22003letter

Los Angeles Church Apology Letter

Elders and Evangelists of the L A Church of Christ
- Tuesday, February 25, 2003

An Apology to the Christians of the Los Angeles Church
of Christ:

From: The LA Elders, Super Regional and Regional
Evangelists and Women’s’ Ministry Leaders

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you
to live a life worthy of the
calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient,
bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the
unity of the
Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit–just
as
you were called to one hope when you were called–one Lord, one
faith, one
baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through
all and in
all."

Ephesians 4:1-6

In 1989, a small group of disciples started the Los
Angeles Church of Christ
with a dream of being able "to win as many as possible"
(1 Corinthians
9:19). Since that time, we have seen the Lord do amazing things,
not only
here in LA, but also in the churches that LA planted, such as Moscow
and
Vietnam. We are incredibly thankful for the sacrifices of so many
churches
and individuals who together have made that dream in Los Angeles
become a
reality.

God has also disciplined us. In November 2001, after
receiving counsel from
several elders and evangelists, Kip McKean resigned as the leader
of the LA
Church. At that time, a significant change in the leadership structure
took
place. Rather than being led by one individual, a team of evangelists
and
elders began working together side by side with their wives to lead
the LA
church. This decision was made out of a growing conviction that
a
functioning leadership team was the Biblical model for a mature
church.

As soon as the new leadership was in place, two changes
were made in January
of 2002. First, statistics ceased to be used to motivate and inspire.
The
use of numbers had caused some to be boastful, proud, manipulative,
abusive
and deceitful, and others to feel completely defeated and discouraged.
We
apologize to any of you who were made to feel that way. Secondly,
to alter
the need for ever-increasing special contributions, serious efforts
were
made to reduce our spending to the level that the disciples were
actually
willing to give in their weekly contributions. Staffs were cut by
more than
20 percent, responsible budgets were created, and significant efforts
were
made to increase the efficiency of the remaining administrative
and ministry
staff

Over the last 15 months, many things have had a deep
impact on us –
including the articles and lessons of several teachers, evangelists
and
elders that were preached, taught, published, mailed and e-mailed
as well as
many conversations and correspondence with other members of the
church.
This input has helped us to develop deeper realizations of needed
changes
and a godly sorrow for our sins. These understandings have also
come about
through much prayer, study, reflection, soul-searching and discussions
with
many others inside and outside the LA Church. We are thankful for
each of
the honest and direct talks which we have had with so many, both
from the
paid and non-paid ministry. They have been invaluable. Recently
the LA
consensus group, the region evangelists, elders, and several non-staff
people met together to listen to one another and come to some very
definitive convictions. We want to share our convictions of ways
that we
have sinned against you and others:

1) Arrogance in the staff — Matthew 20:25-28
We have allowed a tremendous gulf to develop in many parts of the
church between those in the paid ministry and those who are not.
This gap
has occurred because too often we have been difficult to approach,
question,
challenge and correct. Not only have we not solicited input and
listened
enough, but we have not encouraged the rest of the staff to do so
either.
We have not valued and respected the tremendous gifts and talents
of the
majority of you, our brothers and sisters. Also, at times more grace
was
extended to leaders in dealing with their faults and sins than to
everyone
else in direct opposition to James 3:1. This was disrespectful,
prideful,
and arrogant. To bridge the gap, advisory groups composed of non-paid
disciples are being organized in every region. We believe there
must be
more accountability of the lives and compensation of the paid staff
as well
as more involvement of mature non-staff members in setting policy
and the
budgets of the church. Deacons need to be selected in every region
to
provide greater financial oversight of the church as well as to
identify and
meet spiritual needs
in the church. We are urging these to be in place as soon as possible,
certainly in the next few months.

2) Weakening other churches — Philippians 2:3-4
We tolerated and, in some cases, participated in calling for people
and money to be sent from other churches to strengthen the LA church,
regardless of the weakening effect on the sending church. This was
incredibly selfish and wrong. We want to become known as a "giving"
church
rather than a "taking" church.

3) Giving Through Compulsion — 2 Corinthians 9: 6-8
Rather than appealing to you to give financially from your hearts
and
from the overflow of your love for God, we too often made you feel
compelled
and coerced to give a required amount, both in the weekly as well
as the
special contributions. This is completely against the teachings
of the New
Testament concerning giving and offerings and prevented many of
you from
giving cheerfully. The sin was compounded by what were at times
unreasonable budget increases that should have been prevented by
better
planning. We are thankful for all of you who have had good and generous
hearts through your many years as disciples in spite of these things.

4) Authoritarian discipling — Ephesians 5:21
We participated in an authoritarian discipling structure where advice
was too often perceived as command. Some felt controlled and manipulated.

This was abusive and sinful. We have not been servant leaders and
apologize
for allowing power to be abused at the top leadership levels. We
realize
this spirit and environment influenced even the youngest of Christians.

Although we definitely believe in Biblical discipling relationships
and the
need to be involved in each others’ lives, as taught in the many
"one
another" verses, many relationships need to be redefined so
that they are
filled with mutual trust, honesty, humility and approachability.

5) Improper Teaching of the One True Church — Ephesians
4:1-7; 1
Corinthians 12:13
We realize that our teaching of the one true church has come across
as
exclusive and arrogant. Although some of this was addressed by Kip
two
years ago at our "Jubilee", we have been too slow in making
sure that the
teaching was adequately changed. We do need to teach the "one
way to
salvation" as taught in the Bible, and let God determine who
is in his one
universal church. More thorough teaching on this will be in the
near
future.

