With this post Religious and Liberty welcome a new partner, Justice.
The large committee to select the nominating committee was late in getting started. Pastor DeSilva claimed that the committee could not begin its work until the church had voted on the Paul Bordon Report, so the large committee didn’t meet until December. This committee was asked to pick a nominating committee that represented all the groups of the church. There was to be a balance of men and women, older and younger members, and members from the each of the different ethnic groups.
A list of potential members was proposed with repeated input from the pastor. He even went so far as to suggest who he felt would make a good chair person. This group was voted on and the top 20 people were recommended. The person the pastor wanted to chair was on the list and it was recommended that he serve as the chair. Committee members were assigned to call prospective members.
When the committee reconvened it was to find out that a large number of people had turned down the invitation to serve on the nominating committee. People gave a variety of reasons for declining the position. The person the pastor wanted as the chair had agreed to serve. Another group of names was proposed with a number of prospective members being suggested by the pastor. Again members were asked to call and report back to the committee.
When we met the third time, we still did not have enough members. The pastor was with us at the beginning of the meeting and again was controlling the meeting. Shortly after the meeting began, the pastor left because he had another appointment. At that point, the group that was present decided to get the job done. We proceeded to name people who we felt would serve. We pulled out our cell phones and started calling people. We got a number of people to agree to serve by appealing to their love of their church. Also, several members of the large committee volunteered to serve on the nominating committee.
The report was sent to the church body and was approved during the church service as is customary. It was hoped that the nominating committee could hurry through its work and have a report ready before the end of the year, when the current terms of office were due to expire. That was not to be.
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Justice
We are Religious and Liberty, long-time SDA members in good standing, who disagreed with our pastors when they took our congregation down a path antithetical to Adventism. The purpose of this blog is to openly speak the truth about this controversy. It is our hope that by telling the story of what happened at the Takoma Park SDA Church, we can warn others whose congregations may be considering breaking away from core beliefs and following the "Growing Healthy Churches Initiative." Welcome!
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- Has your pastor brought in a consultant? Have you been told to leave your church because you wouldn't go along when your church abandoned denominational principles? Are you trying to educate your church as to why the "Church Growth Movement," or the "Purpose Driven Church Model," or the "Growing Healthy Churches Initiative," is antithetical to Protestantism? Tell us about it! religiousandliberty@hotmail.com
1 comment:
I have been following your account of what happened in your church. You are not alone. My story is very similar to yours, except that I was up against PDC. Those who have stood against any one of the CGM programs has experienced the evil that is part of mindset, the attitude that accompanies it. God is not in it.
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