Jack K
Puritan Board Doctor
Be patient, my friend. Change seldom happens quickly in churches. Nor does it typically happen by someone quoting a Bible verse or a line from a confession so that the leadership says "Oh, lookie there, we were wrong."
If this is important to you, continue to press your point firmly but respectfully. Study the issue until you become the best informed person in your church on this particular matter. Study all viewpoints. Understand and appreciate whatever good intentions are behind the practice you dissapprove of, even if those intentions are ultimately wrong. Ask to meet personally with your consistory to discuss it. Buy your pastor lunch just to talk more about it. Be able to present your case from many angles. Have multiple good arguments. Don't just be accusatory ("That picture is wrong because..."), also be positive ("Our appreciation of Jesus could grow if..."). Be respectful—yes, I already said that—but persistent, and if your case is correct you are likely to win same adherents eventually. The fact that it didn't happen with a single mention to a single elder and one talk with the pastor is no surprise, and should not be a reason to despair.
If you believe this church can grow and your goal is to try to help that happen, rather than just deciding you have to quit and leave, you will need much patience and prayer. Reformation efforts seldom "take" on the first try. They also cost the reformer dearly, in terms of time and trouble if nothing else. But in the end they are great service to the church.
If this is important to you, continue to press your point firmly but respectfully. Study the issue until you become the best informed person in your church on this particular matter. Study all viewpoints. Understand and appreciate whatever good intentions are behind the practice you dissapprove of, even if those intentions are ultimately wrong. Ask to meet personally with your consistory to discuss it. Buy your pastor lunch just to talk more about it. Be able to present your case from many angles. Have multiple good arguments. Don't just be accusatory ("That picture is wrong because..."), also be positive ("Our appreciation of Jesus could grow if..."). Be respectful—yes, I already said that—but persistent, and if your case is correct you are likely to win same adherents eventually. The fact that it didn't happen with a single mention to a single elder and one talk with the pastor is no surprise, and should not be a reason to despair.
If you believe this church can grow and your goal is to try to help that happen, rather than just deciding you have to quit and leave, you will need much patience and prayer. Reformation efforts seldom "take" on the first try. They also cost the reformer dearly, in terms of time and trouble if nothing else. But in the end they are great service to the church.