Quote:
Originally Posted by Evang.Benincasa
Like Ehud said, if you have leadership that is north of Kookoo you need to leave and look elsewhere. Ministry is to guide the neophyte to maturity within the body of the church family. micromanaging is a waste of time due to people who need ( or expect) that sort of mangerging, are high maintenance. They usually end up leaving anyway. But what is left behind are elders who couldn't wait for their departure. They are supposed to do what they do with joy, and not with grief Hebrews 13:17. I don't tell anyone what to do, they need to follow their pastor, who is Jesus Christ. If they can't listen to Him who they can't see, they sure as shooting aren't going to listen to me. Ministers are to point to Jesus. Paul tells the Corinthian church to follow him AS he follows Christ. If he stopped following Christ, or his words and teachings no longer parroted Jesus, they were to not follow. Yet, what you do find in real time, is that people look at follow me as I follow Christ as an out. They in their mind are thinking following Christ is following their own personal Jesus. One that the ministry doesn't know, because it is a formulation within the mind of the individual. It is like when someone goes to a new church family. They are bringing with them their own experiences in Pentecost, and will gauge the new church family and elders by that measuring stick. Sadly, at times the individual has their own ideas on how things should be run, or how they want everyone to behave. This is the flip side to overlord pastor, it is the whiner or troubler maker from another church family. No one ever discusses the pastor or elders who have been beheaded by the Ecclesiastical samurai sword from Sister Biddy Joe, and her husband who hides behind her, Boudreaux. They been in Pentecost since A.D. 33, and know how the cow ate the cabbage, and will be sure to let you know that. So, evil saints? Wicked pastors who know your every step, and move. Apostolic Pentecostalism SHOULD be known for its best examples. Bad examples are just that bad, and therefore they make the good examples stand out even more. Hook up with them. |
Sadly I do know some of those examples of good Godly well meaning men held hostage by members who dictated what would and would not be taught and preached.
Standing up in church in the midst of a sermon declaring that the pastor was a liar...running good men off because they dared challenge the staus quo...men afraid to preach the truth because the church was a "family " church where over 50% of the members were family.
Ive seen all that mess...lived it and did my best to survive off what scraps I could glean while attending those churches.
What I learned is that there is indeed a God that loves me and cares for me and who speaks.
I learned this not over a pulpit but in a pitch black Sunday School room crying out to God and Him speaking and pouring His Word into my soul.
No I cant speak for "pastors" and what they allow and tolerate. What Ive seen from my own personal experience is a lot of glad handing and back slapping and politicking. Thats whatever...but its confusion when you have a young kid God is leading outside the box who has to make a choice between God...the voice of God backed up by scripture and tradition of the preacher.
Not all of us could leave bro....some of us had to stay due to our age and we were still under our parents and just deal the best we could while still holding true to our faith despite what was going on.
NONE of the people I grew up with are living for God...NONE.
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