The Effects of Church Split

Introduction

The issue of church splits/failure is not new to our ears. We’ve heard church wrangles for hundreds of years spanning across different denominations in the Christian sect.

The devil has found a massive stronghold that he uses to destroy the body of Christ. He does not work where there is unity. His system is to steal you from a fellowship, begin killing you slowly, and ultimately destroy your life.

He has been using this strategy from the beginning. That’s how we lost the eternal fellowship that God had planned.

After the ascension of Jesus to heaven, we see the gospel spreading fast like bush fire. The church was progressively growing, and there were thousands of new converts.

The development posed a threat to the devil and his kingdom. He had to look for a way to stop it. He then optimized the same strategy he used before in the Garden of Eden; splitting the fellowship.

A good example is a scenario that took place in the book of Acts 6:1-7. It can be considered as the genesis of Church wrangles in Christianity. There was a problem in the daily distribution among the church. The Hellenists complained that the Hebrews were sidelining their widows.

However, the disciples were keen not to let such an issue take a toll on the progress of their ministry. They quickly chose seven men, full of the Spirit, to do the task of distributing equally.

Although the issue was solved amicably, the event marked a new era in the church that would happen for years until now.

Today, the cases reported are numerous. Churches are failing left and right, and the gospel of Jesus Christ is being tarnished.  Now, this is the question; what should we do to evade this menace?

Well, we have to go back to the drawing board. By this, I mean, Jesus as the only solution.

So, in this eBook, you will get at least fifteen cases of church splits of failures that took a toll on the image of the church. These are recognized churches being led by some of the reputable men of God in society.

The eBook is not targeted to shame the “fallen” churches or ridicule their ministers. They are human beings, and they may have fallen to the trap of the enemy. The book is only to help you discover the potholes that the enemy uses to bring down the body of Christ.

Table of Content

 

Chapter One – Issue with Pastor

1. Pastor loses Job for misconduct
2. Pastor Failure Cause Rift between Congregation

• A splinter Church is formed after the central Church “goes into sin.”

1. Worship Leader’s Sins Splits Church in half
2. Pastor’s “Unholy” Preaching scatters the sheep
3. Sexual Allegations Forces Pastor to Step Down

 

Chapter Two – Worldly Politics

1. Pastor Forces Members to Vote for Bush

 

Chapter Three – Management/ Leadership

1. Election Row causes a fuss in church
2. Court Gives Church 30 Days to make peace among them

• Church Split over Administration

1. Election Row becomes a problem
2. 23 Arrested for causing a fight in church

 

Chapter Four – Fraud/Corruption

1. Megachurch brought down to the rubbles because of Fraud
2. Pastor and wife cons the congregation

• Church Treasurer Elopes with 1 $million

Chapter Five – Common Causes of Church Splits

Conclusion

Chapter One

Issue with Pastor

Sadly, this is one of the significant causes of church splits, and that’s why it’s topping our list. You must have at least heard or got involved in a church split in which some members did not agree with the presiding pastor over a specific issue.

The following examples were so severe that they hit the headlines.

       I.            Pastor loses “Job” for misconduct

This is the most recent case that made headlines to the Christian world. It took place in early February 2019. It all began when the presiding pastor got laid off from his church that he founded and pastored for over thirty years.

It was reported that there was a lot of controversies in his way of preaching and mishandling of the church’s finances.

Trouble began knocking on the pastor’s door when he said nasty and ungodly things to the Christian world Magazine and a freelance Journalist.

Things escalated and before he knew it, the church elders saw it better to lay him off from the church leadership.

Of course, the congregation couldn’t come to terms with what was happening. This was a pastor that had been widely known and had done this duty for a long time. No one could ever think that he would fall for minimal issues.

Since then, the church is still underway in looking for a replacement.

    II.            Church Splits after Pastor linked to extra Marital Affair

The devil can use any means to cause a stir in the church. One of his primary targets is always the marriage/family. It can be the children who are giving the pastor rough times because of their conduct, or the marriage is on the verge of breaking.

An example is a church in Durban, South Africa that has stood for many years. By the time it was splitting, the congregation was a whopping 7000 people.

When news broke out that the assistant pastor was having an affair outside marriage, it caused a stir, and the church member could not stand it.

Now, the problem might have been avoided. The senior pastor announced it on the church which was uncalled for. As a minister, there could have been a way of handling the matter rather than blurting it out in full glare of the congregation.

Because of this, the assistant pastor could do nothing else but resign. The church was split into two with one group saying that the senior pastor was on the wrong for announcing such a thing in the church. They also said the claims were false.

