Why Do Churches Split?

At the recent Spiritual Training Seminar, hosted by the Cordova congregation, I was blessed to hear two presentations given by Tim Pownall, assistant director of the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University’s School of Law. Brother Pownall’s lessons were designed to help church leaders successfully navigate the difficult waters of congregational conflict. He did a great job in both sessions.

He made a statement during one presentation that I wanted to share with you. He said: “No church was ever split over who was going to serve whom.” The more I thought about it, the more I was impressed with just how true it was. Sadly, churches have been split over a myriad of various issues over the years. Oddly enough, though, I can’t seem to ever remember a time when a heated discussion erupted in a church business meeting over who was going to clean the toilets. I’ve never heard of brothers or sisters angrily raising their voices with each another over who gets to be in charge of picking up the trash on the premises. I can’t seem to ever recall a time when someone left the fellowship because so-and-so is always getting to help the widows and orphans.

For some odd reason, we don’t fuss, feud, and fight over these kinds of things, do we? Why is that, I wonder? Probably for the same reason that a room full of disciples, who were fond of discussing among themselves who was the greatest (Mark 9:34; Matthew 20:20-24), would suddenly fall silent as Jesus wrapped Himself with a towel, poured water in a basin, and began to wash and dry their dirty feet (John 13:1-5).

Problems always arise when we seek to be served instead of seeking to serve. The key to unity is to imitate the attitude and example of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who “…did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). As I recall, no one argued over who got to go to the cross.

God loves you!

Mike