What Is Love?

In Explosive Preaching, the author refers to a system he learned from an Eastern European pastor.  It is a simple categorization system used with a list of church members that helps him know how to love different people in his congregation.  Here it is in simple form, for more, see p140ff:

GS = Government Spy. Not a category most of us have to deal with, but if you do, ask yourself carefully, “what is love for a GS?”

SE = Sworn Enemy. A self-confessed leader of the “oust the pastor brigade.”  What is love for this category?  According to the pastor, “You have to love them enough to remember the reasons why they have such an excess of negativity, and reach out to them with winsomeness, not vindictiveness.”  Oh, and he added that if they win, your goal is to bring more glory to God in your going than in our staying.

The reality of such “well-intentioned dragons” is very real for many reading this post.  So I’ll leave it there for now.  If you have SE’s in your church, take some time to ponder your love for them and pray for the grace you need to reflect God’s character in such difficulties.  If you have no SE’s in your church, or you’re not a leader (i.e. target), then take a moment to pray for a pastor you know (he probably has some SE’s)!

One thought on “What Is Love?

  1. Most people are SE’s in my church but they leave right away. They hate to hear the truth, which is all I ever preach. The only people who are left are the one’s who love the Lord and these are the people that God wants in his Kingdom anyway.

    Preachers today are more concerned in making a living off the congregation they preach to than they are about preching the truth. This is why these SE’s stick around in their church. The truth will run them out of the church but the preacher needs to know the truth before he can do that.

    If you desire to preach with power and get rid of the SE’s and only have loving followers of Christ, let me know.

    God bless you,
    Brad

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