Heartbroken

10. September 2009 by Annette Colon-Alvarenga.

In the last year it seems that people inside and from outside of my church come to me and confide in me regarding issues they are having within the church. I don’t know what it is, but at least one person told me it was because they could see that I am not involved in any specific group or clicks and that gave this specific person the confidence to confide in me regarding challenges they were facing. Another reason has been that they believed I would not see them as a “complainer.” And each time I hear what they are dealing with or have had to deal with, it really breaks my heart.

I have come to believe that the difficult time I personally went through in my prior church and the hurt I experienced was allowed by God himself so that I could better counsel these people. My concern however is that, while I can counsel them and convince them not to leave their present church and remind them that they must keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, the people causing the harm continue on with business as usual.

One of the best books on the subject of leadership I have read to date is titled Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders. It is a timeless classic which should be read at least once per year by all whether you  are in church leadership or a bench warmer.  The focus of the book is the privilege of the position as a servant leader and the responsibilities that follow such a position. That is, of course, the only type of leadership Jesus demonstrated to his disciples and followers and He expects no less from us.

I understand that we as Christians are all in a process of growth and maturity and that we will make mistakes. (I’ve made some pretty hefty ones myself.) However, the people I talk to seem to all have run into the same problem: a leader who in the beginning shows compassion and then later turns from servant leadership to authoritative leadership. I don’t understand exactly at what point the change in treatment towards the disciple happens but what I have been told breaks my heart: they don’t see any difference between how they are treated in the church from how they have been treated in the world. If this was one or two or even three incidents within one church I wouldn’t take the time to write about this (although even one incident, in my opinion, is one too many). The problem is that it seems to be widespread.

I’m not writing this to condemn anyone. I simply want to exhort the church in general to take extreme care of how we treat each other and how we treat those in the world. Servant leadership or spiritual leadership is not just for the leaders of the church. It’s for all of us.  Think about it for a minute: if we are doing a disservice to those within the church, what message are we sending to an unsaved and unforgiving world?

I do not hold any leadership position within my church and so I won’t pretend to understand the type of pressure and/or responsibility a leader within any congregation surely faces. I have no doubt it is a difficult task. But even under the most difficult pressure we cannot lose sight of our absolute duty (whether in a leadership position or not) to serve others in love and unity. The eyes of the world are on the church of Christ. Let them always see Christ in us.

Posted in Personal Notes | Print | No Comments »