Someone pointed out recently that the reason I like this governance type thing is because I'm a bloke. I get my kick out of being involved in decision making. The woman who related this to me suggested that it's not the same for the female variety, which I don't really understand, but if anyone can explain it to me then that will be fine.What did we talk about? Families in the church, authority, other ongoing stuff.
The families bit was interesting because we looked at how families are the normal units of committed relationship, but because as a church we are strong on committed relationships that can subvert the family unit. It can also add a lot of support for the family in the absence of the nearby extended family today, but with the negative aspect in mind we want to begin thinking about how we can encourage families more.
The authority stuff was useful too. We focused on how people who are happy to submit to authority can often be problematic at a later stage because they usually submit out of their own strength and sense of virtue whereas a Christian needs to submit to authority out of love for God. I think a lot of the leaders recognised themselves in this. It was quite a touching time.
Woops ... Oh yes .... that SENSE of VIRTUE !! Think most of my active Christian life was based on that as I knew Jesus loved me anyway. But Oooooo what a buzz that wonderful self righteousness was!! miss it !! Bit of a shock when you get with people who tell you that you are not quite as wonderful as you thought you were. I scurried back to the ranks of the grateful, pretty quickly myself!! ps ... I miss the funny faces on here!!
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