You Want To Wreck Your Congregation?

We’ve been in five different congregations in our lives and one common denominator sticks out for the effective destruction of unity and peace. 

That is, pride in doctrinal correctness. 

Atheists point this out as an area of crticism and they're absolutely correct. It doesn’t matter if the issue is spiritual gifts, giving to missions, or even showing love in the community. As soon as a critical mass of individuals is reached who are proud of what the congregation is doing right, a crisis and conflict is just a matter of time. Nothing corrupts a good congregation faster than a feeling of being “right.”

We’ve got it right from a doctrinal perspective.

We’ve got it right in our outreach ministries.

We’ve got it right on our understanding of morality.

Forgetting that God’s grace and mercy is the only reason the congregation exists at all leads people to rest on their “rightness.” And like the account of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, being aware of one’s rightness always, being proud of one's rightness, always, always causes that person to look down on those whom Jesus came to save.