I would be interested in your opinion of the following:
A friend told me about an incident that had happened in a neighbouring congregation. She told me that a sister from the congregation needed to get back to work after a meeting but discovered that she was boxed in. She asked an elder to ask if the people boxing her in could move their car. Instead the Elder stated that he could get her out of the tight spot took her keys and jumped in the drivers seat. Unfortunately he had grossly overestimated his abiliites and he scraped her car against a wall causing significant damage. Rather than hang around he went back into the hall leaving the sister shocked and surprised.
At the next meeting he admitted that it was a foolish thing to do and asked her if she was insured implying that she should make arrangements to sort it out. No offer to pay and no acknowledgement that it might cost her more on her insurance. When the sister made enquiries her insurance company told her that they were not interested since she hadn't been driving, they also told her that his insurance would only cover him third party fire and theft so he couldn't claim through them in any case.
As a next move she got a quote from a local garage and was told it would take several days to carry out repairs. At the next meeting the sister explained that insurance would not pay for repairs and gave the quote to the elder who just took it and walked away. When she presed him about it later he said "You weren't expecting me to pay for this were you?" She assured him she was. His response to that was that he didn't have the money and he might make a small contribution but certainly had no intention of paying for the damage.
She is considering the Matthew route but has little hope of success. In the beginning she had been reluctant to approach the elder concerned because she hates confrontation. My friend told me that had the elder spoken to the sister in a humble way and said that money was tight she would probably have let it go but now she is angry and upset.
Money is tight for everyone but I know that if I damaged someone elses car I would be desperate to make amends and wouldn't be waiting for someone to approach me and ask for the money. Anyone any ideas that would guarantee success.