“Party Planning”

Monday, January 20, 2014

At our Wednesday evening services, one young lady, the daughter of a very prominent member, announced that she was going to attend a skiing party over the weekend and that they would be having services conducted by another woman in the cabin in the mountains.  Her father approves of this type of situation and has himself gone off in like manner.  They have a lot of influence with the other members, and so no one will stand up to them.  Our preacher said that he will not interrupt his schedule to deal with this trifle because "it is not bad enough".  But he agrees that it should not be done.  What should I do?

Sincerely,
At The Bottom Of The Slope

Dear At The Bottom Of The Slope,

You should do exactly what everyone else is doing – nothing.  Some issues are clear-cut and deserve to be dealt with publicly and swiftly, but this is not one of them.  If you asked a hundred faithful christians what the best way to worship is when you are away on vacation, you will get one hundred different opinions.  Some will say you can’t go on vacation somewhere that doesn’t have a faithful congregation, others (like this family) cite Matt 18:20 as proof that it is appropriate to hold your own temporary services while away, and still others say that a vacation constitutes such a rare circumstance that it isn’t important to attend at all.  Those are three opinions that cover the entire spectrum of thought on the subject of vacation church attendance.  The truth is that the Bible is never specific on this issue.  God tells us that whenever we run into an issue of opinion, we should decide for ourselves and leave others to do the same (Rom 14:10-13).  Leave the final judgment to God and don’t allow an issue of opinion and personal judgment to cause strife among the Lord’s people (Rom 14:19).

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