A church's dilemma | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: A church's dilemma | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gloria Pierre Dean
06/06/19
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Paul Mannering was the head pastor of his church.
“Today is going to be difficult,” he said to Kay at breakfast.
He had to meet with the leadership of their church to discuss the sensitive issue of fornication of a fellow pastor Larry.
The local press had already got hold of the story and the ugliness was smeared all over the news for the past week. He and the others were going to meet at 3pm today. Kay was sitting at the kitchen table with him as they held hand and prayed. "God and His Word will guide you, my love" she said.

He drove to the church hall slowly and was greeted by six others who were already there. He sat awkwardly in the front row. No one spoke for a while. He knew they were waiting on him.
"This is a tough one" declared Pastor Paul as he ejected himself from the front seat and walked to the side of the room. He was pacing up and down and was in some distress.

"Brothers and sisters, today we need to discuss the issue of our brother and fellow Pastor. He paused before adding "How in God's name do we do this in love?" he asked out loud.
"Let us pray" said Pastor Jean with passion.
After they prayed together, they opened the Word to 1 Corinthians 5:11 {ESV} which stated "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality" and verse 13 says " “Purge the evil person from among you.”

The discussions went on and on about relevant issues.

Paul wrote that ‘we should not associate with people who indulge in sexual sin’, said Juan with tears streaming down his face.
Elder Dave said, " When a fellow christian brother is committing fornication it is our duty to address the issue. In this case, he is a Pastor and a leader in our church."

"Is it our duty to show love through tolerance or is it to obey God?" asked someone quietly.
Deaconess Jenna usually quiet spoke up, "Some denominations perform what is called 'reading out'. It means the person steps back from leadership after having their sin publically read out. For a period they are unable to share in the breaking of bread - they are boycotted. If they came to church they have to sit in the back row. Everyone in the church knows they have sinned!"

"What if the culprit is your son and lives at home?" querried Pastor Rita.
"It would be worst if it was a husband or wife" moaned Jake, the youth Pastor. The room was silent.
Finally, retired bishop Lee spoke up. "Brothers and sisters, we have prayed for wisdom and now we must act. We must face the fact that fellow Pastors, leaders and others we know fall into sin. What would Jesus do?” He paused then added “I plan to go to see Larry today. I would encourage him to withdraw from ministry for a season, to ask God for forgiveness and to turn from his evil ways. He must seek professional help too, but he has to end the sinful relationship if he is to return to us."

Someone asked the bishop, "So do we stop all associations or boycott him, as the Word says?"

There was silence in the room. Each one of them had a lot of thinking and praying to do.There were many unanswered questions. Eventually the group decided to put this petition to the Board in writing requesting a written policy so that they knew what to do in the future.

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