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ABILENE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

NORTHSIDE AT THE CROSSROADS:

A RESPONSE AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

SUBMITTED TO DR. MELINDA THOMPSON

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF BIBM 603 FOUNDATIONS OF THEOLOGY

BY KIPP SWINNEY

DECEMBER 9, 2011

northside at the crossroads

Northside has not experienced anything out of the ordinary. There have been many churches, which have experienced similar shifts in their setting and reacted similarly. The increasingly urban setting brings some unavoidable changes, but most of the changes are cultural changes. The members of Northside need to realize that their first priority should be to preach the Gospel more effectively rather than their own personal comfort. Racism and other prejudices are inherently opposed to the message of the Gospel and have no place in the church. However, Northside is a community of believers, who should be part of the life of the church body. Pastors should not deliberately act against the will of their communities, unless the will of the community is contrary to the will of God. When possible the minister should try to comply with what the elders have decided is best for the congregation. From the point where the four people approached John, there is not a definitive answer as what would be the best thing to do. If the four people, who came to John with their concerns, were to succeed in their efforts to stifle John’s actions, they may be hindering the Gospel, but that is almost certainly not their intent. Whatever actions John chooses, he must carry them out with love while the advancing the kingdom of God.

analysis of the problems

The members of Northside have faced a cultural change in their community. These changes mostly came with the expanding population and diversity of the people in the community. The church had not had to deal with much diversity in the past, but now they are experiencing it on several levels. These levels of diversity include racial, economic and ideological. The church initially wanted to use this opportunity to minister to the younger generation moving to the area. However, the church did not anticipate the effects of trying to minister to the younger families. The church needs to understand that their cultural is not inherently better than another culture. Paul recognized that one must adapt to different cultures in order to preach to them. “I became all things to all people, in order that by all means I may save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22). Cultures are always changing and transforming, but that should not stop Northside from reaching their community. Communities not adapting to change will grow stagnate. The Catholic Church faced the problem of stagnation in the mid-twentieth century and that lead to the counsel of Vatican II, which helped revitalize Catholicism. Northside needs to be aware that changes are happening, but this is nothing new. The Pastoral Epistles address some of the changes that were happening at that time.[1] The thing that the Pastoral author held as the constant for the church was “healthy teaching” or “sound doctrine.” “As for you, speak what is in accordance with healthy teaching.” (Titus 2:1).[2] There are some things in the church that do not change, but there is also need for adaptation, and trying to keep culture from changing is futile.

There is rarely one side to a conflict. Unusually both parties involved in a dispute are somewhat at fault. The concerned members of Northside raised issues that may be contrary to the Gospel, but John is not free of blame. John’s primary focus for the church had been to increase numerically. While adding to the church numerically is not bad thing, this should not be the central focus of the pastor or the church. There are other ways to preach the Gospel effectively that do not necessarily add to the numbers of that church. Numbers are the way that most American measure success. John has similar issues to the older members who are irritated with the new worship style. However, he sees the issue from his perspective. He assumes that his way is superior to traditional worship when these are matters of preference. While it may be easy to credit the older members with the blame, one needs to look fairly at both perspectives. Neither position is inherently better than the other is. The hiring committee may have miscommunicated with John concerning the vision of the church, but John did not communicate his intentions to the church. John has a missional mindset, which is good, but he ought to realize his goals are not necessarily from the Gospel.

The elders of the church are culpable for their inaction. The elders of the congregation were passive in this confrontation. They did not pursue pastoral reconciliation between the minister and the members. The elders need to be clear about the direction of the church while listening to the voices of the congregation and supporting the minister. One of the key issues in the confrontation is that the older members feel like they have lost power over the congregation;[3] they have the deepest sense of ownership for Northside, but they are losing influence over it. They expressed these feelings with words like “We want our Northside back,” and “If you don’t do something, we will.” The elders need to make sure a power struggle does not ensue from this confrontation. If a power struggle ensues, Northside will likely split.

If John had been more up front about the decisions he made about the church and involved the whole congregation in the process, the outcome might have been different. If the members saw that the changes came from the whole congregation, they may not have reacted negatively against John. John’s goal of trying to change the congregation into a vibrant community of faith showed that he did not consider Northside to be a vibrant community of faith. His definition of a vibrant community may be different from the members of the church. This goal and miscommunication was one of the major factors leading to the conflict. The people of Northside were clearly not upset with all his accomplishments. While the case did not spend much time on the effectiveness of the youth group, the older generation was probably pleased with the progress that the church made in that regard. However, the concerned members felt that the negative outweighed the positive.

theological proposal

The elders have a hand in the questions about John’s time management. As the congregation grows, there will be no practical way for John to care for all the pastoral concerns of the church. If the elders were to partner with John in the pastoral work of visiting the sick and shut-ins, it would allow John to accomplish other tasks. John should not leave the entirety of that ministry to the elders, but neither should he have to carry the entire pastoral load. A similar situation from the Bible is in Exodus 18. In that story, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, encouraged him to share the load of judging the Israelite cases, so that Moses could accomplish other work. Ministry is not a job for one person, but it requires the help of many people. The elders should have already been in this type of care before this time, but now would be a great time to start. Martin Luther advanced the idea of the “priesthood of all believers,” and while there are still designated clergy, the entire congregation and the elders should be involved in the ministry. 1 Peter 2:9 talks about all Christians as a priesthood: “You are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy people...” From this ecclesiological standpoint,[4] all of Northside should be involved in the pastoral care.