6) Not Emphasizing the Greatest Commandments — Matthew
22:37-40
Too many times converting others to Christ was almost the only measure
of a disciple’s spirituality. Making disciples was emphasized far
more than
loving God with your whole heart. Fruitfulness is certainly an outgrowth
of
our love for God and continued growth as a Christian (2 Peter 1:5-9),
but
our unbalanced emphasis has discouraged and defeated some to the
point that
they felt worthless as Christians. This was sinful and wrong. Although
winning the lost will always be an expected commitment of Christ
and His
church (Matthew 28:18-20), we will also be just as committed to
loving God
and one another and strive to have a more Biblical and complete
understanding of spirituality

7) Not Fulfilling the Role of the Elders — 1 Peter
5:1-4
The authority of the elders was not recognized, and so consequently
they had very little influence over decisions, even though they
are expected
by God to be the overseers of the church (Acts 20:28). To our shame,
we
served as evangelists and elders and yet allowed this to happen.
We have
repented, and the church now functions with a consensus leadership
group of
elders and evangelists with the elders in an oversight role. Our
goal is to
train, raise up, and appoint more elders (particularly from the
non-paid
membership) to shepherd the congregation and each region of the
LA church.

8) Abusive Accountability — Ephesians 2:8-10
Too much of our accountability became abusive. The accountability
exercised by many concerning commitments to Men’s Days, Women’s
Days, church
services, giving and other activities and events was excessive and
demeaning. There was no excuse for any of us applying accountability
in
this way. This strict accountability fostered a reliance on human
wisdom
and works instead of a motivation to serve due to the appreciation
of God’s
saving grace through faith.

9) Not Teaching the Bible in Depth — Hebrews 5:11-6:3
We have not seen to it that the staff has been trained in the Bible
as they
should and that the flock has been fed the Scriptures in depth.
Too often
sermons and midweek lessons have left our members hungry. While
all
Christians have responsibility for their own walk with God and knowledge
of
the Scriptures, we need to inspire and lead them to the Word.

10) Discouraging Older Disciples — Ephesians 4:11-16
As the church has grown and our members have grown older, our leadership
has
not matured to meet the needs of those who have been disciples for
several
years. Many of the sins listed above have led many of the older
disciples
to feel discounted, disrespected, discouraged and disheartened.
We deeply
apologize and ask for help in finding new ways to utilize the incredible
experience of the long-term faithful disciples.

These sins have not just been isolated events, but
a culture that was
created and allowed to continue in much of the LA church. We are
committed
to changing this culture to become more Christ-like. We are deeply
sorry
for every sin we committed and every sin we tolerated in all these
areas.
Some have asked "how could we have let these things happen?"
The things we
have outlined here in this letter were certainly major contributing
factors.

Although there are many reasons why people leave
the church, there are some
who have left because of these sins and abuses. Many others have
stayed and
persevered in spite of them. We know that we cannot undo what has
been
done, but we want to be broken, repent and ask your forgiveness.
Please do
not interpret the brevity of these confessions to fully indicate
the depth
of our conviction. We realize that there was much that could be
said about
them all, and we desire to elaborate further in other individual
conversations and lessons. As we are made aware of those who were
hurt by
these sins, efforts will be made to reach out to them and to ask
for
forgiveness. Any assistance in accomplishing this would be welcomed.
This
letter is only one step in the process of change. The advisory and
deacons’
groups of non-paid members is an additional step. In-depth Biblical
teaching has already begun to occur in some regions on such subjects
as
respectful discipling, heartfelt giving and other topics. We are
definitely
available to those who will desire to discuss these matters further
and
welcome suggestions on how to correct our past mistakes and move
forward.

There have been many conversations, many tears, many
confrontations, many
rebukes, and many confessions that have led us to the progress we
have made
so far. It has been easy for us to see some things and not so easy
to see
others. We are sorry that we have not more quickly seen these things
and
shared them with you. Your patience has been remarkable. For all
of these
sins, we beg your forgiveness. We are absolutely committed to change.
We
know in spite of this commitment, we will still make mistakes, we
will
stumble and we will fall. We need your help and support to make
these
changes deep and long lasting. We plead for your continued patience
and
prayers as we strive to make radical changes in these areas as well
as stay
open to the additional ones that we still need to make. This letter
is
intended to convey more specifically to the entire LA church the
heartfelt
sorrow we all feel and our commitment to change. Perhaps some of
you have
already started to see the effects of our repentance over the last
fifteen
months. However, we know there is still much more to do.

We do know that in spite of our many weaknesses and
sins, the Lord’s church
is still amazing. God has been able to perform so many miracles
over the
last 13 years. He has blessed all of our lives with far more than
we would
have ever found in the world. But, where do we go from here? The
Bible
teaches that Christ’s church needs the leadership of elders and
evangelists
(Ephesians 4:11). Although we have fallen short in so many ways,
we desire
and are committed to being the leaders that God has called us to
be: men
and women after His own heart–not perfect, but completely humble
and
gentle, committed to righteousness and the unity of this great church.
We
are committed to implementing all of the changes outlined above
to enable us
as a church to bring greater glory to God.

We deeply love the family of God here in Los Angeles
and have so much gratitude and affection for all of you. We look
forward to a stronger and closer partnership in the Gospel as we
strive to become more like Jesus, make it to heaven and take as
many as possible with us. Through repentance and forgiveness, may
we all let the God of grace renew in each of our hearts the dream
that began the day we were baptized into Christ.