Turbulence in the church
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
The church as a body
One of Paul’s metaphors for the church
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The different parts of the body are connected to each other. They may not be adjacent, or in touch very often but just by being part of the same body they are all connected.
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Different people have different roles. Some visible, some invisible. Some easy, some difficult. Some public , some private.
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Experiences are shared across the body. A stubbed toe is felt by the whole body. A tasty bite of chocolate cake is enjoyed by the whole body.
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A healthy body grows and changes. Things don’t same the same for ever.
One of the things I love about the Vineyard is that we are good at connecting with each other; finding out what our roles should be, sharing our experiences. We even cope with change reasonably well. It is a great body to be part of and I am excited about all the things that we have been doing (Jubilee) and the way, as we are sent by Jesus, that the body is making a difference in Leeds.
The church as a river
This community in which we worship and live out our lives is
not a pond, it’s a river.
Not: still, unchanging and easily disturbed by the occasional rock being thrown in.
It is: flowing, moving, going somewhere. It experiences turbulence and change. Sometimes fast, sometimes slower. Some times in a rock pool, then going over a waterfall.
In learning to live in the flow of the river we grow and strengthen our faith and discipleship.
The water is rarely completely smooth and calm. Often, as it flows over rocks, there is rough water too.
CAUSES OF TURBULENCE:
CHANGE IN WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
When the railroads were first introduced to the U.S., some people feared that they'd be the downfall of the nation! Here's an excerpt from a letter to then President Jackson dated January 31, 1829: As you may know, Mr. President, 'railroad' carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour by 'engines' which, in addition to endangering life and limb of passengers, roar and snort their way through the countryside, setting fire to crops, scaring the livestock and frightening women and children. The Almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed. Martin Van Buren Governor of New York
Change creates turbulence. We are experiencing a period of change and there is more to come. This is all good because it arises out of our growing effectiveness in doing God’s stuff in Leeds: telling people about Jesus and looking after more and more people within this community. It may feel a little business-like sometimes, because that is the way I like to work, but it is all about getting ourselves ready for the future. More in September.
SERIOUS ILLNESS
In a family of our size there will always be people who are sick. Because we are a body we all feel the pain to some extent. Recently we have had a bit of a surge in illness and this has been difficult and caused some turbulence. But the family has looked after people really well, the body has cared for itself in a great way.
We continue to pray and cry out to God for his healing touch. Often he heals, sometimes it seems to take longer or a different form from what we would like. Sometimes people don’t get well at all. This hurts us all and we are forced to go to God with our tears and doubts but trusting Him with the outcome.
SERIOUS SIN
None of us is perfect; we are all on a journey of becoming more like Jesus and dealing with the sin in our lives through His grace and forgiveness.
But from time to time people do things which are more serious and impact heavily on the people around them. This is difficult enough and is made more so when the people involved are in a leadership position.
For obvious reasons most of this is not public, but nevertheless it is a rock in the river which causes turbulence around it.
We are enjoying a really exciting time as a church, the river is flowing fast. But there is also quite a lot of rough water. You may have felt it even if you haven’t been directly involved. I want to explain to you how the Vineyard deals with the day-to-day challenges of turbulence.
RESPONDING TO TURBULENCE
1. WE ARE HUMAN
We all have to remember that we are human and frail. Have a look around; you won’t see a sinless person anywhere near you. The leaders too will make mistakes. So we extend grace and forgiveness to one another.
We have arranged things so that no one person is above criticism or isolated. We have a staff team and a team of trustees. Leadership oversight has come through an eldership which we call the GLT.
2. A HIGH BAR FOR LEADERS
People who lead are expected to set an example in life and ministry.
1 Timothy 3:1-4 “whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.”
That's a high bar and sometimes they fail in such a way as to breach the relationship of trust between leader and follower. If so they are confronted, removed from leadership, given the opportunity to repent and thus to be restored. People will be informed on a need-to-know basis. One of our values is to try and protect the dignity of the individuals involved.
So for example, if a housegroup leader were to fall into serious sin we would remove them from leadership and explain the situation to their housegroup and probably to other housegroup leaders – not necessarily to anyone else.
This means that sometimes you may become aware of something happening but not know the details.
3. COMMUNICATION
Which brings us to communication. We lean toward openness and transparency. And this is all the more so for the senior leaders. Our lives need to be visible and checkable. That’s one reason why we do lots of meetings in our homes – so that people can nose around a bit and see how we live.
We place a high value on confidentiality – but not secrecy. God knows your secrets, we don’t need to.
We don’t promise to keep information secret but we do keep things confidential in an appropriate way. It is not appropriate for everyone to know about everything.
Social networking sites and even the church website are poor replacements for the support, safety and spiritual nurture that come from learning to trust each other in one of our housegroups.
When it comes to the information for which we are responsible our preference is for pastoral issues to be “known about” in the housegroup. What I mean is that if you are sick, or in financial difficulty, or if your marriage is in trouble, or you are struggling with sin … the best place to share and get help is the housegroup.
4. HOUSEGROUPS
The church family has a fantastic structure for helping the “body” in times of change and difficulty. Our housegroups help with turbulence when the river is flowing fast and there are rocks and boulders in the way. 90% of the discipleship and pastoral care that goes on in the church happens in housegroups.
