Gossip, Reputation, & Local Church Protection
If we have any hope of nipping gossip in the bud, it rests in the gift of the local church. Those who would gossip ought to be called to account for the reputational damage they cause and those of us further away would do well to heed the judgements of the local church who see matters up close.
If you go into pastoral ministry, it is likely you will be on the receiving end of some unwarranted and untrue gossip. I remember speaking to one person who had been publicly and clearly caught indulging in such behaviour. Their defence was, ‘well, that’s just ministry!’ I suppose, in one sense, they were right. That is ministry. But it is an unpleasant and nasty part of ministry that does not justify the one doing the gossiping. If you become a pastor, it will happen to you for such has it ever been. but that doesn’t mean we have carte blanche to gossip about our pastor. Just as sin is always inevitable until Jesus return, that doesn’t give us any right to sin.
I have spoken about Jani Ortlund’s comments on this before. I haven’t heard better advice since. She says:
After almost fifty years in a ministry marriage, here is a piece of advice I wish I had understood from the early days of marriage to my beloved pastor: be willing to risk your reputation.
Leaders are always talked about. I found that hard to live with, because many times I disagreed with the current conversation. I wish someone had mentored me in what it looks like to release my reputation to the one who lovingly made himself of no reputation for us (Philippians 2:7–9).
Her whole article is worth reading on this very thing. But as sure as night follows day, church leaders will inevitably be talked about and their reputations often unfairly maligned.
With the advent of the internet, how much more prevalent these things are. There are issues about pastors that I would never have heard about, but I have heard about, because the internet has told me so. There are things about pastors I have filed away and believed, that I would never have heard about to begin with and have subsequently been shown to be untrue, because the internet has told me. Reputational damage can be done through our networks, through relationships, and now across the internet. I suspect very few of us in any sort of ministry role, and all the more those of us with an online presence, will escape. The rumour mill presses on unabated and one cannot unhear what one has heard. It is all but impossible, try as we might, not to form opinions on what we hear.
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Cultivating the Spiritual Virtues
God allows us to be in places or in situations where we would prefer not to be, but he sovereignly allows them knowing that these things may be the only way to cultivate the virtues; for Christians to grow and mature in the fruit of the Spirit. Next time you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam, or being abused by others, or having people speaking ill of you, or not getting that job or pay rise that you so desired, keep in mind that God may be behind such things. God is so very much concerned to develop our Christian character. And if that means allowing us to get into rather unpleasant situations, then so be it.
Christians want to be (or should want to be) better believers, and to be better people. In other words, they want to be more Christlike. That is a major calling for the Christian: to grow in maturity as a believer. It is not about just being happy but about being moulded into the likeness and image of our Lord.
The New Testament is full of these ways of thinking of course. And while we have our own obligations and duties in this regard, at the end of the day it is God at work in us developing Christian character and spiritual maturity. Consider for example the importance of the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 offers us a list of nine items: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Four general things can be said about them first, before looking at the fruit in a bit more detail. One, this is not about how to be a better person, or how to pick yourself up by your own bootstraps. These are fruit of the SPIRIT, and if you do not have the Holy Spirit, you will not have these fruit – at least to any real and substantial degree.
Yes, a non-Christian can sometimes be a nice person or good person or a patient person. But to see these fruit fully on display in your life as God intended, you must be connected to the source of that fruit. And that comes from God alone. As Jesus put it in John 15:1-6:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Two, these fruit stand in opposition to the works of the flesh. There are some 15 of these listed in Galatians 5:16-22:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Three, I am hardly a role model here when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit. So when I write devotional and hortatory pieces like this, I am of course including myself in what is being said.
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A Review of the Bodies of Others: By Naomi Wolf
Naomi Wolf is a fighter – a freedom fighter. And when we see basic human rights and civil liberties being stolen away from us at an alarming rate, we need all the freedom fighters we can get. Well done Naomi for sounding the alarm. May many millions of readers heed your call to action.
That those who greatly fear the rise of Big Brother statism in response to things like Covid craziness include people like Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and in this case, long-standing leftist and feminist Naomi Wolf shows that this is not just something that those on the right are deeply concerned about. Numerous intelligent and savvy individuals have great fears about what has been unfolding over the past few years.
