Archived Posts For Church
how much should you put up with?
Posted on September 3, 2007 by Geoff Matheson
Filed Under Church | 7 Comments
About a year ago I was chatting with a pastor from interstate, and chatting about his church. He was describing the way that his church had been planted as a result of a difference in theological approach. Apparently the group left on good terms, and it sounds like the whole situation went as well as could be expected, but it planted a thought which has bugged me incessantly ever since: what theological concepts do I hold to tightly enough that I could no longer be a part of a church who disagreed with that principle? I mean, I’ve got some pretty key simple ones:
- Divinity of Jesus
- Salvation through God’s grace
- God as creator of the world (at least somehow)
- etc.
But after those, there are a few things I’m not sure I’d put up with in my faith community: some big, fat obvious ones being stuff like speaking in tongues or baptism as a condition of salvation and financial riches as an indicator of faith. Overall, I think that at least puts me in a relatively accepting place.
I guess the bigger underlying question is this: to what extent should you stay in a church whose theological direction you disagree with? I must admit that at the moment this question is purely theoretical: I don’t have any big points of difference at all with the theology espoused in my church, but I’m intrigued to hear whether that line would be. Have you ever left a church because of a disagreement on theology? Or are there people who have stayed in a church they felt called to despite being in conflict with the ideas being preached? Let me know.
