Gilbert G – Mauritius
Samuel 24:10
Some years ago, when we were still living in the UK, we had a massive fallout as a result of a disagreement with leadership of the church we were attending. The details of the issue are not really that relevant, neither is the matter of who was at fault. What is important is that, as ordinary members of the flock, we felt very hard done by, and victimised by the leadership. Because the church lacked the foundation of the gospel of the cross, there was nothing for anyone to fall back on, except LAW, legalism, and spiritual language that did not come from the heart of God.
After 9 months of discussions, we left; and because of the vindictiveness of the leadership, we ended up meeting as a tiny fellowship group in our lounge for almost 3 years. It was an extremely tough and lonely time for us, with everyone trying to get over the hurt and rejection. At the same time, we tried to get on with our walk, but having never heard of the preaching of the cross, we tried to do it in our own strength.
We know today, that it was only God, by His Grace, who kept us, and protected us from reacting in our flesh to all that had been done to us. He also led us, after a few years, here to Mauritius, where the local church went on sometime later to create CTMI. It took time, but we have since been fully restored.
Why is this relevant?
When we finally decided to leave the church – mainly because we had, for all intents and purposes, been cut off from fellowship, our immediate reaction was to rise up, insist on our rights, let everyone know how badly we had been treated. We thought of trying to set up a group of people in the same boat as us. We wanted to write letters to all and sundry… Does this sound familiar?
However, God in His mercy and His grace stayed our hand and stopped us from acting out all these fantasies. It would be falsely modest to pretend that I was at peace about all this. On the contrary, a number of scenarios rose up in my mind as to how we would be vindicated, restored, even given new positions of responsibility, as the Lord exposed this situation and dealt with those who had acted so uncharitably unchristian.
Finally, the only thing that we felt we should do was to write a short letter stating that we were leaving the church with immediate effect; that we were sorry that we could not agree with the actions and methods of the leadership. We expressed briefly that we had been strongly tempted to create problems, but had been led by the Lord not to pursue this path. We also added this verse from Samuel 24:10: “I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the LORD’s anointed.” We had peace in our hearts that Jesus would deal with the matter in His own time, and that He knew how to take care of His church…
Why is this important?
A tiny group of upset parents, and a few disaffected former members of churches working with CTMI, have set themselves up to use any means, fair and foul, to attack and destroy the ministry of CTMI. For some reason, they and their ringleaders have set themselves up to make judgements and express themselves on people, events, circumstances, and issues of which they know very little about. They insist on making their particular gripe into a “pattern”, and generalise that CTMI is this, that, and the other. They also wilfully ignore the evidence before their eyes… of lives transformed, family relationships restored, people set free, young people serving Jesus with all their hearts!
As someone who actually had a genuine reason to react, but chose not to, my advice to those parents, so concerned about their individual child, is the following: Surely Jesus is big enough to care of His Church. Surely He has not appointed you to bring correction in ways that are only dishonouring His name amongst pagans and unbelievers. More importantly, should you not be concerned that your actions are in fact lifting your hand against the Lord’s anointed?
Just so you know, within 4 years, the church we attended in the UK, along with its 4 local plants, no longer existed!
Posted: March 1st, 2010 under Other.