Our hope and prayer is that as a result of this meeting we can achieve bilateral reconciliation and go forward to all the God has for us all with his blessings. We do want to conduct ourselves in humility and peace and be “restored to friendship and harmony” with you (reconciliation)
When we prayed post-resignation the Lord gave us the following
He told us:- to Forgive – not to judge or retaliate – to have compassion (on the Oversight) – and give up our rights
Rom 8:31 If God is for you who can be against us?
Ps 37:37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future/posterity for the man of peace.
Eccles 7: 8&9 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
Ps 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
Forgiveness
We would like to ask the leadership to forgive us because we have not always honoured, esteemed, respected and cherished you in our hearts and please forgive us if we have wanted to judge or retaliate
We would like to forgive you for the times we have felt let down or mistreated
Compassion (feel for)
I would like to forgive the oversight for the way they mistreated me on Sunday 25th Oct and pray that the Lord would give me more compassion for them
Rights
I choose to give up my rights and my calling as a mouthpiece and lay it at the cross
Unity of the Spirit
I pray that we can bilaterally agree to disagree in the “unity of the spirit” with the 8 concerns I presented to leadership.
Blessings
We do pray that God blesses your ministry and that we can stay in contact
(Membership Statement – I have provided “as is” – I can not discuss this without going over old ground)
Members Statement
It was with great sadness and regret that we tendered our resignation from membership and the church on Wednesday 28th Oct and it was accepted on 29th Oct 09.
We realised during the summer that we could not remain true to ourselves and remain in the church. We have considered leaving the church several times over the last two years and we have offered our resignation from membership (but not the church) 3 times. We had hoped and prayed that following the departures of others during the last year that leadership would change their approach and modus operandi.
Sadly nothing changed and things reached a critical mass on Sunday 25th Oct when I was served with a gagging order and our involvement became untenable. The Lord `has raised me up as a mouthpiece but I was being denied any future opportunity to exercise my gifting.
We have been part of the church for 7.5 years and for most of that time we were very happy and very committed. Gradually however, over the last 4 years, the Lord has alerted me to the following concerns which I have raised with leadership
1) PDC – inspired membership model
I was never comfortable with the Purpose Driven Church-inspired membership model that was introduced about 4 years ago. I told my life group leader that the membership bar had been raised too high and it could only be maintained through coercion, manipulation and control. I told him people would leave. (I would have preferred Ken McGreavey’s open tent model). Although we were unhappy with the model we chose to go along with it at the beginning.
2) Questionable alignments with New Spirituality
Alignment – “Joining with others (un/knowingly) in a common cause” (Random House Dictionary Online 2009)
Beginning with “Wild at Heart” the Lord began to show me that a new theology/new spirituality was undermining the evangelical church and was paving the way for the apostate church. 30 years ago Francis Schaeffer warned us that religious existentialism had invaded the protestant church and was beginning to invade the evangelical church. I thought he had lost the plot but within the last 5 years a new theology that majors on mystic spirituality (aka contemplative spirituality) has invaded the evangelical church through the following “trajectories” (which we have embraced):‑
- The Emerging Church Movement (John Eldredge) + RS
- The Purpose Driven Church (Rick Warren)
- New Monasticism (Ray Simpson)
- IHOP (Mike Bickle)
- Spiritual Formation (Smith and Graybeal, Foster)
- Christian Leadership University (Mark Virkler)
Mystic spirituality resonates with both New Age Spirituality and the mystic unity of the New World Order. It is predicated on a belief system that uses ancient mystical practices to induce altered states of consciousness (the silence) and is rooted in mysticism and the occult but often wrapped in Christian terminology.
The premise of contemplative spirituality is pantheistic (God is all) and panentheistic (God is in all).
