When Pastors Make Mistakes
Christians of all stripes make mistakes, but usually they are not quite as public as when a pastor stumbles in a service. I was present at a very painful service earlier this month in Ecuador which started out with good intentions but ended in fiasco. A little girl of 13 in a gorgeous white frilly dress sung a wonderful song about overcoming difficult circumstances and about her faith in Jesus. She sung clearly, strongly and on key, and it was a beautiful, soul-affirming time for her. Afterwards, the pastor called her a brave little girl and launched into telling the girl’s testimony for her, about how she had been raped by her stepfather at age eleven and given birth at age twelve. After she was allowed to leave the stage, she collapsed into a chair and dissolved into tears along with twelve of her family members.
The local church gathered around to comfort as well, just as they had been working with the family for months comforting and encouraging and guiding. Normally when something like this happens, I figure the pastor hadn’t checked with wise people of the opposite sex to seek counsel. In this case, however, he had gotten advice from spiritually mature members of both sexes, but had proceeded anyway. Why, I’m not sure. Youthful recklessness, perhaps, or maybe emotional or spiritual obtuseness. More likely, though, it was a desire to make a highly positive spiritual progress report about church successes before all the many out-of-town guests who were present.
Pastors, seek godly counsel and then pay attention. It’s so easy to crush a young spirit when you so strongly want to see spiritual bravery.
Unbelievable. This is truly tragic. I can’t even imagine the foolish heart of that pastor. I am trying to find a reason–and there is nothing remotely all right about this.
That is unbelievable! That is, however, normal as people are prone to error. I made an error that I corrected and I am free.
………………………………………………
carol
Christian Drug Rehab
It’s been over a year since this incident and it is still vivid in my mind. Unfortunately, gender obtuseness continues to plague the church and I’ve now seen yet another incident in my own church which resulted in a new Christian, a young vibrant potential leader, get so turned off she felt she had to take her family to another church. At least she didn’t throw the baby (her Christian commitment) out with the bath water.
Year after year Christian churches in America continue their hurtful ways, turning people off from Christ. The younger the person, the higher the percentage of downright hatred towards Christianity. Over 85 percent of buster and mosaic (under roughly age 40) non-Christians know a Christian but only 15 percent see any lifestyle differences between evangelicals and themselves. They are also likely to have had a bad run-in with a church who turned them off. See the evidence that the Barna Group has gathered in UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters. It’s a sobering look how American Christians are losing their younger generations.