"Kingdom Stuff"

In the last blog I told you about my transition of stepping down from being a pastor to giving myself full time to overseeing churches, ministries and ministers. For the next few blogs I will be sharing some things that speak to that group of leaders. However, hopefully, it will be of interest to all who have a Kingdom mindset.

Part I

Lawsuits in the church

Lawsuits in the church, really? Oh, yeah! It happens, and all too often at that. As leaders, what do we do when two members of a church or the Christian community at large come to an impasse over some issue at hand? First, as always we must lead not out of our heads or even from our hearts but by the Scripture. I Corinthians 6:1 tells us, "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" Leaders do need to get involved in the issues of division and especially in a local church or organization. It is like a cancer that will spread if not dealt with quickly. However, it is important that we understand the parameters of our involvement. When we are dealing with personal divisive issues between two individuals or groups in the church we are working within the bounds of love, grace, forgiveness and reconciliation. People involved must be committed to these principles or our "grace efforts" won't work. I believe that, as elders or leaders, after prayer, you should offer what you believe to be the will of the Lord. If you sense that among those involved in the division, there is not a willingness to accept your decision and you see them moving toward legal action, you should move away from the process. It is clear to me that our actions in the church only work within the sphere of Biblical principles. It is a matter of "grace vs.. law". If the people involved move toward "law", you need to withdraw. You have done your part by offering what you believe to be the will of the Lord in line with reconciliation. From the moment that the affected, or I may say "infected" parties reject your counsel and move toward a legal settlement, you should be free to step back, love both parties but not be involved in giving advice as they seek a legal settlement. They have made a decision to move from grace to law. Now they are under a different set of parameters, that of the "world's system". From that point on Christian leaders are taken out of the process because all we have to offer is the Biblical order of things. That means no counsel, no going to court and certainly not siding with either party. As elders and leaders, you must maintain a Biblical posture and not take sides.

In our next few Kingdom Stuff blogs, we will address Generational Leadership Transition.