Self-induced altered states of consciousness are very dangerous, because the brain’s analytical and critical faculties close down, and the mind is open to the world of spirits. Even Richard Foster warns us of the dangers and many RC mystics had bad or homo/erotic experiences. There are examples in the Bible of altered states of consciousness but it is always God who induces them and not man. (Operating in the gifts of the Spirit and speaking in tongues does not open the mind to the world of spirits)
Although I raised these concerns with leadership (beginning with “Wild at Heart”) they did not appear to act on them. Every time I took my concerns back to the Lord he revealed more “trajectories” of new (age) spirituality that we were aligning ourselves with. He also gave me words of knowledge and pictures.
3) Questionable Alignments with London Citizens
I was also concerned about our alignment with London Citizens. When I was asked to represent the church at London Citizens and I prayed about it the Lord said “it was the right issues but wrong forum” and so I have not participated. I also asked leadership the following questions but never received answers
- Whose name is London Citizens acting in
- Aren’t be being unequally yoked with unbelievers
- Aren’t we trying to advance the kingdom using the world’s methods
- Who gets the glory
My concerns increased recently when I was encouraged to be involved in London Citizens because I was told it:-
“provides an opportunity to recognise Christ IN the midst of a gathering made up of believers, unbelievers and everything in between………………………………………. and to recognise Christ IN friend and foe”
This statement worried me and reminded me of Ray Simpson’s concept of “uniting all beliefs in himself’!
If I understand Mat 18:20 correctly there are two conditions “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst”. most of London Citizens are not gathered in his name!
Christ was not IN me until I asked him into my life as my Lord and Saviour.
Behold I stand at the door and knock (Rev 3:20) suggests that Christ is not IN us until we ask him.
If anyone is IN Christ he is a new creature (2 Cor 5:17) – are we saying that all those attending London Citizens are new creatures?
Recognizing Christ in all people is predicated on the views of some RC Mystics (Caryll Houselander and Brennan Manning*), some Quakers (Douglas Gwyn) and a New Age Christ. The New Age Christ is all things to all people and his energies work through all people of goodwill, regardless of any religious or philosophical attachments. This Christ (spirit) does not look at ones concept of God or man, but ignores it, and aims to bring all religions into mystic unity.
* Brennan Manning is a Roman Catholic (a former priest) who denies the substitutionary atonement of Christ, believes Christ is in all men, and mocks the Bible-only position.
4) Lack of Pastoral Care in 2008
2008 was a very difficult year for us and I was carrying a very heavy emotional support load (one sister was dying of cancer, my mother was ill and trying to move into a care home, another sister was going through a divorce and my wife was having a hard time at work).
I wrote formally twice to leadership asking if we could be released from all our membership commitments and heard nothing. I offered to resign temporarily but heard nothing. On a number of occasions when we were unable to attend meetings through tiredness or emotional overload we were chastised for non-attendance and told that pastoral support could best be mediated through relational synergy (i.e. going to more meetings!). The Lord never gave us a mandate to go to Moldova (we just thought it would be a good idea) but we experienced chastisement for failing to go to all the prep meetings and psycho-emotional pressure when we tried to pull out.
Relational synergy cannot be used as a substitute for pastoral care and koinonia Leadership have recognized that they let us down in this area
5) Dealing Objectively with Legitimate Concerns
My other concern is about leadership’s response to legitimate concerns raised by church members. I am still unsure if the church has a deliberate policy of “neutralising” legitimate concerns or their response rests with the psycho-emotional state of the leaders. The leadership have failed to demonstrate to me that they are willing or prepared to deal objectively with legitimate concerns.
The Purpose Driven Church, for example, has a reputation for its intolerance of noncompliance. They have developed techniques for encouraging consensus between church members and of dealing with (neutralising-getting rid of) those who raise legitimate concerns. I have raised my concerns about the PDC approach with leadership but have received no response. All I do know is that on several occasions when I have met with leadership to raise concerns there has been an assumption that my concerns do not primarily stem from the promptings of the Lord but some emotional or psychological condition they imagine I am suffering from. I have lived and worked in some of the most remote and challenging areas on earth and no one has ever questioned my psycho-emotional state. I have deliberately been subject to what I can only describe as psycho-emotional manipulation.
We need to pray for leadership