Antagonists in the church

Im from New Jersey.....what we do generally is take em out fo a ride ta da meadowlands. And Bada Boom Bada Bing....weeee, we works it out. Ya know wat I'm talking about?!? Chao Baby!

 

I usually don't respond to these I-got-troublemakers-in-my-church posts. 1) We hear one side only, and 2) More often than not the side we hear is not an accurate representation of the situation.

This one, however, is terribly ambiguous. What kind of trouble are you talking about? Christ and His apostles were accused of being antagonists and troublemakers too, and often by the "pastors."

That's a rhetorical question. I don't really want an answer because I'm too busy to stick my nose in other people's business. More often than not, the pastors are the troublemakers. They don't see their flocks as sheep needing to be fed, but as resources for their grand schemes and spectacles. They approach them more as oxen than as sheep. Many times the pastors deserve a good headbutting.

If the trouble is gross sin (and murmuring against the music leader isn't gross sin) or heresy, then the steps are clearly outlined in Scripture. Otherwise, wisdom, knowledge, love and a thick skin are the best responses.

 

One advantage of having a confessional church is you have a COMMON STANDARD to appeal to to help shut down those who desire to go off course.

The bible is the real standard to shut down any talebearing,gossip,etc.
Ask the person if they have any first hand knowledge of the situation?
have they followed matthew 18 in speaking directly to the person.

 

1.The church has to be willing to follow leadership

2. The church has to be willing to be unified

3. The church has to be willing to be unified under the leadership

4. The church has to be willing to not put up with anyone who would create division and problems.

Until that happens everything else is a non-starter

 

Isn't a church supposed to be a group of called-out, foreknown, redeemed, regenerate, meek individuals whom Christ Himself NEVER called goats but have always called sheep ?

With all these "must be willings", no offense meant, sounds to me like most churches (as opposed to THE church) are made up of goats.

 

Jim Jones taught the church must be willing to follow leaders.

My Bible tells me to be willing to follow Jesus.

And if anyone sees themself as an earthly leader, they better be in His footsteps if they expect me to follow.

Those "musts" sound more Catholic than Baptist to this old reader of E. Y. Mullins.

 

How is antagonist defined?

Is it a person who comes to a baptist church and says we need to baptize babies or something and won't stop?

 

I'll give an example of what I call an antagonist. Last year I was in a Sunday school class and loved the teacher because of his extensive knowledge of the bible.
However over the course of time he tried to convince the pastor and the deacons that he should be put as head of music and leading worship. They all told him no because he had just returned to the church after a 2 year period of not going to church at all. He has a reputation for causing trouble, which I didn't know until the past year.
He reported to the members of our class how unfair their decision was as he knew God had told him to be worship leader. They did agree to let him lead the singing occasionally to see how things went but then he never showed up on Sunday or Weds nights making excuses like "I forgot".
The final straw came for me when one morning he said he wanted to ask us some questions and went one person at a time around the room asking things like "why do you think people leave this church? Do you think the pastor is following scripture. Do you think the music is wrong?"
Turns out he had some complaints about almost everything and he wanted us all to go to the pastor and complain and back him up.
Most of us left the class and shortly after he gave up teaching. I don't know if it was his decision or not but I do know that the pastor and deacons and the leadership committee had a big meeting with him and were ready to ask him to leave. It calmed him down and he started teaching again last fall but I will not be in his class again and told him so to his face.

This was a big mess and all because of one person's antagonism.

Sorry to be so long winded. :saint:

 

Very well said....amen.:thumbsup: