1 /5 Helen Qiu: I attended 5pm service tonight. My impression of the church was a five star when I first arrived then was quickly fallen down to one star when I left. While the church looked run down exteriorly, it had some kind members who warmly welcomed us, so I had a happy anticipation for the service. Song leader was very good and we sang black gospel songs. Sermon was preached by one named Keith Hutchison. This man was the tip of a mountain of deeper problems with the church.
Hutchison’s sermon was trivial and it was obvious to a believer’s eyes that he did not have the calling from the Lord to be a minister. Why he was chosen by the church to preach in this evening’s sermon was not clear, but what was clear by the church’s decision is a painful indication that the church has been lacked of ministers who has the Lord’s calling that could carry on the baton of the church’s mission or minister God’s Word.
I was the only non-black participant in the service tonight. All other participants were black. I did not experience any prejudice in terms of race. But what came next was appalling. Now, I have filled out a new-comer’s card, in which I indicated that I am a PASTOR, and I shall be referred to as “Pastor Helen Qiu”. Unfortunately, this man Hutchison outright ignored it and only announced that a new-comer “Helen Qiu” came to the service. I immediately detected that the announcement was made as such not because it was due to the church’s general convention but due to this man’s arrogance and ignorance to believe that God will never call a woman to be a preacher and a teacher in his Church. Therefore, he would have the authority to denounce God’s calling for me to be a pastor and dismiss it at his own will. Thus, I was referred to simply by my name, without my honorable title God bestowed on me.
After the service, I met with another man who was one of the working staffs that evening, who was in charge of collecting the new comer card from me. I raised my concerns to him and immediately I was able to confirm that it was not only Hutchison, but the church leadership (or a considerable percentage of the leadership) who stubbornly believe that God will never call a woman to be a preacher and a teacher and therefore it would be 100% under their discretion to denounce and dismiss me as a pastor.
Without going into debates with him, I told him: “I came to your church to bless your church. And this is my blessing: you are wrong.”
Now that Golden Heights Church has received my message, I call them to repent and repair their crippled theology and correct their wrong teachings. They must study the ENTIRE Bible in order to obtain spiritual discernments of Christian doctrines and embrace sophisticated thoughts and realities the Lord God has given to his church. It is wrong to shortchange worshippers’ desire for Christ by giving them diluted gospels and suppressing their growth in Jesus Christ.
