"I love the church" By: Kristi Rhodes
Greetings from Pastor Kristi Rhodes, Senior Pastor at Hillcrest.
I just LOVE the Church…, God’s Church! That is every blood washed one is a member of God’s Church! I just LOVE the church (Hillcrest) where God has specifically called me to pastor! God is certainly on the MOVE!! As always, where God is moving—our adversary, the devil will TRY to stop him. We must be expecting that and be prepared in advance with God to triumph over those schemes. I am SO thankful that scriptures tell us over and over that GOD WINS! The schemes of Satan cannot stop the plans of God! It is of GREAT comfort knowing that we are on the winning side.
God exists in community, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! He has a whole lot to say about how His family, the church community (every redeemed soul) ought to get along. He also has much to say on how we should resolve conflict. Over the years, I have learned a few things.
There are no perfect people and no perfect church. Every church isn’t for every person. Relationships are messy and hurt is inevitable even in the very best of relationships. That is not being pessimistic, just a reality in this fallen world. That being said, if we want to experience the fullness of the abundant life in the church community that Jesus talked about, then we must learn to address conflict and forgive one other.
One of my devotions is called “I love my church” and has some great points to ponder that I would like to share with you in resolving conflict in the church and other relationships.
- Don't email, text or use social media to address conflict.
- It's so easy when we have a conflict with someone to log on to our computer and fire off an abusive email. There are several problems with this:
- Avoiding confrontation is the act of a coward.
- Typing allows us to say things we would never say in person.
- Email can easily be misinterpreted, thus causing new conflicts.
- Handle conflict quickly
- Ephesians 4:25-26 tells us not to let the sun go down while we are angry. If we allow anger to fester, what comes out is never pretty.
- Always assume the BEST about the people you service with.
- Love always assumes the best about someone.
- If you can't stand the people you serve with, the best thing to do is to ask the Lord, "What is wrong with my own heart?"
- Stop expecting people to read your mind.
- When people unknowingly say something hurtful to you, it's easy to become angry and say to yourself, "Well, they should know that just hurt me!"
- News flash: They don't know. And they won't know unless you look them in the eye, assume they didn't mean to hurt you, and calmly explain why what they said wounded you.
- Stop waiting for them to approach you.
- If you know there is a problem to be solved, stop waiting on "the right time" or for them to come to you. Read what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24. Maturity is when a person is willing to seize responsibility instead of just waiting on something to happen.
- Never, ever go public when you have not even attempted to talk in private.
- Too often people take their conflicts online when they have never even attempted to handle them privately.
Pain should never stop us from connecting with others in the church. When conflict comes, we have a decision to make: Do we sit around and talk about it? Or, do we address the conflict, forgive one another and get on with life?
God is on the move!! He has much to accomplish and chooses to use the church to do it. We, as His Church, MUST represent Him well! Jesus said, “They will know we are His followers by our LOVE for one another.” Let us choose LOVE so God’s Spirit can flow freely IN and through us to know Him and make Him known to the world around us. Let’s BE THE CHURCH God has called us to be.
In His service and loving it!
PK