“Can the Local Church Leadership Say, ‘We Were Wrong’?” (An Open Letter)

[Thankful Jane]

Originally Posted by Terry

Touching the church: I've had that experience to. Of course Jane, the brother you spoke to implied the church = the ministry. As we know, the church is not limited by any ministry or publication house. The church includes all believers. I understand the phrase as meaning don't touch the ministry.

Here is the sad thing Terry: The brother who said "touches the church" meant "the church" not "the ministry." He was referring to the Local Church as defined by our "vision." By the time he said this to me, the "church" and "the ministry" were, for all practical purposes, treated as the very same thing, and the brothers and sisters (me included) thought and behaved as if they were the same thing.

Having learned from history, we are more clear today that these are two distinct things that should have been kept distinct. We now make a distinction between the Living Stream Ministry and the Local Church in our posts and our thoughts about our history, but this was not the case for many of us while we were there.

A little Texas history: When "ministry stations" first began in Texas (early 73 mabye), lip service was given to the church and the ministry being different and to the importance of not confusing them. We were told that the ministry meetings would not be held in the church meeting hall, and, as planned, our first few ministry station meetings were held offsite. Then without much explanation, that changed and we started using the hall on a non-church meeting night. We were just supposed to remember the church and the ministry were different. (Hindsight tells me this was most likely a financial decision.) We were on a fast slide from there. In a very short time (maybe even just a few weeks) the distinction was blurred and no longer talked about. Eventually, all the meetings were "ministry" meetings, and the last church meeting to be mingled (pardon the word choice) with the ministry, was the Lord's Table.

So, again, when the brother used the phrase "touches the church" he meant "touches the church," not "touches the ministry." The church was so mingled with the ministry that in the minds of the members (and leaders), they were one and the same.

Thankful Jane