In the past few weeks I received several mailings from "Pastors' Fellowship", a highly conservative segment of our movement that tends to be concentrated in the Midwest. They have been promoting their annual gathering in Winchester, Kentucky, and more recently mailed out their quarterly magazine, the Reformation Witness.
Reformation Witness, for those that have never seen it, is a peculiar oddity. Visually, it looks like a bad nightmare from 30 years ago, with atrocious design and amateurish layout. The articles are typically doctrinal proclamations, but rarely insightful.
In short, I don't "get" Pastors' Fellowship.
My intent is not to unnecessarily criticize Pastors' Fellowship. I'm sure there are many fine individuals among their numbers, and someday I'd love to visit Winchester and observe first-hand what goes on there. (Anyone want to underwrite this fledgling blogger?).
I am also a firm believer that diversity should be welcome within the Church of God. There is room for ultra-conservatives, pacifists, African-Americans, Hispanics, emergents, liberals, etc.
The real difficulty I have with Pastors' Fellowship (or any other similar faction) is the implied attitude of superiority that is often projected. My observation of this group in particular is that they believe themselves to be the true guardians of the reformation movement, and that "Anderson" does not quite live up to their high conservative standard. Hence the need for separate gatherings, publications, and organization.
What is needed in the Church of God is healthy dialogue among all segments of our constituency. What concerns me is that all of our regional, cultural, racial, linguistic and theological divisions have tended to keep us from understanding each other. We have tended to hide in our cloistered corners, afraid of engaging with one another. And Church of God Ministries, conscious of these sensitivities, has often walked with excessive caution in this political minefield, afraid to provide the leadership necessary to move us out of this crippling environment. (A big hint for Jeannette Flynn as she discusses transforming our internal culture).
If we are ever to find meaningful ways to express important teachings (like holiness) and engage in critical mission, we must all come to the Table and table. We must start practicing the unity we so vigorously preach.
9 comments:
Here Here !! Lloyd!! Unity doesn't come by conformity, it comes by diversity.
I ditto Marlenene, but Andy it is not diversity but Christ that provides and allows common footing (see Galatians, Ephesians, and John) . Diversity is fine and all, I like the way Lloyd expressed it in this blog. But it is the King who equalizes all perceived, non-essential differences allowing for unity.
My major concern about this bunch is they sound like the Pentecostals: they are judgmental, assert logical positions that are seriously flawed (see the article about the name CHOG), assert a hermeneutic that is flawed (see same article), and do not seek to understand nor have compassion for any diverse point of view. They hold to the common error of denominationalism of the last 250 years: If (read since) I am right and you disagree, then you are wrong (not just different). The group does as a whole represent the beliefs and attitudes of the people in Kentucky. For the most part, they are a suit-and-tie and king jimmy only bunch. I understand them, I just don't think those things show the love that is supposed to typify a disciple of Christ. The sad thing really is that those guys would fit nicely in my rural southwestern Arkansas area. Only God can change a heart and mind. Confrontation only leads to entrenched positions. It probably is working just fine in their location (if effectiveness is a standard by which to judge something of God's). Prayer is the only answer that holds any promise. Prayer for myself to be able to love these guys and prayer for them to be who God wants them to be.
I'm chiming in Here Here as well!
I've noticed something about ends of the spectrum, about being entrenched. My sister-in-law is really liberal. She's a reletiveist. Execpt when it comes to Christians. Not just evengelicals or "right wingnuts" as i've heard recently. There seems to be an entrenching on either side. We're all human and can end up doing this. But it seems moreso on either end.
I'm a little leary of the straying away from "confrontation" David. Maybe you meant being combative, or judgment, etc. Sometimes we have to call eachother out. [I doubt anyone is listening from Pastor's Fellowship.] But right now I'm calling out the Pastor's Fellowship. I wonder if You Are being affective. Postmodern culture is in the midwest and the bible belt. there are people that don't think in a linear fashon. That look at faith as something more than a preposition.[Len Sweet, Out of the Question...] They don't look at Church, the Bible, or Jesus the same fashion that you do. I'm one. I'm I pagan? Am I a heritick? Am I missguided? Hopefully I am. Misguided by Jesus. To culture I am. It seems to me that what I've read of the RW is more misguyided than me. If we're called to be missionaries to people=our culture, how is oldtimie, tent revivals, out of date publications recycling doctrine doing it? I don't get you either. Unless someone can explain to me, I'm still going to percieve your faction as irrelavent and hurting the Jesus movement in our culture than helping. Can someone out there help me see. I admit that I don't know anyone in the Pastor's Fellowship. So it's us and them right now. If I have misimterprated I would like to understand. Truely.