On the other hand, the other group could not stand the conduct of the assistant pastor and demanded that he gets fired. That was the end of the influential church and bouncing back to its current position would not take a day.

III.            A splinter Church is formed after the central Church “goes into sin.”

One of the most controversial churches in Kenya received yet another blow after a group split from its administration.

The pastors of the splinter churches alleged that the main church had gotten into “sin.” It’s not yet unclear what sin the pastor did. However, with the tone of the pastor, it seemed as if it was a “big sin.”

All in all, the founding pastor of the church had recently found himself on the wrong side numerous times.

They included cases of corruption, poor management of the resource, and fake miracles. The latest which caused an uproar in the country is the accident that claimed the life of a woman. It’s reported that the pastor was the one on the wheels and escaped after the incident.

Some of the other issues pointed out by the splitting church included being separated from the main church. The founding pastor was not interested with any activity they had but only managed to send delegates, which they did not take well.

Anyway, the splitting church was furious and saw it better to leave. So far, there has not been any report from the other side which hints that the claims may be true.

 IV.            Worship Leader’s Sins Splits Church in half

It’s not only pastors that find themselves on the wrong. Even some of the reputable members of the church like the choir and church elders.

And whenever this happens, the impact is still the same, more so if the presiding pastor doesn’t handle the situation with wisdom.

It’s the same case that happened in a church in Veneta that ended up closing for one month before the issue was resolved. The music minister found himself in trouble with a severe allegation. It had been reported that he had sexually molested two teenage boys and raped one girl.

The executive superintendent of the area argued that the church was closed because the pastors and other leaders failed to comply with authorities. On the other hand, the pastor argued that the Music minister’s case was being shielded.

The case left a deep cut on their trust, and most of the members have decided to leave the church. They find it hard to believe what the music minister did as it doesn’t resonate with the tenets of the bible.

 

    V.            Pastor’s “Unholy” Preaching scatters the sheep

Washington DC was brought to a standstill when a church based in Seattle announced that it was closing down three of its branches. The members of these branches were told to go to another church branch in Ballard.

The branch pastor had occasionally found himself in the limelight for the wrong reasons, and the recent closures were all attributed to him.

He is one of those tough preachers that will say anything “carelessly” from the pulpit. He had recently attacked some of his colleague pastors by touching sensitive parts of their lives like marriages. It was not taken well by the congregants causing quite a stir.

Some of his comments have been termed as “unholy” and should not be heard in a church, more so from a pastor’s mouth.

He goes into a swearing spree from the pulpit and attacks the sexual lives of both pastors and the congregants. If you are a woman and were planning of attending the church, make sure that your husband is happy in the marriage.

It was not surprising when the pastor was charged with numerous counts on August 21. Some of the charges included workplace bullying, abuse, and creating an environment of fear among other workers in the church.

 VI.            Sexual Allegations Forces Pastor to Step Down

A sexual allegation against one of the most prominent pastors in Chicago forced him to step down. The congregants of the church founded in the mid-70s were brought to an utter shock when they found out that their pastor was resigning.

What’s saddening is that a part of the church knew all the allegations, but didn’t know how to respond. It’s just that they loved and respected their pastor. They couldn’t stand up to question him until the authorities stepped in to handle the matter.

Some of the “early signs” church members had seen and ignored include suggestive comments, unwanted invitations to hotel rooms and extended hugs.

Also, the pastor had been accused of an extra-marital affair with a certain woman whom he recanted. However, the woman confirmed that they were indeed a couple which hurt his marriage.

Other staff members have gained the confidence to come out and witness against the pastor. One of them was a staff member reported that the pastor had made numerous sexual comments about her.

Other women came through and confirmed that the pastor was indeed a sexist in a priest’s coat.

The issue has caused a stir in the church and destroyed its image. It has created a bad picture of the church that would take quite some time before it’s cleansed. A majority of the congregation split from the church as they did not want to be associated with it.

 

 

Chapter Two

Worldly Politics

Politics are not bad. It only becomes an issue when it’s taken to the pulpit. Since everyone has their own choice, when someone talks ill against their opponent, automatically they feel offended.

Today’s politics is not like the ones we read on the bible. God himself chose the Kings in Israel so there was no human intervention. Also, the Kingdoms were hereditary unless the king disobeyed God and He had to choose someone else from a different family.

That’s not so today. Most of the countries are in a system of democracy where everyone votes for the person he thinks is the best. The winner takes the day.

