Ask any church planter, and he’ll tell you that one of the dangers of starting a new work is that it tends to attract all the people who are disaffected and discontented from the churches of the surrounding area. They have made an utter nuisance of themselves in their own churches, and they can make the church planter’s life miserable. They will soon be disenchanted and disillusioned with the new church and its less-than-perfect pastor. Such is the conventional wisdom, and it is truly wisdom.
On the other hand: When David escaped from Saul and fled to the cave of Adullam, he attracted all the disaffected and disillusioned malcontents from all over Israel: “everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter of soul, gathered to him” (1 Kings 22:2). Hardly the ideal core group, that; and hardly the kind of upwardly mobile tithing folks who can make sure that the building program stays on schedule. And yet, this is Israel in exile, the true Israel. And this is not David’s church growth program only: Moses did not have an ideal band to start Israel in the first place. Had all Jews been happy with the priests, Pharisees, and scribes, would they have flocked to Jesus? Jesus’ church, like David’s and Moses’, is, in the first instance, the church of the bitter of soul.
This provides an essential perspective on contemporary church life. Migrations, sometimes mass migrations, are common in the modern church. Denominations are built from the distressed and the bitter of soul. And this can be disastrous. But it can also be wonderful. Are the AMiA and the various other continuing Anglican communions, the PCA, the OPC, the OCRC, the URC, and many others the churches of the distressed? You bet they are. Might the bitter of soul who congregate in these churches become embittered with each other and fragment further? You bet they could. But these are living stones that may freshly rebuild the church. This is the way Christ builds His church, calling the weary and heavy laden to find relief, to find Jesus, in truly evangelical churches (which may not be “Evangelical”)
First Church of the Bitter ?Eit was good enough for Moses and David. It was good enough for Jesus.
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