Internet, Faith Healing, and Other Reasons to Split

[MaxPC]

Steve's query:

I thought that split had a lot to do with the internet?? Or am I thinking of another division?

from viewtopic.php?f=4&t=110

It's my understanding that the Old German Baptist Brethren split into two conferences over the internet permission. I'm sure there are other reasons but that was the one that kept surfacing.

Query: What are the most common reasons for splits among Anabaptist fellowships in the last 20 years? (E.g. In non-Anabaptist world, the Episcopalians and others split over the homosexual issue.)

[Bootstrap]

Query: What are the most common reasons for splits among Anabaptist fellowships in the last 20 years? (E.g. In non-Anabaptist world, the Episcopalians and others split over the homosexual issue.)

That's the big one in the non-plain world right now.

[lesterb]

The details may vary, but the core disagreement in the plainer churches almost always includes being willing to stand for truth. Part of the congregation feels that some things being allowed in the church will lead to the church apostatizing. The other part feels that that position is legalistic or unnecessary. In general, the second group would be willing to let the first group hold to a more conservative position, but the first group is not willing to compromise.

The actual details often seem pretty trivial if anyone actually tries to put together a list. An normally the list evolves substantially during the process, until almost no one would recognize the original list.

[steve-in-kville]

Okay, I survived a few divisions over the years, and I find them all comical. As in, its a joke to me. Every single split I witnessed all comes down to power... somewhere, somehow, two high-ranking officials no longer hit it off.

Then there are the secondary reasons: use of the web, etc. And remember this: the next generation will be told a "smoke story" as to what really happened. It'll all be a cover-up.

[steve-in-kville]

And remember this: the next generation will be told a "smoke story" as to what really happened. It'll all be a cover-up.

Just thought of this after my above post: My wife was part of the Dunkard church all her life. About 30 years ago there was a pretty substantial split. She was just a young teenager at the time. The reasons for the split? The wearing of wristwatches, going to tractor pulls and Hershey Park. That's what her generation was told. That's what she believed most of her life.

The real reason?? Two elders could no longer stand to be in the same room together. And why do I find all this comical? 30 years later, the off-spring of those two ministers inter-married!!

So much for wearing watches and Hershey Park...

[MaxPC]

The real reason?? Two elders could no longer stand to be in the same room together. And why do I find all this comical? 30 years later, the off-spring of those two ministers inter-married!!

I'm glad they "kissed and made up".

Seriously, I'm not making light of the reasons for splits. Some are genuinely over authentic teachings. Case in point: MCUSA last year had a large departure of fellowships over the acceptance of homosexual unions and rightfully so since homosexuality is called an abominable behavior in Scripture.

I won't bore you with the long list of 2000 years of Catholic "family fights" but the most recent departure was over the vernacular replacing Latin in the Mass. 60 years later, the schism with the small group of Latinists is still with us though we are making headway in bringing them back into the fold.

[Ernie]

The details may vary, but the core disagreement in the plainer churches almost always includes being willing to stand for truth. Part of the congregation feels that some things being allowed in the church will lead to the church apostatizing. The other part feels that that position is legalistic or unnecessary. In general, the second group would be willing to let the first group hold to a more conservative position, but the first group is not willing to compromise.

The actual details often seem pretty trivial if anyone actually tries to put together a list. An normally the list evolves substantially during the process, until almost no one would recognize the original list.

This is most common. The real issue is the direction that people are headed, not the issues themselves. There is no way of knowing whether compromises on little things are an indication of drift/worldliness or an indication of trying to be more reasonable/less complicated. We can't read people's hearts. All we can do is watch observable patterns.
Since there is no way to know which one it is, those unwilling to take any risk are not willing to compromise.

The second most common reason for splitting is disagreement over what church authority looks like. Some prefer an oligarchical approach, others one that is more democratic.

A couple other common ones are...
-People who can't get along with each other
-People who have different visions for the church

[Judas Maccabeus]

And remember this: the next generation will be told a "smoke story" as to what really happened. It'll all be a cover-up.

Just thought of this after my above post: My wife was part of the Dunkard church all her life. About 30 years ago there was a pretty substantial split. She was just a young teenager at the time. The reasons for the split? The wearing of wristwatches, going to tractor pulls and Hershey Park. That's what her generation was told. That's what she believed most of her life.

The real reason?? Two elders could no longer stand to be in the same room together. And why do I find all this comical? 30 years later, the off-spring of those two ministers inter-married!!

So much for wearing watches and Hershey Park...

This does not only happen in Anabaptist churches. In my old C&MA church one of our Deacons could not stand the pastor, which did not lead to a split, but a death of a thousand cuts. Sometimes regenerate people will act in a most unregenerate way.

J.M.

[MaxPC]

In my old C&MA church one of our Deacons could not stand the pastor, which did not lead to a split, but a death of a thousand cuts. Sometimes regenerate people will act in a most unregenerate way.
J.M.

So true. The death of a thousand cuts extends to collateral spiritual damage in the congregation. The pastorate is a spiritual fatherhood to all and thus has the responsibility of living the example as well as teaching it.

The real issue is the direction that people are headed, not the issues themselves. There is no way of knowing whether compromises on little things are an indication of drift/worldliness or an indication of trying to be more reasonable/less complicated. We can't read people's hearts. All we can do is watch observable patterns.
Since there is no way to know which one it is, those unwilling to take any risk are not willing to compromise.

Amen!

[Dan Z]

The details may vary, but the core disagreement in the plainer churches almost always includes being willing to stand for truth. Part of the congregation feels that some things being allowed in the church will lead to the church apostatizing. The other part feels that that position is legalistic or unnecessary. In general, the second group would be willing to let the first group hold to a more conservative position, but the first group is not willing to compromise.

The actual details often seem pretty trivial if anyone actually tries to put together a list. An normally the list evolves substantially during the process, until almost no one would recognize the original list.

Fundamentalism - a strict adherence to the narrow truth as we know it to be. To me, fundamentalism often lacks two things: Grace & Humility.

Not all groups have the same fundamentalist mindset. Those that are initially formed in the soil of fundamentalism seem to be most plagued by it. Blessed is the group that can hold firm to its convictions and its witness without succumbing to fundamentalism.

As you can tell...I'm not enamored with fundamentalism...but I REALLY don't think liberalism is the solution. So, how do we keep a fundamentalist mindset at bay, without cashing in our convictions and our collective witness at the bank of liberalism?