Common ground

[Wormwood]

Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ have communion every week as well.

 

[Angelina]

Perhaps we could discuss what we like about our Church/denomination. This may just give us incite into some similarities....
For instance ~ I love combined night services, Worship and Prayer nights, pot luck lunches and Dinners, home groups that cater for most people ranging from youth to single/married couples and older folk. These groups are also open to non-believers. We have children's church and some members do Bible in Schools. Sometimes we'd travel to other cities particularly when a well known international speaker comes to NZ for a crusade. There are a number of community services that we are involved in including the distribution of food for the local Salvation Army food bank. Sometimes we do youth outreaches like the underground cafe that I created a few years back. That was awesome! and we had a few commitments for Christs during that initiative. The Church that I am associated with is small so we just join in with other Churches to help out with whatever they were doing as well.

 

[StanJ]

Our church is going through a pastoral change for the last few months. It will be the fourth pastors in the last few years. There appears to be issues between the tribal forces and our church and the new leadership that comes in. Having just started reattending here and liking the new pastors that have shown up. I also find people gravitating towards me a fresh perspective and hoping that they can spread through our local congregation.

 

[Angelina]

That's sound very much like the Pentecostal Church I use to attend. We saw at least 4 Pastors go through in 5 years. It was a little disheartening to see that but the members were mostly mature believers who had did their best in helping young Pastors with their first Pastoralship and their families in every way possible. The trouble seemed to be the lack of funds and the need for the Pastor's to have to work as well as minister. It didn't help that the newly acquired Pastor's inherited the leadership team...JM :9qcrib:

 

[Angelina]

What tribal forces are you referring to??? :huh:

 

[StanJ]

What tribal forces are you referring to??? :huh:

I learned early on in my church life that there were legitimate leadership and what I learned later returned 'tribal forces'.
Basically it boils down to a certain group of founding members or families that seem to hold sway on what direction the congregation will go. Good tribal forces will be behind the leadership and present a unified front and everything that goes on but negative tribal forces will be those who are only satisfied with their points of view and never want to submit to the authority that is officially represented in the congregation. If I were to be a pastor the first thing I would do would be to identify the tribal forces in that particular congregation and see whether or not they were cooperative or resistant to moving on. Only then would I be willing to come on board. If I were to see that they were resistant to change I would not take a position in a church with those type of tribal forces in play. No of course I say this with 20-20 hindsight but the problem is most new pastors are much younger and less experienced in these type of social issues. All they want is a chance to prove their leadership. It may be something that is being taught today in pastoral Ministries, I wouldn't know, but I feel it should definitely be subject that should be recognized and effectively prepared for. Our new husband and wife pastoral team are in their mid-forties so I don't think they're as naive as younger pastors would be. Judging from the monthly budget report we get, our congregation definitely can afford to pay well when it comes to Staffing.

 

[Angelina]

It seems to be a common theme in Independent/ Pentecostal Churches I think. There is always a power group that have been members for years and have stepped in when needed which isn't such a bad thing but as you say...if they are not open to change, it becomes a problem for everyone in the Church not to mention the new Pastor/s and their family/s... :unsure:

 

[StanJ]

That's sound very much like the Pentecostal Church I use to attend. We saw at least 4 Pastors go through in 5 years. It was a little disheartening to see that but the members were mostly mature believers who had did their best in helping young Pastors with their first Pastoralship and their families in every way possible. The trouble seemed to be the lack of funds and the need for the Pastor's to have to work as well as minister. It didn't help that the newly acquired Pastor's inherited the leadership team...JM :9qcrib:

Which is not unusual in Pentecostal churches like mine, at least not in Canada, because the style of church government used is the Congregationalist style, which lends itself to this type of problem. The pastor's leave because they're either under too much pressure to do certain things or because they feel they have no influence whatsoever.

 

[Angelina]

I'm not sure whether I would consider my old Church as congregationalists but there is definitely an independence from the main body and each church functions without too much interference unless there is an issue in the church that needs to be dealt with that the Pastor is not able to address himself. This goes to the Regional Pastor and possibly the executive depending on the situation. The Regional Pastor will address the situation with the members involved and make a decision from there. If it cannot be resolved, the next step is for a member of the executive body to address it....If it goes this far, there's a serious problem. :unsure:

 

[StanJ]

In Canada the two main Pentecostal denominations are;
1. PAOC ( Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada)
2. FGCOC ( Foursquare Gospel Church of Canada)

The first is Congregationalist style.
The second is Presbytery style.
The first is an affiliation of independent churches owned by the local congregations but identifying with the denomination.
The second is a group of churches owned by the denomination where pastors are appointed by the Presbytery.

Now which one to you seems like the more manageable constitution based on the NT?

 

[Angelina]

Well my old church is similar to number 2. Pastors were appointed by the Executive. Now I'm kinda involved in a small AOG which is liken to number 1. This church just recently broke away from the main AOG and became independent...There has been a lot of arguments there about finances. The heads/executives wanted to shut this little Church down and disperse it's finances to a bigger regional Church which one of the heads happen to pastor. This didn't happen because the Pastor of this small church was also a retired Barrister...need I say more <_<

 

[StanJ]

Well my old church is similar to number 2. Pastors were appointed by the Executive. Now I'm kinda involved in a small AOG which is liken to number 1. This church just recently broke away from the main AOG and became independent...There has been a lot of arguments there about finances. The heads/executives wanted to shut this little Church down and disperse it's finances to a bigger regional Church which one of the heads happen to pastor. This didn't happen because the Pastor of this small church was also a retired Barrister...need I say more <_<

Very sad.

 

[Angelina]

Indeed! This little church is not poor... ^_^

 

[rockytopva]