Is the Gospel ever anything we want to hear? Not really. It makes us uncomfortable. It asks us to get up off our butts and try to accomplish some good in the world for the sake of Jesus Christ. A lot of people in Presbyterian pews didn’t earn all that money by following Jesus, and they surely don’t want to feel “bad” about it now. Many of them are also under the impression that a church can be operated completely using the business model that has been successful for large corporations — from which most retired with plenty of money and way too much time. As a veteran of teaching in the public schools, a former pastor’s wife, an Elder, and church secretary, I can assure you that no institution that attempts to do anything other than make money can be run strictly by the business model. Furthermore, everybody who has ever been to school or church believes him or herself to be an expert on “getting an effective job done.”
We are losing members. The Presbyterian Church is dying before our eyes, and, I think, one of the main reasons for that is that we are in some kind of a time warp where these members want a return to those halcyon days of the 1950s when our mothers stayed home in ruffled aprons cooking lovely meals for daddy and the kids to enjoy before they settled in to a pleasant evening of watching TV in black and white. In those days, a swell potluck supper once a month and a stimulating speaker on, say, faith, was an evening enjoyed and well-spent. The kiddies played in another room with some kind of monitor who didn’t have to have a clear police check to baby-sit some kids whose parents were in the next room. Those days aren’t coming back.
The people raising all the ruckus are in despair over the state of the world. They are quite sincere in wanting changes, but they are quite unwilling to change if it means parting with some cash, opening the church doors to “undesirables” (this pretty much means “anybody not just like me”), or dealing with any “icky” issues such as any kind of deviant sexual behavior (deviant to their way of thinking, anyway), global warming, social issues of homelessness, hunger, or other unacceptable conditions. They are still hoping and believing that taking casseroles to temporarily laid up parishioners and Christmas caroling to shut-ins is an adequate expression of their commitment to Jesus Christ. I think Jesus himself would be greatly disappointed.
So, now, Pastor B will likely be leaving “My Special Church.” He will be harried out just like the fox before the hounds. This will be the best outcome for him, of course, and he will move on to something better, certainly less emotionally and spiritually draining. I was there when “My Personal Church” drove out Pastor C. Three years later, there is no meaningful progress being made there. I maintain my membership there mostly so that they will have to pay the per capita for me, keep the building running in case I decide to show up for worship (and that has happened), but I am still hurt, angry, and just plain disappointed that the presbytery did too little too late for Pastor C, and now this is happening to Pastor B. This also happened a few years ago to “Happy Family Church,” where the congregation harassed Pastor A until she was forced to leave. “Happy Family Church” no longer exists. The presbytery sold the building (or rents it out) to the “I’m More of a Christian Than You” congregation.
When is the presbytery going to use its authority to tell these misguided, immature folks that there is a way to deal with conflict? Surely you wouldn’t let your children whine about how hard their homework is, so why would you let a congregation whine that its pastor doesn’t let them shirk the commitment they’ve made to none other than Jesus? Just as you would help your child see the value in learning and help him or her to get the job done effectively (he or she still has to do the work on his or her own). The presbytery needs to take a firmer stand with these people who think that the Presbyterian Church is congregational in structure.
When I was a seminary wife, I carpooled with wives of men (and only men) from the Southern Baptist seminary across the road from us. They told tales of preachers who preached a sermon on Sunday morning and were out of a job by 1 p.m. on Sunday. A church near where we served divided over the color of the shingles for the roof. Are Presbyterians degenerating to that level? I surely hope not. We who prize decency and order, who value educated clergy, who are blessed with material wealth beyond anything the rest of the world can imagine must understand that Jesus requires more from us. We are an elite vanguard who should be showing others the way of the Cross. We should be dying to ourselves daily that others may live, yet some are complaining that the pastor doesn’t do enough of whatever … calling on us (of course, we don’t issue any invitations), visiting those “unchurched” out there, “making” volunteers do things like serve on committees or send money. The congregation is supposed to be doing that stuff! The presbytery should make that more clear because, apparently, people are thinking the pastor is supposed to DO that stuff, not preach the Gospel and facilitate the congregation’s work. Am I preaching to the choir? Probably, but the choir is just as ornery as the rest of the crowd.
In summary, can I just plead with you to try to move the presbytery to do its job?
Linde Grace White wrote Dollbaby: Triumph Over Childhood Sexual Abuse, and has taught severely emotionally disturbed/behavior disordered students for more than 20 years. She holds an M.Ed. in guidance and counseling.
