Excellent question. I can only answer for the church I am at. We follow what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians about dealing with open sin in the church. If it is known sin I speak with the person or persons (Baptized born again believers) on the matter and give them a chance to change. If the person or persons say yes and don't change they …
Excellent question. I can only answer for the church I am at. We follow what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians about dealing with open sin in the church. If it is known sin I speak with the person or persons (Baptized born again believers) on the matter and give them a chance to change. If the person or persons say yes and don't change they are asked to leave the congregation this done by an elders vote. In my twenty years we have only removed 2 people from the church, others when approached left on their own.
If an openly gay couple came into the church I would welcome them and let them know that God views their life choice as a sin. No different than any other sin and that to be made whole in Christ you would have to turn away from your lifestyle. Being truthful is showing someone love. As disciples of Christ we are called into making our lives more like Jesus. Jesus was without sin.
There are a lot of pastors, today, that don't worry about the open sin in the church. They like to point out that God will sift the church. I believe this is true for those who tell God yes but then don't ever do what they promise to do (Matthew 21:28-32). I have had people leave the church on their own, especially when I preach on sin.
I am not a fire and brimstone preacher, but God didn't tell us to just honor what we feel good about and don't worry about the rest. The idea of love God and love people is that is if you love God you will want to obey his commands, if you love people you will to unto them as you would then to do you.
Thanks for commenting here Pastor, and appreciate your faithfulness to God's Word.
I understand that you aren't a fire and brimstone preacher, but fire and brimstone are in the Bible. I agree that it shouldn't be the focus but it does need to be taught.
One of the things I love about attending a chapter by chapter, verse by verse church is that if forces the pastor to teach on topics that they might rather skip. God is just, and a just God does punish sin. People may not want to hear it, and it may cause people to leave the church, but it's truth. It's plainly stated in God's Word. If people aren't squirming in the pews on occasion then we aren't being faithful to teaching the full counsel of God.
Anyways, not meant to be critical and I know you have an incredibly difficult job and I'm thankful for your ministry. When teaching about Hell my pastor has said, "I don't like teaching about this part, or frankly even talking about it, but I must as it's in God's Word". His point wasn't that God made a mistake in putting it in the Bible, but the opposite. God's Word forces us to deal with things that our fallen human nature would rather not. God bless.
(Note: I am not Jeff Childers, but have a similar name)
I so wish you (or pastors like you) were leading churches in my neck of the woods. It's so hard to find leaders that are lovingly faithful to the Word. I don't need fire and brimstone... but I can't tolerate unfaithfulness to His Word.
Thank you for that thorough response. It shocked me a little that you followed up on removing people from your church after giving them time to reconsider their open sin. It is refreshing and I know it has to be hard (but necessary for your flock's sake) to do. God's sifting is only one side of the equation. I think pastors do their church a disservice - harm really, when you keep repentance and discipleship on the back burner. Including discipleship to the potential tares in church!
Your church is blessed to have you as their pastor.
Excellent question. I can only answer for the church I am at. We follow what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians about dealing with open sin in the church. If it is known sin I speak with the person or persons (Baptized born again believers) on the matter and give them a chance to change. If the person or persons say yes and don't change they are asked to leave the congregation this done by an elders vote. In my twenty years we have only removed 2 people from the church, others when approached left on their own.
If an openly gay couple came into the church I would welcome them and let them know that God views their life choice as a sin. No different than any other sin and that to be made whole in Christ you would have to turn away from your lifestyle. Being truthful is showing someone love. As disciples of Christ we are called into making our lives more like Jesus. Jesus was without sin.
There are a lot of pastors, today, that don't worry about the open sin in the church. They like to point out that God will sift the church. I believe this is true for those who tell God yes but then don't ever do what they promise to do (Matthew 21:28-32). I have had people leave the church on their own, especially when I preach on sin.
I am not a fire and brimstone preacher, but God didn't tell us to just honor what we feel good about and don't worry about the rest. The idea of love God and love people is that is if you love God you will want to obey his commands, if you love people you will to unto them as you would then to do you.
Thanks for commenting here Pastor, and appreciate your faithfulness to God's Word.
I understand that you aren't a fire and brimstone preacher, but fire and brimstone are in the Bible. I agree that it shouldn't be the focus but it does need to be taught.
One of the things I love about attending a chapter by chapter, verse by verse church is that if forces the pastor to teach on topics that they might rather skip. God is just, and a just God does punish sin. People may not want to hear it, and it may cause people to leave the church, but it's truth. It's plainly stated in God's Word. If people aren't squirming in the pews on occasion then we aren't being faithful to teaching the full counsel of God.
Anyways, not meant to be critical and I know you have an incredibly difficult job and I'm thankful for your ministry. When teaching about Hell my pastor has said, "I don't like teaching about this part, or frankly even talking about it, but I must as it's in God's Word". His point wasn't that God made a mistake in putting it in the Bible, but the opposite. God's Word forces us to deal with things that our fallen human nature would rather not. God bless.
(Note: I am not Jeff Childers, but have a similar name)
Great post!
I so wish you (or pastors like you) were leading churches in my neck of the woods. It's so hard to find leaders that are lovingly faithful to the Word. I don't need fire and brimstone... but I can't tolerate unfaithfulness to His Word.
I read Dennis's reply to my husband. We both at the same time said "I wish her preached here!"
Thank you for that thorough response. It shocked me a little that you followed up on removing people from your church after giving them time to reconsider their open sin. It is refreshing and I know it has to be hard (but necessary for your flock's sake) to do. God's sifting is only one side of the equation. I think pastors do their church a disservice - harm really, when you keep repentance and discipleship on the back burner. Including discipleship to the potential tares in church!
Your church is blessed to have you as their pastor.