The second thing we noticed was that in most churches, by the time members of Conference Staff or Association Committees on Ministry were invited in for dialogue it was much too late to be effective in any meaningful way. Often, they had been hearing misinformation fed to them for so long that by the time we were invited in they were ill-prepared to hear us speak with any kind of objectivity, and their presuppositions were so in-grained that nothing we said seemed to matter.

It was in the fall of 2003 that a Task Force from the St. Louis Association of the Missouri Mid-South Conference of the United Church of Christ met to do something about this. Every member of this task force had been involved in conversation and dialogue with leaders and members from Evangelical Church of the Redeemer United Church of Christ in the days and weeks that led up to the completion of their takeover. Having experienced first hand what those of us who had been doing this for years encountered over and over again, and having spent some significant time de-briefing after those very public dialogues with Redeemer, this Task Force pledged to come together to do something meaningful. And in the days that followed they wrote a five-page document that was sent to every church in the St. Louis Association.

This document was an attempt to inform churches about the early warning signs of church takeovers, in the hope that this information would prompt a pastor or lay leaders to become aware of an attack before it gets too late. It was written in a "Frequently Asked Questions" format, and included recommendations for pastors and lay leaders to act in certain ways once they became aware of any of the early warning signs.

Eventually, this document was presented to the Council of Conference Ministers at their Bi-annual gathering in December of 2004. It has served its purpose well, and is frequently referred to by David Runnion-Bareford - the current Director of the Biblical Witness Fellowship (one of the UCC's renewal groups with direct ties to the Institute on Religion and Democracy). He writes about it on their website in an article entitled "Fact vs. Fiction:"

"2005 - February - Conference Ministers issue a defensive letter attempting to transfer their personal responsibility for the loss of congregations and members to those who dissent. They include a crudely written, inaccurate and angry piece written by the Missouri conference alleging that there is a sinister conspiracy to undo the UCC. Only 7 of the 39 Conferences are willing to circulate the letter but the attempt of the Conference ministers to demonize their critics only deepens mistrust and division."

Among the things pastors and lay leaders are asked to listen and watch for as early warning signs are the following:

·    Hear members of the church refer to the UCC as `that liberal church' in a derogatory way.
·    Members are asked in private conversation or phone calls how they feel about the church being a part of the UCC (this is in essence a hunting expedition, and many members are called and asked this in seemingly innocent and innocuous ways without thinking anymore about it, and therefore do not report this piece of the conversation to their pastor or anyone else).
·    Printed resources are handed out and circulated (first in private, and eventually then to council members or others) slandering the UCC, purporting among other things that it does not believe in God, does not believe in the Bible, does not believe in Scripture, does not believe in the Trinity, etc.
·    Members receive calls from other members, or even family members and friends from other congregations and are asked to defend decisions made by the UCC with which they personally do not agree.

This has been an important resource for us. Informing church leaders about early warning signs has helped protect a number of churches. We have had a number of training events for our lay and clergy. We have begun the shift from dealing with this after it was far too late to informing proactive leaders about what could happen and how to prevent it.

note : this is part seven of an ongoing series.

Part 1: Religion Under Attack

Part 2: That Which We Call Renewal Groups

Part 3: Anatomy of an Attack: Part I

Part 4: The Role of the Pastor in an Attack: the Aggressor

Part 5: The Role of the Pastor: The Pacifier

Part 6: The Role of the Pastor: The Protector

Additonal material on this topic can be found on Talk To Action here

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