What do you do when you have a problem with somebody else in church? How should a Christian address problems in church? There are no perfect churches, and there are no churches without problems. If there are people attending your church, you have problems, guaranteed! Even the early church had serious troubles.
All churches have problems The key issue is how does the church deal with its problems?
There were approximately 25,000 Christians in Jerusalem by now! Hebrews - Most native to Palestine - Aramaic speaking Jews
Hellenists – Born on foreign soil – Greek speaking Jews
A clash of cultures was immanent
The Hebrews began to slight the Hellenists widows
The Greek word for complaining is pronounced gong-goos-mosIt means to murmur. To grumble under your breath. To debate secretly
The trouble with gong-goos-mos. Problems that stew secretly can’t be solved
Leaders should primarily be concerned with following the will of God
Spiritual Leaders should devote themselves to the Word and to Prayer
The leader must always be meeting God in profound, life-changing ways
The Word equips and transforms the saints
A leader should delegate all responsibilities possible
We should Ask the people of the church to be part of the solution
We must seek to appoint godly leadership
#1 They must have a good reputation
#2 They must be full of the Holy Spirit
#3 They must be noted for their wisdom How to Achieve Unity in the Church– 5-7 The Solution The churches solution to a problem should meet two criteria #1 is it God’s will, #2 does it bring unity to the body. Leaders should appeal to the heart of the people The church chose seven men and all were Hellenists! The native Christians had a majority, yet they chose unity over popularity
The Word of God Spread The Disciples Multiplied Many of the priests put their faith in Jesus
The choice is now yours, you can murmur, or you can be part of the solution. God loves it when we set aside our personal agendas and follow His will instead. When we are filled with the Spirit we bring unity to the body and growth to the church.
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How should I address problems at church?Are there problems in church? If you have people, you have problems! What should you do if, for example you discover that
–Two Christians are no longer speaking to each other?
–A Sunday School teacher denies the deity of Christ?
–One leader criticizes another leader behind his back?
–An usher is caught stealing from the weekly offering?
–People begin complaining, spreading rumors and choosing sides? These are not hypothetical situations. They happen every day in local churches across America. I just returned from a Board Meeting of a Church Planting Mission, where, with great sorrow, we discussed a cluster of problems that churches and pastors are having in the Pacific Northwest. And the rumor is that church conflicts are on the rise across the nation for some unknown reason. Sadly, too many of these situations end with hurt feelings, uncontrollable tears, anger, bitterness, broken relationships, church splits and yes, Pastor’s leaving the ministry and Churches closing their doors. That is precisely what we talked about. So what do you do when you have a problem with somebody else in church? How should a Christian address problems in church? I have discovered that problems rarely sort themselves out all by themselves. One of the functions of leadership is to guide the church through its problems. Our goal is to lead us to a solution that is pleasing to God and acceptable to the body.
Since I have been at Pine Grove, we have weathered many different types of storms. Some of them were dealt with successfully, and yet others took a toll on us. When the church has been confronted with a problem, I have occasionally seen individuals shake their heads and say, “I can not believe this church has this problem. There must be something wrong with the church. I think I’ll find another.”
Is a church with problems a church outside of the will of God? Let me respond to that by saying, “If you ever find a church without problems, don’t go there! You’ll ruin it!” There are no perfect churches, and there are no churches without problems. If there are people attending your church, you have problems, guaranteed!
Even the early church had serious troubles. There was opposition from the outside; Pastor Craig talked about that last week. But one of the stories the book of Acts tells is the story of the difficulties that were encountered inside the church. The internal struggles.
First there was the Big Lie told by Ananias and Saphria. Their pretentiousness was a potential bombshell that threatened to rock the reputation of the early church. Within the first year the Apostles had to administer “Church Discipline”! And it was deadly!
The second recorded problem is found here in Acts 6. The Hebrew speaking Jews were neglecting and thus mistreating the Greek speaking Jews. This was a deadly conflict which threatened to split the church in half and leave destruction and hurt in its wake. This potential church split also likely happened in the very first year of the church’s existence, once again threatening to destroy the infant church.
This is not the last problem the church faced. Later on the church was divided over the acceptance of the newly converted persecutor named Saul. Following that the church had a serious row over whether or not uncircumcised gentiles had to follow the Law of Moses. And then there is the problem in which two of the greatest evangelists of the early church split up because of a disagreement over a co-workers qualifications for the ministry.
