How Should Leaders Deal With Heresy
Inside The Church?
Consider these scenarios:
A new family comes to your church. They love your services, but also embrace lots of
error about the true meaning of the Christian faith. How do you help them before they
infect other people?
Here is another: A person who has attended your church for a few years becomes
enamored of a national ministry and thinks it is their calling to change your church to
match the ideas, vision and doctrines of that national ministry.
Scenario number three: Someone in leadership starts to teach things that undermine
your authority or doctrines you don’t agree with.
Scenario number four: another pastor or evangelist begins attending your church and
starts inviting people of your fellowship to their home. Soon, they begin holding home
meetings and inviting your members.
These are very real issues that pastors and ministry leaders face in one form or another
all the time.
To begin, we need to make a distinction between heresy and those with a different
vision than your church. There is a massive difference.
Not everyone who comes to your church is meant to be there. I know this goes against
a lot of church growth principles, but hear me out.
Every church should do their best to help people connect to God and their church. If
people come to your church for the first time, there is a ten percent chance they will
return. Your church needs to become intentional about getting them to come back the
second week. If they do, there is a 50% chance they will stay. If they return a third week
in a row, that statistic climbs to 80%.
I am all about doing what we can to get people to stick to our church. However, with that
said, sometimes people are just not meant to join you.
I have discovered that just because a new person has been a Christian for many years
does not mean that they are grounded in the faith. They may carry lots of baggage
behaviorally or doctrinally from many different sources. Your task as a leader is to
create processes to discover areas of need and then decide whether your church has
the capacity to address those needs.
What is the guest’s church background? Why did they leave their former church? Is
reconciliation possible with former leaders or church members?
When we started our current church, a woman attended who lived in the area. By
getting to know her, I discovered that she had been a long-time member of a church in a
nearby city. She had gotten hurt by things the pastor said and decided not to stay.
She loved our church and was with us for several months. Eventually, she came to a
place of forgiveness but found it difficult to grow spiritually.
After a frank discussion, it became apparent that God wanted to restore her relationship
with her former pastor. I urged her to get things right. She did, and returned to her
former church. That was not what I wanted, from a human standpoint. She was a gem
that really helped us in those early days, but I knew she did not fit our church. God
wanted to restore that relationship. She wasn’t meant to be part of our church. Our task
from God for her was finished.
To become part of what you are building, it is important that people be willing to follow
your leadership and direction. When people come your way and want to do “their”
ministry in your church, take a step back. Paul set the tone for those God has called to
your church.
In II Corinthians 8:5 Paul spoke about the Macedonian believers saying that their first
action was to “…give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.”
This is critical to bringing people from the attendance stage to the discipleship stage. Do
not invest time and energy into anyone not willing to offer themselves to you. Trouble
begins when newcomers feel their purpose is to change your church to do ministry
better.
If you’ve ever done any gardening, you know that the best time to prune tomato plants
is when they are young sprouts. The longer you wait to clip the sucker branches the
less fruitful the plant will be.
Let people know ASAP in a gentle way what your vision is and how you plan to help
them find their place in the Kingdom. Do not allow them to set up shop in your church
and do their own ministry. This is always a mistake unless they are fully submitted to
your leadership and direction.
Because of the Internet, church members become impressed by national speakers and
ministries. There is some great teaching on YouTube and websites that is generally
helpful to Christian growth. Of course, there are also lots of “fruits, flakes and nuts”
preaching all manner of unbalanced foolishness.
For example, there are many videos of men and women claiming to speak for God
about certain political views or predicting imminent catastrophes based on unproven
prophecies.
If someone in a place of responsibility begins to recommend one of these fruits, flakes
and nuts to other church members, you can have the seeds of division begin to grow
without knowing it. When you become aware of one of your leaders doing this, get some
coffee together and politely ask them not to continue. Discuss why that ministry is not
helpful to what you are trying to accomplish. If they are resistant, you need to relieve
them of their responsibility. That may seem harsh, but I will prove to you from scripture
in a moment that it is necessary.
A person is not a heretic if they disagree with the direction of your ministry. Christians
can disagree and still serve God. However, the scripture declares in Romans 16:17 to
watch out for those that cause divisions among you. They are a danger to your mission.
If any leader no longer agrees with your vision, it is time to part ways. It makes no
difference how much you like them or how much they financially support your church. If
they are not onboard with your God-appointed vision, you need to help them find
somewhere else to serve. The longer you wait, the more their attitudes will spread to
other members of your church.