I was surrounded by Pastor's Fellowship types in Alabama. There never was any attempt to embrace or invite someone outside of the 'fellowship'. David I speak heavily against religious conformity, and those who know me, I'm a nonconformist about the cereal I eat. I totally agree with you that Christ provides what we need in coming together, and we should conform to Him. I do not believe in conforming to words, but to a person. Pastor's Fellowship does nothing but, as Lloyd said, imply an attitude of superiority. 50 years ago, people were drawn to pulpit superiors who would give us all tongue lashings in the name of the Father. The last thing that people need in our culture is a good tongue lashing, they need Jesus. Jesus hung out with a diverse crowd, and they were drawn to Him. These white guys in KY need to know that they aren't the only keepers of the faith, that us non KJVers, who may try to reach the lost in unique ways, who may be from the other side of the tracks, feel that we are doing what God wants us to do. I applaude Lloyd for calling for God's people to table, so we can experience, perhaps for the first time, what this thing called unity is about.
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Hi, I'm Pk,
David my Pastor says this
"I it is not diversity but Christ that provides and allows common footing (see Galatians, Ephesians, and John) . Diversity is fine and all, ... But it is the King who equalizes all perceived, non-essential differences allowing for unity."
in one simple sentence
The main thing, is to keep the MAIN THING the MAIN THING.
Keep Jesus Central ... remember who were serving and why we're serving him ... who did HE spend his time with and who did HE serve ... who did he judge (it certainly wasn't the ones who were different but the prideful and religious leaders of the day who thought they had all the right answers but only went by intellect rather than relationship).
Lloyd I followed a link that showed you visited my blog. Shock of all shocks ... I lived in Hanford when I was 13 ... I went to Woodrow Wilson Junior High! I live in Tulsa now.
once again, i've been out of this conversation far too long -- i wish i could get back here more frequently
i minister among many of the Pastor's Fellowship guys -- i usually spend a lot of time scratching my head
i could (and have deleted) accusations from some as well as other problems with such brothers and sisters -- only realizing that doing so would similarly elevate my own sense of superiority
i will say that despite my disagreements in interpretation and practice, without their presence i would be likely to focus too far in the direction of ministry, and too little in Biblical study
these guys do love God
they know the Gospel and the Scripture
and they love to preach it in what some may categorize a traditional style
but i've seen them have effective ministries among those i could never connect with, nor my preaching style ever turn to Jesus
as the brother in SW Arkansas mentions, there are communities of people who will embrace these things
the problems occur when these communities are interspersed with different communities of people -- can we minister side by side despite our own differences and the differences that exist among the world we're trying to reach? or will we belittle one another and the other's methods until the world wants nothing to do with either?
those are questions we're still waiting to answer here in Alabama
a solemn assembly has been called with the hopes of learning to love one another as we confess pride, lay aside differences, and lift high the cross of Christ
john says,I find it a a little presumptious that so many with little or no knowledge of Pastors Fellowship should be so critical of this group.
Some of the greatest names in recent history of the movement (last 35 years) have preached and taught at meetings sponsored by the Fellowship.
The castigation is nothing new it has been projected by people whos minds are too small to be open to anything they have not been previously taught.
Pastors Fellowship is performing a ministry that unique in the current fashion of what is blithely called The Church of God, the continue to keep alive the roots of The Reformation Movement.
I have heard many of our leaders bemoan the loss of church of God heritage but there are few doing anything about it.
In fact several years ago a pastor, now president of a church of God college went so far as to say he could barely wait until the shrubbery had overgrown the church of God sign in front of his church.
Do I believe in diversity? Yes. I fellowship with black people and preachers of several denomination, and our churches have welcomed Hispanic, Phillipino, Korean, and Laotions.
I think some of you folks need to get off the west coast and find out how the other world lives.
anonymous john,
Thank you for offering your comments. We need to hear from the Pastor's Fellowship side of the discussion.
Just to clear up any misconceptions, everyone (except one) who commented above lives in or near the midwest and are in very regular contact with PF folks. This is not merely a "west coast" perspective.
I have never been to Winchester (although I'm still looking for a sponsor to send me! - I promise I will blog everyday while there!), but over the years I have had personal contact with a number of PF supporters.
I can't speak for everyone else who left a comment, but my intent was not to attack PF. It's not an "us vs. them" scenario. My real concern is that the Church of God is weakened when we have too many movements within our movement. This does nothing to contribute to unity, and if anything weakens our combined ministry and witness.
PF is not beyond the need for constructive criticism. They have contributed to the church and obviously fill a need. But, I'm not convinced they are the only ones keeping "alive the roots of the Reformation Movement". And, I would encourage them to work harder at reaching out beyond their initial constituency in a manner that is both positive and constructive. In this way they will have even more to offer the Church of God.
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