To Whom it May Concern at Churchname and the PCA,
There was a time in my life where I could not conceive of writing the letter that follows. These were mostly good times when I couldn’t fathom the series of events that would ultimately lead up to it. It’s the folly of youth to assume that change is always good and that those in positions of power have gained the wisdom and knowledge necessary to obtain that power, but I currently cannot think of a more sobering time to fully illustrate the point that this is not the case and not all those who have power deserve it. It’s with this in mind that I wish to formally renounce my membership at churchname and if necessary, the PCA.
Please let it be known that I rescind my membership under the leadership of the relatively new pastor, pastorname. It’s an understatement to say that I’ve not been involved in the church for some time, but in passing I can tell that his vision for churchname and many of his teachings illustrate a strong divide with my personal faith, and I no longer wish to have my name associated with his church or his methods. For too long now I’ve heard differing tales of his oddly specific sermons, which usually either involve the public shaming of individuals of the congregation on perceived slights, or, more frequently, simply have the cultural awareness of your average right wing blog and all the spiritual enlightment of the back of of a box of Froot Loops. I won’t waste time in the specifics, particularly in the inordinate amount of time that the pastor gives to the role of women in the household and how absolutely paramount it is that they submit frequently and promptly to their husband’s will, or the absurd notion that public schooling is anti-god and somehow takes away from one’s relationship with god. I spare the reader in these instances because I’d like to think that the reader would recognize them as what they are - regressive and ludicrous.
Now, until recently I’d been willing to pass this over as a simple difference of spiritual interpretation. It’s no secret how the literal biblical interpretation of certain bits was meant, just as during these times their relevancy is downplayed with good reason. Recent events however have lead me to believe that they were symptoms of a larger issue, that issue being that the pastor is simply not suited to the office of Pastor. Many things have given me pause, such as the decision to blatantly ask for more money/funding from widows within the church to fund the new church building, for instance. I should note here that when told this story, the person who recounted it made the very astute observation “In my day, the church gave widows money, not sought to take it away.” I find their assessment both accurate and a telling statement of how far astray the church has gone under pastor’s tutelage.
The breaking point however came somewhat recently when a particular member of the congregation told me their story. I’ll spare the names and deeds of those involved with the explicit caveat that Pastor (with at least some support by the elders) had in no small words made it clear to this person that their place in the church was forfiet unless they were come before the congregation and make a public repentance towards the sin of fornication. To be clear, the Pastor wanted to make a public spectacle of this person’s “spiritual growth”, the only reason for which I can fathom is that he must have run out of Scarlet letters to sew on people’s shirts.
I feel the need to clarify here that in this particular person’s story, this is far from the only time that Pastor overstepped his bounds as Pastor and conducted himself in a way unbecoming of a leader of a church, it’s simply the most egregious. I wholeheartedly support the decision by someone to come before a congregation and prostrate themselves in repentance if they feel as though it’s necessary, but the idea of forcing someone to proclaim a conversation that belongs between them, god almighty, and their pastor is so ridiculous to me that I think that any member adhering to even the basest of protestant teachings should take offense.
Perhaps even more troubling is pastor’s ability to twist high ranking members of the church against members of their own family and the spiritual family that elected them to prevent precisely this type of thing from occurring. It baffles me that men that I considered mentors that helped me move through adolescence have let things get so bad under pastor’s leadership. How they can continue to turn a blind eye to the abuse of their congregation and the twisting of the faith that binds the congregation is so far beyond me that I would be hard pressed to find words to describe it. The only plausible explanation that I can find is that the man is so unapologetically manipulative that he has the ability to make every criticism seem like an assault on common faith, which has clouded the judgement of these men, and I hope that they are able to shake that from their minds and see the man for what he truly is.
In short, Pastor and his teachings fall into the two categories of faith that I believed churchname was above for some time, primarily that of unrealistic judgement and subjugation. I believe at this point that it’s clear that pastor is not looking forward to adapting his word to a changing world and is not particularly burdened by the responsibility of encouraging spiritual growth within the congregation. I believe instead that the man is an egoist first and foremost, and seeks the utter control of any within his dominion that he deems beneath him. These tenets of his personal faith in himself seem to have caused long reaching issues into the congregation, and lead us down the road traveled so often by others in our area - rampant and uncalled for judgement of other sinners, and the control that that provides over others within our own ranks. If this regression continues, I would not be shocked to find that in short order, the alignment of beliefs within this organization will look less like it did several years ago when I believed that every member of the organization played an equal and fair role, and more along the line of our brothers and sisters of the baptist faith who wrangle snakes as faith. I’m loathe to admit which of the two the congregation may be leaning towards now.
I call on church leadership to realize what a toxic influence that the pastor is over this community, but lacking that, I will gladly remove my name from any organization that supports Pastor’s teachings and his demeanor towards the faith in general. I accept any and all penalties laid forth from that action, including my expulsion from the PCA.
I wish you all the best in growth and happy days in this life as well and the next,
Arsonist’s full name
