Need Your Prayers!

[soblessed53]

Hello all my dear friends. I would like to request your prayers.There has been such a horrible mess in my church that I love. Our new pastor of 2 years broke his word to us that he would never make a decision that affects our church without bringing it before the entire church body,yet that is exactly what he did do. The rumor got out through the grapevine that he was considering a merger with another church,and he did not mention it in front of the church until everyone was angry and confused that he had not done so. It is a long story,but there was 3 meetings with only one being announced a week ahead of time,and a vote was taken on a night of horrible weather when most could not make it,so I will be attending a different church this Sunday. It and the leadership have a wonderful reputation,been established and growing(about 200) for 30 years. I did go visit one Sunday evening here recently and the people are so friendly and welcoming,and the service was very nice. Please pray that I will be able to see if this is God's will for me to be here. I love my church family,but I believe we can remain on good terms no matter what. I just no longer have faith in our pastor since he has no explanation for how he went about this. I take that back,his excuse was he forgets sometimes that we are not all related! Because the elders knew he thought it would trickle down through their wives! Still broke his word. It was sneaky! I believe it is man's will not Gods. Since we were renting a building,I think our men got tired of setting up and breaking down every week. So when they got this invitation to merge,it was going to happen no matter what.
I know I can count on you guys,and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.I must say,I already feel at peace.

 

[jdw4jesus]

I am praying!

 

[Savedsis]

I will be praying for you....God bless

 

[soblessed53]

 

[newbeliever02072005]

Praying that God's will be done in this situation. That eyes will be open and ready to hear what God wants for the lives of each and everyone involved.

 

[soblessed53]

I Thank Each And Everyone One Of You!

 

[repentandbelieve]

Hello all my dear friends. I would like to request your prayers.There has been such a horrible mess in my church that I love. Our new pastor of 2 years broke his word to us that he would never make a decision that affects our church without bringing it before the entire church body,yet that is exactly what he did do. The rumor got out through the grapevine that he was considering a merger with another church,and he did not mention it in front of the church until everyone was angry and confused that he had not done so. It is a long story,but there was 3 meetings with only one being announced a week ahead of time,and a vote was taken on a night of horrible weather when most could not make it,so I will be attending a different church this Sunday. It and the leadership have a wonderful reputation,been established and growing(about 200) for 30 years. I did go visit one Sunday evening here recently and the people are so friendly and welcoming,and the service was very nice. Please pray that I will be able to see if this is God's will for me to be here. I love my church family,but I believe we can remain on good terms no matter what. I just no longer have faith in our pastor since he has no explanation for how he went about this. I take that back,his excuse was he forgets sometimes that we are not all related! Because the elders knew he thought it would trickle down through their wives! Still broke his word. It was sneaky! I believe it is man's will not Gods. Since we were renting a building,I think our men got tired of setting up and breaking down every week. So when they got this invitation to merge,it was going to happen no matter what.
I know I can count on you guys,and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.I must say,I already feel at peace.

The Church has had a hard battle to fight in perfecting it's organization, so make sure that you are holding the reins evenly. Before you judge the character of your Pastor continue to consider the matter prayerfully. Be certain that you are not stubbornly setting yourself against the merger by acting out the natural feelings of the heart. Look carefully at the evidence on every side, don't be swayed by the influence of others, or form conclusions without intelligent thorough knowledge of all the circumstances.

Every possible effort should be made to effect a reconciliation between you and the Pastor. Don't be hindered by pride or self-esteem from going privately to him, that you both may talk the matter over in the spirit of Christ and then pray for one another. By doing this with dignity you will built up your own house regardless of the outcome.

In settling difficulties within the church let every member examine his own heart to see if the cause of trouble does not exist within. Realistically, what can we expect but trial and perplexity in our connection with men and women who are as fallen in nature as we are?

A house divided against itself cannot stand. When Christians contend, Satan comes in to take control, and how often has he succeeded in destroying the peace and harmony of churches. He is constantly seeking to cause distrust, alienation, and malice among God's people. We are often tempted to feel that our rights are invaded, when there is no real cause for such feelings.

 

[soblessed53]

I agree dear brother,but these things have been done. His and other's stories have changed, some ridiculous explanations given. When asked at a meeting did he not promise us that he would never make a decision that would affect the church without bringing it before the whole church body(which was 30) he admitted it. We just formed 2 years ago after a split from another church. I think our mistake then was not really taking the time to pray and fast over that. We had begun our own services within 3 weeks of 2 preachers(we had 6 preachers plus the pastor at that church of about 75,5 of them left together) announcing they felt led to leave,with no public announcement of why. If our elders could not solve those problems,maybe our mistake was following them at all.