Wolf has been speaking out about the lockdowns, the mandates, the forced vaccinations and the like for some time now, and she does not hold back in her brand new book. The subtitle tells us of where she is heading: “The New Authoritarians, Covid-19 and the War Against the Human.” Her main concern is the erosion of our freedoms and basic human rights – not to keep us safe, but to grant unprecedented powers to elitist minorities and globalist bodies.
In 20 meaty and well-documented chapters she makes the case for why we all should be very afraid of where things are heading as Statists exploit crises or even make them up in order to further consolidate power and control. Wealthy and powerful elites gain in such scenarios while the masses suffer – greatly.
Although focused primarily on America, Wolf has plenty to say about England, Europe and even Australia. And the facts, figures and stories she shares about the scene in the US should be of help to whoever is reading this book. The overall thrust of it remains the same regardless of what country you are in.
She reminds us that America has had many, and often much worse, outbreaks of infectious diseases in its past, such as the smallpox outbreak of 1775-1782 and the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919. Europe too has had such outbreaks. Yet even then freedoms remained intact and total lockdowns never took place.
Never mind that early on many experts were warning against lockdowns and other coercive measures. Says Wolf, “The masking, the enclosure, the isolation, the lack of community, fresh air and exercise, the fear, the cabin fever, the generations piled on top of one another, the alienation engendered by computer screens – they all took their toll. People grew pale, fearful, obsessive, phobic, and sad. And unsurprisingly, many got sick and many died.”
Of course the elites and politicians and ‘health experts’ calling the shots never paid the price for any of this. While we were all locked in our homes (here in Melbourne we were held prisoners for 23 hours a day, with only a 5km travel allowance), the elites were still living the good life.
They were not only getting their cushy salaries paid for by the tax payer, but for the most part they could freely roam about at the beachfront properties. Lockdowns were no biggee for them. Says Wolf: “This somber catastrophe … morphed into a uniform, top-down, almost cozy ‘lifestyle’ that was, as a form of house arrest, tolerable. That is, if you were affluent. What we did not know was that the ‘academic’ studies, the media messaging, and the tools for the cozy lifetime all derived from, and then benefited, the same group.”
And we need to avoid the misnomer “quarantine” – what used to happen to the sick. What happened to us who were mostly healthy were lockdowns?
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“Presbyleaks” From a Business Analysis Perspective
From a BA perspective, if the NP asked about how to go forward, I would advise it to publish a purpose and mission statement compatible with PCA officer vows, accept all such within the PCA who desire to participate in order to grow in their understanding of PCA polity and practices, and do away with confidentiality as its functional methodology. All of this would be workable, however, only after a public apology and due repentance for the way the group has conducted itself essentially as a denomination within the denomination over the past several years.
In my day job I function in the role of a business analyst much of the time. Business analysis (BA) involves helping the business enable change by defining needs and recommending solutions that deliver value to its stakeholders. We employ many tools and techniques to make that happen, and we will frequently discover misalignment when examining stated goals and objectives and comparing them to actual practices.
I’d like to put on my BA hat to consider the so-called “Presbyleaks” (the release of the National Partnership documents) which occurred last year. Of particular interest is the characterization of the National Partnership (NP) by TE Kessler as quoted in the article by Travis Scott last November, The Big Leak, Part 1: [1]
This group exists as a way to resource one another. We want you to feel prepared for the Assembly and engaged in its work on the Presbytery level. This group does not tell you how to vote. Even if I/we make recommendations please remember that we are grateful for diversity. We are looking for unity, not uniformity. Being a part of the National Partnership means that you are committing to participation in the business of our denomination. We will be about the logistics of denominational health; we aren’t a visioning committee. The NP also creates a place to have a conversation in confidence; nothing here is reproduced and blogged or whatever. Our discussion boards are places to stretch and reason together. Please feel free to use them.
“I have said it before and I’ll say it again: the intent of confidentiality was always to protect those of you who felt you could not be as forthcoming in larger groups. I’ve always wanted the NP to be a place where you can seek advice with confidence that your questions weren’t being used to fuel blog posts. The lack of confidentiality makes no difference in what I share with you. Emails will say pretty much what they would have said.”
In the above we find the purpose, responsibility, and methodology of membership within the NP according to TE Kessler:Purpose: To resource one another, to prepare its members for effectiveness within their presbyteries and at GA. Being part of the NP necessitates participation in the business of the denomination, but the NP doesn’t exist to function as a voting bloc.
Responsibility: Participation in the “business” of the denomination, for its “health”.
