This morning is a Sunday worth blogging about. Let me give you a back story:
One of our church's goals this year is to have a testimony each month from a member of the congregation. It could be a conversion testimony, but also "here's how God has been acting in my life" testimony. About 3 Sundays ago, a woman spoke about how God had helped her through jury duty on a very hard trial. Already very scared of public speaking, she spoke in detail about the trial she had served on - perhaps out of nervousness, perhaps out of a need to share every detail. But one thing was for sure: the details about the case were troubling in their detail. Several parents walked out of the service with their kids. It was very clear that the pastoral staff had not spoken with her in advance about what was appropriate to say in a testimony - and what was not. The head paster spoke briefly about it at the end of the service before the benediction, stating the basic premise behind the purpose and intention of testimonies and other words (which I can't remember), and we haven't heard about it since. I had nearly forgotten about it.
This Sunday the associate pastor, who I believe is also responsible for scheduling the testimonies, was speaking about evangelism. Using the illustration about Simon the Magician from Luke, he pointed out how evangelism is both about telling people the Gospel for the first time and coming along side those who are new to the faith and walking with them. And then he did something I don't think any of us were expecting:
He apologized to the whole congregation.
For something 3 weeks ago, which he could have easily swept under the rug.
He apologized for not coming along side the woman who testified, candidly admitting to not giving her the correct guidance and structure she would need for a Sunday morning testimony. He stated how the pastoral staff are putting procedures in place to provide the needed guidance for future testimonies. He also sincerely and genuinely thanked the woman for having the courage to talk about the experience and the strength to testify to God's goodness in a very hard time. And then he went on with the sermon.
Talking about this later, Jon and I were touched by his openness and vulnerability in front of the congregation. It's rare to see in men, rarer still from those in authority. And we don't think it could be better handled than it was. Certain the testimony had some very hard points to listen to and I remember thinking she clearly hadn't been coached before, actively tuning some parts of it out. However to have one of our church leaders very openly and genuinely admit to the mistake and state how they were changing course has fortified our trust in the church leadership, and their commitment to caring for the body, even if it means putting down their own egos, risking embarrassment and judgement, and doing what is right instead of what is convenient.
