Wow, we had an insanely busy holiday season. I bet everyone can say that. It's nice to be settling down in our own environment again after all the travels. (9 states and 14 flights in a month for me!)
Little did I know that my last post - church angst- was only a small harbinger of things to come.
We arrived back in Spain to some strange emails, frenzied phone calls, and all out church split going on. Ick.
We've tried to stay neutral and I think without asking for dirt and details we have a good feel for each side. Two churches are coming out of the mess and the building will revert to the original pastor while the "new" pastor and his flock will leave. It's all messy.
Even weirder and messier for us is the fact that the missionaries (too many in one church in the first place) all piled up on one side of the issue and while we have no ill will to that side and can see that perhaps what happened was innocently done -- this side is not the side we like the style of church.
We tried to tiptoe off to the "other" church Sunday and a coworker dropping some pretty wide and pointed hints today that vaguely implied we were ill informed or somehow flawed in our choices. Maybe I should have the guts to just say everything but we really are rooting for both churches to succeed. There's a certain implication that you can't be friends with all and I don't see why not. We'll see how we weather this very weird and uninvited storm.
YIKES! Yeah, it's not easy when you can see both sides to a situation. Especially when others don't.
ReplyDeleteI hope both churches are a success too and I hope that you find the courage and wisdom to be able to convey your thoughts/feelings without having to have others judge you for it.
That sounds like an uncomfortable and not fun situation every way around. I understand wanting to go to a church that matches your style. I'd hate to have to go to one church or another due to politics rather than due to whether it was a good fit for me.
ReplyDeleteA further update -- we've been asked not to attend the split off church wehre we are comfortable until the national church is done making their decisions about the process. The natioanl leadership of missionaries here don't want us to look like pawns in the process. Oh my! So now we're church hopping.
ReplyDeleteBummer. But you can get some interesting experience as a church hopper. How's it going? Do you get to attend the church you WANT to attend yet?
ReplyDelete