*Is communal decision making such a new concept??
Livermore makes it sound like communal decision making isn't used very often in the west, but more with tribal communities. He says that big decisions usually end up being made by one guy. I thought this was kind of odd, because, in most churches, I see the communal decision making in action: with elder boards, governing boards, youth group leadership teams, etc. etc. Are the churches that I've observed really the minority in this?
*Why doesn't the American Church experience spiritual forces the way the majority world church does?
*Does this correlate at all with the amount of persecution we(st) face?
*The American church has been given an amazing amount of freedom,
1) Why aren't we thriving?
2)What is our responsibility with this freedom?
-Leadership, how does the west compare?
3)If the majority church is trhiving so well, do they really need a western type of leadership training? What kind of training is necessary for them, and is it necessary at all? (Is daily life training enough for them?)
This chapter made me really frustrated. Most of the cultural examples in the book are from Pastors who did leadership training in another country...it seems so arrogant that a church who is (generally) stagnant is sending its leaders to other countries to train leaders of churches who are growing exponentially. And I'm not just talking about the numbers. I know this may seem very hypocritical for a person who is going to another church across the world to teach and to serve, straight up...I don't feel very adequate. And I'm trying to make sense of this whole idea...meanwhile...I'm excited to go b/c I know that God has called me to go and given me this opportunity.....unkown...here I come.
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3 comments:
so, do you think churches then make communal decisions or are the decisions really made by a few that have control? Is that a good/bad thing?
What do you think Nowthen (either version) would look like if it were truly communal? How do you think that would have affected the church culture as they went through this season of conflict?
Just some questions to muddy the waters. I'll add more thoughts soon.
So, to continue my questions...
With regard to the spiritual forces and the American Church, do you think part of why we don't experience spiritual forces in the same way could be attributed to a struggle of faith or even legalism?
Sometimes, I think in fear over doing the wrong thing, the church has set up so many boundaries that it actually binds the Spirit. But in other cases, some protective measures have been taken that really help to bind the work of the devil. What do you think?
I love what you said about the chapter frustrating you. As I read through it, I had to stop and say, I've been that guy at times. ARRRGGGHHHHH!
I hope that I am learning and only introducing that which God ordains to our people here, not just those things that I think should work. Trust me, we'll spend a LOT of time on this issue as we are working on creating a youth ministry from the ground up. It's exciting and hard, all at the same time!
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