American Christians have always been a restless lot. Especially in cities people don’t feel as though they are obligated to attend the churches their parents and grandparents did. An increasingly large percentage of people in today’s congregations came from different backgrounds.
There is always a fair amount of coming and going in Christian churches, and not only between congregations of the same denomination. My own congregation, St. Marcus, receives dozens of new members through adult confirmation each year whose previous church experience was not Lutheran, and we regularly release people to non-Lutheran congregations, if that is what the individual wishes. While I would like everybody to love my tribe as much as I do, sometimes it doesn’t work out for them for any number of reasons. I am just happy that they are staying actively Christian and wish them well.
I try to be big-spirited about it and hope I usually succeed. I hear sad stories about how rude some Christians can be toward people of other denominations, and I may be guilty of some smugness myself.
I must admit that I was blown away by an e-mail sent to a new St. Marcus member by a member of her former Christian congregation. It seems to set a new record for denominational bigotry. Here’s an excerpt:
“I do love you and miss you and pray for you, but just as our pastor and everyone else (that I know of) is praying, I am praying that you will indeed leave that unscriptural, off-times [I think he means oft-times] blasphemous ‘church’ that is sending people to a real, terrifying, eternal pit of fire. As the saying that the unsaved world has, friends don’t let friends drive drunk; so much more so, Christian friends don’t let Christian friends stumble into a place of angering the Almighty, righteous, Holy God of gods and Lord of lords. He has killed people for walking away from his truth – He has killed well meaning people even, because He IS HOLY, and as parent may not want to spank his child but do it because he has to, so it is with The Almighty Creator of this universe, whose name is Jealous, and Righteous, and Holy.”
Oral Roberts once wrote to his supporters that God might just end his life if his ministry did not raise enough money. This is the first time I ever heard of death threats for people who move from one denomination to another.
We all need to walk the line between passion for Scriptural truth and gentleness and respect for people who can’t always see our point of view, even when we’re sure we have Scripture on our side. Do you have any horror stories?
###
Straight talk Real hope.
9/16/2009 - Posted by S
This person's email sounds similar to the horrid arguments that go back and forth in the Bailing Water blog. The lack of Christian love and the crude condemnation of others is a terrible reflection of our faith. It certainly does not reflect Jesus and the caring manner he served his ministry while here on earth.
9/14/2009 - Posted by CMW
Horror stories? I hate to remember how I felt about people who did not want to remain members of "my" congregation. I thank God that I have grown in my understanding of the big tent of God's love and have learned to respect where people are at and to listen to their heart. Establishing a relationship of respect with people gives ground from which a fruitful discussion of what God's Word says can begin. God bless your ministry! Mark
