Church Splits: The Terror
of Healthy Kingdom Growth
Pastors
fear the horrible idea of “church splits” almost more than anything. Usually because fear sets in that people
(money) will walk out the door and bills won’t get paid. (Not usually…99.9% of
the time.) Nature tells us that for an
organism to grow, it’s got to “split” or multiply in order to do so. Church history reveals the necessity of the
restless to seek new pastures in order for the Kingdom to become more
effective. Please indulge me as I share
a few thoughts on this misconception.
Church history tells us
all we need to know.
I’m
a proud Pentecostal who grew up in the Assemblies of God. My parents came to Christ in an A/G church. I’m
proud of my roots and most of my dearest friends, mentors and heroes of the
faith are A/G. My church’s governing board of Overseers has three A/G pastors
serving on it. The Assemblies of God, in
order to preserve and continue the Pentecostal revival of the early 1900’s
sought their own governing structure. “In April 1914, after
splitting from the Church of God in Christ,
about 300 preachers and laymen were invited from 20 states and several foreign
countries for a general council in Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States.”
(Assemblies of God ‘Origins’)
Martin Luther could be considered the all-time champion at
church splitting. With his 95 Theses
nailed to the door at Wittenberg Castle Church, Luther brought the greatest
disruption to “business as usual” to the Christian world. The entire Protestant Reformation was a vital
“split” from the corruption of the Catholic Church at the time. Untold millions
have to come to Christ because of his very unpopular act of “rebellion.”
Every major denomination was a split off of the vine of
existing religious structure. The Wesley
brothers, Calvin, Knox and many others bucked the status quo in order to birth
something new. The Pentecostal revival
of the early 20th century spawned hundreds of new denominations that
spread across the globe and actually gave birth to the Jesus Movement and
Charismatic movements of the latter part of the century.
I recently read a list of the largest churches in
America. More than half of the top 25
largest churches were birthed as independent churches within the last 20 years
or so. They were born out of other
existing church structures.
Growing Churches Reproduce
My
intention is certainly not to promote the idea that the only successful
churches are splits. And I am completely
aware of the devastation of inappropriate church splits have caused. Wrong people with wrong motives and methods
can be incredibly destructive and I believe they grieve the Body and the heart
of God if they handle things from woundedness rather than health.
I
do, however, believe that every local church has the potential of such an event
and should prepare themselves for the possibility. It wouldn’t surprise me if every healthy
church hasn’t had someone who feels “called” leave with some of “your” people
and start a new work. You should prepare and here’s why.
Anything
healthy will grow.
Every
healthy tree grows and produces fruit and enjoys the benefit of more branches
and healthier leaves. (Okay, enough of
the botany lesson.) This simply means that if you’re doing your job well,
you’ll raise up people strong in the Word, passionate for people and hopefully
wise in church ethics.
One
of the great privileges I’ve enjoyed in my ministry is hosting former pastors
and church leaders who have either been misplaced or who had taken a break from
full-time ministry for a season. I’ve
loved walking with them through their healing journey. However, some have decided they were ready to
fly again…and why not?
Three
very notable times in my tenure as a Senior Pastor, individuals in my church
felt the call of God to start new works.
Two of the didn’t consult me first. When others in the church discovered
their intentions concern rose through our leadership. My staff and elders came to me on one
particular occasion to voice their concerns that these future pastors were
going to “take people with them.”
Fear never keeps the gate
closed.
I’m not the first pastor to feel the twinge of fear
of who might leave in such a circumstance. When I took these matters to the
Lord He showed me that I could do only one of two things: I could get angry, fearful and concerned and
do my best to stop it; or, I could get behind it and bless it because it might
truly be the Lord’s doing. I decided
that I could never go wrong as a pastor or leader by blessing something. As a matter of fact, I quickly realized that
blessing a new work, even if I wasn’t controlling it, was the ONLY way to respond.
How would fearful meetings or angry
misgivings cause ME to win? I would only
set myself up as a pitiful victim. My
daddy didn’t raise me that way. (Neither
did Abba Father.)
In each of those three occasions I put the new
church efforts on our monthly missions giving list, prayed for the new work and
joyfully announced to the congregation that we were “sending” this leader and
their new work out with our full blessing and every resource we had available. I wasn’t 100% sure these plants would work
out, but that wasn’t my call. My
response at the moment was vital to settling our congregation and building
confidence in God’s Kingdom. I believe
in the local church and had to do more than simply give that conviction lip
service.
Gamaliel’s
Advice
I’ve often been reminded of Acts 5 when Peter and the
other disciples were brought before the Sanhedrin to be judged for their spreading
of the gospel. Most of the judges were
ready to drag them to the streets and hang them, but a man named Gamaliel stood
up with great wisdom and advised that they be very careful of how they treated
these men. He stated that if they were preaching
under their own human motivation that their movement would eventually die. However, he warned, “But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even
find yourselves fighting against God.” (Acts 5:39) Not a great position to find oneself in.
My encouragement to pastors facing the consequences
of their own strong leadership is the same.
“Who cares? If God is really in
it, then bless it, get behind your young proteges and help them. If they are running off pursuing selfish
ambition then they will fail. But if it’s
God, who’s side do you want to be on?”
It’s sad that some insecure leaders in the body
today reveal the woundedness of their own hearts and react with flesh, fear and
often anger. They never win. Their integrity quickly comes into question and
even their strongest advocates often step in and offer clarity to their
blindside. Too often that clarity is
ignored.
If we’re truly all on the same team, then let’s
act like it. God will replace anyone who
felt “led” to leave. Could it be that
they weren’t that strongly rooted in your vision anyway? And be honest. Are you truly motivated by the security of
the flock or are you panicky because of the money? You can’t serve both God and money.
Stay confident pastor! People will come and go and
you’ve been a very important part of their process. Remain steady in your own integrity and watch
God bless your church!
Integrity will always win
the day.