Politics are always dirty. It’s full of lies, hate, malice, division, foul words, and sometimes murder. So whenever, it’s introduced to the church, some of the characteristics must manifest. Here are a few examples.

        i.            Pastor Forces Members to Vote for Bush

The incident took place in May 2005 when the campaign for the next president in the USA was hot. The then-President George Bush and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry were hitting each other’s head-on due to the issue of abortion.

A pastor was a die-hard supporter of George Bush, and it’s reported that he took this to the pulpit. He said that anyone who did not support Bush was a sinner and should repent.

It caused quite a stir, and nine of them who thought otherwise were ousted from the church.

It didn’t take long before the pastor announced that he was stepping down. The main reason; He was hurting his family. He was later taken to court on the matter of abortion that he had touched on.

Some members of the church who were supporting him didn’t see anything wrong. According to a certain woman, the pastor was preaching the true doctrine. He didn’t have to go through all that.

Ultimately, the church image had been tainted, and many members left the church before they could find a replacement.

 

Chapter Three

Management/Leadership

Most of the churches that split/fails have their issues begin from the leaders. It’s the most effective strategy that the devil uses in his divide-and-rule system.

When one leader does not agree with the other and they don’t get an easy way of handling the issue, splitting is always the “best” option.

       I.            Election Row causes a fuss in church

This is an unfortunate event that broke in between a church of more than 10000 members, all in the name of a disputed election. This saw over twenty churches breaking away from the Pentecostal Assemblies of God.

All began when they could not agree to settle on the chosen overseer. Two of the first runners couldn’t agree with the results.

The presiding pastor could not get into the idea that he was beaten and insinuated that the elections had been rigged. He then decided to depart from with over twenty church branches. They went ahead to form the Reformed Pentecostal Assemblies of God church.

The situation was so bad that the authorities had to step in before the congregants could exchange blows. The team belonging to the presiding pastor swore that they wouldn’t let the “chosen” pastor be ordained.

They formed a barrier and would not deter from hurting anyone that tried to disrupt their quest. Before the head of PAG in Kenya could get wind of the incident, the situation had gotten off hand.

    II.            Court Gives Church 30 Days to make peace among themselves

Rock church in Manhattan in New York has hit by numerous rocks to its foundation. The church is always under war against each other for no good reason.

However, the recent one went beyond boundaries, and the authorities came in before the matter could get out of hand. The court gave them one month to settle their differences, or it would do it in which not everyone would be happy.

It all began in early 2016 when the presiding pastor was arrested for allegedly stealing money from the offering basket. The situation was difficult, and fists were nearly exchanged. Thanks to the police who came on time.

The incidence was just an omen of what was to happen in the future.

Now this time, the issue of controversy was the new board of trustees that was to be chosen. The pastor and the board chairman could not arrive at a consensus.

According to the church’s custom, the pastor is in charge of choosing the members that are supposed to vote.  And the board chairman is the one to choose the people vying for the position. Since they could not come to the same page, it was impossible to conduct the election.

The court refused to send in the third eye to oversee the election but gave the church an opportunity to exercise their religious beliefs among themselves without fighting.

III.            Church Split over Administration

A renowned PAG church in Uganda harboring over 300,000 believers across 4500 branches was torn in the middle over a case of leadership.

The two sides have been on each other’s neck for over five years. The incident brought the long-lasting feud into an end with over 23 branches breaking from the church headquarters based in Uganda.

The problems began when the Bishop based in Lira was terminated from acting as a pastor. The reason for termination; he had been alleged to have mismanaged finance and had poor administration.

The better part of the church was not in terms with this decision and caused a stir. The opposing group was for the idea and hence what ensued afterward were streaks of fistfights. If the police could not have stepped in, there could be bloodshed.

One of the Government officials tried to solve the matter without success. Since the embattled minister had a significant following and still many trusted him as their only go-to pastor, he advised him to go and open a church of his own.

 IV.            Election Row becomes a problem

One time the disciples of Jesus decided to debate on who would be their next leader after Jesus had departed.

They questioned among themselves, and it seemed as Peter was likely to be the head. However, Jesus taught them a valuable lesson. By the washing of their feet, he symbolized that the most humble disciple would be their leader.

Well, a church in Delhi found itself in the same situation, but they didn’t know how to handle it. What came out later would be a series of fights and quarrels.

The problem arose when the presiding pastor’s turn to leave the top seat. One side of the church was against the idea while the other could not wait for the ousting of the pastor. It caused a split in between the congregation.