 

[repentandbelieve]

I agree dear brother,but these things have been done. His and other's stories have changed, some ridiculous explanations given. When asked at a meeting did he not promise us that he would never make a decision that would affect the church without bringing it before the whole church body(which was 30) he admitted it. We just formed 2 years ago after a split from another church. I think our mistake then was not really taking the time to pray and fast over that. We had begun our own services within 3 weeks of 2 preachers(we had 6 preachers plus the pastor at that church of about 75,5 of them left together) announcing they felt led to leave,with no public announcement of why. If our elders could not solve those problems,maybe our mistake was following them at all.

Was the decision to merge with the other church made without a vote among the members of both churches?

 

[soblessed53]

We were not all together when the vote was taken.So I don't know what it was like there or how many were present.The night our group voted the weather was very bad,icy sleety roads, and some of us including myself could not make it. Only 16 were present 14 voted for(less than half the membership),2 against. He would not postpone the vote,because that churches land contract expired this month,and they needed to know whether to renew,go conventional loan or move out. It was all rushed because of that. It was also only announced that morning that the vote was going to be that night and many were out because of illness.

 

[Shadowcat]

Dear Sister, I pray everything will work out smoothly to God's Plan for your church. I'm pleased you already feel at peace.

Love & Blessings
Shadow

 

[SandCrab]

i will most certainly pray for you

 

[soblessed53]

You all are so sweet.I know there are such good folks here at Deeper Fellowship. I appreciate all your prayers. I really was pleased with Sunday school and morning worship,and very impressed with all I heard they are involved in. I really think this church is out there working for God.

 

[Sungar]

I will pray for you and the others in the church. I wish I had an answer but answers like this can only come from the Lord and prayer. Lord; give soblessed53, what you want her to do; keep her in prayer; until she knows from You, Your will.

 

[paulnoel]

Soblessed I am praying for you. And Im also praying for your pastor and the church were the problem seems to be. Soblessed I pray that God will direct you to were He wants you to be. I pray to God that healing and forgivness will be present within the church you have left, and that God be gloryified.

God bless you.
Love, Paul.​

 

[Spudgrandma]

Soblessed I am praying for you. And Im also praying for your pastor and the church were the problem seems to be. Soblessed I pray that God will direct you to were He wants you to be. I pray to God that healing and forgivness will be present within the church you have left, and that God be gloryified.

God bless you.
Love, Paul.​

AMEN and Praying that you will find the church where God wants you. In His name. amen

 

[soblessed53]

Just wanted to say I am thanking God for your prayers. So far I really feel good about my fellowship at this other church yesterday. Sunday school,morning and evening worship.It was a good day. I also like the idea that this church was not started by just a bunch of related people! Thank You Again and God Bless You.

 

[repentandbelieve]

Just wanted to say I am thanking God for your prayers. So far I really feel good about my fellowship at this other church yesterday. Sunday school,morning and evening worship.It was a good day. I also like the idea that this church was not started by just a bunch of related people! Thank You Again and God Bless You.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. Romans 8:28

 

[McWilliams]

We were not all together when the vote was taken.So I don't know what it was like there or how many were present.The night our group voted the weather was very bad,icy sleety roads, and some of us including myself could not make it. Only 16 were present 14 voted for(less than half the membership),2 against. He would not postpone the vote,because that churches land contract expired this month,and they needed to know whether to renew,go conventional loan or move out. It was all rushed because of that. It was also only announced that morning that the vote was going to be that night and many were out because of illness.

Bottom line, no matter how forgiving we may be is that the pastor acted hastily and inappropriately without due concern for his congregation! It was wrong to 'assume' that the info would trickle down. Even if it did trickle down it was inappropriate not to do what he had promised in handling decisions! This creates a breach of trust, causing one to question what may occur next and how and what he would decide in future situations! It would now be most appropriate for the pastor to come before his congregation and make a great effort to resolve the situation, build trust and restore communication and boundaries! The sad thing is that when this occurs so many new, weak or fragile christians can be disillusioned even more than the strong and stable ones, causing them to leave churches and be without!
You are all in my prayers, sis soblessed that our sweet Lord will intervene and somehow use this situation, that His name will be exalted and glorified!

 

[soblessed53]

Thank you my dear sis in Christ.Yes,that is exactly why we lost faith in him as our shepherd. We feel this plan affected all of our church membership,so he should have told us immediatly that he had been approached and told the offer to merge still stood(now that those opposed had left their church). Then we all could have been in prayer over it.We believe our leadership decided not to "wait on God" for us to get our own building and instead decided they were not going to let this opportunity pass. "God is not the author of confusion".This scripture never left my mind from the time I found out what was going on and seeing the confusion,and hurt. Thank you so much for the prayers.