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Pastor's Note |
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Hi and thank you for visiting our website. We hope that you find it useful. At Scofield, our heart’s desire is to know God through the study of His special revelation to us - the Bible. We seek to worship Him, honor Him and to make His name known above all things! We believe that we are called to embrace the life of redemption and celebration that He has called us to through, and in, Jesus Christ. Please feel free to call or email.
Come, know, worship and celebrate Jesus Christ with us.
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Newsflash |
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Welcome to Scofield's website! Be sure to check out our Calendar, as well as the many ministry pages listed under the Ministries tab. We're glad you're here!
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Page 10 of 11 Difficult Transition Times
Because of the long ministries of its three prominent pastors, Scofield Memorial Church has only had three transitional times in its history. The first was after C. I. Scofield left a growing church to pursue a national ministry, and actually took about 30 years to run its course. The second transition was after Dr. Roper retired and lasted almost five years. The third was after Pastor Ashcraft resigned in 1997. It is the stage Scofield Memorial Church just concluded, and it lasted four years. Each of the transition times have had a conflict where the church suffered for a period before regaining its footing and moving on.
Post-Scofield Transition
When C. I. Scofield resigned as pastor of First Congregational Church to go to Northfield where evangelist Dwight Moody lived, the church had a series of unhappy experiences filling the pulpit. The first attempt at bringing in a new pastor proved difficult because of an argument about how the offerings should be taken. The new pastor insisted that the Biblical method was to pass the plate, but the church leaders insisted that an offering box at the back of the church was just as good. The disagreement became so sharp that the board asked the pastor to leave, and one of Dr. Scofield's assistants took over the pastoral duties.
Until the time of Lewis Sperry Chafer in 1924, usually Irving Carroll or Luther Rees served as pastor of First Congregational Church. Scofield had trained both men personally. Irving Carroll was pastor of a First Congregational Church church plant, and Luther Rees was the director of Central American Mission. (Eventually, Rev. Carroll accepted the call to a prominent Presbyterian church in St. Louis that had been the church of Scofield's mentor, Rev. James Brookes.) The mission churches were brought back into the mother church, and by the time that Dr. Chafer arrived the Sunday school attendance at the only surviving church was down to an average of 150 (from almost 400 in Scofield's day).
A major part of the post-Scofield turmoil was caused by the church's great desire to have Scofield back. He left the church in his prime, and he was a powerful personality and outstanding teacher and preacher. The majority of the church felt that Scofield's contribution to the church was indispensable -- even if he had health problems and a national/international ministry that caused him to vacate the pulpit for up to five months each year. It was very hard for the congregation to let go and allow another man to become the pastor as long as C. I. Scofield was alive and the possibility remained that he might be persuaded to return.
Post-Roper Transition
Though Lewis Sperry Chafer is listed as one of the famous pastors of Scofield Memorial Church, Dr. Chafer made it clear from the start that his real heart's desire was to start the seminary that was to become Dallas Theological Seminary. Dr. Chafer was greatly appreciated, but he devoted the majority of his energy to the founding of the school. The doctrinal statement that the church adopted in 1924 was written by Dr. Chafer, and it is the doctrinal statement for Dallas Theological Seminary.
By 1927, it was impossible for Dr. Chafer to continue in the pulpit at Scofield Memorial Church, and a talented young student at the new seminary named Harlin Roper was selected as the pastor. To devote himself fully to the church work, Dr. Roper withdrew from the seminary program, and he was never able to finish the degree program he had originally come to Dallas to pursue.
For a description of the ministry of Dr. Roper, an interesting article was written by C. F. Lincoln (the father of Jack Lincoln, long-time Scofield member) in 1957 to commemorate his thirty years of ministry at the church.
Harlin Roper was a man of unusual vision and energy. He was very entrepreneurial, and was responsible for creating many of the programs and organizations that were spawned by Scofield Memorial Church. He was a very good Bible teacher and a capable preacher as well. Unlike Scofield, Dr. Roper never pursued a national ministry, but devoted all of his considerable energies to local work. It was through his leadership that the church began a radio ministry, a camp, the Union Rescue Mission, Southern Bible Institute, Dallas Bible Institute, and Scofield Christian School.
In the early seventies, Dr. Roper planned to retire and prepared for a successor. Neil Ashcraft was invited from a successful Baptist church in California to be an assistant pastor at Scofield, with the clear understanding that Neil was to be the successor when Dr. Roper retired. It is not clear that the boards or the congregation were aware of this plan, and Dr. Roper had a much more difficult time retiring than he had expected.
