The local church suffers when cliques exist
Whether out of design or simply not noticing, it is easy for pastors and other church leaders not to be aware of cliques that form within a congregation. Unfortunately, pastors and church leaders can become a part of a clique or even seem to legitimize a clique if not careful. Within his first letter to Timothy, Paul offered sound advice to both Timothy and church leaders today. I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality (1 Timothy 5:21).
This verse doesn’t mean, as church leaders, we cannot have friends in the congregation. But what it does mean is that from the perspective of others, it should appear we treat everyone in the congregation equally. What we are willing to do for one we should be readily willing to do for all within the local New Testament church we serve. Again, this goes against our human nature, but the church is not for our human nature. It is to be a tiny sliver of Heaven – a piece of God’s kingdom on Earth.
Getting along with others means humbling our human nature
As I have shared before, I spent nearly eight years serving in the U.S. Army. Any veteran can tell you the military teaches and reinforces the idea that if a person in the unit cannot do their job, you toss them to the side and work around them. This has been a lesson I have had to unlearn since becoming a Christian and later surrendering to the Lord’s call into the ministry. I have been a member of churches where the pastor and church leaders were active in “clique management.” And there were others where the pastor and his wife had a clique of their own.
As a believer in Christ, Christianity isn’t just our religion or faith, and it is supposed to be our life philosophy, too. Learning how to live out our faith is the easy part, and living out what we learn can be more challenging. It’s humbling to reach out beyond our comfort zone, and it means reaching beyond those we feel the most at ease with and to others within the congregation. By doing so, we are showing the love of Christ for one another the way He has always intended us to do. Getting along with others – and making an effort to reach out to all within our local church – strengthens the local body of Christ.
COVID-19 has hurt a lot of people and churches; cliques add to the suffering
I live in Henderson, Kentucky, a small rural town located near Owensboro and Evansville, Indiana. In my area, several churches have not survived the lockdowns caused by reactions to the virus. I do not believe the lockdowns alone caused these churches to close, and I think that COVID-19 was simply the one more thing that happened that the local church could not overcome. Finances, low attendance, and lack of enthusiasm (lost their first love) were probably issues faced by the local church. Add those to the pressures of cliques placed on the congregation, and it is a recipe for disaster. Why would anyone want to go to church where they feel like an outsider?
The verses I shared earlier all give urgency to not creating schisms in the local body of Christ. When we learn to appreciate everyone in our local church for who they are, we strengthen the church. I believe Satan likes a church with cliques; the foundation for his work is done. He wants to weaken the effectiveness of the local church by damaging the reputation, the ability of the members to share the gospel, and the ability to strengthen the faith of its members. Cliques undermine the church’s effectiveness; they ruin the congregation’s cohesion and take the focus off the Lord. The result is the assembly suffers, and its effectiveness in the community declines.
Getting along with others starts with – me
It is always easy to believe it is always someone else’s responsibility to bring meaningful change to any church. It takes a step of faith and courage to say, “Lord, let me make the first step to make a difference.” And sometimes, that’s what it takes – allowing others to see us making an effort to change how we get along with others in our church. But don’t do this for the praise of others in your church. Do it because you believe it is the right thing to do. Maybe it means stopping by and helping someone out with a ride to the store or a doctor visit who attends church but cannot drive. Perhaps it means cooking and delivering a meal for a family in the congregation experiencing a hardship. If you are willing to do it for one family in your church, you should be ready to do it for anyone in the congregation!
I know that many churches out there don’t have a problem with cliques. Even though the cliques don’t exist, we can still treat others in the congregation differently for various reasons. Maybe it is because of their family, the type of job they have, or their background; these things should not matter to us. To summarize the advice of the apostle Paul, we are all a part of one body, and we have our talents and abilities into that body, and our local church does its best work for Christ when it comes together as one. And it starts with the condition of my heart – it starts with me.
