Genesis Stories And Church Health

I'm encouraged by the fact that there has been renewed emphasis in recent years on church health, not just church growth.

A sick congregation will usually find it very difficult to grow, and if it somehow manages to, it will simply be spreading toxicity.

It's interesting that some of the events in the patriarchal narratives of Genesis 12-50 illustrate inappropriate and ineffective ways to deal with issues in church life. Key personalities in those ancient stories demonstrate approaches in handling concerns that actually foster relational pathology when utilized in modern day local assemblies.

Take, for example, the destructive power of keeping secrets. Jacob could tell you a thing or two about that. In Genesis 31, his wife, Rachel, steals the set of household idols belonging to her father, Laban, as she and her family stealthily flee his home. She does not tell her husband what she has done. When Laban catches up with them and demands back the stolen figurines, Jacob authorizes the death of anyone in his party found to have them. Fortunately they are not uncovered because of further deception on Rachel's part, but this episode obviously could have ended very badly. Years later Jacob again found himself the victim of a devastating secret. In Genesis 37, some of his sons lead him to believe that his favorite son, Joseph, was killed by a wild animal when they know that he is really still alive, sold by them, in their jealousy and hatred, to slave traders. Jacob would now live in unnecessary grief and sadness and darkness. The brothers would experience a psychological wall between them and their dad, and shame and guilt and suspicions and fears among themselves. The whole family would be haunted by this for years.

In congregations where critical underlying issues are never brought up to the surface for exposure and illumination and resolution, fellowship will suffer. When only a handful of members is privy to pertinent information that could make a difference, doubts and questionings will arise and a lack of intimacy and team spirit will result. An unholy spiritual bacteria will invade the ranks that will generate distancing and loss of joy. Secrecy breeds darkness, which in turn provides a setting for all kinds of undesirable consequences.

Some churches, and the individual members who make them up, choose to run from problems. Once again, Jacob offers some insight because it seems that he was always running. In Genesis 27-28 he's fleeing his home due to the murderous rage of his brother, Esau. He gets far away, to the home of his uncle, Laban, but he finds there, in addition to some blessings, a whole new set of disturbing issues. Plus, there's still a lot of unresolved stuff inside him that hasn't been worked through yet. After many years, Jacob takes off once more, again in a clandestine way. Only a gripping encounter with God and a beautiful reconciling experience with his sibling, recorded in chapters 32-33, get him to the point where he really starts to face up to crucial matters and change and grow up.

Church members who flit and hop from church to church at the first sign of trouble or because they aren't noticed or appreciated enough or because their "needs" aren't being met or because they had a falling out with someone do themselves as well as the next congregation to which they link up a real disservice. There's no way we can advance in spiritual maturity if we're always on the run and not dealing with the internal heart issues and the external relational concerns that we find where we are now. And carrying our unfinished business and emotional garbage to the next church we join can hurt them. Local assemblies that push significant matters and conflicts under the rug without confronting them and handling them with loving truthfulness will usually be stymied and will often atrophy.

Certainly in churches where there is political manipulation, such as that cooked up by Jacob's mother, Rebekah, in Genesis 27 in order for him to get his father's blessing or where there are calculated attempts to get a group of people to conspire to achieve their own selfish ends, as we see with Joseph's brothers in chapter 37, anger, pain, hurt, and division will eventually surface. Deception and backroom manueverings seldom have positive conclusions in congregations. Little cliques and small groups of bitter folks who take church matters into their own hands usually make a mess of things.

We probably can best learn the right way to function in church life if we look at the example of the final of the great patriarchs, Joseph. He managed to straighten out years of multigenerational dysfunction and ultimately bring his family together in healing and reconciliation. And he didn't sacrifice truth to do it. Tears and the often difficult work of honest, loving confrontation pulled it off. See for yourself in chapters 42-50.

Maybe that old, old book of Genesis is the best manual we could ever find as we try to develop strong, healthy, thriving local fellowships in these challenging days!