It seems some time ago already that Blah came to Bristol but the thought provoking stuff is still rumbling around...
the topic that is still going round in my head is that of "flat leadership"
this came up as a question at the end of the sessions, about whether this can really be achieved.
When thinking about Foundation - I think we need to be honest about the leadership structure we have at the moment. My personal reflection is that, even if our aim is to have a 'flat leadership', currently we don't, I personally don't feel we have flat or representative leadership and that rather than pretend we do, we need to be open about who is leading/steering the group.
My next question is whether there is such a thing as flat leadership? In all the alt worship groups and emerging church groups it seems there is always a figure-head, someone who represents the group (ie at the Blah: Karen Ward for COTA, Ben Edson for Sanctus1, Paul Roberts for Foundation) rather than fighting this maybe we should be thinking about how that person(s) can reflect the nature of the group instead of a personal opinion?
Maybe the conversations should be more about how and by whom the decisions are made that this 'figure-head' will represent, rather than how we are achieving what might never be achievable?
Are the people who are steering the group representative of the wider group i.e. men/women, married/single, gay/straight, with children/without children, professionals/non-professionals, employed/unemployed, evangelicals/liberals, intellectuals/real-world doers. Where are the decisions made - in what context? Is everyone who wants a say getting a say? and what is the process by deciding the view we are going with - those who talk the loudest and the most?
And where does God fit into all this?
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Its always a tough area - leadership - in any kind of Church I guess.
I think its important to be honest about leadership, and I think at F we are quite honest that Paul is taking a lead, which I think is a very good thing.
How we get everyone to be involved in decision making is down to us, we perhaps need to talk more rather than distant typing.
As a Methodist (!) I have to say democracy can be terribly frustrating and in order to get things done sometimes, those of us in leadership just have to act whilst still being accountable to all around us.
Where does God fit in? Well she probably doesnt much figure in it to be honest Steve. Its my only sad/bad/unhappy feeling at the moment. We have so intellectualized God that we run the risk of cutting her out of our practical everyday living.
The answer to all these things is most probably just to get on with it, we change communal language only by speaking it.
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