11/28/23 THE CHURCH IS COMPRISED OF CHURCHES

11/28/23 THE CHURCH IS COMPRISED OF CHURCHES

Whatever your belief is about "church letters (membership)," there has been a long standing protocol through the years concerning the active relationship of a person when they move from one local church to another local church. When a person would move from (let's say) Bedrock Baptist to Solid Rock Baptist (or any other local church combination you can imagine), it was normal for the parishioner to bring his or her, "letter of membership" from their previous pastor and church to the new pastor and church.

This was especially helpful when changing local churches within the same denomination. It assured the new pastor that there were no concerns from the individuals past, which might impact their relationship with the new congregation. It also indicated the doctrinal stance of the parishioner. It was not a perfect system, but it did serve a good purpose. There could be sin or divisiveness or heretical beliefs from the parishioner's past, which would endanger the new church or cause problems for individual parishioners.

It is not a fun thing to think about, but a person's history is important when they are entering into new relationships, whether relational, vocational or spiritual. Sometimes the parishioner is a "church hopper," who refuses to get along with other people or refuses to fit into Biblical relationships in the church. There could be moral or criminal or doctrinal problems in the past. There could be family issues, moral issues, legal issues, personality issues, mental issues that exist. The new church and pastor should know these things, for their own good and they should know these things for the good of the new parishioner. Sometimes people are fleeing Biblical truths or Biblical discipline or Biblical accountability. Those people need to come under Biblical authority and guidelines.

Of course, the new pastor and church leadership should be in touch with the previous pastor and leadership. The previous pastor and leadership should not use such a situation as a weapon in personality conflict with the former parishioner. If there are any special concerns about the parishioner's relationship with the previous church, then those issues should be addressed and settled.

Probably most of the time that a transfer takes place, there is no problem, therefore no one should balk at following these guidelines. If these guidelines are not followed, the new pastor and church stands the chance of ushering in trouble for their own church and they face the possibility that the new (disgruntled) parishioner will come into their fellowship, bringing division, gossip, unbridled carnality.

This does not mean that a person's private affairs should become public knowledge, but it does mean that there is a certain amount of transparency, for the good of all concerned (children, the aged, individual parishioners, congregations, pastors, and certainly the honor of God's name).

It is true that there is no absolute protection for anyone, either the parishioner, the former church or the new church. But caring, responsible pastors should be good shepherds of their existing flock, they should be aware of possible problems (as well as possible opportunities) and they should be as loving, kind, honest and supportive of other pastors and churches as they would want other pastors and churches to be toward them.

Church discipline, Biblical accountability is rare today. I realize that most folks would cringe at what I am saying. However, the principles are the same for other areas of life such as male-female relationships, marriage, business workplaces, athletic organizations, academic and medical and legal environments, the military and every other situation, which requires honesty, loyalty, morality.

There are many things involved in this subject, but knowing and following Biblical directives is important enough that each pastor, church and every parishioner should willingly subject themselves to such scrutiny.