I use three terms to describe the people who make up the leadership culture that took over in the Churches of God about 80 years ago and is responsible for the sad state the body is in these days:
Shepherd Mafia,
Mountaintoppers, and,
Hierarchs.
Each of the terms describes, in its way, who this group is and how it operates.
These men, they are almost all men...most of them more geezerly than I am...are heirs of a tradition they take pride in, a tradition they wholeheartedly believe in and love...
...a tradition that has taken control of our body which was once a radical and dynamic, growing Spirit-empowered movement...
...and, through their stewardship over the course of generations, has become a dying institution characterized by decline, decay and, now, crisis.
Yet, they still believe in themselves and in their institutional ways which the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing has never blessed.
Based what I'm hearing,
1. The Shepherd Mafia's hold on power, at least in the ERC, has slipped...at least for this brief moment,
2. There are people, who are not me, who may be placing blame on them for our current decay,
3. In the past, the blamers were beaten down and simply eventually became Cynics, but a new group of Skeptics, who may take a run at the hierarchs, have energy and hope for the CGGC in the future,
4. But, the mountaintoppers are steadfast and still believe that they can tweak their failed values and ways to the point that they can convince the Lord to bless their programs and strategies.
In the ERC, there may soon be a tussle to determine which vision...which theology...will dominate our future.
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Yet, it is the Shepherd Mafia that is battle-hardened.
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The Shepherd Mafia has not dominated for all of these generations without challenge. And, since the days it was an upstart contender, it is undefeated.
It is the Floyd Mayweather, Jr. of the CGGC.
Where do you think the Cynics came from? From lost tussles with the mountaintoppers...and from the way the CGGC mountaintoppers fight, and win.
Why do you suspect the Apathetics in the CGGC/ERC are disengaged? There certainly no Apathetics in the movent in Winebrenner's day.
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My own story, as I live out my geezerdom in the CGGC, is defined by the part I played in a recent assault on the institution led by the hierarchs.
Ten years ago, there was an energetic community across the CGGC functioning on and beyond Brian Miller's, CGGC in an Emerging World blog...
...calling for a new and different CGGC.
One in which there was little or no hierarchy,...
...one in which focus was on Kingdom expansion not church growth,...
...one in which focus was outward, not inward...
...one in which the pastor-as-parish-priest leadership model was abandoned in favor of a culture dominated by apostolic servanthood...
...one in which the clergy/laity division was deconstructed in favor of a body in which every believer is a disciple who lives actively in the world as a priest...
...one in which pastors were not providers of religious products and services consumed by passive members of a congregation's laity...but in which all spurred each other on to love and good works.
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It's hard for me to understand why that vision was resisted on the mountaintop.
Being naive about this sort of thing,...
...it's still hard for me to apprehend how the General Conference hierarchs actually did negate it.
Ed said nice things about it...
..Lance always seemed to be on board and, in fact, was doing that podcast with Brian, Fran Leeman and me.
But, the CGGC truth is that, in 2017, while, in Findlay, some of that talk is still spoken, our body is further from living out that vision than it was ten years ago...
...and the enthusiasm for Kingdom expansion and a denominational body in which every believer is a disciple who is an active priest is a faint shadow of what it had been.
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And, the Shepherd Mafia still dominates...battered but unbowed...Floyd Mayweather, Jr.,...reigning and undefeated champeen!
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In the east, the hierarchs have confessed that their 2015 Strategic Plan, presented with fanfare and adopted by the Conference without a dissenting vote, became mere words on a page.
The Shepherd Mafia created a new New Strategic Plan which it expected to implement in January.
Yet, this time around, there are dissenting voices...
...enough of them to delay the foisting of the plan on the hierarchs' minions.
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Here are some ERC realities:
1. Unlike the gang in Findlay, the ERC powers that be never even talked the Kingdom, universal priesthood talk. They were always focused on church and the pastor-as-parish-priest leadership model...and they have that focus now more than ever.
2. Their Shepherd Mafia strongly believes in itself. These guys have successfully resisted many efforts to undo what have done.
3. The ERC hierarchs really believe in the church as an institution. Their new New Strategic Plan calls for the expansion of Conference to an Executive Director plus four Directors.
4. They are currently dictating the way the ERC future is imagined. What we have now is the option of approving their Strategic Plan, or not.
5. They remain undefeated.
In my opinion, the hierarchs must decrease so that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing can increase.
But, I'm afraid that they will have to be beaten...by people in the church...for that to happen.
They believe in themselves too strongly to repent.
At the beginning, at least, it will be up to you, Skeptics.
Skeptic - "a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions."
ReplyDeleteThanks for your opinion Bill. My sense is there are some who have the gift of discerning of spirits on this situation - which doesn't come from human opinions but from the mind of God.
Also, I'm not willing to paint with a broad brush ALL in the conference as you do because each of us is accountable to the Lord Jesus Christ for our own choices. I encourage us all to walk in the truth we say we love and may the true remnant hold to the testimony of Jesus no matter what!
Thanks for reading and commenting, Cindy.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that, in this post, I'm painting with a broad brush. At this point, I wouldn't presume to describe what individuals will do.
I've been pointing out that, during my four plus decades in the Conference, there have been cliques functioning. And, I have been decrying that reality.
The Skeptics I've been talking about is a newly emerged group that seems not to fit in into the old system. They do doubt everything that, until recently, fit into ERC categories.
They are a diverse group. And, they may prove to be a Wild Card.
They may, actually, disrupt the status quo enough to get ERC people to, as you say, "walk in the truth we say we love."
Who they are and what they do may lead, in time, to the godly sorrow that brings repentance.