I just watched Dave's second video.
It is well done and it scares the bejeebers out of me, for the future of the ERC.
Dave's a sharp guy. I've noted that he's the thinker among members of the ERC staff and, because of that, he can be far more offensive than Kevin can dream of being.
In the wake of Dave's first video, I offered eight observations. This video provoked me even more than the first.
However, rather than include numerous observations in one post, I'll start small and expand, as God is willing, by adding more observations as comments on this post.
So, first of all, I'll note that Dave has announced that the 2017 ERC new New Strategic Plan will be implemented beginning this fall, before the Eldership has approved the specifics of the plan by adopting the constitutional changes that are the meat and potatoes of the plan.
What's the word for this?
Arrogance?
Disrespect?
Haughtiness?
I'd appreciate other suggestions.
I love this one because the word is so relevant, yet so obscure: Heteropraxy?
As someone who understands that the ERC is presbyterial and that earthly authority in the Conference rests with the Eldership, not with the hierarchs, ultimately, I see this as:
Insubordination.
I think someone, besides me, should comment on the theological underpinnings of the Safe Space groups that are the focus of what Dave plans to implement prior to approval of the new New Strategic Plan.
More, if God is willing, later.
Here's a first further comment:
ReplyDeletePlease understand that I expect to continue to be a voice crying in the wilderness as far as the new New Strategic Plan is concerned.
Dave will be permitted to begin to implement the plan this fall without objection from anyone but me, as the hierarchs have always been given a wink and a nod in every plan and dream in recent decades...
...plans and dreams which I predicted would not be blessed...
...and which were not blessed...
...and which came to nothing, or worse. (Think about the 2015 old New Strategic Plan.)
I'd love to see others stand up for CGGC doctrine and for the authority of the Eldership but no one has done that so far and I don't see it happening now.
I see the reason for that being the rampant cynicism among pastors and churches not welcomed on to the ERC mountaintop.
Dave will begin to implement the new New Strategic Plan among the ERC good old boy network and he'll be able to report that all is going well...
...but, until the hierarchs turn the cynics, nothing will change.
BTW, I think that the cycicism of the largest part of the body will kill the ERC even more so than the arrogance and heteropraxy of the hierarchs.
That breaks my heart for the unsaved and for the cause of the Kingdom.
Why Dave's Plan will Work--At First
ReplyDeleteOne problem facing the Conference since I entered it in 1976, is the existence of pro-conference pastors and churches and anti-Conference pastors and churches.
If anything, as the percentage of failing churches in the Conference has increased since 1976, the presence of the anti-Conference group becomes more of an issue.
The plans and dreams of ERC hierarchs have, for a long time, but especially recently, worked in the same way a Ponzi scheme works.
The first few participants in the plan do well and then the whole thing falls apart.
Please understand: I'm not suggesting that the hierarchs are doing anything unethical or insincere. I'm only saying that their efforts result exactly as a Ponzi scheme does.
The fact is that the hierarchs' plans and dreams always do go well at first but the reality is that we've been declining for generations.
So, Dave will reach out to the same group of insiders who've always been connected and who are supporters of Conference programs and all will go EXTREMELY well...at first...as is usual.
Dave and the participants in the first few Safe Space groups will stand in front of Conference delegates next year and honestly and sincerely sing the praises of these groups.
But, the reality has always been that, once the staffers have to engage the cynics, their plans flail and, quickly, fail.
One of the reasons, many reasons, the new New Strategic Plan will fail is that it is geared toward the small universe of Conference insiders...
...and, more importantly,...
...fails to address the concerns, interests and needs of the majority who have rolled their eyes for years as the hierarchs beat the drum for their latest brain storm.
It is the vast gulf separating the insiders and the cynics that is at issue.
And, it's up to the hierarchs to change first. This is their plan...their, perhaps, last chance.
There is a lack of mercy and love between these two groups.
This is disobedience to the New Commandment. It is a spiritual problem which we must repent of, confess and turn from.
We must repent.
I said, after Dave's first video, that the new New Strategic Plan doubles down on the clergy/laity division rather than empowering the priesthood of all disciples that is taught in the Word, and the video does that.
ReplyDeleteWhat it also does, and this second video also makes this clear, is triple down on the importance of the Conference hierarchy.
The Conference, presumably Dave himself, will form these Safe Space groups, which are central to the new New Strategic Plan and its emphasis on the role of the pastor/parish priest.
The Eldership will be dependent on staff, not only for the groups themselves but also for the content of what takes place when the groups meet.
Honestly, while I am surprised that the new Strategic Plan highlights the importance of the hierarchy, I feel a bit foolish that I didn't see that coming.
Making our ministry all about the hierarchy is what the hierarchs have been doing for a long time.
And, of course, the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing is not blessing ministry focused on the hierarchy.
When I was much, much younger, I worked as an optician, the person who fits you for your eyeglasses and trains you on how to use and care for your contacts.
ReplyDeleteIt was early days for contacts then and, then at least, the most serious issue preventing success in wearing contacts was what the doctors called "compliance."
Compliance, in that case, meant following the program, the routine, necessary to wear contacts successfully.
Compliance is the issue that, as things stand now, will kill the Connecxtions groups.
Two groups will not comply with the hierarchs' desire to transform the Conference through these groups.
One is bivocational pastors, for whom participation will be a burden. One thing I'm hearing off the blog is what Dave is describing as the features of these meetings is not appealing or attractive. Based on a small sampling of opinion, Dave has not whetted appetites with these videos. Bivocational pastors, for the most part, will not make the considerable sacrifice necessary to participate in these groups.
It will be very difficult for the hierarchs to involve bivocational pastors in these groups.
The second, much larger group, is the people who are cynical about any program or plan that comes down from the eagles who soar around the ERC peaks.
These people look upon the plans and programs of the mountaintoppers with disdain.
And, the mountaintoppers are doing absolutely nothing to interest the cynics in their plan.
This cynicism exists, whether the hierarchs like it or not, and if the new New Strategic Plan is going to work, the mountaintoppers are going to have to win over the people predisposed to reject what they do.
So far, the mountaintoppers are not doing that.
And, the cynics will, simply, stand aloof.