Background. The Church was over 100 years old. They had occupied the recently Heritage listed Romanesque building in the CBD for over 60 years. They had turned from a definite decline evident at the beginning of a new ministry in 1980, to a strong growth pattern. The facility was not allowing for the present and projected growth in members and ministries particularly for children and youth. The decision had been made by the AGM 3 years before on the recommendation of the elders to purchase 10 acres of land next to a large regional shopping centre away from the CBD and purpose build. Building plans were drawn up, but now that the decision to spend over $1 Million was imminent, a small but vocal group of members, including an elder emeritus and courting the associate minister, decided to block the move and remove the Senior Minister. He had been there over 10 years and the church had grown from 180 in AM attendance, now in 3 AM services, to over 400. The membership was approaching 500. The youth work grew from a handful to now over 300. The ministry staff was now 4 full time. Description. The dissenting group prepared a 70 page document challenging a number of crucial issues. They included the growth rate, number of new members and average attendance; the giving and the ability to repay any major loan; the honesty of the Senior Minister on the finance and membership figures; and not allowing the associate minister (on two occasions) to preach the topics he chose. They circulated it indiscriminately to members and contacts alike! This stirred numerous critical and accusative letter to be written, many sent to the Snr Minister’s home. The group invoked the Constitution to call a public business meeting to expose these things and seek an explanation. They required only 10% of the membership to do so, even though the quorum expected to hold such a meeting was 20%. The first meeting was called with a neutral chair. The mood was very negatively emotional and no amount of rational explanation satisfied the demands. Two sets of auditors were appointed, one by the group the other by the Board. The meeting resolved nothing and inflamed a wider number of people.

They called for a second pubic forum, six weeks later. Neither set of auditors could detect any discrepancy in the finances. After extensive and emotive argument, the meeting called for a vote of confidence in the Elders. The Elders were marginally affirmed. Had it been lost, the Senior Minister would have had to resign. The next day, a Sunday, a break away group of some 70 people met together to form a new congregation. They had planned to meet separately if they lost! Total fall out from the dispute was over 100.

Analysis. As Senior Minister, he confesses that he had no idea that it would come to such a cataclysmic and unsavoury split. He was confident that the books and everything else under challenge were in order and assumed that addressing the issues rationally would be sufficient. He remained calm in the chaos and kept ministry operating. The elders, bar 1 who joined the breakaways, supported the Senior Minister and he supported the staff. He visited and allayed fears in the congregation. His family, for the first time in the then 30 years of his ministry, were exposed to this rancour. The senior minister and his wife had always dealt with any church disharmony in private, so their daughters, as teenagers and children, would not receive a bad taste about Christ’s Church. Their openness with the family in this issue was necessary in such a public dispute, and it allowed healthy understanding in the family to develop. The family found it hard to continue to be impartial and loving to all, but the lesson was learned for them, as well as the senior’s wife and himself. Across the church people, leadership endeavoured to remove the fangs of the attackers. They would not be appeased. They were set on replacing the Senior with his associate who sadly is no longer in formal ministry today. Such resolution to stay and serve impartially was only possible by increasing the awareness of God and His call on the Senior Minister’s life. The ensuing support and trust that followed from those who stayed, increased dramatically. The Senior stayed on for another 6 years making 18 years in all. The new facilities were subsequently built. They are, 10 years later, debt free servicing nearly 1000 in attendance each Sunday, and the present church family is now planning to extend the facilities to house 1200 in a larger worship auditorium, approved by Council in the original submission. The children and youth work continues to bring families to Christ and His church.

Evaluation. Being wiser after the event, the Senior indicates that he would have taken a much stronger stand on his associate. However, that may have cost a separate lot of people because of his family connections. He would not have allowed the public meetings to be called and would have dealt with the issues in other ways. The public meetings only served to inflame others with half truths and emotion. Sadly, the best evaluation is that the church was the better for the membership loss as we lost the diehards who would have stifled the present development and progress. As much as the Senior recognises that he was not in control of the developments then, he has a deeper sense of God being in control at all times, even if he can’t always pick it and doesn’t share that optimism at the time! All his five daughters are active in the church today, serving fully and selflessly. The Senior and his wife have ministered in a State responsibility for the denomination in another State for 6 years. They are now back in that church they left under the ministry of the young man chosen to succeed them. They are actively supportive of his programme and the Stage 2 worship centre to be built.

Theological Reflection. God has dealt with the breakaways which could only been seen in retrospect. The breakaway church, though affiliated with the Denominational Conference can barely keep it’s doors open. The original church relocated and continues to grow. There were over 600 baptisms in the 2 decades of the senior minister’s time. Numerous young men and women have now trained and in ministry. Reconciliation with most of the breakaways, especially the ring leaders has been achieved. The church family has a greater confidence in the sovereignty of God and in the Church Jesus is building.

September 2003