John may feel personally attacked by the members, but he needs to makes sure that he puts the church and the ministry before himself. John must not let his ego interfere with the way he handles the situation. If John cannot handle the situation with humility, the situation will likely degenerate. The Christ hymn from Philippians 2 is a good example of Christ’s attitude; the first few lines of the hymn read, “This mindset should be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, who was in the form of God, but did not consider equality with God something to be snatched. However, he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave, becoming like humans and being found in appearance like a human. He humbled himself and became obedient until death; that is the death of the cross.” (Phil 2:5-8). Humility was a key part of the nature of Christ, and thus it should be a main attribute in John’s ministry.

John’s humility could avert a power struggle. Power struggles wounded the church in the past. Paul dealt with power struggles, and he reminded the church in 1 Corinthians 3:5 that all people are under Christ, and he should be the only power in the church. The darkest days of the church were when people used it for power. In the Middle Ages, people used the papacy to control others, and powerful kings would choose their own Popes, so that they could control the church. While John and the concerned members will likely not go to those extremes to get their ways, this event in history shows how poisonous power struggles can be to a church.

From a biblical and theological perspective, there is no problem with different types of worship. One should not base Worship on preference alone, but neither is there only one type of acceptable worship. Mary would most likely not describe David’s dancing in the linen ephod in 2 Samuel 6 as a “reverent worship service.” There have been numerous ways that people have worshipped God throughout the centuries, and very few of those ways are similar to Mary’s “Reverent Worship Service.” However, John needs to recognize the legitimacy of the traditional style of worship. However, worship should not necessarily be the evangelistic focus.[5] The evangelistic focus should come from the members. One will not bring people to Christ based on worship styles. One may attract members from other churches, but that is an unhealthy goal. From a biblical perspective, worship is for the acknowledgement of who God is. God does not need worship. “If I hungered, I would not tell you, because the world and her fullness and mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice to the LORD praise and repay the most high one with your vows. Call on me in the day of distress, and I will rescue you, and you will glorify me.” (Psalm 50:12-15). Worship is for God, but God does not need it and he does not need church. Church is the result of Christians being in community, and people ought to live Christianity in community. The purpose of the Church is to help all Christian seek a righteous life. There will always be diversity within a community, and that is why there are usually multiple options within a church. The adults do not attend the youth group classes, because they have different needs. All the members of Northside can coexist in the same church, and the church can meet their needs. Church cannot focus on one group and only serve one demographic; it must serve a wide range of needs. Diversity is a reality that the church should embrace and not ignore or minimize.

Racism is an unfortunate reality, and a clear problem at Northside. While Northside may be one of the few places still dealing with the blatant racism against African-Americans, there is still an alarming amount of racism in the church. Although the church has progressed in resolving its racism, most churches in southern America are essentially segregated, and this exacerbates the problem. Churches have known for a long time that racism was wrong,[6] but it has taken an enormous amount of time for churches in the south to react to that. The issue of worship is a preference of the church, but racism is inherently contrary to the Gospel. The Gospel and the church are for all people, and Christ’s calling for the church to be one makes racism diametrically opposed to the Gospel. Racism is about power at its core,[7] and it gives power to one side, but the Gospel is about laying down power. This issue is nonnegotiable for the congregation; the members resolve their racism. The churches in the New Testament dealt with issues of racism and ethnic division; Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28 “There is not Jew or Greek, there is not slave or free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Christian fellowship includes all people regardless of background or ethnicity. Fellowship is one of the best ways to spread the Gospel, and racism curtails that. Ethnic division interfered with the benevolent ministry of the church in Acts 6:1. In Acts, the church chose people to ensure that the ethnic difference would not inhibit the ministry. Ethnic division caused unhealthy rifts in the church in ancient times, and it is imperative that the church does not make the same mistake.

Regardless of the heinousness of racism, the desire for segregation at Northside is not the root issue. Northside needs racial reconciliation, but the reason the concerned members brought up this issue relates to power. Northside’s increasing diversity contributes to the change that has made the older members anxious about Northside’s future. This excuse does not justify bigotry, but it is what brought racism to the surface. The shift in worship style is also not the root issue. The older members likely recognize that contemporary worship complies with scripture, but they believe they are losing power over Northside. Many older people derive their sense of social worth from the church they attend. [8] If they have attended a church for a long time, they likely associate positive memories with that church.[9] The memories and social worth coming from church help to create a sense of identity in the older people. The changes have caused the older members to lose that sense of identity.[10] John’s offense to the older members of the congregation is not a change in worship, but he unknowingly attacked their identity. While some of the members decided to seek out a different church where they can derive that same identity, the four concerned members reacted more polemically. John interpreted this forceful reaction as resistance to the Gospel, while the concerned members interpreted John’s actions as an attack on their identity.