Church Planting in Boise Anyone?

This is my serious blog. Click the title for my frivolous post on laws and natural selection or click here for The Blog I Never Use in its entirety.

WARNING: The following was written while I was angry. The views expressed are not likely to remain so prominent after the anger has died down.

Hello there, I just received some disturbing news, the elders of church with whom I worship here in Boise . . . Let me restate that, the church with whom I worship here in Boise with the best preacher in the state, who I would rank in the upper level for all-around skill, the preacher who has never in my presence said anything without doing his homework, the elders of which my family and I (who have been here for two years longer than I) have only met two (of four), just sent us a letter (below) saying that they are firing the minister.

They say, "There is little doubt after our meetings with the ministers that they do not respect the judgment, experience, spiritual maturity, and wisdom of the elders." This is obviously the real problem here: their pride is hurt, their egos wounded. I have news Gentlemen: 1. Respect is earned, not given because of titles, that is why Paul was so concerned with the qualities of elders, 2. Your judgment, experience, spiritual maturity and wisdom are not THE WORD OF GOD, that is what we come here to experience and you are asking us to compromise it, 3. The wrong judgments, based upon the experience, spiritual maturity and wisdom of elders is what lead to the spiritual hierarchies you despise, especially the Pope's authority 4. Chances are that you never received any kind of training on how to preach with integrity, so are not qualified to judge that aspect of the preacher's work, and that aspect of Mike's preaching is why he will not be your puppet, because of his loyalty to GOD, has anyone here ever read the Prophets?. 5. Has anyone read the words of Jesus, "the leaders of the Gentiles bully others, it should not be that way with you . . . (with you) the greatest should be the least."

I am sorry to be so bold and rude, I just can't stand a bully, much less a bully who claims God's authority to authorize his actions. And don't try to tell me that the reference to the ministers' attitude coupled with the firing is not a threat directed at Howard Jones (the campus minister), I heard the way he was ignored in your meeting, or that this is not about power outside God's Word, outside Jesus' authority.

I am at a quandary. I believe that the eldership of a church is intended to be involved in the spiritual life of the church, I do not believe that they are supposed to practice worldly forms of domination. In their letter they make clear that they are firing Mike Sanders because their collective pride is hurt by his disagreement over the one fundamental goal of pulpit ministry: Mike believes, as I do, that ministry is living the life of Jesus in the community and proclaiming the word of God, in short, ministry is filling the role of prophet by preaching God's word; the eldership believes that ministry is about entertainment or numbers.

Now let me ask those of you who have asked my advice on what church to attend, about how to choose? That's right: go to the church which has an eldership who shows spiritual maturity and a focus on caring for the flock and, if that is unavailable, choose a church that has strong non-elder leadership, where you can do some good and, failing that look for a church plant or plant a church yourself. I should have followed my advice when I got here, but I didn't want to get so involved that I couldn't leave when my thesis is complete. I haven't officially joined the church here in part because I don't quite trust the eldership, and in part because I see my time here as short.

So, if I were following my own advice, I would have already started a church plant, so I guess I should start a church plant now, but I hate the idea of becoming a church-hopper. First John is very clear that leaving a church because you disagree with what is taught can be against the spirit of Christ. But what about leaving to try to improve the plight of Christianity in your community? Of course there is another factor here: I have been saying for some time that this area NEEDS several church plants desperately. Also, Stan Granberg told us to always see the opportunity for the multiplication of God's people in times others see as division.

Anyone out there looking for a place to plant a church? There is only one established mainstream Church of Christ in this city and a few very small off-shoots (United CofC, Conservative CofC etc.). Boise's population is currently 208,200 and growing, the network of Christian churches of all denominations (131 churches, protestant and catholic) is vastly underequipped to handle the 38,517 of those whom national averages place in churches already since many facilities were constructed for under 100.

Most of the growth comes from California, but some is from the rural areas. Those who have lived in the state for the longest tend to be uneducated and resistant to education. Those who are moving in are mostly college graduates who, after starting families, are looking for a safe place to raise families. Eldorado has not attracted many of these and the other protestant churches are mostly in the same situation. The point is, people here want to build communities, that is why they moved their families here, whether they knew it or not.

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The Following is the Letter

Boise Church of Christ
2000 Eldorado Street
Boise, ID 83704-7498
April 15,2006
Dear church family
We are the body of Christ bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus. We are the sheep of His flock and each one brings to this body a unique and valuable contribution. Each person makes the family of God richer by their unique gifts and personalities. God desires that every believer be a functioninginember of a local church-a local "body" of Christ where members mutually care for one another, minister to each other, and build one another up in love (Eph. 4: 15-16). As your elders, we strongly believe that all members at all stages of development in this body are valuable children of God.

We feel keenly the weight of responsibility that you and our Lord have laid upon us as spiritual shepherds for this congregation, charged with the obligation to look after and watch over those in our care. We are called to be elders of insight, wisdom, compassion, and love-depending not on our own intelligence, but His Word and His Holy Spirit (Acts 20: 17-25 and I Peter 5: 1-11). We ask for your forgiveness for those times when we have not lived up to this high calling.

As your shepherds, we want to share with you something that is weighing heavily on our hearts. During the past several months we have spent much time in prayer for this congregation and many hours analyzing the current state of health of our church family. We have met with the ministers and deacons about what we see. It has become increasingly apparent to us that we must make some changes.

