Even if a church is not a 501 c 3 tax-exempt corporation, it is still best for the church itself to have board members and an account of all monies vs a one man show.
It saves the people from experiencing a lot of grief later and it is an attempt to unify the people knowing everything is on the up and up.
Perhaps the problem there is that they voted it in, but they changed their mind and did not really want to become corporate? Somebody should have told ya'll and then proceedings could have taken place to hold another vote. This is on them and their lack of communication.
When my husband called the previous pastor, which he did numerous times, he never responded. And then when the superintendent asked him why he never responded, he said he had been "too busy". He was "too busy" for years and this was supposed to be an accepted answer to us.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
The response I have gotten from SE so far is the same response we got from the district superintendent and presbyter. It feels hauntingly familiar while I have stuck my neck out here trying to understand. Oh well.
I realized I should put: "which is no response at all" in case there were any confusion. I realized I did not write this clearly.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
Jesus said in Matt.15:13 that every plant that his Father hath not plant would be uprooted. I believe very "plant", whether it be an individual, church, organization, nation, etc., will in time, be tried/tested, as if by fire.
Could it be that IF those involved would pray and fast and allow the LORD to fight their battle, it might turn out differently. After all, IF the people of GOD paid for the church, it should belong to GOD. GOD CAN take care of that which belongs to HIM!!
HE IS the WONDERFUL COUNCELLOR, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, AND THE PRINCE OF PEACE!!!
Seems that most cannot trust these kind of things into the HANDS of Someone they CANNOT SEE in flesh! Jesus said, "Blessed are they which have not SEEN, yet have BELIEVED"! Faith is NOT what we see now, but that which we take hold of, HOPE for, until that which is not seen appears! We don't need faith for what we CAN SEE!
Victory, victory shall be mine, Victory, victory shall be mine.
If I hold my peace and let (allow, permit) the LORD to
fight my battles; victory, victory shall be mine!
Falla39
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It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. (Psalms 118:8)
Could you please elaborate a bit on what you are saying here? You see, in the situation we were in, there were things that did not look good at all. When we took the church there were no records and a number of things that had been done that we were taught strictly against. We were taught to do everything by the law and by the books.
We took the issue to the district board. They swept everything under the rug which made our situation HORRIBLE. They left us to rot and sort everything out which made things so, so much worse. We were WILLING to listen to them and do what they wanted but they gave us NO direction. We were left to flounder. This confused the whole church and because my husband put everything in order according to law, they accused us of changing everything and even of stealing money. The district did NOTHING, even when my husband showed up with a packet of information that we had worked three hours to compile, he did not even look at it.
For the first time, after reading your post about things being different in that era and how things were done, it occurred to me that MAYBE the district assumed everyone just went with the flow on these things as they tried (or DIDN'T, in this case, try to determine whether there was any wrongdoing.....it was assumed automatically by the board that there was not any wrongdoing based ONLY on the reputation of the previous pastor when we had records to the contrary). This helps me to MAYBE, JUST MAYBE understand a little bit the actions of the board who should have talked to us as we were so willing to listen and heed their direction.
People in the church sued my husband and the church when the previous pastor told them they "had no choice" but to sue us because we were supposedly destroying the church. After dragging us through two lawsuits and destroying our lives, they finally dropped it because they had absolutely no evidence that we had done anything wrong whatsoever.
Take heed anyone who throws accusations of any kind around, it gets scary. Take heed before you say the words lawsuit.
In my experience (A of G), the district/section will almost always side with the pastor. (Misuse of fund, and a number of other issues; ended up with him resigning just before it went to a vote to remove him; 1/3 of the congregation left with him, and he started a new church, now defunct, in the same city.)
But I guess it's more a matter of not wanting to take any action. We (the board) went to them, and they sided with the pastor so they wouldn't have to do anything. In your case, you (the pastors?) went to the district, who didn't want to do anything.
They love the status quo, I guess.
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
In 1958 our late father founded a work for GOD in a small town in North Central Texas. It began with GOD, a man, a woman and their eleven children. The "Ark" GOD had Daddy build for the saving of his own house, has grown and many others have joined us.
BUT it began with one man, his wife and their children. It had to start with someone! Thank GOD it did, for it now is a place of worship for most of "our house".
My husband and I will celebrate 53 yrs. of marriage tomorrow. We have raised six children, who married and have 22 children among themselves. Our eldest child, a daughter, and her husband's eldest son, has given us our two Great-granddaughters.
We married in 1959, eight months after the church doors opened. We have remained through the years, our roots growing down deep! We two, who became one, in 1959, have grown in number to 39. This includes our six children's original spouses, and a grand-daughter in law, married to our eldest grandson.
Even though the LORD used our father to BEGIN the work here in this city, HE will decide who HE will use to put the FINISHING touches on it! LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the Author and The Finisher of our faith!
Although God "gave" our father and mother this city many years ago, we have only been "laborers together WITH GOD". HE allowed us to "work in His field or vineyard". The earth is the LORD'S and the FULNESS thereof".
When my husband called the previous pastor, which he did numerous times, he never responded. And then when the superintendent asked him why he never responded, he said he had been "too busy". He was "too busy" for years and this was supposed to be an accepted answer to us.
I think y'all just got the run around, and nobody wanted to help. Was the previous pastor related to or friends with the DS?
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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
A good deal of the income for the church comes from property rentals which the church owns IN THE FORMER PASTOR'S NAME! If the church is dissolved, she can inherit the property and the rental income.
Looks to me as if she had a plan all along........... but then that's just MY observation.
The thing I don't understand is how in the world this thing could happen to begin with. I was never involved at the Board level in the Apostolic churches I went to (not even sure if all of them had a board. and those that did were all male.) But I've been on the Board at both the Methodist Church where we attended for 23 years and now at the Alliance Church (where we've been for the past 8 years or so). In both cases, one of the safeguards we had in place is an annual audit of the church finances done by someone from OUTSIDE of the church. Do Apostolic churches not do audits???
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Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of a battle ! ! ! !
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