In fact if you look at the early church set you will see a pattern developing. 1. The first step in the pattern is the filling of the Spirit – obedience. 2. Next in the cycle is Opposition and Persecution to the church. 3. When that Satanic plot did not work and God continued to bless it was followed by an internal problem in the church. 4. When the problem was resolved by spirit filled Christians 5. the church experienced explosive growth and Blessing.
Don’t be fooled for a moment into thinking that the church you attend is the only church with internal issues. Get over it! All churches have problems. They may have nice paint jobs and neatly manicured lawns on the outside, but on the inside every church is struggling to deal with numerous difficulties. To some degree, it isn’t the issues themselves that should disturb us. The church is full of sinners who sin and full of saints living in the flesh. Expect it! The key issue is how does the church deal with its problems? One way of dealing with your problems leads to spiritual failure, the other to spiritual success. How to Resolve Conflict in the Church#1 The Golden Rule – Treat people the way you want to be treated. Matt 7:12 #2 Go in a spirit of humility Gal 6:1 #3 Speak privately first Matt 18:15 #4 Involve leadership if the problem can’t be resolved Matt 18:16 #5 Involve leadership if the problem is pervasive Acts 6:1; 15:1-2
It’s time we looked at our example in the book of acts.
1 Now in those days, when the number ofthe disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrew speaking Jews by the Greek speaking Jews, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution of food. In those days there arose a complaint in the church. I see three reasons in this verse why church people complain. #1 Because Change is Hard. They were experiencing growing pains and like it or not, growth always brings change. #2 Because of Cultural Conflict. There was a clash of cultures. Early on, the church was a melting pot of different cultures and that resulted in misunderstanding. #3. Because of Neglect and Mistreatment. The Greek speaking Christians were hurt because of they way they were treated. In the early church, there was no state sponsored welfare system, and there were no social security plans. If you were a widow, you were destitute, and so the church as a community made sure to care for widows and orphans. But it didn’t go so well! People complained. We could just as well title this verse “Why Churches Split!” Churches split because people complain! Why do people complain? Because of perceived injustice. Always remember that your little complaint could turn into a church split! The good news is that the church was growing. At first God added to the church, now the disciples were multiplying. Someone suggested that there were approximately 25,000 Christians in Jerusalem in the first year. The majority were native to the city of Jerusalem. But there were a growing number of outsiders. Whenever there is church growth there are church problems. Whenever new ideas and new people fill the seats of the sanctuary, they often bring growing pains.
In this case, the old guard were the Hebrew speaking Jews. They were native to Palestine. Born and raised there and proud of it. They probably spray painted signs on the overpass that said, “Hellenists go home!” They believed their culture and commitment was superior to all other Jews.
The feast of the Passover had attracted Jews from every country on the continent. Many of them gave their lives to the Messiah, Jesus, and decided to stay in Jerusalem. They spoke their native tongue as well as Greek, but Aramaic? Not so much.
There was a cultural division in the church. A clash of cultures was immanent. The Hebrew speaking Jews wanted to say the liturgy in the mother tongue, they loved the old hymns and wanted to chant the apostle’s creed and the Lord’s prayer every week. The Greek Speaking Jewsinsisted on drums, the guitar, the bass and Modern Greek praise and worship music. Some of them were different skin colors and had different accents.
And so, in the natural course of events, the early Christians let the flesh rule their attitudes and responses, and the Hebrews began to slight the Hellenists. In the care of the widows. if the widow didn’t speak Aramaic she was ignored, put off, or she got left overs.
And as is so often the case, the complaining began. Now the Greek word for complain in this verse is pronounced gong-goos-mos. It means to murmur. To grumble under your breath. To debate secretly.
While you can’t see it from the English Bible, what was happening here was that dissention was brewing in the background. While Peter and John and Andrew went about preaching and praying, all the people smiled at them and said the Amen as though nothing at all was the matter. When all along a debate was raging below the surface.
And that is the trouble with gong-goos-mos. Problems that stew secretly among the people cannot be solved. What amazes me is that people struggle silently for years with conflict, holding it in and allowing it to fester, until, it blows up. What was once a small splinter now is a titanic rift.
Fortunately, someone recognized the problem, took responsibility and brought it to the apostles’ attention.
2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of goodreputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 "but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." I want you to notice how big this problem was. It had affected the entire church. Verse 2 - So the Apostles summoned the multitude. The whole church. This was the first all church family meeting called to solve an internal problem. They took this problem so seriously that they called everyone in on it. Not every problem needs to go the whole church. We try to solve things on an individual basis as much as possible. But when a problem is so pervasive that it affects most every family, we may need to call a big church meeting to solve it. That’s what they did. A leaders responsibility is to move people on to God’s agenda. Those in leadership should primarily be concerned that we are identifying and following the will of God. The twelve knew they could not do everything, so they decided that they must do the right things.
