more interesting thoughts on ecclesiocentricity
Someone suggested I read these interesting thoughts on the concept of "ecclesiocentricity" after my initial posting so I did and am posting the links here for consideration. While I certainly do not endorse everything at these particular sites, there is much with which I agree in the articles and thought they might be helpful to others.
the church according to John Dewey
wife ministers
what do ecclesiocentrists say?
officers and liturgists of the synagogue
the evils of medievalism
posted by prairie girl @ 7:40 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Hmmm... I think *some* of the ecclesiocentrists are dangerous (when it leads to spiritual abuse, etc.) but I see just as much danger, if not more, on average, in the family-first crowd. I have visited churches where the men serve their families communion -- seems sweet at first, but who controls the elements? The dad. What about when Jr. has a sorry attitude and he decides to pass him over to teach him a lesson. He has effectively excommunicated him. I am uncomfortable with giving that power to every head of household. These churches have "men's meetings" where church business is decided. Wives, teenagers, etc. don't have a voice or a vote. I asked one elder of such a church who represented a single young woman teacher in the congregation (whose parents lived across the country) and he told me, "she just trusts the leadership of the church." So, EVERY male head of household is a church leader with a voice and vote and EVERY female head of household has none. We're not talking elders here (that's a completely different ballgame).
Both sides have their errors when taken to extremes. I've seen godly men and women "burned" by bad churches and bad sessions in good reformed denominations. But at the least, in ecclesiocentric circles, there's a higher authority (presbytery, the judicial committee, even GA) and most of the time, justice prevails. A wrongly excommunicated friend had a sentence overturned by presbytery last year and the session admonished for their wrongdoing. Another friend represented a woman before the judicial committee who was wrongly treated by both session and presbytery and the judical committee ruled in her favor. In our fallen world, it doesn't always work out, but it CAN> In family-first circles, who is the higher authority?
oops, I signed in as the other me.
You appear to appeal to the PCUSA crowd.
I have some dear friends who are in the PCUSA, one of which is a pastor. As he has said to us many times, there are wonderful, born again believers in the denomination and he preaches the Word to them because they need the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached to them as much as any of us do.
I hope you won't be offended if your heavenly mansion is next door to someone other than your own brand of presbyterian or whatever you are.
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