A Petition to the Elders at the North Atlanta Church of Christ

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” - 2 Thessalonians 2:2

In John 3:21 we read, “But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.”

We love you, this church, and the people that God has entrusted to your care and oversight.

We are thankful to the Elders for the time and energy they have given to love our church family.

The undersigned are hereby expressing concerns for the direction this church staff and leadership are taking the North Atlanta Church and we herein enumerate some of those concerns. While each undersigned may not agree in totality with each and every item as outlined, it is sufficient to say that each has in general agreed to the individual issues raised herein:

• The Church at North Atlanta appears to have lost its focus on God’s commandment to “Seek and Save the Lost” and is more concerned with tearing down what some see as Biblical Truths or church traditions, thereby diminishing its heritage in the Brotherhood and community at large.
• Preaching from the pulpit has gradually been degraded to place more focus on “social justice” issues and matters of black vs. white rather than a study and application of Biblical scripture. This has caused division and dissent among the members.
• Some adult classes have become more focused on teaching about “social issues” rather than a study of Holy scripture.
• The decision to introduce instrumental music into Sunday worship services has no basis in scripture and while many view this practice of having no instruments to be Biblical and some believe it is merely a tradition, we believe that it is dividing the church family and will be detrimental to our fellowship.
• The decision to move to instrumental music was ineffectively debated; the congregation was not involved in a discussion and as such was not heard from “as a congregation”.
• Church staff, and we presume the Elders as a complete body, chose to not engage the congregation until a decision was made and therefore the decision announced is viewed more as a decree from on high with little to support the position from a doctrinal view.
• The Elders, as a group, have chosen to not respond to many members request for meetings, discussion or debate on these and other topics being taught by church staff. Rather, the Elders, it appears, have appointed certain fellow Elders to respond to concerns. This has caused great harm and conflict with many members and does not reflect the Biblical example of an Elder as a leader/shepherd open to his flock.
• The Elders, as a body, have abdicated their oversight to a "super committee" of only a few Elders who oversee spiritual needs and teachings of the congregation.
• The Elders, as a body, have endorsed a vision from a pulpit minister for North Atlanta that we believe is ill conceived and not of God.

As a result of the foregoing, we the undersigned:

1. Call on Don Mclaughlin, Ken Snell, Major Boglin, Sheree Hill and the other staff with influence over members and visitors to publicly address their views on homosexuality, women’s role as “teachers, leaders and preachers” and its place in Christendom.

2. Further, we call on Don McLaughlin to repent of his public expressions of appearing to condone homosexuality as witnessed during a recent memorial service for a former member of this congregation and further to renounce his recent statements regarding women “preachers”.

3. Call upon every Elder to step down from your position, allowing the congregation to vote on a new body of overseers. To wit, you may, after resigning, submit your name for consideration to a selected group of men to be appointed by a majority of the “members” to oversee a new appointment process, should you feel called by God to do so.

4. We desire that a newly appointed Eldership then determine which, if any, staff should remain.

5. Lastly, we ask that the Elders prior to resigning, call a church wide “closed to members only meeting” to allow that these and other grievances be addressed and that every Elder be present to answer questions and note concerns expressed by those members present.

This should be done post haste.

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:1-4

Respectfully,

The Undersigned Petitioners