![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/churchsplit.jpg\" "\\"churchsplit\\"")
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<\/a>“Church Split.” To a pastor, those may just be the worst sound in the world. It’s the last thing that the pastor wants. It’s no surprise then, that one pastor has given some serious thought to the issue…and how to prevent it. Hear what veteran pastor Thabiti Anyawile has to say about preventing church splits.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have a new and growing conviction. It\u2019s occupying a lot of my thoughts these days\u2026 good thoughts, I think. I don\u2019t know why it hasn\u2019t always been a conviction, at least not quite in this way. But, nonetheless, I am convinced that one of my fundamental objectives as a pastor is to prevent church splits from happening.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean that it\u2019s my responsibility to make sure no one leaves, or to settle every dispute in a way that preserves unity at all costs. No, there\u2019ll be times when a \u201csplit\u201d will humanly speaking be inevitable, and I trust that the Lord has good purposes in causing or allowing them to happen.<\/p>\n What I mean is this: I have some basic responsibilities as a pastor. I must teach and preach God\u2019s Word; I must pray; I must be an example; and, I must carry on a visitation ministry. That\u2019s basically what I think a pastor is to do (admittedly a bit oversimplified). But I am increasingly convinced that I am to do those things with a particular perspective. I\u2019m to do those things with an eye toward the developing and continuing unity of the church. Said negatively, I\u2019m to work in such a way as to prevent the splintering of Christ\u2019s local body in my charge.<\/p>\n It seems to me that preventing splits is a bit like preventative health care. Most of us trolly through life without caring much about our health. We eat any and most everything. We don\u2019t exercise regularly. Our sleep habits are terrible. We overwork ourselves at high-stress jobs, and we seldom take vacations. Then we go to the doctor for a checkup or because some pain or another won\u2019t go away. That\u2019s when we hear the news: our bodies have actually been carrying on a covert coup against us. We\u2019re told that our blood pressure is high. Cholesterol is clogging up blood flow. And then there is the dreaded \u201cO\u201d word that seems to be wreaking havoc on youth in particular\u2013obesity.<\/p>\n We react with surprise at the news. Not the kind of surprise that\u2019s completely unsuspecting; we knew that neglecting ourselves could result in these things. No, we\u2019re surprised because it happened to us. \u201cHigh blood pressure\u2026 that\u2019s aunt Annie\u2019s problem. Obesity\u2026 that\u2019s uncle Bobo\u2019s issue.\u201d The reality of the problem\u2013completely preventable if it had been at least a part of our focus\u2013comes crashing home. We\u2019re sick and now there is only the drudgery of changing life-long habits and\/or undergoing some radical procedure.<\/p>\n I think church splits are a lot like that. Churches adopt lifelong bad habits, deny the warning signs (the sleeplessness, headaches and chest pains), and then are surprised when part of the body carries out the silent coup. They don\u2019t think it will happen to them no matter how bad things get. And then it does and the pain is great.<\/p>\n There were early warning signs:<\/p>\n These are some of the early warning signals for a church split. Imperceptible at their start, they grow very slowly in most cases. When you feel mild discomfort from them, they\u2019ve usually rooted themselves to some extent. And by the time you feel real pain, those roots have formed huge balls and arteries that wrap themselves around the foundation of the house. Excavating them will be painful and costly. But in many cases, by the time you feel the pain, the conditions for a split are quite abundant.<\/p>\n I\u2019m convinced that it\u2019s my job to pastor in such a way that I try to ward off, retard, uproot or cut out these problems before they give birth to greater sin. I need to approach the basic task of pastoring with at least one eye toward prevention. And I need to look beyond the horizon of this present congregation to consider those who are coming after us, to take the long view with the hopes of leaving a congregation that would be healthy for generations should the Lord tarry.<\/p>\n Since pastors tend to impress upon their congregations something of their own personalities, their strengths and weaknesses, and that impress tends to linger through subsequent generations and pastorates, for good and for ill, I need to work hard at being an example of one that loves like Jesus loves and one that encourages and teaches others to pursue unity and peace. That\u2019s my task, I think. That\u2019s the task of every Christian (Eph. 4).<\/p>\n Read Part 2.<\/a> “Church Split.” To a pastor, those may just be the worst sound in the world. It’s the last thing that the pastor wants. It’s no surprise then, that one pastor has given some serious thought to the issue…and how to prevent it. Hear what veteran pastor Thabiti Anyawile has to say about preventing church splits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[405],"tags":[694,696,468,695,698,697,699],"class_list":["post-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-pastor-how-to","tag-church-splits","tag-church-unity","tag-life-of-a-pastor","tag-preventing-church-split","tag-pure-church","tag-role-of-the-pastor","tag-thabiti-anyabwile"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\nRead Part 3.<\/a>
\nRead Part 4.<\/a>
\nRead Part 5.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Grand Cayman Islands and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition. He blogs at Pure Church<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"