Nov 14 2008
Church Split Reconciled…20 years later
This video is incredible — it tells the story of a church split that happened 20 years ago (but was still festering) and how God led those churches through a process of reconciliation and “remarriage” under the conviction that obedience to God required forgiveness and that they could do more for the Kingdom as one united body.
Church Split Reconciliation from Peacemaker Ministries on Vimeo.
Have a great weekend, and remember to check back to Tara Barthel’s blog over the weekend for her liveblogging of the Christian Counseling and Education Foundation’s annual conference. There’s a session up now by Mark Driscoll that I can’t wait to review over the weekend!
My siblings won’t remember, but the first church we attended in Sacramento was a small church downtown called Faith Bible Church. I was only nine or ten years old so my memory is somewhat faded. For some reason, a split occurred creating two different camps; one wanted to “fire” the pastor, the other camp wanted him to remain. The church bylaws allowed the members to vote for or against retaining a pastor. In this case, the pastor was voted out.
While I don’t remember the details, I do remember the emotional turmoil. Children may not understand what’s going on, but they *do* pick up the emotional state of the adults around them. We children were confused and scared because we knew that whatever it was, it was serious. My parents were among those who wanted the pastor to remain so when the vote turned against the pastor, they and the others who were of like mind left the church.
Looking back, I suspect there were some hard feelings between some of the church members. All I know is that my parents chose to make Arcade Baptist Church their new spiritual home not long after Lee Toms became the pastor. After seeing this video, I wonder what might have happened if the Peacemaker Ministries had been available back then.