The opposing team did not want the pastor to stay. They wanted a change since they claimed the pastor was not the right fit and had become “irresponsible.” He had served them long enough and was “old.” They wanted somebody new that would lead the church with the right doctrine.

On the other hand, the opposite group loved the pastor and did not want him to go. They claimed that the different group wanted to change the pastor for no good reason. The decision was left on the hands of the board of directors that were to be chosen first before the election.

    V.            23 Arrested for causing a fight in church

This an explicit example of what disagreement in leadership can do. The scenario was so severe that the police had to step in. It changed from a regular church wrangle to a criminal case.

On the wake of one Sunday, in one the renowned churches in South Africa, the church was brought to a standstill by a fight of two enemy groups. The brawl led to the injuring of some members who were rushed to the hospital.

All began when the presiding pastor passed, leaving a position that he alone could choose. Since the members could not come to a consensus, the two groups opted to settle the matter physically.

When the police arrived, they were able to recover a 20 Liters of petrol, a knife, and sticks. It seemed as if the rival groups were prepared to cause harm to the other team. The police were able to arrest 23 suspects. Most of these were young people in the church aged between 15 to 23 years.

 

 

Chapter Four

Fraud/ Corruption

When the church forgets its first call, this is what you must expect. That’s why Paul told Timothy that the love of money is the root of all evil. It acts as a hindrance to the brotherly fellowship.

Anytime money becomes the bigger picture in a church, Jesus is diminished, and wrangles begin. The result is either one of these two; complete fall out if the church or the gospel turned from Jesus to the prosperity gospel which is now spreading like bush fire.

       I.            Megachurch brought down to the rubbles because of Fraud

The scandal at one of the prestigious churches in Singapore is considered to be the most prominent fraud cases that hit the headlines in the country.

The church is one of the wealthiest churches in the area. The congregation can sum up to 30,000 per Sunday across the 15 services held every weekend. The church’s touch of royalty is seen in the posh cars the pastors drive and its design. The church indeed cost millions of money.

All began with the pastor’s wife, who is a singer that allegedly used over $35 M to support her music industry to reach to the non-Christians.

It’s reported that at least six church leaders, including the leading pastor, took over $24M Singaporean dollars from the church to fake investments. However, the money was used to fuel her wife’s pop career, and they used an additional $26M for a cover-up.

What’s bring the house down is that all of the accused said that they did nothing wrong. After all, they wanted to “spread the gospel.”

The judge’s report was not a shock. He said that they were acting dishonesty with churches’ money. It was termed as stealing from their members. On the other hand, the accused were sure that they had their members’ support and occasionally asked for prayers during their “trying” times.

    II.            Pastor and wife cons the congregation

Sometimes it’s hard to believe some of the things you may hear. However, remember that we are in the last days, and these are the things that Jesus had prophesied.

In some of the incidences, you may find yourself in a dilemma since you don’t know who to point fingers on. This is such a case. Whether it’s the pastors or the congregation’s fault, you never know.

It is reported that the pastor of a well known church in Alexandria USA scammed its congregation over $2 million in the name of “helping entrepreneurs in developing countries.” The reason for the investment smelt a scam from afar, but nobody was bold enough to ask.

The money collected was not used for the purpose on book. It’s reported that the couple-pastors used the cash for personal expenditure. $1.75 million of the money was spent on purchasing a home in Springfield. The remainder of the money was used to lure “new investors.”

That’s not all. The couple used some to start a new company focusing on the Nigerian Oil Industry. The company failed, and the investors lost over $600,000. They used their “proceeds” to pay their rent and go for golf games.

The couple was arrested with 31 and 7 counts against the pastor and his wife respectively. The intriguing thing is that the pastor did not plead guilty despite the many pieces of evidence provided against him. He claimed that whatever he’d done didn’t come from his heart. In the wake of all these, most of the member left the church. They had lost faith in their pastor. It was too much to take.

 III.            Church Treasurer Elopes with 1 $million

It’s not only the pastor’s that steals money from the church, but even the board members also want to have a share of the meal. This is what happened in a Hyde Park church.

The treasurer that had been given the duty of taking care of the church’s finances couldn’t resist the temptation. This is the same temptation that overtook Judas since he used to help himself with money meant for Jesus’ ministry.

It was unfortunate as the culprit was able to flee to Venezuela before the authorities could get her. She was able to run away with over 1 million dollars.

Surprisingly, it was not her first offend. The 52-year-old had been charged with two similar cases in the 80s. So she was not green in this area. The detectives were able to know this when they checked her criminal record. It was too late, though.

