I was one of the hostesses at the tea and I listened
as WOW talked with gratitude about the life Jesus Christ had brought her out of. She urged the women, "Don't limit God or His answers to prayer to
this present time. Many of His promises may be performed
in the future." She mentioned the thousand-year reign of peace Christ will establish when He returns. "Maybe during the Millennium--this is just my thought--we
will be able to raise the babies who have been aborted. But that's just
my opinion. Don't give up hope or lose faith. 'Think outside the
box' about when, where and how He might fulfill His promises and answer
our prayers
and what that may look like."
She handed out booklets by Pastor John MacArthur, "Is it Real? 11 Biblical Tests of Genuine
Salvation," a booklet which our church had used previously.
It was a sweet time.
The following Tuesday,
February 8th, Woman of the Word received a call from one of the other
hostesses, distressed. "A pastor called me. He said one or more of the
mothers complained about your beliefs in regard to the end
times. He told me I have to read a public apology for your beliefs to the MOPS women at our first meeting. I don't know why he wants me to do this. I had nothing to do with what you shared
or the material you handed out. I'm really confused by all this."
The first MOPS meeting was Wednesday. WOW went to church hoping to find the woman or women she had offended and try to make amends. Instead she found two pastors/elders blocking the door. One said sternly, "You can't come in! We have to talk!" WOW was taken aback. "In your office?" No, as it turned out, right there in public, "verbally, in an aggressive manner":
--You made a grieving mother cry.
--You gave her false
hope.
--The tea was more like a commercial for the women's Bible
study.
--The views on the millennium
differ from that of someone there.
--The tea was too
long.
--You jumped around in your talk.
--The material you handed out was
offensive and does not reflect what our church leadership
shares.
Woman of the Word asked the
elders to tell her whom she had offended so that, in
accordance with Matthew 18, she could go directly to her and straighten things
out. They refused to give her the name(s).
Meanwhile inside the
fellowship hall the MOPs meeting had begun. The bewildered
hostess/mom who had been handed a statement by the elders read it aloud to the equally bewildered women present: "Thank you to all of you who came to the tea on Saturday. . . It
was a little bit of a rough beginning; there is much that we, as a group of
women at this church [the elders who wrote this are men] need to learn about hosting events
like these. . . This event shifted from the original purpose as a morning to
bring refreshment. . .
"The views
expressed concerning the millennium do not reflect the leadership of the elders
here at Grace nor do the printed materials handed out at the event. .
."
Never mind that the
woman reading the statement had no idea what it was about or why it was necessary, that there had been
no confusion, only wonderful, warm fellowship among the women attending the tea,
that the statement itself was what caused confusion. Never mind that WOW had made it clear she was only sharing her own opinions.
Never mind that the
"printed materials," though not reflecting the "leadership of the elders here at
Grace" DO in fact reflect our church's Statement of Faith and the
Bible. Never mind that the leaders were trumping WOW's "sin" of giving a woman false hope by denying her the legitimate hope that Jesus Christ is coming again to set up His kingdom!
In the days that
followed, WOW attempted again to find out exactly what she had done that was
so offensive. She was told to "let it go." She finally agreed. But her
husband went to the head elder (whom I will call Hachet Man for now) and said his wife had been confronted and rebuked in public by two pastors. He said he would not let it
go.
Hatchet Man sent WOW a Grievance Process Form to fill out and return to the
Grievance Committee (a committee which was still being formed, since the others
in leadership knew nothing about its existence).
WOW filed the grievance form against Lou, the senior pastor, instead of the two elders sent by him to rebuke her. On April 1, Hatchet Man, apparently angered by this, telephoned WOW, "falsely accusing me, yelling at me and calling me a
liar," as she described it. She wrote him
a letter dated April 4th. Excerpts: "The lack of sensitivity and convictions
towards the Holy Spirit is concerning." "Your actions and conduct have been
unbecoming for an elder as stated in God''s Word." "I am asking you, please
remove yourself during my grievance process due to the confusion, the unfair and
bias you have demonstrated towards me."
The newly-formed Grievance Mediation Committee considered WOW's report and on April 26 Hachet Man sent her a letter which read, at its heart, "We find that your grievance against Lou
_______ has no merit. In reaching that
decision, I removed myself from voting. The vote to deny your grievance was
unanimous.
"As a gesture of
reconciliation, should you desire to talk about the GMC's decision and/or
related concerns, please contact me and I will arrange for you to speak with two
of the committee members.
"In Christ, (Chair___________"
WOW accepted the offer to attend a "reconciliation" meeting and was so relieved by the promise of an opportunity to discuss her side of the issue, it didn't occur to her to invite her husband or anyone else to attend with
her as a witness.
At the meeting on May 26, WOW greeted the three people present--Hatchet Man (the only one on the Grievance Mediation Committee), an associate pastor I will call "Jesus Eyes," and the
wife of an elder who was a personal friend of WOW's--and thanked Hatchet Man
for calling the meeting in response to the grievance she had filed against the senior pastor, after her many attempts to speak with him and have him make it possible for her to follow the Scriptural pattern of reconciliation in Matthew
18--
Hatchet Man interrupted her, pushed across the table a list titled "Biblical offenses: (her name)" and asked her to read
it. The list was a mixture of truths and falsehoods, quoting [Jesus Eyes] as saying she had accused Lou of preaching heresy and that she had stirred up dissension in the church and was "game-playing."
"As I started to read it I realized what this meeting was all about. I
stopped reading and told them 'You're going to can me like you have everybody else!" He then
started reading the list for me. I stopped him on the first one and said, 'This
is not true....get [Jesus Eyes] in here! He knows this isn't true!'
"He told me if I did not repent of those offenses and apologize to the elders, I would lose all my
leadership positions. Sometime during the meeting I broke down and cried."
He
refused to let her discuss the matter. "He screamed and yelled at me and called me a liar. I told him his behavior was unbecoming an elder." Finally she declared, "Some have
felt the Holy Spirit is being hindered here at Grace, and I now know the reason
why, the leadership here is not coming under the authority of the Scriptures!"
Hatchet Man ended the meeting by revoking all her leadership positions and warning her that severe church discipline awaited her in the near future. WOW attempted to talk to her friend, the wife of an elder.
The friend told WOW, "I love you" but added, "I am not allowed to
speak with you."
(To be
continued.)
This brings tears to me.
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