Conflict Archives - Page 7 of 7

May 28, 2012

The Diversity of Jesus’ Church – in India!

Back in 1990, Jenny and I with our three young children and nine eager fellow travellers set out for a short term mission trek visiting our sister church which worked in the slums of Chennai (then called Madras). Chennai is in the province of Tamil Nadu, and is famous for its curries and very dark-skinned inhabitants.

For six weeks we shared life with our Indian brothers and sisters in Christ. It was there we learnt about the diversity of God’s church in ways we could never have imagined. It was a confronting, uncomfortable and challenging time; yet it was nevertheless an encouraging and life-changing experience.
On Sundays we sat on the floor through 2½ hour long services, with women on the right and men on the left, in humid, sweltering conditions. Most of the time we had little or no idea what was going on as men prayed and preached and women sang and wailed. We watched as the pastor prayed for Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Christians alike and then asked us to join in.

Dance in Worship — Two of our group in ‘half-saris’ (worn by older teen girls) dancing to a worship song as learnt at home. They are dancing surrounded by the women’s half of the congregation.

As leaders, one of our main tasks was to counsel our team as they experienced culture shock, and guide them to a godly and biblical way to understand the gulf of differences that existed between the Indians and us. The way they lived their Christian life, their theology and practice of church was something we had never encountered or experienced before.
We often pined for home, yet we learnt so much during those six weeks and it was sad when we came to leave. While their church services seemed so disordered, often leaving us confused and uncomfortable, we could not deny the reality that God was at work amongst them, despite our disquiet and questions.
As I look back now I think it was the first time I realised that despite what I’d assumed, the opposite of disorder is not order, or certainly not my idea of order. When things are uncomfortable, confusing and seemingly out of hand, I look for stability in what I know and what I experience. But living in Chennai that was impossible, there was no escape. I couldn’t walk away, I couldn’t withdraw. After all, I was the leader.

Friends — Jenny with our three children and some Indian friends

What God taught me was that peace is the opposite of disorder, not order. The apostle Paul says as much in a little verse in 1 Corinthians where he says, “God is not a God of disorder, but of peace” (14:33). What a simple but profound statement, written to what was most likely the most dysfunctional church of the New Testament. Here was snobbery, sexual promiscuity, over-enthusiastic expression of spirituality, and disorderly times of worship. The church was divided and confused, and in the midst of their disarray Paul reminds them of the importance of peace, after all Jesus is the King of Peace (Hebrews 7:2) and the angels announcedat his birth that he would bring “peace on earth.”

Preaching — Here I am preaching at 2am at the New Year’s Eve all night prayer vigil!

