One of the most painful and heartbreaking moments in our church’s 80-year history was the division of the church that took place in the early 1980s. The pastor at that time took half the church and established another church a few blocks from our church. The divisions of the Church are very unfortunate and painful experiences every time they occur, but what made this division much more tragic was the reason for the division.
One of the main problems he told me at the origin of the division was disagreement over spiritual gifts. It is important that we realize that our church is not the first to be divided because of spiritual gifts, so Paul wrote part of the 1 Corinthians letter to the Church of Corinth (1 Corinthians 12-14). According to the stories, I am told that the division in our church was so unpleasant and painful that even families were divided.
Was it 30 years ago?
Although these gifts can be divided, does God in his sovereign grace have his way of doing what Paul tells the Corinthians that these gifts should actually do?Unite God’s people. After half the church is gone, our church continued and the church that separated began this new work on the same street. About 5 years ago, the youngest pastor in this church and I, in God’s good providence, became friends.
We began to discuss the stories of our two churches and wondered if we now had a responsibility to bring these two churches together, as they were separated by something that should unite them. We decided for different reasons that bringing the two churches back as one would not. It would be the best we could do, but we decided to have a common service as a symbol of that unity that was supposed to exist and could still exist between our two churches.
About five years ago, the church that separated from us came to a common service on Sunday mornings in our church. The new pastor of this church and I led the service and asked Don Whitney to come preach. It was an amazing moment. We’ve seen people who haven’t seen each other in 25 years kissing and gathering. This remains a highlight for me as a pastor and for my ministry in our church.
The church that separated from us continued to decay and only a few older members remained and a large building largely unused. A few months ago, the church that separated from us joined a healthy and growing church in the area. a young and prosperous congregation, diverse internationally, but without the elderly and without a building. The church that separated us had older members and a good-sized building, as a result, this church that separated from us more than 30 years ago has disappeared.
It is now part of this church which is a strong and healthy church, run by a faithful pastor who takes good care of the few faithful elders who have remained. Now all these people, young and old, diverse in many ways, are united. around love for Christ and mutual love. What a powerful demonstration of the gospel and God’s good providence to his people.
Let the wounds keep healing. May these churches never be divided again upon what should unite them. Can the gospel be exposed in the multi-generational and multi-ethnic congregation, which is now in the same place?Right down the street below us.
By: Brian Croft. © Practical Shepherding, Inc. Website: practicalshepherding. com. Translated with permission. Source: Should pastors try to unite 2 divided churches?
Original: Should pastors try to unite two churches that have been divided?© Faithful Of the Department. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. All rights reserved. Translation: Filipe Castelo Branco.