READ: Lamentations 3:40-47
“And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.“ – 1 Kings 12:30
Jeroboam, the classic “departee”, established an alternative centre of worship for Israel. He made them think that there were alternatives to worshipping in Jerusalem. “Jerusalem is not the only place you can find God. You can also find God in Dan or in Bethel.” This is often the message of the people who leave.
When a pastor sets up a church near a ministry he used to belong to, what message do you think he is giving? He is saying to all and sundry , that there are alternatives to the church they have been attending. “Why don’t you try something new? You will discover a new experience of worship under my new leadership. You will be surprised to find that you can have everything that you had in the old place and more in my new alternative ministry .”
This is the unspoken but implied message of the multitudes of pastors who leave churches in anger and rebellion. They say, “I will teach you a lesson. I will show the whole world that there are alternatives to your ministry . We don’t all have to attend that man’s church. They destabilize the committed members by giving them other options. This message scatters the congregation and confuses them.
I have had associate pastors who have left me and started churches a short distance away . Why do you think they started these churches so near their former home? They wanted the very people who attended my church to see their new church as an alternative place of worship.