Relational Conflict in the Church!

I can personally testify to the the truth of the following assessment.

In every single church, that I have ever been a member of in my 62 years of living, the following problem has existed.  It is a "pandemic"!

The sad thing is, that most people are not comfortable with confronting church leadership and those that muster up the courage, find that it is never been well received.

Pastors!  You need to hear this!  We all need to hear this!  But, especially you!  You are called to a much higher standard!

"I am afraid there is a whole lot of pride in the modern pulpit. There is a whole lot of pride in the seminary classroom. There is a whole lot of pride in the church staff. It is one of the reasons for all the relational conflict in the church. It is why we are often better theological gatekeepers than tender and humble spokesmen for the gospel. It is why pastors often seem unapproachable. It is why we get angry in meetings or defensive when someone disagrees with us or points out a wrong. 

We are too self-assured.

We are too confident.

We too quickly assess that we are okay.

We too quickly make heroes out of ourselves and others.

We too often take credit for what sovereign grace produced.

We too often think we don’t need the help the normal believer needs.

We are too quick to speak and too slow to listen.

We too often take as personal affronts what is not personal.

We quit being students too soon.

We have too little time for meditative communion with Christ nailed into our schedules.

We confidently assign to ourselves more ministry work than we can do.

We live in more isolation than is spiritually healthy."

------------

Pride in the Pulpit

SEPTEMBER 23, 2012  |  PAUL TRIPP

Click Here!