They have convictions and plenty of them. Unfortunately, none that have anything to do with grace, but everything to do with law—with rules and regulations, with prohibitions and requirements, expectations and qualifications.

Pity the church that has the unwashed inflexible in leadership positions.

Anyone wondering why and how this could happen should pay more attention to the ways of humanity. It's not leadership qualities you have to demonstrate in order to be elected to a place of authority; it's strong convictions about things. Even if those convictions are wrong-headed. The fact that you speak up and speak out and take a stand convinces the weak and passive among the membership that you are a force to be reckoned with. Since no one else wants the job, it's yours.

That's how it happens that pastors end up having to deal with boards and committees and officers who are opposed to anything having to do with grace. They are fiercely opposed to what they consider weakness in the more spiritually minded and "intend to put this church on a firm business-like basis."

Before they will help the needy, all kinds of requirements must be met. Before you can join their church, you must agree to a long list. Before you can be elected to anything, there are plenty of hurdles you must surmount.

When the unwashed inflexible are in control, God help the church.

People who have been starched and ironed before they were washed have no compassion for the needy of the world, no vision for the unreached of their community, and no patience with the compassionate visionaries who do.

What are the godly to do when the church is being controlled by the unwashed inflexible? 

It all starts with the pastor—and never gets far away from him. That is, he must give strong leadership under the Holy Spirit from A to Z if the church is to be wrested away from the death grip of the inflexibly unwashed:

Dr. Mark Rutland's

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