Perhaps the most stunning reality to me in all of this is that, to my knowledge, no one from the Conference has been in touch with the people of Faith Community Church of God, whom I continue to participate with and serve, about the Conference's action.
That fact absolutely does stun me.
And, I'm imagining how the conversation will go when that contact is made.
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If it took place today beginning with a phone call, it would start something like this:
"Hello, may I speak to Mr./Ms. Fill-in-the-blank.
"That's me.
"Hello, Fill, my name is Dr. Kevin Richardson, I am the Executive Director of the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God. And, I'm calling you, because the people of the Eastern Regional Conference care about you and your congregation and your ministry, and to let you know that, last April, the Conference Administrative Council took an action to remove Pastor Sloat's ordination. I just want you to know that the Conference loves the people of Faith and that we want to encourage you and to offer our support to you in any way we can. Because, most of all, we want your ministry to succeed.
"Dr. Richardson, you said that the Conference took this action, what?, about six months ago, is that right?
"Uh, well, yes, Fill, that is correct, last April.
"Then, if you do care about our congregation and our ministry and if you do love our people and want to encourage us and support us and if you want our ministry as a part of the Conference to succeed, why has it taken you so long to reach out to us?
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I have two questions:
- What would Dr. Richardson say in response to that question?
- What do you think the truth of the matter is? Or, what does it say about Conference leadership and its relationship to the congregations it serves that such a question could even be asked?
But that it did so in such complete secrecy that I didn't even know the status of my ordination was under review until after my ordination was recalled surprises me and speaks to me of cowardice and of defiance of the teachings of Jesus.
But, I must say that, even more than that, I am offended, on behalf of the people with whom I am living out my walk with Jesus, that the people of the Conference have ignored the trauma its action may have caused to people whom I love dearly, some of whom are still rather childlike in their faith.
Please, feel free to think of me whatever you like.
But, if the behavior of ERC leadership toward the people of the congregation doesn't bother you, it seems to me that you have a perverted understanding of the meaning of Jesus' New Command, "Love one another."
Are you saying that when they decided to discuss recalling your ordination they never had a conversation with you in that process at all?
ReplyDeleteI am saying precisely that.
ReplyDeleteBut, Fran, that is beside this point.
ReplyDeleteIt may be beside the point, but it's still a bit shocking to me. If you're going to yank someone's credentials, and a committee does that, they should at least invite you to come in for a conversation.
ReplyDeleteFran,
ReplyDeleteShocking though it may be to you, it is fruit of the same style of leadership that I stand against here day by day. What they did is precisely what Mafia Dons do.
An irony is that this action was taken at the end of Conference sessions in which the theme was, "Simply Jesus."
Just another day in the life in the ERC.
Can you see, in the process by which my ordination was recalled, how it is the CGGC culture, or, at least the ERC culture, that is where our real problem lies?
ReplyDeleteImmediately after I received the certified letter informing me that, by the unanimous vote of the ERC Administrative Council, my ordination was being recalled "for cause," I sent Dr. Richardson a note.
I mentioned that the actual cause for the action wasn't stated in the letter and I asked what the cause was.
He wrote that there was not actually a specific cause mentioned in the deliberations and action of the Ad Council. He did mention seven reasons that led the Standing Committee to make the recommendation to the Ad Council and he did forward that list to me.
What stuns me is that, according to Jack Selcher, the Conference Secretary's letter, each and every member of the Ad Council voted to recall my ordination. Yet, according to Dr. Richardson, not one specific reason was given to the Ad Council to justify the Standing Committee's recommendation.
Therefore, the Administrative Council cited a cause when it was given no cause.
Based on the record available to me, not one person said anything like, "This is a serious action. Why, exactly, are you asking me to be a part of it?"
There was a time when I thought the reason that the Lord no longer blesses us has to do with the people who are on the very top of the mountain. But, I have long since realized that it is the whole culture, the value system by which the whole body operates, that is the problem.
Certainly, this process was shepherded under the direction of Dr. Richardson. However, responsibility for what was done and how it was done is the responsibility of everyone as far down the chain as the membership of the ERC Ad Council.
We have big problems.
We need large scale repentance.
Needless to say, I have a different way of thinking about reality than the typical person who remains in the CGGC. Because of that, what the CGGC does often seems bizarre and is incomprehensible to me.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it is, as I said, stunning that no one on the Ad Council would ask why the Council was being asked to take the action it took against me.
But, here's what I think:
Over the past few generations the Sheherd Mafia has run out of Dodge nearly everyone but me who is not a shepherd or, at least, willing to live by the law of the shepherd.
The law of the shepherd is that mellow relationships trump truth. Under the law of the shepherd, it is a violation to stand up for principle if, in doing so, tension is stirred up in the body.
As is obvious to one and all, I am a person for whom truth trumps relationship. I am vehement about that. I'm outspoken in it.
I never accept anything that comes down from the mountain unless I can see clear reason for it and unless I agree that the Word teaches it.
But, in the world the denominational staff members and Commissions and Committees and Councils, mellow relationship--tolerance--is the law.
So, my theory is that the whole ERC Ad Council could do something that is unbelievable to many others, even to some in the CGGC, and not even begin to see that what they have done might appear to be ridiculous.
THE LAW OF THE SHEPHERD IS NOT A BIBLICAL LAW.
Obedience to it often produces disobedience to the Word.
We need to repent.
To further update this story, I will add these comments to be fair. Excuse me for being cryptic:
ReplyDeleteOn the positive side of the equation, contact, after a fashion, has been established between those at the mountaintop and the small community of gatherings in which I participate.
In addition to that contact, the very real potential for continuing conversation exists.
Nevertheless, I continue to believe that the actions of the ERC Standing Committee and Administrative Council are unbiblical and unrighteous. I continue to maintain that I am not guilty of all charges the Standing Committee convicted me of.
Yet, I am willing to participate in a process that might bring about reconciliation, though, at this point, I am pessimistic about the success of that process. I ask for prayer for all people involved.