before going to bed last night i caught some of the local news and the breaking story out of bellevue community church was big news. apparently the elders of the church had voted foster out as pastor and his wife out as youth minister and removed them from everything church, they were not allowed onto church properties and even their emails were discontinued. this kind of church politic happens, especially as churches are bound by business models, they make business decisions. however, churchs have people with emotions tied into all aspects of church life, and just about any decisions hurt much more. these types of decisions hurt even more because with an evangelical body such as this, the identity of the church is tied in with whomever the pastor is. honestly, just ask a baptist, community church, or other ecclesial body that "hires" their pastor a question along the sort of "tell me about your church?" and you get a response of "_______ is our pastor." which to me seems so funny cause who the heck knows of every pastor in the area to know that this one is better than another. they are the base identity of the church, now this church hurts because their identity is gone.
a lot is being said over this. brittany (like many others similar to her) is seconding this as why she doesn't want a part of church. she points out to dirk who has started a whole new blog just for this topic. the tennessean is carrying a lengthy article which they highlight the factual pieces of this story.
from reading these stories & from my experiences working in church it would be best if the congregants just submit to the discernment of the elders (which is essentially what i assume they do in by-laws or doctrine of bcc) and move on. you can't bring back dr. foster without more hurt and awkwardness. yes, the future will be hard. yes, you will experience decline in membership. no, it won't ever be the same again. but no, that is all not a bad thing. with a congregation of 2700 people on a weekend i'm sure there are creative and visionary people who are willing to help lead the church to a new place that could be even better and bigger than dr. foster & his wife. they are just two people with a certain vision, maybe that vision needs changing. maybe the church was already in decline because that vision wasn't changing. maybe the congregation needed more but they were not able to give because they were not able to clear past their own contexts. i don't know, i'm not there to listen for those decisions.
i have other thoughts as a critque of the church that might have led to this, but they are not helpful at this time, so let's move to prayer for the church.
Lord, i pray for this church, i pray for these people, i pray for this pastor and his family that your will be done in building the Kingdom of Heaven. give them all listening hearts to discern you will. give the leadership on both sides weakness and hospitality to be present to you and those in hurt. grant peace to those who are angry, so that they do not rest on their own understandings but your movements -amen