When Dr. Roper did retire in 1972, he remained a visible figure in the church. The original plan for Neil Ashcraft to succeed him was put on hold, and instead Pastor Neil was made an "interim pastor" until the church could decide what to do. Several members felt that Scofield should be considering another famous pastor, but others felt that Neil Ashcraft was the right one for the church. After about a year of very unsettling discussion, it was decided that Neil Ashcraft was the right man for the church, and he began to settle into a ministry that would last for 27 years.
On a humorous note, there was quite a controversy over Pastor Neil's use of overhead projectors when teaching and preaching. Some felt that this new technology was distracting, and too informal to be appropriate in a church service. It appears that in every age it is difficult to adapt to new technology, and know how to make best use of new communication tools. It is difficult for a church to accept the ministry style of a new pastor once they have become comfortable with his predecessor.
Post-Ashcraft Transition
By the time Pastor Ashcraft resigned, he was greatly respected for his gentle leadership, humble spirit, and pastoral heart. He knew every single person in the church by name, and was an individual who easily kept diverse personalities and programs unified. He was a very dependable and reliable Bible teacher and preacher. He was most happy being an encourager.
The church had hired several pastors as associates responsible for different areas of the church ministry, and the position of "Executive Pastor" was created to give a senior staff member visible authority over other pastors. The first executive pastor was Tim Lacy. When Tim left to be senior pastor of a church in Grass Valley, California, Phil Humphries was appointed "interim" executive pastor in the light of Pastor Neil's soon departure. Phil had been hired as the small groups' pastor, but he was the pastor on staff that had the leadership skills and personal interest to be the executive pastor. The designation "interim" was not a reflection of doubt concerning Phil's abilities, but indicated uncertainty that a new senior pastor would want the pastoral staff organized in this way — the position was likely to disappear when a new senior pastor was hired.
During the time between Pastor Neil's departure and the arrival of Pastor Randy Youngling in April 1999, there was some stress as the pastors learned how to work with the board. Part of the problem was the personalities of the church leaders, but a major contributor to the conflict was the church's constitution. The constitution did not make it clear who was responsible to set the vision of the church and make strategic decisions in the absence of a senior pastor. The board was not always composed of ministry strategists, and the decision making process of the board was notoriously slow; however, the calm and steady hand of Pastor Neil helped overcome the difficulties. The assistant pastors assumed the role of ministry vision was their responsibility and were ready to make some significant ministry changes in the church.
However, the changes they expected the board to approve could not be passed and implemented, and open friction between staff and board was churning under the surface. Not only were the proposed changes a dramatic change in the style of ministry that had marked Scofield for years, it bordered on requiring a complete personality change as well. The elders were concerned that implementing these changes would be too difficult for the church family to accept.
When Pastor Randy Youngling arrived, it appeared that all was well, but under the surface there was growing strife that would soon be evident to everyone in the church — not just the leaders. Pastor Youngling was forced to take sides, and discovered that there was strong opposition in the church to the changes that he had believed the church was ready to make. His attempts to unify the board, pastoral staff and congregation around a transition to a more contemporary style of worship were not successful. In addition, Pastor Randy did not believe that the elder-led structure of the church constitution was right, and he favored a pastor-led structure that would give the pastors more authority to act independently from the church boards. The tensions rose to the point that in early 2000, Pastor Randy resigned. Two other pastors soon followed his resignation.
Eventually, the conflict was resolved by 1) large numbers of people leaving the church, which included seminary professors and adult Sunday School teachers as well as elders and deacons; and 2) the conflict resolution seminar which concluded its work in December of 2000, 3) the marvelous interim pulpit ministry of Dr. Stanley Touissaint, and 4) the completion of an important position statement on worship by the Scofield elder board.
When Pastor Matthew R. St. John arrived in August of 2002, the worst of the conflict was past; however, the church that once had an average attendance of 1017 in 1993 was now averaging just less than 600. The bulk of the members who left joined five neighborhood churches. The first wave of former members landed at Park Cities Presbyterian Church and Redeemer Bible Church, which were more traditional and formal in worship style than Scofield. The second wave went to Watermark Community Church, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, and Clearwater Community Church — which have more contemporary and informal worship services than Scofield.
In all fairness to the parties involved in the conflict, there were no moral issues involved, nor were there doctrinal issues. The leaders on both sides of the issues were truly good people who wanted to do what was right. All of them sincerely believed that they were trying to help the church. It was a time in the church when our leaders needed more wisdom, more patience, and better listening skills.
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