Peacemaking is More Important than Power
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Chapter 8 - The 10 Commandments of Progressive Christianity; Micheal J. Kruger
If the Church were Christian…peace would be more important than power. True or False? Why?
Is peacemaking more important than power? Is this question legitimate?
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
What is your understanding of the above verse?
Are church leaders chiefly concerned with having and maintaining their own power?
Are power-hungry people attracted to the Church and enabled to grab authority?
What is authority versus authoritarianism? What did Jesus practice?
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
True or False: The sooner authoritarianism is challanged, the healthier the church will be. Why?
How does one know that leadership is authoritarian or not?
“Does it build others up or does it put them down?” -Gulley
“While genuine authority augments us and builds us up, authoritarian authority puts us down. That is the only way it can retain power.” -Gulley, p. 144, If the Church Were Christian
True or False? Why?
For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed—
What is ‘building up’ and what it ‘putting down’?
What is the church’s legitimate authority?
Do church leaders have the authority and responsibility to uphold truth and reject error?
Philip Gulley makes the assertion that “Christians’ support war because it is the inevitable consequence of an institution that has grown so fond of force and power that it doesn’t hesitate to recommend it to others.…conferring God’s blessing to the most immoral undertakings” (Ibid., p.148-149). Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Mr. Gulley also goes on to assert that Christians have forsaken the ethic of Jesus because once favorably disposed to under Constantine, we had to perpetuate our position of privilege and form an uneasy alliance between state and church (Ibid.; p.149). Is this true today?
In Matthew 4 we find Jesus challenged by the lure of power by Satan. Was Jesus really challenged by the offer of Satan?
How difficult is it for us to choose between integrity and the lure of power?
What weapon(s) do we poses as Christians that are really world-shifting? Is being good and kind enough?
holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
What does it mean to pursue ‘peace’?
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
Kruger concludes that horizontal peace can only be attained through recognizing our need for vertical peace. True or false? Why?
“Bad leadership is not solved by having no leadership. Instead, bad leadership is to be replaced with godly, gentle, Christ-centered leadership.” -Kruger