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Post by Jason_Coates on Jul 25, 2006 14:55:57 GMT
Philip
One of the biggest symptoms that I found in EN of a deeper malaise was communications. This raises a few questions:
1. How authentic are the communications with the rest of the church from the top down AND 2. Is spin-doctoring and "need to know" information dissemination Biblically sound tactics?
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Post by philiprosenthal on Jul 26, 2006 11:15:56 GMT
I would agree 100% this is a massive problem. Many communications are more than spin-doctored, they are not authentic at all. For example the Cape Town congregation were told explicitly before Paul Daniel went to America that it was for a Sabattical rest and had nothing to do with with any allegations of sexual impropriety. After his adultery was announced, we were told that the leadership had previously known that he had 'crossed moral boundaries', but had not known about the adultery itself.
It seems the situation is worse than this, because leaders within His People/EveryNation deceive and mislead eachother - and then they tolerate that - even after they find out they have been deceived, then they still carry on working together without discipline.
I confronted one pastor with the allegation that one of his colleagues had repeatedly deceived me. I demanded church discipline. He instead argued that this would upset the congregation and that would create a whole lot more work in counselling all the upset church members if they were told that one of the pastors lied to me. So he, previously a strong ethical moral person before he became a pastor has been sucked into the compromised system, where everyone turns a blind eye to everyone elses unethical behaviour. It is a culture in which it is easy to hide scandal.
There is so much deception going on that I no longer know who to believe. Is the person deceving me? Or are they telling the truth? Or are they repeating a lie they have been told? Who is honest and who is a liar? When two leaders tell me a different thing, which is the liar or is there some explanation for the inconsistency? What if they refuse to answer probing questions? Are they hiding something or is this just the culture?
All of this is sick and ungodly and wouldn't even be accepted in the secular business world. There is a need for repentance and a change of culture. Those who prop up the culture of secrecy share in the guilt of those who sin directly.
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Post by jonmoseley on Oct 16, 2006 17:36:42 GMT
I am not sure that Paul Daniel is the best example because when someone is in serious sin it is necessary to determine what is really going on and to minister to them. I think that the congregation's curiosity is not quite as important as ministering to an individual.
However, that is no doubt that EN's and Maranatha's obsession with secrecy -- a misguided attempt at decorum -- is a source of all sorts of serious problems.
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