I have been struggling with my Christian walk for some time now. It would seem that the more I seen behind the curtain, the more I questioned what we were/are doing. One of the things that has driven me away from my home denomination is the fact of doctrine. I still hold the doctrine of my childhood dear, but the influence of outside forces has corrupted it.

Doctrine is the set of agreed upon beliefs that a church or an institution teaches and lives by. This is the reason for so many denominations in the protestant world. There are/were too many interpretations of the bible. This is good. If God speaks to you as you commune with Him, then you need to follow His guidance. As long as there is biblical standing in your beliefs, go for it.

This division places like minded worshipers together and leads to peace and harmony in the body.

At one time one of our local churches in the Flint area was the ‘Mother Church’. They donated more money back to the denomination and its missions than any other. Head Quarters sometimes took extreme measures to guarantee the future of this body. Over time this became my home church,

As Genesee County began to see a decline, so did this church. At some point, the denomination turned its back on the church and left them to flounder. No one wanted to pastor this church because of the reputation of the Flint area. When our senior pastor left to take a church else-where, no pastor, that met our requirements, would come to the Flint area. Rather than think outside the box and stay in the denomination, the deacon board looked outside the denomination.

They hired a man whose resume filled all of our requirements, except one. He did not believe as we did. Add to this the fact that the denomination he came from operated in totally different ways, opened the doors for dissention. 

Here is a man in an unwinnable situation. He is trying to lead a flock that does not share his beliefs and is not use to the type of administration he expects and administers. This could work, if everyone can come to the table and sanely work out their differences. Yeah, that didn’t happen.

People get hurt, driven away and the whole reason we are a body of believers dissolves. 

Copyright Roy Richard