Churches, Change, and Consensual Decisions

As a writer and editor I have a penchant for change and personally think churches should be traveling on the continuum of constant change. But I am also very aware of the cautionary practices of churches. When I was one of five pastors in a traditional/conventional church it felt like “ready, aim…aim, aim…ready, aim…aim, aim…aim, fire, whoa—WAIT, Let’s think this through.”

How about trying a new method for making and executing decisions? Why not require a consensus? I know what you’re thinking. “How do you get 200 people in a room with all their diverse personalities, pathologies, and opinions and hope to get a consensus? I understand that the Anabaptist use this methodology and do it very well. They consider that the process of consensus takes time, lots of time which requires more conversation. There are great returns: decisions are made and, maybe the greatest return is the building of unity. In addition, when you use consensus, there is no such thing as a minority in the community—everyone has a voice.