 

 

Common Causes of Church Splits

To begin with, church splits/failure is common in the body of Christ today. However, this doesn’t mean that we should sit back and watch as the church of God is destroyed by the enemy.

There’s one trend across all the church splits we’ve looked at. It all begins with a sin that encroaches stealthily to its victims who are caught unaware.

God does not allow anything to happen before he has warned us. If the Holy Spirit is evident in the churches, He must have alerted the congregation of the impending danger.

So what are the leading causes of church splits? We will cover them in general, fewer than four points.

·        Spiritual Slumber

When you are sleeping, you don’t know what’s happening around you. You are probably on the mercies of your door locks, lest anyone breaks into your house and harm you. We are lucky that as the children of God, He watches over us as we sleep.

However, the fact remains that you are defenseless, and your enemy can do anything to you during that time. Now, how much more do you think we are in danger when we sleep spiritually? By this, I mean not praying, not reading the bible, and not taking time to fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

Nothing excites the devil like a sleeping church. He gets the full authority to work and plant his seeds of discord. He receives an excellent opportunity to work since there is no opposition.

Jesus gave a parable in the book of Mathew 13:25 about this.

When the people slept, the enemy crept into the wheat farm and planted weeds. It doesn’t matter how good your church is and how the pastor is loving. Once you go into slumber-land, he comes and plants.

In these cases, we’ve not seen anywhere where the church involved going together in prayer to call unto the name of God for forgiveness.

·        Fleshly Desires

For a long time, the number-one enemy of the body of Christ in our bodies. The flesh tends to reject the word of God. It can’t stand the instructions of God, and it only finds pleasure in disobeying it. It’s, therefore, one of the many mediums Satan uses to destroy the body of Christ.

James, the apostle, knew the danger of the flesh. He knew what it could cause and the effects it has inside the fellowship of brethren.

He asks in the book of James 4:1,

 “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires that war against your members?”

Most of the cases we’ve seen above, more so from the category of Management/ Leadership, it all begins with that small desire to be the one on top. Slowly, it invades and brings its brothers who are jealousy and pride. Within a short time, a fight ensues.

·        Ignoring the work of the Holy Spirit

Remember we said that nothing could happen to the church before God warns anyone. So it shouldn’t be a surprise when we hear of such cases.

There is one problem, though: we are shunning away from the Holy Spirit every day. We deny his work in our lives. We don’t acknowledge that he is our helper and want to do things our way.

The church every day is becoming like the world, yet we want to see the power of God whom we have given the backseat. The devil laughs menacingly when he sees that we are becoming religious. He gets an opportunity to creep in our midst and begins to split us apart.

Once we give the Holy Spirit back his way in our lives, then we are strengthened to fight off the evil one.

What is the solution then?

The church is like a hospital where people come with various ailments.  They want to be treated and go back to their homes healed. It’s, therefore, dangerous if they come to the hospital, and instead of receiving their healing, they get more “infections.”

We have to stop this. The only way is to change the way we approach the situation.

As men of God, we find ourselves being hurt by our church members and even our pastor colleagues. Sometimes the enemy takes the better of us, and we fall into sin. Since some people view as supernatural humans, they don’t understand why we fall, and we become the center-stage of talks.

When the families of David and his men had been taken captive by the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 30, everyone turned against him. They wanted to stone him.

However, David strengthened himself in the Lord and inquired from God if he should follow his enemies. God gave him the go-ahead, and he was able to capture them and restore the families and all the spoil.

Now, the approach of David is what creates the difference. If he could have fought back at his soldier, most probably there would have been a split, and he would have been stoned. But, de decided to ask God.

The primary Answer

There are many ways to stop church splits and failures. However, it all begins from repenting and starting over again with God.

Pastors are not super-humans. The enemy can attack them, and if we had not prayed for their protection, they fall into the enemies traps. Why do you think Jesus added “and let us not fall into temptation” part in the Lord’s Prayer. He knew the power of the devil. He even tried to lure Jesus to misuse his power.

Let us not undermine the power of the enemy as much as we God’s children, the enemy knows where to hit us so that we can become a bad image to the society.

The Takeaway

A church is not a building but the fellowship of believers. One of the characteristics of a triumphant church is oneness in the Spirit. It’s the only way to keep knitted by the bond of love. The enemy can’t have a footstool against us.

All in all, we need to pray to God that He may fill us by his Spirit, who is our only help. Once He is in our midst, He does the work of teaching us the ways of the Lord. We will be so engrossed unto the teachings that the enemy will not change our attention to him.