The Challenge Of America Ministries

Liars,Thieves, and Murderers in the Church

This is a true story. Yes, it is. Even though it may sound as though it is a creative fictional story, it is true. It may even soundfamiliar to you - that is probably because you have heard it in yourown life, from your own experiences or aquaintences. But it is true. I hope you believe the story. I hope it has an impact on you. Ihope it has an influence on you. I hope you act in your life becauseof it.

There are liers, thieves, and murderers in the church. This sounds harsh. You may be thinking that there is a better way, a nicer way, to saysomething like this. But to say it directly, there are liars,thieves, and muderers in the church. There is no other way to sayit. There is no other way to say it clearly and to get yourattention. You may read on to learn or you may decide at this pointto put this story down. If you put it down, it is clear you willnever believe the story. If you continue reading, ther is hope you will believe the story.

The story begins with the beginning of a new church. Forget that therewere problems causing a split in a long existing church, leading upto this beginning. But we see the beginning of a new church, formally called, at this time, a fellowship.

Thenew fellowship was made up of a group of strong and faithfulbelievers. You could say nothing to the negative of their Christianfaith and testimony unless you wanted to deliberately be destructive. There were faithful servants of the church from all parts ofministry: deacons, trustees, youth, music, nursery, hospitality,teaching. You name it, they were there and it made a great group tostart a good church, a real good church that would be set up as one that was strong and true in the Word of God.

The fellowship met faithfully over a period of many months for Sunday morning. They had Sunday School for adults and several age groups of children and then morning worship. A choir was formed and specialmusic was presented some Sundays. A special Christmas program wasput together and presented. During this time meetings were conductedat odd hours of the week to formulate a church covenant andconstitution, one that would be true to the faith and doctrine andwould lead to the formation of a new church and a new incorporated non-profit ministry organization. During this time some other people joined in the fellowship, some older Christians, some youngerChristians ("age" of believer). A vote came for the fellowship members to decide on this group project. Only those thathad "officially" joined the fellowship were allowed to vote. The new covenant and constitution was accepted, but not byunanimous vote. Those that did not agree soon left, and the fellowship, officially the new church, was now springboarded to a new life.

The new church had been meeting in several different temporary locations. But now it was time to find a permanent home. A search began for property, any combination of land and/or building that would be enough to get started and grow over the years. Many possibilitieswere considered over the next many months and then one chosen. It had a building for a parsonage, a building that could be converted toa church, and it had enough land for parking lot and growth. A voteon those conditions passed to purchase, with mortgage, this property. A search for a church pastor began and was sucessful. A very knowledgeable and faithful man with a family was selected by the pastoral search committee and voted to be called to this young ministry. He, and the family of course, moved in to their new home,the house that became the parsonage on the newly purchased property. Soon after this it was decided that the building that was thought tobe converted to a church would not work well. So a building committee was put together to propose a church building. They found a design, decided on that, and made the plans to build the building. The old structure was demolished and the new building took its place. After a couple years the fellowship that became a new church officially moved in to their new home. They now looked like a real church, even though a true church isn't dependant on the building or the meeting place.

Ministry and missions was the church's mission. Ministry had already startedstrong and grew before the church building as occupied and before thechurch pastor was called. So the ministry was already vibrant andcontinued to grow. As many know, a building program and then a newbuilding attracts new people. This one was no exception and thechurch added to its numbers over the next several years. New andyoung believers joined. Families joined. Older believers joined. All that joined gave testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ astheir personal Savior - their testimony of coverting to Christianity,true Christianity, as a born-again believer - and were recommendedfor membership by the deacons, voted by the congregation, and afterbeing accepted, pledged and signed to their supporting of the churchthrough the doctrine and finances. Many were in the categories ofrestricted membership (for lack of a better terminology) because ofpast actions considered through the doctrine and constitution of thechurch to be sin that disqualified them from certain ministrypositions. Though this existed with the church, all that joined didso with the knowledge and agreement to these conditions ahead ofmembership and were happy and found areas that they could serve intheir local church.