The will of God for Spiritual Leaders is that they give themselves to the ministry of the Word and to Prayer. Those are a leaders priorities. Prayer is essential for every leader. You cannot be a spiritual leader if you are not meeting God in profound, life-changing ways. The ministry of the Wordis essential for the Spiritual Leader. Because it is the Word which equips and transforms the saints.
A leader must constantly be evaluating his duties. He should determine to do those things which are essential to his mission and should delegate all other responsibilities possible.
And so, the Apostles proposed that the people be involved to become part of the solution, and that they should seek godly men, they trusted to carry out this responsibility! They asked the multitudes to choose seven men to care for the widows. We believe that these are the first deacons.
So for this important position the Apostles laid out three qualifications. #1 These 7 men must have a good reputation. Leadership is ultimately based on trust. Followers don’t expect their leaders to be perfect, but they do expect them to be trustworthy. #2 They were to be men, known to be full of the Holy Spirit. In the church we even need spiritual men to menial tasks. We should begin every task in prayer and consider every ministry a sacred stewardship from God. All tasks are to be spiritual tasks. #3 They were to be men noted for their wisdom. They should be thoughtful, intelligent, and careful. People who must minister to other people need lots of wisdom.
When the Church heard the plan, they embraced it and put it into action.
5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 6 whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. When we have a problem to solve at the church, its solution should meet two criteria. #1 is it God’s will, and #2 does it bring unity to the body. That’s what this did. Here is a lesson about unity. The apostles came up with a solution that appealed the sense of honesty, justice and fairness in the hearts of the people. They had the peoples best interest in mind. And it must have struck a note, because it pleased the whole multitude! Now how often does that happen? Not very often? Maybe not in some churches, but it has been my experience that when leaders care about their people and show it, that the people return that love with a little thing called unity! And so the people got involved and, names were bantered about, and everybody got a vote, and the church chose seven men. Now here is something remarkable. In reading the list you discover that not one of these 7 men had a Hebrew name! In fact one of them, Nicolas, wasn’t even a Jew, he was a gentile. What a conciliatory move. The native Hebrew Christians had the majority, yet they chose to express love and trustrather than play a popularity game. They didn’t just re-elect the old guard, they chose the seven best suited men they could find!
I like what Colossians 3:13 says at this point: “Bear with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive one another.”
The complaints weren’t forgotten, they were forgiven. And the problems weren’t swept under the rug, they were settled.
Then the apostles prayed and laid their hands on them, commissioning them to the work and the church moved on. And then because of their amazing unity, word spread of something unheard of: Oh how they love one another.
7 Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Because the church solved her problems in a spiritual manner, three things happened. #1 The Word of God spread. #2 The disciples multiplied And #3 even many of the priests began to realize that they were seeing the genuine article. Look at the church go! Look at her grow! Because they are spirit filled rather than self interested. So the choice is yours, you can murmur, you can complain, you can split the church, or you can be part of the solution.
The story is told of Smith and Jones who were "on the outs" over a very trivial matter. This deeply concerned Deacon Brown, so he prayed that he might be a peacemaker. He called on Smith and asked, "What do you think of Jones?"
"He's the meanest crank in the neighborhood!"
"But," said Brown, "you have to admit that he's very kind to his family."
"Oh, sure, he's kind to his family all right; no one can deny that."
The next day Brown went to Jones and inquired, "Do you know what Smith said about you?"
"No, but I can imagine how that scamp would lie about me!"
"This may surprise you, but he said you're very kind to your family."
"What! Did Smith say that?"
"Yes, he did."
"Well, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't believe it."
"What do you think of Smith?" asked Deacon Brown.
"Truthfully, I believe he's a lowdown scalawag."
"But you have to admit that he's very honest in business."
"Yes, there's no getting around that; in business he's a man you can trust."
The next day Brother Brown called on Smith again. "You know what Jones said about you? He claims you're a fellow that really can be trusted in business, and that you're scrupulously honest."
"You mean it?"
"Yes, I do," said Brown.
"Well of all things," replied Smith with a happy smile. The next Sunday the former "enemies" nodded to each other. Brown continued his "meddling" until the next annual business meeting of the church when Smith and Jones shook hands and finally voted on the same side!
Take a diplomatic page from the peacemaking notebook of this consecrated deacon and begin to practice his helpful methods, for God loves "a holy meddler!" Filled with the Spirit, bringing unity to the body, and growth to the church.