This is another reply that was prepared to answer some questions and concerns of some members of our congregation. Though there may be some contention challenges with not always seeing eye to eye on topics, we know that God is working in us and in the body to bring forth a spirit of peace in our congregation. We pray that these answers will give some more insight into challenges we are all facing in these coming months. We hope that this will encourage you to pray and fast for God's wisdom and vision to be fulfilled in our church, the Pastors, and the Elders in this coming year.
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Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Thank you for taking the time to meet with us a few weeks ago to express your concerns about Calvary Assembly. We apologize that our response to you has taken longer than originally anticipated. You presented several issues in the meeting, each of which required attention. Also, on Sunday we received a letter that furthered your concerns. We will try to address that letter in this response as well.
Each of you has served our Lord for many years and many of you have done so faithfully as a part of His body here at Calvary. We want to start by commending you for your dedication and contributions to the kingdom of God. Someday each of our efforts will be evaluated by the Lord and we trust that all of you will do well on that day.
In our words the concerns you expressed included the following:
- That we (the elders) are moving Calvary Assembly toward a model put forth by Rick Warren in his book
- The Purpose Driven Church
- That form and style changes have diminished Calvary Assembly and must be reversed
- That David Evans is unfit as a worship leader and should be removed
- That Pastor George is unfit as a lead pastor and should be removed
First, we have not ever discussed the Purpose Driven Church as a model, or even as a work of literature. Nor have we ever discussed privately or held up for public example the ministry of Rick Warren. It is simply not true to suggest otherwise, and to continue to share or teach along these lines is slanderous, divisive and harmful to the body. We do believe that the Church of Jesus Christ has a purpose in the world. We also believe that our local church here, Calvary Assembly, has a purpose in this community. That purpose quite simply is to declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to teach and train believers to follow His commands. Our model for church life is found in the New Testament and includes prayer, teaching, fellowship, compassion and empowerment and leading of the Holy Spirit. We are committed to that purpose as a church and will continue to make changes in style and form when we believe it will enable us to be more effective.
Second, we do not believe that the forms and styles of our past hold any special place in the present and future work of the Holy Spirit. Choir lofts, murals, piano, organ, drapes, flags of nations, nativity scenes, Christmas trees small and large, choir robes, ushers jackets, blue curtains and hymn books are not prescribed in scripture, were not present in the early church, and do not welcome the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. In the 18th chapter of the book of 2 Kings it is interesting to note that in addition to destroying and tearing down the high places of idol worship Hezekiah also broke into pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made in the wilderness. The bronze serpent in its day was a means of God’s grace and mercy, but the people had raised that symbol of a past move of God to a place of prominence and had begun to worship it. God is calling us to share his love and gospel with our culture today. We do not believe that forms and styles of the past will be effective in doing that. The message; however, remains unchanged and if that ever changes we fully expect to be accountable to you and more importantly God.
Thirdly, we did not tell you when we met that we had already decided to part ways with David Evans. It would not have been appropriate to share that with you before telling the Cre8tive team and staff. We decided to ask David to leave, not so much due to musical styles, but rather because he struggled to lead our body into worship, and because his leadership did not align with our values. We are praying for David and trust that God will use his creativity, musical ability and evangelism gifts to grow His kingdom.
Our history as a church is filled with pastoral leadership that reached a breaking point in one way or another. Pastor George is not unique in his struggle to lead Calvary Assembly. He is unique in that he has acknowledged his weakness, repented, and submitted to spiritual accountability. We are not Are we willing to tell God that his ability to restore is exhausted and that having come this far we are not no longer willing to see what fruit that process will bear? Also, we do not believe that Pastor’s struggle with rejection and selfishness invalidates everything done in ministry. Pastor George has confessed that part of his sin was to lean on his own abilities and trust that the performance of a single man was the key to church health. Looking back we cannot make the same mistake and judge that the failures of a single man were the sole source of decline. History also teaches us that the issues here go deeper than a single man’s ability to lead. Our foes have always been a devil committed to our destruction and our flesh insistent on being selfish and rebellious. We must resist the devil in prayer and obedience to the Holy Spirit, and clothed in humility daily put to death the deeds of our flesh. A man who is freshly aware of his need for the Holy Spirit is exactly the type of man needed to provide humble leadership here.
Finally, we have to address some of the attitudes expressed in the meeting. Each of us has given to God, but our service and financial offerings do not give us a special voice within the body. To claim otherwise attaches strings to our gifts and implies another motive in our giving. We think better of you and hope that we all can avoid claims of special rights due to tenure, positions, or sacrifices. Also, punctuating your complaints with threats is beneath the high calling of Christ. We hear you and regularly invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts. We ask that you would do the same and ask what spirit seeks to control with intimidation, threats, manipulation and divisive speech.
Having said all this, we do recognize that our leadership has been lacking. There are many decisions that with the benefit of hindsight we regret. We have been complacent. We have looked to programs or people as a source. We took comfort in our location, our reputation, our bank balance. We did not confront what should have been confronted. We have not been desperate for God. All of that has brought us to this place and your complaints. While we do not agree with them, they are evidence that change is required. The needed change is a change of heart that brings us all humbly to God in prayer. Prayer not that Calvary will be like it was, and not that Calvary will be like I want it to be, but that Calvary will be as Jesus wants it to be - effective in transforming Orlando with God’s love.
The key measures of church health are not the attendance, the budget, the acreage, or the buildings. Jesus said “my kingdom is not a kingdom of this world”. Years ago we reached a point where in the eyes of the world we had it all. Since that time we have been on a long slide as God returns us to a foundation that He can build on. His measures of success are the love we receive from Him and share with one another, steadfast adherence to the gospel and the His word, and the power and presence of His Holy Spirit. This is the future of Calvary Assembly. Please join us in seeing that come to pass.
With Grace and Peace,
The elders of Calvary Assembly
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