The lessons I learnt in Chennai served me well just a few years later when I became the Managing Director of Australia’s largest Christian magazine at the time (On Being magazine). Through the magazine I came in contact with people with quite a wide diversity of experiences and expressions in following Jesus. I had the privilege of meeting and interviewing Christians from all persuasions and walks of life. Some were more conservative even fundamental, some were liberal, some charismatic and Pentecostal, some were orthodox and some unorthodox. Many thought their way of being and doing church was the “right” way, and some really struggled to appreciate the uniqueness of each other’s gifts, heritage and experience.
However, I found the experience of learning about all this variety was rich and rewarding. I was constantly reminded of God’s love of diversity and the how body of Christ is made up people from different backgrounds, heritage and experience. Such a range in understanding is not a problem to God, and I learnt that it shouldn’t be a problem to me either.
This is one of the things I find delightful about Hobart Baptist. We are made up of three quite distinct and different congregations. In essence it is a small expression of the diversity of the body of Christ. Alongside our more traditional Baptist heritage, we have our Karen congregation and their experience of church, living in refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border. And alongside these we have Church With No Walls expressing their faith in God in different ways again.
I am constantly encouraged by the willingness of people to work at being one church in the midst of our diversity, endeavouring to encourage one another through the exercise of grace, forgiveness and love. Despite our differences we are to work at being united, and in doing so be obedient to the command of Jesus. On the night before he died Jesus prayed for us (John 14-17) and insisted that as disciples we demonstrate our unity by our love for one another.
That is not to say we agree on everything, in fact the reality is we don’t. But we can agree to be united despite our differences. Often Christians make the mistake of wanting other Christians to think the way they do. Still others believe everyone should worship or work the way they do. But we were made to be different – different gifts but the same Spirit, different services but the same Lord, different ministries but the same God (1 Corinthians 12:4-6). The Bible is clear: we are called to unity but not uniformity.
Unity is not about having big services with all the congregations together, nor is unity singing the same songs and doing everything the same way. That is conformity or sameness. Such uniformity is unbiblical.
How is it possible to live with such diversity? I believe unity is a journey, not a static point. Our focus is not order (although that maybe important) but peace. Why? Because we can experience peace even in the midst of disorder or when we feel uncomfortable. Unity is being united in purpose and allowing each other to get on with what they are called to. We may sing different songs, conduct our services differently and see the world differently, but what is important is that we all reach for the same goal. We want to see each other’s ministries flourish; we therefore pray for each other and help out wherever we can. This is unity! That is what God taught Jenny and me in India.
We discovered God is much bigger than our experience, our theology and our ability to understand. Our thinking was too small at the best of times. Once we relaxed and experienced peace, we were able to see God at work in new ways, and learnt to appreciate their “dis”-order in a new way.
We learnt that we can’t limit God to our comfort zone and say, “God, I only want you to work in what I’m comfortable with.” We learnt that Jesus is not a comfortable Saviour, and if we were looking for comfort we need to look elsewhere than Jesus. So despite the fact that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, it did not mean he was the Prince of Comfort. And although the Holy Spirit is called the comforter the Spirit’s job is not to make us comfortable.
God has not finished with Hobart Baptist Church, there is much more that the triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – desires for us. And if God is at work amongst us, we can guarantee that the journey will be uncomfortable and challenging; for me as well as you. Our assurance is that God is with us, and Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is our Saviour.
I encourage you to be at prayer for the various forms of the Church in Hobart and elsewhere. Pray also for those who are experiencing a sense of disorder wehre they are; that they may seek God’s peace, the peace that passes understanding; and that they may grow in love for others despite differences.
Stephen L Baxter

January 30, 2012

The Tricky Nature of Loving Beyond Measure

During our Sunday morning gatherings I am currently in the middle of a series of messages focusing on what it is to be the Church in our day and age. Over the past two weeks we have looked at how the church is to be loved because Jesus loves it, and how being part of the church is not an option, but an integral part of what it means to be saved.
On both occasions I’ve quoted from one of my heroes Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism. Right from the beginning he was an opponent. Just two days after Hitler was installed as Chancellor he criticised him in a radio broadcast warning Germany against slipping into cult worship of its leader. He was also the first and virtually only person from the church who resisted Hitler’s systematic genocide of the Jews. He died a martyr, executed on April 9, 1945, just two weeks before the prison where he was held captive was liberated.
Bonhoeffer’s short book Life Together is an exploration of Church life written during the time when he taught in an illegal underground seminary outlawed by the Nazis. Because it was written at a time when the German church was by and large caught up in idolatry of Nazism, it has profound insights into church life.
In his book he writes, “Every human idealised image that is brought into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be broken up so that genuine community can survive. Those who love their dream of Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest and sacrificial.”
In other words, we all have an ideal picture of what we believe our church should be like. But our picture, no matter how well informed by the Bible, will only be our picture not God’s. So before we can begin to fully appreciate what the church should be, we need to have our ideas broken down and shattered. If it is not, Bonhoeffer suggests, we will try and impose our picture of what the church should be like upon our church. All that will do is bring conflict and will end up destroying the very community I’m trying to build.
How many people do you know have left the church or criticise it because it hasn’t lived up to their expectations? My guess it is quite a few. These people, Bonhoeffer says, have a picture of what the Church should look like and their criticism is driven by the church’s failure to fulfil that picture. Yet their frustration and embarrassment is fuelled, not by a failure of the church, but their “idealised image” of the church.
We need to learn from this profound insight. Moving on from disappointment, frustration and embarrassment with the church is not easy and many people never recovered from their “great disillusionment.” As a result they remaining hurt, bitter and estranged. But it doesn’t need to be so.
In his book Bonhoeffer goes on to suggest that if you are frustrated with church and are willing to do something about it, then there is something you can do. The best place to start, he suggests, is to choose to love your brothers and sisters, particularly those causing you the most grief or frustration.
Being part of Jesus’ church is not easy. We are thrust into relationship with real, flesh-and-blood fallen people. Some are gentle, mature and lovable saints, but some are hard to live with, socially awkward, high-maintenance and simply difficult. And I’m talking about myself!
Yet there is a point that we all need to come to where we see that those we are criticising are just as messed up as I am, and that I am just as capable of hurting someone as the next person.
Rather than allowing my frustrations, hurts and criticism rule my thoughts and actions I choose to allow the grace of God and the love of God change me and my attitudes. As someone once said, “I haven’t really understood what it is to be part of God’s family until I’m called to love those members of God’s family that I find most difficult.”
So let’s continue to pray that by his grace God will enable us to be the church he desires us to be and that Jesus died for to enable us to become.
Stephen L Baxter