Each year we see families quietly depart our fellowship. Some leave because of jobs, others because of school or marriage, and some have gone home to be with the Lord. Yet there are a significant number that have just quietly left this body. Each time someone leaves us we experience pain, loss of friendship, loss of dignity, and most of all an emptiness that simply never goes away. With this letter are enclosures which detail attendance trends here for the past thirty-five years and an analysis of those who have left this congregation in the past fifteen years.

During the past five or six years the elders have made a concerted effort to meet with the families that are quietly disappearing. We have made an honest effort to understand why so many are walking away (including former elders, deacons, and class teachers) and hopefully to persuade at least some of them to remain with us. Of those who have been willing to talk with us, the majority have expressed similar reasons for leaving our fellowship. In almost all cases they cite their inability to connect with or be engaged by the Sunday morning service. Many feel hurt and, to some extent, guilty because they believe they have made a concerted effort to understand the message, but more often than not they go away feeling inadequate and deficient because try as they may they don't get the point. Some have said they feel more depressed when they leave our services than they did before they came. Some have told us they are hungering for a worship experience that will equip them with the tools needed to meet the challenges of a hostile world in the coming week. Many expressed how difficult it has been to leave our body because there are so many that they love and care about in our congregation. We have heard explanations of how their decision to leave was driven by the need to find a church home where their children can better understand the lessons on Sunday morning. We have seen expressions of real frustration in many of these faces because of the difficulty they are having finding a new church family, particularly one that is Bible centered and shares the core beliefs that we hold in common.

As shepherds, we have spent many hours praying and trying to find a solution that will stop the continuing erosion. We believe it is our responsibility to recognize negative trends and work together as God's family to correct what we see as a disturbing course. We have tried to discuss this situation with our ministers hoping to find a solution, but we find ourselves polarized on the issues. During the past three months it has become obvious that ministers and elders do not share the same view of the situation or what needs to be done. The ministers have expressed their disagreement with the elders, insisting that we are focusing on the wrong things. We have been accused of being on a witch-hunt and caving in to a consumerist church mindset. Our minister's opinion is that we should not expect this congregation to grow numerically, that significant changes do not need to be made, that we should just continue to "be the best that we can be" within the box of our identity.

We have been told that we are solely focusing on the numbers and that we need to stop worrying about those who are leaving and concern ourselves with those that are solidly in the fold. But how can we ignore those who feel they must leave because they just can't understand the message or because they aren't smart enough to get it? Those numbers represent people who are important to us. The early church came from all walks of life, all types of backgrounds, and all levels of maturity As shepherds, we are responsible for the feeding of all of our flock, both the academically inclined and those who are more visual or tactile in how they learn, those from a wide variety of Christian backgrounds and those with no background at all.

"For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory." (I Thess. 2: 11-12) As elders, our vision is to engage the flock through the invasion of the imagination with the good news of Jesus. We cannot leave people behind because they have not developed the level of maturity where they do not need encouragement or reassurance. We must not abandon those who need the joyous promises of grace and salvation repeated over and over again. When you fight the grim battle of faith on the employment or academic battlefield all during the week, you need to be restored to battle readiness on Sunday so that you can return victoriously to daily life on Monday (see Hebrews 10:23-25).

This is not a witch-hunt where our pulpit minister is being blamed for all that has happened. We simply believe that our congregation must have a change in the pulpit for the good of this church family. The extent to which we can expect Mike to change his style and methodology is limited. Mike has told us that he is deeply committed to his current preaching style. He has explained to us that he believes his responsibility is to the text, not to the listener. His approach is to enter into dialogue with the text and let those in the audience simply listen in. Instead of trying to make things simpler or easier to understand, he believes the preacher's task is to make them harder to understand. As the basis for this approach he referred to Ezekiel, chapters two and three. We cannot ask Mike to compromise his convictions about his style of preaching.

Weare not blaming others for our current situation. We bear much of the blame and beg your forgiveness for not dealing with these issues earlier. Former elders, loved by this family, have told us changes should have been made long ago. We are convinced that a change is needed in how the good news of Jesus is presented in order to more effectively engage everyone in attendance on Sunday mornings. We believe we must find a way to preserve and hold on to our members while encouraging and building one another up.

And our concerns are not limited to those who have left us. There are many of you who have been disturbed by signs of decline that you have noticed and have asked us what we are doing to address the situation. We have also been made aware of others within our congregation that are considering going elsewhere for the same reasons as those who have already left-they are simply having a difficult time understanding and getting a concrete message out of our Sunday morning lessons and are not being built up and encouraged in our assembly.

There is little doubt after our meetings with the ministers that they do not respect the judgment, experience, spiritual maturity, and wisdom of the elders.
Our ministers have done and are doing many fine, good things. There are great bonds of friendship that have been built up over the years. But, we are obviously at an impasse and in a no-win situation. If we make a change in the pulpit minister some have told us it will cause division. If we do nothing and continue in the current direction (a direction that has been going on for twenty years) we will continue to experience division through attrition. As shepherds, we are under divine obligation to lead. Weare asking for your support and commitment. We serve at your request.
We believe that the right thing to do is to make a change in the pulpit ministry. The elders are unanimously recommending that we seek a new pulpit minister for the well-being of this congregation.

We plan to meet with each Care Group as soon as possible (in some cases with two or three groups together) to discuss, listen, answer questions, and pray. For those not in Care Groups we will be glad to schedule a time to talk with families or individuals. You will be given an opportunity to express your support or lack of support after we have talked with you. We covet your prayers.
In His grace and mercy,

Your shepherds,

(they signed it here)