Time passed, the church grew, and all seemed to be going quite well ingrowth and ministry. But a feeling of a problem began to be sensedeven though none was actually seen or spoken of. This feelingcontinued for many months and then suddenly surfaced and was settledin a matter of weeks. The church pastor was voted out afterrecommendation by the board of deacons and then congregational votewith only a few dissenting votes. The pastor left, the churchcontinued with a temporary pastor, and some members slowly,gradually, and quietly left the church. Most of the core group thatformed the church remained. They worked to preserve their solidministry, one that was formed, formulated, and documented on thefoundations and truth of God's Word. In less than a year a newpastor was called and voted to join the somewhat stagnant, yetoperating, church. As with all members of the church, he acceptedafter giving testimony of his faith, pledging and signing tosupporting of the church through the doctrine and finances. Hisfamily of age followed. The members were joyous that the church wasalive again! Ministry, though operating as usual (as stated before)came to life! New people visited the church. Many became saved,being welcomed into the church as new believers. Young couplesjoined. Families joined. Singles joined. The church grew from newmembers and family growth. The church was again vibrant!

As with before, after a few short years a feeling came over the churchagain. The problem surfaced and a division occurred. The problemwas with the way the ministry should operate as written in the churchcovenant and constitution. There was opposition. A vote came beforethe congregation concerning the disagreement to the writtendocuments. Those disagreeing with the church documents voted in themajority. Members left. But this time, the members that left werethe founders of the church. They were outvoted on the issues of theproblem. The church that remained realized after all of this thatthere was a hurt that existed and something drastic had to be done torevive the ministry. During this reviving time new leaders were putin place and new plans formulated. Some of the new leaders werethose that had been disqualified from certain ministry positions, butwere now serving in them. Meetings followed. A new doctrine wasformulated for a new church covenant and a new church constitutionthat was in agreement with the remaining members. The exisitingchurch name and non-profit organization was dissolved. A new churchname was chosen and a new non-profit organization was created. Andto finalize all, a new church sign was erected with the new name.

This is a long story and maybe longer than necessary. But I wanted you toread of the progression of this ministry. This really happened. Itis a true story. You may ask, "What about the title of thisstory, 'Liars, Thieves, and Murderers in the Church?' You have notspoken of these." Please read on. The story tells of liars,thieves, and murderers in the church. These liars, thieves, andmurderers were members of the church. These liars, thieves, andmurderers were those that gave testimony of their faith and trust inJesus Christ as Lord and Savior. These liars, thieves, and murdererswere those that pledged and signed to their supporting of the churchthrough the doctrine and finances. These liars, thieves, andmurderers were all those that joined the church and did so with theknowledge and agreement to conditions that disqualified certainpeople from certain church ministry positions.

The liars: They were members either not saved and/or they lied aboutagreeing to the church doctrines. They may have agreed when joiningyet changed their minds on certain issues, in which case they werethen disqualified as church members since they could not support thechurch doctrine. They, though disqualified, remained as members ofthe church and became the stealth timebomb to destroy the church fromwithin.

The thieves: They are members who voted to take the church through thechange in the doctrine, those who did not support the church doctrineand therefor nullified the doctrine by voting against it. They arethe ones who voted against the doctine and against the founders ofthe local church. They are the ones who remained to take over thechurch after the founders, and those that agreed with the churchdoctine left the church. They stole the church from the ministryleaders that formed and grew it and continued to suport the churchthroughits doctrines.

The murderers: They were the members who reorganized the church. Theyare the members that wrote the new doctrines of the church thatfollowed. They are the members who voted on the new doctrine. Theyare the members who took any part in the dissolution of the church'sname and non-profit organization. They are the members who formedthe new church through the new doctrine and new name and newnon-profit organization. Liars, thieves and murderers in the church. They lied as believing and supporting the church doctines. Theystole the church from the true believers and supporters. They killedthe church by changing the name and dissolving the organization.

You may ask one final question, "If it is true, then what is the name and location of the church, and when did it happen so we may verify that it is true?" But I will not give those details for many reasons, and you know why. Most importantly, it does not matter and will not make any difference in the story or you believing the story.

Most likely, you have heard a similar story. It has not happened only once, as written. There have been other stories, not exact but close to the same events.

Now I will leave you with some questions: Are you one of those liars, thieves, and murderers in the church? Are you going to believe this story? Are you going to do something with this story?