However, I have been in cyber conversation about it and following comments about it, as best I can, on Facebook.
Here's what I have gleaned:
Some, no, certainly most among the verbal, were very pleased with what took place, seem to have had a joyful experience and were profoundly encouraged and blessed by the fellowship they experienced. (Notice that the core of this joy is relationship oriented.) However, others came away concerned at the very least, or perhaps even disgusted, by the disconnect between the sometimes radical simply Jesus talk and the ERC mountaintoppers walk.This describes the norm for all of the CGGC, as far as I know it, in our day.
It is a characteristic of CGGC shepherd leadership to want all of its people to just get along but that they are inept at achieving that state.
What always seems to happen, in the end, is that people who are not entirely on board with what goes on among the leadership clique are not loved as Jesus loves the disaffected. The CGGC "least of these" are ignored and their presence is pretended away.
For me, the primary takeaway from ERC sessions is not the joy of some or the concern cum disgust of others but that the great divide goes unaddressed--and, really, by both the joyful and the concerned.
The shepherd leaders who reign will often speak of Jesus' desire that His People be one as He and His Father are one. Yet, the truth is, those very same shepherd leaders don't walk that talk. They haven't walked it for decades and, based on what I'm reading, are no more interested in that walk today than they have ever been.
They must repent of that hypocrisy. They must SERVE, not lead, the whole body.
Or the disunity will continue...
...and, others will not know we are Jesus' disciples by our love for one another.
It strikes me that the desire to lead is at the root of much of the disunity in the CGGC. Some want to lead and to be followed. Other don't want to follow, especially kind of leadership that is being offered.
ReplyDeleteJesus defines greatness in the Kingdom as servanthood. He says that to be the greatest is to be slavish.
He foretold the standard, before the cross, by saying that even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
These days in the CGGC, and especially in the ERC, efforts are made to develop leaders.
How the Lord must be appalled!
At Conference, apparently, Kevin made passing reference to the importance of "servant leaders." And, that is a mild concession to what Jesus taught.
But, the truth is, Jesus didn't talk about servant leaders. He didn't model the developing of servant leaders.
He demands servanthood in which the servant has the goal of being transformed into a slave.
From what I've seen, there were two takes on the recent Yay God gathering: Joy and disgust.
If we want unity, those who consider themselves to be leaders are going to have to take the first step and to repent of their leadership dream and begin by sticking their toes is the pool of servanthood and to work toward slaving the people of the Conference, even, especially, those at odds with them.
That is the way of Jesus.