One day, in Children’s church, a challenge arose between a Christian brother and myself. This brother was a deacon and a good friend of mine, and we had worked together on several occasions in children’s ministry. We both had led Children’s ministry activities at various times, but this time he was helping me while I was in charge of the classroom.
During class time, while this brother helped me, the children kept asking me if we could do activities other than the ones I had prepared to go with the lesson for the day. When I said “no” because I didn’t have the supplies or the time to prepare for that activity, the children would tell me that my brother-in-Christ had told them they could do what they suggested.
The challenge with this was that I was following a curriculum lesson plan and had previously purchased the supplies and prepared the activities for that lesson. I did not have the items needed for the children’s suggested activities; nor did they go with the lesson for the day.
In addition, I was not sure if the children had really got permission from my Christian brother or not. Since time was short, I didn’t want to stop for a lengthy discussion about what we were going to do. Neither did I want to have to start from scratch to plan a whole new set of lessons and activities when Children’s church was already in progress.
This confusion kept coming up, and three children told me this same story. Therefore, I had three other suggestions of what to do in class. Because this Christian brother was a Deacon I was confused, and didn’t know how to handle the situation properly. Because of the confusion, I thought it would be better not to have him help in Children’s church anymore. I told him I thought our “callings” were conflicting with one another, causing confusion. I intended to go talk with this brother later, after I had some time to think about what to say. But before I got back with him, other problems arose and I spaced it.
Later this Christian brother came to me and asked me about the situation again. I tried to explain what had happened, and apologized for not getting back to him. My brother-in-Christ forgave me, and said he should have come to me sooner because we probably could have worked things out. I believe he was right, and if this situation comes up again, I will try to handle it differently.
If there is any indication that you may be faced with confusion in the ranks, take the necessary steps to clarify the situation promptly. If you don’t, Satan can use the confusion to ruin relationships and cause division in the church. When this happens, Satan manages to make God’s people ineffective at their work because they either have anger or unforgiveness in their hearts or they are focused on the confusion and the hurt inside of themselves, instead of on God.
Church leadership can help with this challenge by establishing rules and informing those ministering in classes about how to handle this type of situation. I appreciate and respect our church leadership but sometimes it helps to know how to handle the difficult circumstances that can cause confusion in the ranks.
So beware of the challenge of confusion in the ranks and settle matters quickly so Satan can’t get a foothold in the church and use it to conquer and divide. If the confusion continues, it can cause a lot of contention in the church and even lead to destruction. As Christians, we can’t allow Satan to destroy our brothers and sisters in Christ or to divide the church. We must do what is needed to prevent this disaster quickly.
*Christian * Education * Station 