there absolutely was.
If I am not mistaken CLC has its own church(?). CBC didn't have that luxury, although in '78 or '79 (can't remember the year) the school made a proposal to the Portland area pastors to allow any students attending their churches to be able to prioritize school functions OVER local church functions. The PDX area pastors by this time were claiming ownership ( which included staffing of S.S. and financial $upport) of students in their churches. The pastors rejected the proposal OUTRIGHT. These things happened with Gary Geason in Oregon City, Bill Davies in McMinnville, B.A. King in Beaverton, Langley in Hillsboro, Barlow in St Helens, Phil in the church at Killingsworth and Paul in St John's just off Lombard Street. I don't know if they rejected the proposal over doctrinal "purity", needing control, or both.
It only weakened the structural integrity of the school and exascerbated the bad vibe between the school and local area pastors. It seemed that the pastors opposed any promotional activity of the school UNLESS it directly benefited their church.
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That helps me understand! The time period you are referencing I was too young to be aware of all the church politics. And, I lived in the southern part of the state so was removed from it.
Yes CLC has it's own church so that made it very easy for myself and the other students to be involved in lots of different ministry opportunities without all the strife that was going on around CBC.
You mention the mindset that the only time students and the school were utilized was when the pastor of the particular church thought it was of direct benefit to him/'his' church. Sadly I believe this to be true because some of these same men still pastor churches in this state and that is their approach to pretty much anything that comes along. There are a few newer pastors who at times seem to reach out beyond their own personal interests for the sake of bringing the gospel to a lost world, but even all of those things are kept tightly held in the bonds of the official fellowship/district leadership. And they can't seem to figure out why their churches aren't growing (some of them are mere shadows of what they used to be 20 years ago). The trend over the past several years in UPC churches in the Portland Metro Area had been growth by migration from one church to another, and by the young people who get married and stay to raise their families in their home church (or their spouse's home church). And then pretty much the entire Eastern part of the state joined the WPF, making the district smaller in numbers and resources.
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