Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Does Church Discipline Have A Place In Today's Church?

How does one retain the position of pastor after repeatedly committing adultery? That is the question that has gone unanswered from the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church’s congregation. What is more, Bishop Earl Paulk lied about his affairs, even while under oath. Has Church Discipline lost its purpose? Has it been exchaned for the "Love at all Costs" popular doctrine? What about the qualifications of pastors?

The archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.

A former member by the name of Jan Royston also started an online support group for members who have left the church as an avenue for discussing how the church has hindered their spiritual life. Jan is quoted as saying, "This is a cult. And you escape from a cult," she said. "We all escaped."

You can read a 5 year study of the mega-church phenomenon which utilizes the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church here.

You can read more on the scandal here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The interesting observation, to me, is that the higher one is in the social (and, dare I say it, sometimes darwinian-esque environment) politics of a church, the harder it is to call something in plain sight to someone's attention. At the other end of the scale, though, the lesser sheep can be reproved for things that are not even within the legitimate scope of a church leader's purview.

B Nettles said...

Two words: false gospel