As you read through scripture objectively, you will be amazed to see how tough the
apostles were about those who tried to introduce wrong teaching in churches. Paul
describes them as wolves in Acts 20. That is pretty serious stuff. Here is a smattering of
quotes from various New Testament writers. I want you to notice that unlike national
ministers that we discussed last week, Peter, Paul, Jude and others name names.
II Timothy 4:10-15: Paul identifies Demas as someone who loved this world and
deserted him. Alexander the coppersmith is someone who harmed Paul’s ministry and
he warned Timothy to steer clear of him saying that he would be judged by God for what
he did.
He also warns Timothy of ungodly people who preach that sin is not a big deal. All that
matters is grace. This is heretical teaching and Jude warns about people who live
immoral lives and claim that God is blessing them with visions and dreams.
Paul writes earlier about Hymenaeus and Philetus whose criticism of his ministry had
spread like cancer. (Timothy 2:17)
Peter warns that there will be false teachers among you. (Peter 2:1) Not from outside
mind you, but people on the inside of the church will lose their humility and servant's
heart to become spiritually prideful, thinking that their ideas and ways are superior to
everyone else. This is the deception that leads to heresy. He says that many will follow
their evil teaching and because of them, the way of truth will be slandered. This is really
serious stuff and just about no one wants to talk about it.
As a pastor, you are a shepherd. Jesus talks about the true shepherd in John chapter
10 who gives his life for the sheep. The hired hand runs when wolves come because
they are only interested in saving themselves. A true shepherd will fight wolves and do
whatever it takes to protect the flock of God.
I can tell you from decades in ministry that I have several wolf bites where those
bringing other doctrines have slandered my name because I opposed their heretical
teachings! It will cost you to stand for truth. People may leave you, lie about you and
curse you because you tell them, “no.”
We are not called to be wusses.
In this litigious society, you will wind up in court if you do what Paul did via letter, so
don’t do it! Be wise as a serpent, but harmless as a dove. (Matthew 10:16) Don’t use
Facebook or email to identify someone by name that is causing harm to the kingdom of
God. I am not saying to ignore the problem; just change your strategy.
On rare occasions, I have had to get clear about certain individuals who are a danger to
other believers. Typically, I will warn other leaders privately to be on guard and protect
their churches. This is not something I do lightly. Be certain you are not representing
people negatively out of a sense of hurt or personal dislike. At the other end of the
spectrum, we need to be wise as leaders to protect not just our local churches but be
mindful of the region.
More than ever it is vital for leaders to find a way to meet on a regular basis in your city
or town. Many of you are denominationally connected, but often those relationships are
far away and more professional. If we are diligent about protecting the character and
teaching of Christ in a region, we will see the Kingdom progress in our day. Nothing
destroys the move of the Holy Spirit like division and the personal agendas of false
teachers.
Paul charges Titus in chapter 3 verse 10:
“Talk once or twice to a person who tries to divide people into groups against
each other. If he does not stop, have nothing to do with him.”
It is sad to say, but there are still Christian people who see our churches as an
opportunity to create division for the express purpose of building their own ministries.
The key strategy they use is flattery, telling leaders and anyone who will listen how
much they love them and bless them when all the while they are, as Proverbs 29:5
says, “spreading a net for their feet.”
Heresy is empowered by Satan himself and as leaders; Christ calls us to be watchful.
As you read through the New Testament, notice how many times leaders are warned to
be alert to people who are seeking to gain followers by dividing your church.
This is kind of heavy today, but necessary. Because I have served in ministry over 40
years, I can tell you I have seen it all.
It pains me to say that I have seen men and women who started well in the faith,
become lifted up in pride. They became hyper-critical of other churches and leaders.
This actually happened to one of my closest friends who began undermining other
pastors and ministers in the region. I went to him in private and pleaded with him to
stop, but he held firm to his opinions and actions that harmed other churches. He
caused division in the body of Christ.
Our friendship is over until such time as he exhibits a change of heart. I joined the list of
leaders that he now criticizes. To this day, he doesn’t see that his own spiritual life is
based on self-righteousness rather than the righteousness of Christ.
I share this with you, because I know first-hand the cost of standing against false
teaching and Christians who attempt to divide the church to satisfy their own egos. It
requires courage to stand for righteousness. Those who love His Word will support you,
but others may be caught by the slander and choose to serve themselves.
I put together a download with the scriptures shared and some biblical thoughts about
dealing with divisive people here.
We end today’s podcast with a quote. This one from Sir Winston Churchill who said:
“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”