When Sue Richardson was diagnosed with cancer and needed to go into hospital her group swung into action. Other people around Sue helped too but the housegroup was church for her:
a. Making meals for the family
b. Praying for her and the family
c. Providing a group of people for them to lean on
d. Acting as a conduit for news and support
e. Helping coordinate care
Those of you who have had babies know that when the baby is due your housegroup will usually do a baby shower and pray for you, often they will make meals for the family afterwards and be there to celebrate with you.
When sin comes to light – perhaps through someone confessing what they have done – the information doesn’t need to go any further than the person listening. Something serious or messy is usually handled by the housegroup leader, maybe with some help from the pastoral staff.
This works really well but it raises a couple of questions:
a. what happens if you are not in a housegroup
We are not a big church and we simply don’t have the resources to provide pastoral care for people outside our housegroups. If you want to be part of this family then I urge you to join a housegroup so that you are covered by our pastoral care. If you would like to lead, being in a housegroup is a must. That’s so that you know that the leader you are dealing with is known and overseen by someone else.
b. what if we want to minister to someone who is not in our housegroup but for whom we care deeply?
I love it when people ask to be able to pray for or provide support to someone who is not in their housegroup – it shows a real heart of compassion. You can be sure that the housegroups work. When someone is ill or something goes wrong – they do get support, they are prayed for. The best way to be part of that is not to go round the housegroup but through the housegroup.
5. VISIBILITY
Some of the rocks on the riverbed are above the surface, others are not so visible. By visibility I mean that some people are in leadership and have a lot of influence on others. People place trust in them.
When we are dealing with serious sin: visibility does affect the way we respond.
I am very visible in this community – so if I were to steal some money you would all be told about it and I would be fired from my pastoral job. If you have no leadership position here and get fired from your job in a firm of accountants because you fiddled your expenses that wouldn’t go any further than the people you chose to share it with. Leaders have to jump a higher hurdle.
When we are dealing with serious illness (or redundancy, bereavement etc): visibility does not affect the way we respond.
When Sue fell ill, everyone knew about it – she is a bubbly personality, she does drama, she was the person most people spoke to when they rang the office. Understandably, loads of people were concerned.
What you may not know is that there are other people who are also seriously ill. Few people know who they are – apart from their housegroup. Sue is smashing but she agrees with me that she doesn’t want more favourable treatment than anyone else.
This is another reason why I am uneasy about taking pastoral issues on-line – because those who are good at using the internet get a lot more visibility than those who aren’t. I observe that Twitterfaceweb is what people resort to when they aren’t in a group.
Please don’t mishear me – I am an advocate of free-speech – if you want to tell the world your stuff on-line, feel free. And of course, you should care for your friends and neighbours. But as a community of faith we care for the body through our wonderful housegroups whether the rock is above or below the surface of the water; whether only people in your group know your name or whether you are Mr Popular.
6. GOSSIP
Proverbs 20:19 “A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid anyone who talks too much”.
It’s triangulation – one person talking to another person about a third person and saying things you wouldn’t say if they were there.
Gossip is insidious and unpleasant. And it includes some forms of prayer… “Oh Lord we pray for Marmaduke as he struggles with his temptations to watch pornography …”.
I don’t like gossip and I love the fact that I hardly ever hear it here. I think the Vineyard is a place where gossipy people find that no one is listening to them. If you have a morsel of information and need to know more – ask the person yourself. If you can’t do that then swallow it. If it is something serious, ask your housegroup leader about what to do.
We are part of one body and we honour each other with honest, encouraging words and speaking well of each other.
7. WEEKLY WORSHIP
Weekly worship is a public forum to which anyone is welcome and where anyone can receive prayer, whether you are a regular or a guest. A senior leader always oversees prayer ministry time and it is an opportunity for God to touch your life – often through someone who doesn’t know you.
It is also where you can receive teaching about how to follow Jesus and deal with the rocks that make our lives turbulent. We are starting a new series on how God makes a difference. Next week the subject is worry.
8. PASTORAL STAFF TEAM
The pastoral staff don’t offer a formal prayer ministry service or any form of professional counselling.
In this church the role of the pastoral staff team is primarily one of support:
· housegroup leaders as they provide pastoral care
· the teams that make weekly worship work
· the people who run our Reach Out ministries.
Occasionally we will step in to provide direct help where needed – either because we are more available, or because a housegroup leader has referred a situation to us or just because it is more difficult.
CONCLUSION
I have aimed to give you confidence that we have structures and systems in place to deal with the day-to-day challenges of life and to protect the body. If you have further questions please do ask – you can post a forum notice on the website or email me if you like.
Life in the Vineyard is not like a pond but a flowing river and there are boulders and rocks which we navigate together. To use Paul’s body metaphor, the family is like a body which hurts when one part hurts, enjoys when one part enjoys, which is growing and changing but which is all connected together.
V.27 You are the body of Christ and each of you is a part of it.
Let us work together to look after the body so that we can fulfil the calling we have been given. Agreed?
David Flowers, 10/06/2012