Lament is a deep expression of pain and sorrow. It is found in the Psalms and in Jeremiah’s Book of Lamentations. It is found in Jesus’ tears for Jerusalem. It is found in the Apostle Paul’s sorrow for his nation’s rejection of Jesus.

Lament is not anger. It is not accusation. It is not despair. It does not doubt the sovereignty of God. I am writing this as a lament for the spirit that birthed Rolling Hills Covenant Church in a living room in Torrance in 1957. I lament the death of a dream and vision that compelled RHCC from 1957 to 2019.

The last Annual Business Meeting reflected that the church birthed and faithful for over 62 years has in the last four years demonstrated that it is not the same. It was called a virtual meeting, but there was no actual meeting, just something recorded during the previous week. Virtual meetings birthed because of COVID now continue as a means to control and meet the sketchiest definition of business meeting. There was no Financial Secretary Report and the budget had only totals that obscured from true understanding. The meeting reflected a church led by nine men who are a church leadership unto themselves. I think the church continues in name but it is not the same church. The dream that birthed a movement of the Spirit called Rolling Hills Covenant Church has died. There are other churches that are organized as RHCC currently is, even a few that have gained many former members of RHCC. So it is a way church can be done, it is just not what was.

I think the dismissing of the Pastor of Japanese speaking ministries and the ending of the Japanese speaking ministry of RHCC reflects the end of the ministry of RHCC birthed in 1957. There was a vision of a church that built its’ ministry on the person of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. It was a built as a family of believers where each was welcomed and wanted. It was built as a family of believers who were each servants. It was built as a family where each were priests. It was built as a church committed to a passion for the Gospel. It was a church that in the 1970’s, when there was a drug crisis on the Peninsula, made the first events on what is now the main campus outreach events for youth. Many were transformed by the Gospel. The church though was not just committed to the Gospel to the ends of the neighborhoods, it was committed to the mission to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The heart of this was reflected in a former church leader, Dr. Paul Carlson. Completing his residency and ready to set up his medical practice in the South Bay, he instead was called as a medical missionary to the Congo. It was there Dr. Paul was arrested, accused of being a spy, and was martyred, as he helped someone else over a wall and he himself was shot and killed. It was what the spirit that formed RHCC was all about.

Among the first missionary efforts of RHCC was Japan. When I began my ministry at RHCC in 1992, it was with the growing awareness that many from the nations we were trying to reach with the Gospel were now our neighbors. For example, Japanese businesses, particularly auto makers, were bringing families here for five years. They were now our neighbors. Ministries were birthed at RHCC to reach them. Japanese tea and English as a Second Language ministries were formed. Soon, a part time staff member for Japanese speaking ministries was established. In time God brought us a full time Japanese speaking Pastor. For the last 10 plus years that position has been so well served by Pastor Nori. In time God added to the vision for Japan that there was an opportunity for a unique spiritual synergy between a local church, the church in Japan, and missionary work in Japan. A missionary from Navigators helped the transition for those who had come to Christ in the USA, now needing to transition to life back in the culture of Japan.

This desire for synergy and partnership with missions and the church in Japan gained a unique moment of opportunity in the triple disaster of 2011 when a 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami that took over 18,000 lives and a nuclear disaster at Fukushima created a crisis of Biblical proportions. RHCC seized the moment with a large offering to bring help. I was there six week later with a team to help and learn how we could partner with the church and missions in Japan. One ministry was birthed through an Asian Access (now A3) missionary. It was called the Nozomi project. Nozomi means hope in Japanese. It was a vision to take broken pottery from the earthquake and tsunami and make them into beautiful pieces of jewelry. The broken pieces represented the broken lives who Jesus wanted to turn into something beautiful. RHCC entered into full partnership. One of our members went and taught skills in making jewelry. We helped with sales as this became a source of income for those who made the jewelry.

I met one of these broken people transformed by Jesus. The tsunami had taken the lives of her mother and sister. Her husband had abandoned her and their young child in the aftermath. She was left alone in the world. She considered suicide. But she met the Asian Access missionary at a school were both their children were enrolled. She invited her to the Nozomi Project. In time this broken woman gave her life to Jesus Christ. Shortly after I met her, she was baptized in the ocean at the very spot the tsunami came ashore. It was a work of God that was in part a fruit of what was birthed in a house in Torrance in 1957.

