Greetings,
If you have already read Moderator’s Religious History, you have a rough idea of what we are up to these days. Because we have had some history in ministry with you, we think that we owe you some special comments.

It seems to us that our friends in ministry might be the most likely people to take what we have written here personally. That is reasonable since you of all people have more to lose from what we have written. In this letter, however, we want to remind you of a few facts that may offset any bad feelings this website may arouse.

The first fact we want to mention is that each of you are one of a long line of spiritual fathers for us. Indeed, you were not perfect fathers, but you were fathers nonetheless. That means that you deserve all the honor a spiritual father deserves. You gave something of your life to benefit us and we are grateful for that.

If you have read what we have written regarding errors the church community, in all its various configurations, has made down through the centuries, you will notice that we have been careful not to condemn any particular leaders. (The exception might be Constantine who carries more blame than anyone for establishing the religious system that persists today.) There is plenty of blame to go around and all religious leaders — even you — share some of that blame but that fact does not earn condemnation, it qualifies you for guilt, but not condemnation.

Even though we do not excuse your from guilt, we also regard you as victims. You did not create the religious system of which you are a part. Rather, you were born into it and indoctrinated into it. The system had been developed and legitimized for nearly two thousand years, and you accepted it and trusted it along with thousands of others who were similarly deceived.

Next we want to make clear that we would not be where we are today if we had not learned from you and our other spiritual fathers (of which there are many). Even those spiritual fathers who, like you, were both victims and accomplices in perpetuating a faulty religious system. It is impossible to go back to identify individual lessons learned from particular sermons, other teachings, or conversations, but we are confident that learning was happening. If there had been no learning, we would not have stayed in relationship with you.

If you disagree with any or all of what we have written, you may not want to take any credit for contributing to our spiritual formation. But, if you find any truth here, or even if you don’t, you may take some solace in knowing that we still value all our relationships, past and present,

Finally, we want to say that we fully appreciate the weight of your dilemma relative to the things we have written. We have never been exactly where you are because we have not been in professional ministry, but we have no trouble imagining the conflicting feelings people in ministry might have when the nakedness of the spiritual system of which you are a part is exposed. We don’t know if it will be helpful or not, but we have at least made an effort to help you and others with some ideas of how you might proceed from here.

We are mindful that we are called to judge those within the church, and that is what we are in fact doing. This is a tricky line to walk, but we hope we are walking it gracefully as we choose not to condemn anyone who may be guilty of being part of a flawed religious system.

If we were to condemn you and all others who are part of the system, whether as leaders or followers, we would be condemning ourselves as well because not too long ago we were faithful adherents and supporters of that system. And, being so attached to the system as we were, we can feel for you and others who are still attached to it while also being challenged to abandon it after learning that the system was built on sand instead of rock.

Because we have made the transition that you are now challenged to consider, we are full of hope that you, being persons of integrity, will also choose to humble yourselves and make that same transition. It will not be easy, but it is possible. Doing so will probably require more trust than you have ever had to apply to a difficult circumstance in your life because it will require disavowing everything that you have believed and taught others to believe.

We hope for your sake, and for the sake of those to whom you minister, that you will accept the challenge and choose to trust. You will be glad you did. And sooner or later those to whom you minister will also be glad. Doing the right thing in this regard will be a profound act of spiritual leadership for which many will be eternally grateful.

Although it would be awkward, we hope you will feel free to contact us if you see any way we can possibly help. We also trust that you will contact us to correct us as you see fit if you find any content here in which we have made any errors in interpreting and applying scripture. We have presumed to correct you and others, so it is only fair that we would be ready to receive correction also.

Sincerely,

Paul and Barb