This is all about church, so don't bother reading if you ain't a christian because you will be bored senseless!

Of mice and men?

I'm not sure whether I am being churlish but I believe public court action is dead against the biblical principles laid down by paul in 1 corinthians. And I don't want to give tithes to general church fund, so am sticking it into the missionary fund, as that is safe.... But then I am concerned that, with the loss of the other revenue, me putting money into a separate fund may only make the financial situation worse, as the church has to pay for bills, admin, children's work, etc. I'm not sure what is the wisest course of action.


I still believe there is room for reconciliation. In a very fraught meeting, I spoke openly to graham about it, calling for a reconciliation, for more talks, for sorting it out and I really think he was listening and receptive. I even said some tough things for him to hear, as well as all the positives that I feel he has done. I also brought it back where I could to the bible, at the risk of being "preachy" but no-one had so far actually quoted scripture and I felt we needed a perspective. Thankfully no-one quoted another part of corinthians at me (women, shut up!)

It was so hard to say those things, as both parties in the room could have ended up throwing me out! But Graham was really calm, he listened and said he accepted my points and actually said he was prepared to accept Robert Jeffery's apology on behalf of the deacons. That was a real turning point... But then, immediately, someone else started shouting at him and you could see that the light just died in his eyes. I felt so frustrated, cos I can see both sides, although I think Graham is more wrong in his reactions, esp as he is the pastor. But the person who shouted just made it impossible. I knew as soon as that happened that the devil had got a stranglehold and there was nothing more we could do.

I did try to stop people leaving that meeting, encouraging them to come back in and cast their vote, but then cries went up of "little south africa"... Pastor "resigned" and john blanchard was left in the room to maintain order while some of us - Toi, who was%2