Part of the Problemby Dale Harcombe | More from this Blogger 30 May 2009 02:28 PM There are dangers in our churches. Are you part of the problem? I've heard so many cases of people being criticized lately for the way they are doing things or for their attitudes. We've probably all heard of people who have left the church because they have been so badly hurt by others. Maybe that has been your experience. This is something we were talking about other night at our home bible study group. It came up in our study of Mark's gospel. Even the disciples had problems in this area. Earlier in Mark's gospel, Mark 9:34 the disciples had wanted to know who was the greatest. They hadn't got the gist of what Jesus was trying to teach them. They still wanted to be important. They not only wanted to be important, they wanted their group to be exclusive, verse 38. Because this man casting out demons was not part of their group, the disciples decided he should be stopped from what he was doing. But Jesus had other ideas. Either intentionally or sometimes unintentionally there are churches and people like that today. People who think that because someone is not doing things the way they would do it then it must be wrong. People who insist there is only one way of doing things. There are those who take on too much in a church and are over committed. Why do they do this? Often it is because they refuse to delegate or because they think no-one else has the proper gifts or skills to be able to do the job properly. By which they often mean the same way they would do it. What arrogance! People can be hurt when their gifts and skills are not valued and utilized. They tend to feel their gifts and sometimes, they have no value. We need to be careful we do not make people feel this way. We need to make sure we are not part of the problem. That we are not responsible for anyone leaving the church. We need to ensure we are not like those Jesus talked about in Mark 9:42 that we aren't causing others to stumble or leave their faith behind. The truth is, what we do has consequences. We are responsible for the way we behave. So, before you are tempted to disparage someone else for what they are doing in the church or the way they are doing it, let's each talk a long, hard look at our own lives and see if part of our attitude comes back to feelings of superiority or exclusivity. We can be part of the solution of part of the problem. Related blogs Why Should You Leave a Church? When Should You Leave a Church? Learn more about Dale Harcombe  Dale has a passion for books and writing. She writes in various forms, from articles to poetry to fiction for children and adults. Relevantchristian tags User Comments No comments on this article yet. Be the first to comment! Discuss this article
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