Methodology: Confidentiality in order to maintain a safe space that facilitates frankness and free expression would otherwise be precluded in open groups, where men may “stretch and reason together”.Upon closer examination, we find several inherent contradictions in each of these, as well as conflicts with the proscribed practices and polity of the PCA (another task of BA: document analysis, the BCO in this case).
Let’s consider first the stated purpose. The emails reveal much organization and coordination for votes on overtures at GA, nominations for committees, and activities within Presbyteries[2]. Travis Scott even concedes the political nature of the activities of the NP in his article. So the stated purpose and the actual activity of the NP are misaligned, which raises the question of the accuracy of the stated purpose.
Training videos, seminars, and articles in public forums open to all interested parties would function as much better tools to equip individuals to serve effectively in the denomination rather than secret societies of email groups on a rather broad scale. The chosen method of selective “resourcing” betrays a suspicion and lack of trust, which precludes making such endeavors open for all: only the right people are to be resourced.
Second, consider the stated responsibility of each member in the NP: participation in the business of the denomination, for its health. The truth is that every officer in the PCA must vow to perform all the duties of his office, which includes participation in its courts. Qualifications for church office include familiarity and acceptance of PCA polity (BCO 21-4 & 21-5 for teaching elders (TEs), 24-6 for ruling elders (REs)). So any officer who engages in a secret society or group for the supposed purpose of doing the “business” of the church fails to understand the very nature of Presbyterian polity, and tacitly breaks his vows for ordination. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the PCA is explicitly stated to be a joint rather than a several power (BCO 1-5), and secret groups by their very nature constitute a breach of the PCA form of government.
Third, consider the stated methodology: confidentiality. The need for confidentiality usually arises when there are sensitive topics to be considered. We commonly see this in business settings where corporate concerns are meant to be kept from the competition, or where personal HR matters are discussed. In the case of the NP, however, the premise for confidentiality is for the sake of personal growth and development, where its members may “stretch and reason together” without having to worry about being taken out of context and without having to deal with slander by outsiders (whether inside the church or not). But in light of the purported purpose and responsibility of NP members, how is it possible that REs and TEs in particular are afraid to own the truth of their convictions?
It seems incredulous that men who, in the case of TEs, have completed college and seminary, been examined by presbytery prior to being ordained and installed as church officers, men who regularly teach and preach the truth, giving correction to those who err (a requirement for the office), how is it that they of all people need a safe space to share what they really believe and think in order to “stretch and reason together”?
In my day job as a business analyst one of the ground rules we often employ in group meetings is called “stand your ground.” This ground rule sets the expectation that participants in the meeting will own their ideas and share them in the meeting to improve productivity, as opposed to leaving the meeting and telling everyone afterwards that it was a total waste of time. The courts of the church are supposed to be the space of deliberation and discussion, where men own their ideas and the church as a whole votes on them. Men serving as TEs and REs must not be shrinking violets who are afraid to stand for the truth as they understand it for fear of opposition. Nor should they be too proud to be open to instruction, even publicly. Our Lord has a word or two to say about those who are ashamed of Him and His words in this present age (Luke 9:26).
What’s more, confidentiality and large numbers tend to be mutually exclusive, and practically a fool’s errand. The more individuals who are in on a secret, the more likely it is to be leaked. As cited above, TE Kessler has stated that any lack of confidentiality would make no difference in what was shared in the emails. If that is the case, why the need for an exclusive email group in the first place, apart from fear of being challenged or ridiculed? The truth will stand up to scrutiny, whereas error and subterfuge will not.
So from a BA perspective, if the NP asked about how to go forward, I would advise it to publish a purpose and mission statement compatible with PCA officer vows, accept all such within the PCA who desire to participate in order to grow in their understanding of PCA polity and practices, and do away with confidentiality as its functional methodology. All of this would be workable, however, only after a public apology and due repentance for the way the group has conducted itself essentially as a denomination within the denomination over the past several years.
Nathan Bowers is a member of First Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Ft. Oglethorpe, Ga.
[1] Travis Scott, The Big Leak, Pt. 1, https://www.semperref.org/articles/the-big-leak-pt-1?fbclid=IwAR2ymcY18V8sn1A64M8u6e0RN6G5ix9PAAWajpWPr2YADqqrQbFZMqh0vvI accessed Jan. 22, 2022.
[2] Al Taglieri, National Partnership Called to Repentance, https://theaquilareport.com/national-partnership-called-to-repentance/, accessed Jan. 22, 2022.