An Assemblies of God church in Indiana recently invited four of its former pastors to return so that the congregation could repent of gossip and other mistreatment that drove the leaders away.
Peter A. Joudry, current pastor of Madison Assembly of God (MAG), hosted a reconciliation weekend where he and his wife washed the feet of the former pastors, whose tenures at the church date back to 1983.
"We needed this weekend because of the misdeeds and un-Christlike attitudes that were displayed by our congregation toward these men of God and their families," Joudry told Assemblies of God News. He decided to host the reconciliation nine months into his tenure after "old, entrenched patterns began to resurface" leading 40 percent of the church's 260 members to leave, according to the denomination's report.
Although many of the current MAG members are not the same men and women who caused the pastors to leave, congregants at the reconciliation service prayed to "apologize for the offenses committed against the leaders," including gossip and publicly maligning the pastors.
CT previously has reported on the topic of reconciliation and on the importance of caring for pastors' health.
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