I'm taking the time update out of necessity. Perhaps the singular most important thing in RCCC that's happened since I moved to North Carolina has been these past couple weeks, namely Pastor Dick Lee's resignation as English Pastor. I've thought & talked quite a lot about this, and I write this update more specifically for my youth who visit the Xanga. (Those of you who want to know more, e-mail me... some things are better to not broadcast to the world).
A pastor resigning because of differences is never a good thing- although it is still true that God uses all circumstances to bring about good. Many of you may not understand the reasons why, and perhaps even after hearing many explanations, it still does not make sense. That's normal. I suppose it makes sense to me in large part because 1) I'm in ministry myself, and 2) I grew up as the son of an elder in my home church. My dad was an elder, and growing up, I was always hearing about & in a lot of ways learning about church issues.
The events surrounding Pastor Dick’s resignation have given me much cause for reflection too. Some people may know, that one of the reasons that I felt like I ought to come to RCCC (that I even “could” come to RCCC) was because Pastor Dick was English Pastor. I recognized my need to have a mentor, someone I could learn from. It’s good that he will continue to stay at the church to be a member; yet I still wonder about the direction of the church, and what this means for the youth ministry, a few years from now. There are a lot of questions…. But I want it to be said loud & clear:
GOD is the one who leads the church
There is still HOPE and GOOD that comes from this because of God
My heart is very much concerned for the youth group… because of the way all of you youth who are a part of this time in RCCC’s history will influence part of how you see “church” in the future, just like my experiences growing up have shaped mine. I am also concerned because I honestly am not sure how well the other adults of the church will handle & process this situation… and as a result, I can’t say that the youth will necessarily have the best of role models. I hope they do.
The following is something I wrote & sent out over e-mail to the youth group & I will repost it here:
I understand for many of the youth, it is hard to understand the situation surrounding the resignation. I want the youth to know, that even for the adults, this is a very hard thing to understand and a very hard thing to deal with too. Many of the adults still have questions, and many of those questions may not get fully answered. I grew up with my dad as an elder on the church board. Back then I did not understand everything that was going on either. Looking back I can see how those experiences have helped to shape and grow me, even especially in a time like this for RCCC. But I think as a youth group, there are still things we can learn, things that you all can do if you love this church.
First, pray for our church leaders. For the past few months, every time we've had prayer time, I tell you all to pray for our church leaders and some of you may have wondered why. This is one of the reasons. Our elders and pastors need the wisdom from God to know how to make the right decisions for the church, how to speak with the right words. They need God's help in understanding where the people (including all of you) are at, and being sensitive to the people's needs. They need God's strength to give them courage to step up and lead. You may think "I'm only a youth, what can I do in something like this?" You can PRAY... doesn't matter if you're 12 or if you're 40.... God hears our prayers all the same
Second, it's important to know that in any church, there will always be conflicts. That's an odd statement to make... why? The answer is: we are all sinful people in need of God's grace. And when sinful people get together, conflict will be created. A "good church" is not a church that has no conflict- that's a dead church. A strong church is a church that knows how to work through its conflicts in a godly way. A WRONG response is to be ashamed that this is happening at RCCC. Another WRONG response is to think that "man, if this stuff happens at church, then church is pointless." The RIGHT response is to learn from this in whatever way you can, and again, to PRAY for the church.
We also need to realize that in a case like this there are no "sides" and no "winners." You might know some people who are going to take sides and use this as an opportunity to critize the Elders or the church. You might want to take sides yourselves with the people that you like. That kind of attitude divides the church. When God's people are divided, EVERYONE loses. One of the reasons that Pastor Dick chose to step down is so that he would NOT cause divisions in the church. My hope and prayer is that people will not twist this and use it to cause divisions... that would be against everything we are working for. There are no sides, nobody "wins."
Finally, please please please be sensitive about how you talk about this with one another: that it be God-honoring and loving to people. I know many of you have talked with one another about this; some of you have mentioned this on a Xanga or two. It's good that all of you are talking about it. But be careful about your opinions and speculations. What hurts the church is that when there are assumptions and rumors flying around as to "why this happened" and "how should we respond," without the discussion being focused and directed to the right places. Talking on AIM, e-mailing, Xangas, etc. are all great for expressing your thoughts & feelings, but they aren't the right places to express all of these things.
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