Lance and the Bureaucrats

I've written in the past about the problem that cynicism creates in the CGGC and, for me in my Conference, the ERC.

When leaders in Findlay, or Harrisburg, actually do attempt to make a difference for the future of our body, there are many who simply nod and roll their eyes and never, for a moment, consider following denominational leadership.

So, we never move forward.

We are in the midst of numerical decline and spiritual decay and the lesson of recent decades is that, even when the people at the top of the institutional hierarchy attempt change, too few follow.

....................

Here's what I've only recently begun to understand:

The cynicism that's killing us is not the one I normally describe, that of anti-conference pastors and congregations, or of the larger number of apathetic pastors and churches,...

...though their numbers are large, perhaps even a majority and they are a problem...just not THE problem.

No.

There's a small number of CGGC people who are still in touch with me an engage me in regular and serious dialog.

And, several of them are people of CGGC significance,...

...members of important Councils and Commissions.

Here's what I'm realizing, based on what I'm hearing about what goes on in those places:

It is in the CGGC bureaucracy, among the Councils and Commissions, where a cynicism powerful enough to kill us resides.

Please understand that I'm not suggesting that the people in conversation with me are cynical. They're open enough to listen to a voice as out of the norm as mine. They're minds and hearts are open, not closed, not cynical.

I admire Lance and Brandon for casting a vision for APEST-oriented, uh, leadership as the future of the CGGC.

And, I really don't know how the vision they're casting for APEST is being received among anti-conference pastors and churches. I have no data on that. Those people don't talk to me.

What I have heard from people who are involved in very important places in the CGGC bureaucracy is, well, silence.

It's as if the series of APEST articles in The CHURCH ADVOCATE and The CGGC eNews don't exist.

(I've been told that I'm among a small handful of people who read those things and, based on what I'm hearing about the response to the vision being cast by Lance and Brandon, I may be the only person who reads them.)

When I hear from people with seats in the important Councils and Commissions of the CGGC, I hear about attempts to tweak and refine traditions that have been in place for generations.

Here are two things I'm not picking up:

1. Concern for following the vision being cast by our body's leadership. And, it's not as if Lance and Brandon are being disagreed with. It's that they are being ignored. It's as if those two guys don't matter. It's as if they don't exist. Talk about cynicism!

2. References to any biblical truth. For years, since the days when I was on a Commission and was a regular invitee to participate in Task Forces and Symposia, there has always been one authority to which CGGC bureaucrats bowed. That authority is not the Word. That authority has been CGGC tradition. Never once, in my experience, has there been even a passing exchange over how Scripture informs what we do or might do, or not do.

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Lance,

Brandon and you are up against it, as far as leading the body to embrace the APEST vision you are casting.

Your enemy is deeply-entrenched cynicism.

And, for now, forget the dozens upon dozens of anti-conference pastors and churches that we usually think of when we talk about a cynical opposition to CGGC leadership.

It's the bureaucrats who are your first problem.

From what I'm hearing, the people on the Commission and Councils, here in my ERC, have been newly restructured...

...but they are still trying to solve the problems of generations with the same mindset that failed to solve those problems generations ago...

...and AS IF YOU AND THE VISION YOU'RE CASTING DOESN'T EXIST!

....................

It's likely that Lance and the other people casting a vision for a new future for the CGGC think of me as an opponent.

But, in truth, it may be that I'm the best friend they have.

I listen to what they say and read what they write...and I care.

Based on the fruit being produced by the Councils and Commissions I know about, Lance, the vision you are casting doesn't matter and, for all practical purposes,...

...you are a non factor.

You don't, in any practical way, matter.

We are so broken.

Is it any wonder that the Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing us!?

We must repent.