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"The certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders." (Acts 15:1-3) Dissension has long been a part of the church. In fact, it seems the church was started out of disagreement. They argued over whether or not the Apostle Paul really was an apostle. There were arguments over food, hair, clothing, circumcision, baptism--the list could go on and on. It is a wonder the church ever made it off the ground. It did, for which I am grateful. The church, when it has lived up to its expectations as the Body of Christ, has been the salvation of life on earth for me. Some of the arguments in the church have been over theology. Some have been personality clashes between individuals; some, power struggles; some, to meet ego needs; and, some have been because of a lack of information. At a recent meeting of Regional Ministers, General Unit Presidents and leaders, and Higher Education leaders, George Bullard, a consultant, made this observation, "If one group has less time to process than another group, things end up appearing as though one group is over and against another." I have thought how true this has been in my family. Our children had fully thought through an idea they wanted. They came to Linda and me with the idea, wanting an immediate answer. Our immediate answer was often no. Then it was, they are against us. Occasionally I would say, "Do you need an answer right now? Can I think about it until tomorrow?" Whenever they gave the time, the answer was almost always "Yes." One group (Linda and me) was given as much time to process as the other group (our children.) I have seen this same phenomenon occur in the church with committees, boards and individuals. It is particularly common with ministers and other church leaders to bring an idea to a committee or board, then ask them to be supportive of it. The minister, or leader, had spent days, weeks, or perhaps months, thinking about something. Yet, they want a group to give support with only one meeting to think about it. Dissension occurs and people wonder why. Dawn Breaker #59:
Give people time to adequately think through decisions
Don Shelton |
