Division in The Church, Vertical and Horizontal

by Ralph Brandt in Religion, November 12, 2009

The anatomy of church splits.

A horizontal split in the church has the same anatomy. You get a little notch. You drive a wedge. You set another wedge and widen the split. The notch is usually subtle. It is something that pulls the congregation away from the leaders. Often this notch is seen for what it is by the leaders, a mistake but rather than admit it they try to justify it and the wedge is driven. The congregation looks at it as, “They don’t trust us enough to tell us.”

A second notch is some form of separation. Leaders in the church are there to serve the people. The big brother and sister view is great. They are still a part of the body. What can get divisive is the set apart idea. The moment you do this you have cut the notch. Now all Satan has to do is apply the wedge and hammer. Little things become big. It is the little foxes that spoil the vine.

I cringe when I see anything that sets leadership apart from the church and I did when I was in leadership. The only honor I sought was the confidence the pastor and the people had in me to be able to serve them. Anything more than that is going to be destructive.

And even somthing as seemingly innocent as pressing for prayer for the leadership can be destructive. It sets them apart. It can be the notch. I have actually seen this play out in one situation! Dee and I only asked for special prayer for us in a leadership role in one situation. We were prayer ministers and when we started with a new person or couple we asked two people who prayed for us to be in prayer for us that we would minister effectively.