Unique to the vision of RHCC was the desire to demonstrate how Christ makes one those who come from an ethnically and economically diverse community. As the evil of Asian hatred has grown in our country, the ministry of RHCC showed how each was desired, respected, loved, and wanted. There was knowledge in our priority of the long history of Anti-Asian prejudice expressed to Japanese. During Word War 2 it was those of Japanese descent who were interred. It was the Japanese who were depicted with racist caricatures in war propaganda. In recent history the so-called Asian invasion was resented by some on the Peninsula as those who had somehow stolen the influence from their children. The Japanese speaking ministry at RHCC was never powerful in numbers but it was powerful in the work of Christ in Japan and in the South Bay. It was powerful in expressing that the Japanese were not just a group that met at RHCC, as it was an expression of the body itself. Now that ministry has been lost, ended. To end this ministry of RHCC is like a body saying I can no longer afford to care for my foot or hand so I will cut it off. A budget of 5.5 million is a lot of money. A personnel budget of 3.4 million is a lot of money, particularly considering the significant number of pastors and ministry positions already terminated. Surely, there was room in the budget if truly the ministry was considered essential. A post-Annual Meeting decision to let them have vacant space and call themselves a church plant just reinforces the ethnic, cultural divide that clearly says, “they are not us.”

This separation from the church of the Japanese speaking ministry is just one more step in the disassembling of what God had built over 62 years. The first step was the ending of my ministry and influence. The initial separation of three years has now been extended, so that I will not even be invited back as a guest speaker on a Sunday.

The next step moved to Shawn and Garrick with a mutual decision that, not only could the church separate from Shawn and Garrick, but also with them whole groups that were to go with them. In a message from the elders, the ones who were to go with them were clearly identified. Those who wanted to have close ties with the denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, were invited to leave. Those who thought there should be a role for women in the leadership of the church were invited to leave. Those who emphasized the Holy Spirit in discipleship were thought to be against the sufficiency of Scripture. Despite the fact that we are to directed to live by the Spirit, in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, as well as multiple other ways the Spirit is to be welcomed and work in our lives, this was said to be a gateway for false teaching. The disciple needed to focus totally on gaining knowledge of the Word of God. It was said if a person thinks right, he will act right. Those who didn’t agree with the process of elder leadership and thought congregational consent was required were requested to leave. The High School Pastor was included to leave with the leader of Contemporary Worship ministries.

All of this is contrary to the statement of Jesus that we are to be one and to be known by our love. In contrast, it seems to be fulfilling the warning of Galatians 5:13-15, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch that you are not consumed by one another.”

I don’t know what vision currently compels RHCC. I am not writing to accuse, only to lament. The Local Outreach budget and personnel have been eliminated. The Global budget is less than half of what it was four years ago. Ministry is now for the most part what happens on campus.

Last Fall, in the crisis over the attempted discipline of a Senior Pastor and the resignation, I was asked if I would write a letter to the congregation, which I did. I stood up for the elders as men of God who were seeking to carry out their Biblical obligations. I still believe that is true. But I also believe a group of nine men, no matter how godly, cannot lead a thriving ministry of a church. I also believe there is a spirit of control rooted in fear of the congregation.

After I wrote the letter to the congregation, I wrote some recommendations to the elders. Here is some of what I wrote:

I think the trauma over Dan’s resignation is just another of a string of traumas. All of these accumulate and you won’t see the congregation healed until the issues are honestly addressed and discussed.

My thoughts for next steps start with an affirmation of the priesthood of all believers. I think there needs to be an affirmation of congregational governance. I think there needs to be a return to personal business meetings. I think there needs to the chance for full and free communication. There has been in the last year an absolute lack of transparency. Budgets aren’t published, elder minutes are not published, and what is being done in the Worship Center is not disclosed. I know people who have been told the missionaries we support cannot be revealed. Staff members disappear with no notices or thanks. People only know staff changes by checking the church website to see who is no longer shown. Bob Cubillos is dismissed after 30 years with no thanks… This is not how the Holy Spirit does business.

I do believe in elder rule but I think it only applies to the teaching, preaching of the Word of God and in guarding the truth. The context of Hebrews 3:7-19, 17 is clearly in context of protecting the truth, protecting the church from diverse and strange teachings. The elders are to show by their lifestyle what a person who lives a godly life looks like. In my opinion obey your leaders and submit to them in verse 13 is all about the truth of the Word of God and the shepherding of souls. In Acts 6 the Apostles as elders limited their rule to the preaching/teaching of the Word of God. They trusted the congregation to choose godly deacons. They trusted the godly deacons to design and implement a support plan for the needy without prejudice. They reflected the value of the priesthood of all believers and the trust that the congregation would make good choices.

I think it is impossible for a group of nine men to see a healthy, thriving ministry at RHCC. I think what governance at RHCC looks like in the future needs great thought and prayer. There is an immediate need to be open with the congregation and that you trust and respect them. Open meetings need to be held, information shared, and discussion welcomed. Each of them are priests, have the Holy Spirit and have a part in shaping the ministry of RHCC. … But each are priests, and each are part of the church family. We cannot give up this important part of the Reformation of the church and go back to a small group in control. No system is perfect but there is a way to do this that honors each believer as a priest.

I close this lament with sorrow. To say God is sovereign is true, but the letters to the churches in Revelation and the Epistles demonstrate the need for faithfulness, and that Jesus would withdraw the lampstand from churches that would not be faithful. The truth is the South Bay is haunted by ghosts of churches that were once vital, alive, and flourishing who have faded away into insignificance. May God have mercy.