October 17, 2011

Conflict: A normal part of church life

In any community, church or group of people there are always a number of different ideas of how we should go about being people together.
To have some low level conflict of ideas and values is a normal part of human life, it is unavoidable. It is no surprise that when differences are expressed, people can easily be offended and one can easily offend. Hurts happen. It is part of what it means to be people. The idea that there is such a thing as a conflict-free congregation is inconsistent with both reality and the Bible.
In fact, some conflicts are part of the natural and necessary journey of being able to cooperate and work together. Research shows that groups function better when individuals are under a degree of stress, where conflict gives the opportunity for learning and growth and the development of skills, awareness, trust and hope. Healthy conflict helps create environments that are energizing, creative and natural.

Jesus was no stranger to conflict.

Sadly, however, although it is both necessary and ever-present in our churches, conflict also has the potential to be unhealthy, draining and unproductive. It can quickly escalate to alarming levels with significant destructive potential.
Jesus was no stranger to conflict. With his disciples he was constructive and character-building enabling them to grow to become the leaders they needed to be after he had left them. However, with the authorities, both religious and political, the conflict led to Jesus being crucified as a common criminal.
Conflict in the church today
In recent times, researchers into churches have noticed they are particularly vulnerable to intense and difficult behaviours and the devastating conflict that accompanies them. Peter Steinke, author of Healthy Congregations, A Systems Approach suggests that “Church conflict is a growth industry” and goes on to say that “not only are the number of incidences rising, but also the number of people who are stubborn, deceptive and mean.” I don’t know if what he says it true or not, but it does remind me that we live in a changing and complex world, and across the Western world the church faces significant challenges. Perhaps the stress this brings explains in part why we can become can become anxious and act in quite un-Christlike was to each other.
Jesus was very clear that the care and love of his disciples for each other is to be the key feature of their life together (John 13:34-35). Not only that, it is to be the key fruit that others are to look for. American theologian Francis Schaeffer suggested that Jesus is saying the world has the right to decide whether we are true disciples of Jesus on the basis of the love we show to other Christians. Jesus is talking about a real, observable unity, a practicing oneness, despite our differences.
Sadly, the church hasn’t always been a good witness in this area. We have allowed conflict to move from being healthy to becoming unhealthy and sometimes downright destructive. No wonder Paul pleads with those in the church at Corinth, where there was obvious conflict, to “agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought (1 Corinthians 1:10).
As you and your church face the challenges of living in our post-Christian, post-modern and secular world, as you discuss and have conflict with each other as to how best to respond to these stresses and pressures, let’s remember to encourage each other to love each other in the light of Jesus’ command.
To do so is to remember that our conflicts are taking place before a watching world and they will know if the church operates as the disciples of Jesus by how we “love one another” (John 13:35).
Stephen L Baxter