Wednesday, December 13, 2006
How To React
I am not at all sure how to react to this report out of England.
Elevating The Spiritual Part Of The Gospel Over the Behavioral
The life in Christ is more than ascent to a set of beliefs, and yet we talk about what we believe SO much, we lose sight of the consequences those beliefs are supposed to produce in our life. Worse, we allow people to continue in their assumption of salvation when all consequential evidence is missing. I know we will never know for sure until we get there, but come on...
"Lowering The Bar" For Leadership
Desire for office, no matter how strong, does not necessarily reflect suitability. This is even true amongst people who are indeed very mature in their faith and truly transformed by the gospel. God grants each of us gifts and abilities that suit us to specific tasks, sometimes for a season, sometimes for a lifetime. Regardless we would do well to access those abilities and act accordingly.
And yet, as the article points out, people view office as status and thus seek it, regardless of suitability. But the problem is not the heirarchical nature of office, it is instead our unwillingness to demand suitability of those to whom we award office. They are not service awards, they are not lifetime acheivement recognitions, they are not even the natural progression from seminary.
We may be quite egalitarian in who we allow in our pews, but not in our leadership offices. Scripture is full of lists of characteristics and standards for leadership. A lifetime of dedicated service as an infantry man is laudable and honorable, and much appreciated, but it does not automatically make that person officer material.
A Desire To Preserve The Institution Over The Mission
Both of the above points are reflections of this point. We emphasise the spiritual and deemphasise the behavioral, because we have lower attendance if we "ask too much of people." The same is true when it comes to qualification for office, compounded by the fact that the institution demands that the offices be filled.
And yet, as this article evidences, when we preserve the institution without the mission we do not get what we are looking for.
In sum, and with complete sympathy to all my clergy friends and the ugliness they encounter, that ugliness is a result of the church not doing it's job the way God called us to do it. Maybe it's time we worried less about our position and more about our mission.
Cross Posted at How To Be A Chritian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: church, office, ugliness, mission, institution, transformation
Churches in Britain are a "toxic cocktail" of bullying and terror, as parish priests struggle to lead congregations dominated by neurotic worshippers who spread havoc with gossip and manipulation.If I am entirely frank, and I usually am, I think this is a bit of a self-inflicted wound. I mean you build a consumer oriented church, you are going to get consumers and consumers like to complain. The story takes a slightly different approach but seems to hint at that fact by saying "nice" may be the problem.
The ?dark side? of parish life is detailed in a report published by the Church of England, which describes how peace and love are in desperately short supply in the pews of churches this Christmas
Dr Savage says one of the problems is that churches are hierarchical systems, with all the attendant echoes of feudal society. Thus they elicit bad behaviour such as status seeking, fawning, bullying, passivity, blaming others and gossiping.I am going to agree that nice is part fo the problem, but not necessarily the "echoes" of feudalism. God is, after all, a monarch. As I see it, the problems are threefold.
Clergy soften the impact of this, while at the same time preserving it, by being "nice", she says. "The norm of Christian niceness is ubiquitous, despite the portrait the Gospels paint of Jesus as an assertive, sometimes acerbic personality who readily confronted people in order to pursue their spiritual welfare."
he agrees that nastiness is unproductive, but argues that niceness ?can tie churches up in knots?. Because lay volunteers, such as churchwardens or vergers, are unpaid, they do not expect to be confronted by their "nce"vicar over the way they fulfil their role.
Elevating The Spiritual Part Of The Gospel Over the Behavioral
The life in Christ is more than ascent to a set of beliefs, and yet we talk about what we believe SO much, we lose sight of the consequences those beliefs are supposed to produce in our life. Worse, we allow people to continue in their assumption of salvation when all consequential evidence is missing. I know we will never know for sure until we get there, but come on...
"Lowering The Bar" For Leadership
Desire for office, no matter how strong, does not necessarily reflect suitability. This is even true amongst people who are indeed very mature in their faith and truly transformed by the gospel. God grants each of us gifts and abilities that suit us to specific tasks, sometimes for a season, sometimes for a lifetime. Regardless we would do well to access those abilities and act accordingly.
And yet, as the article points out, people view office as status and thus seek it, regardless of suitability. But the problem is not the heirarchical nature of office, it is instead our unwillingness to demand suitability of those to whom we award office. They are not service awards, they are not lifetime acheivement recognitions, they are not even the natural progression from seminary.
We may be quite egalitarian in who we allow in our pews, but not in our leadership offices. Scripture is full of lists of characteristics and standards for leadership. A lifetime of dedicated service as an infantry man is laudable and honorable, and much appreciated, but it does not automatically make that person officer material.
A Desire To Preserve The Institution Over The Mission
Both of the above points are reflections of this point. We emphasise the spiritual and deemphasise the behavioral, because we have lower attendance if we "ask too much of people." The same is true when it comes to qualification for office, compounded by the fact that the institution demands that the offices be filled.
And yet, as this article evidences, when we preserve the institution without the mission we do not get what we are looking for.
In sum, and with complete sympathy to all my clergy friends and the ugliness they encounter, that ugliness is a result of the church not doing it's job the way God called us to do it. Maybe it's time we worried less about our position and more about our mission.
Cross Posted at How To Be A Chritian And Still Go To Church
Related Tags: church, office, ugliness, mission, institution, transformation
