philiprosenthal
07-18-2006, 09:00 PM
EN Pastors: How to stop your congregation posting here
This thread is for EveryNation pastors who want advice on how to stop/reduce their congregation posting here.
Understand the reality of the new situation:
1. It won't help to tell them not to post here, it will just make them more curious - and you won't be easily able to find out who is posting because of the aliases.
2. Now that FactNet board has exceeded 15000 posts and is being read all over the world, you need to accept that the hierachy has lost control of the flow of information about the movement. You will never get that control back again. It is gone. You have got to live with a new situation.
3. If you have covered up scandal and/or serious abuses in your church, it will be completely impossible to keep them covered up in the long term. Somebody will talk - and probably soon. The time for the old culture of people getting away with cover up is over and gone and probably will never come back again.
So, how do you cope better in the new situation:
1. If there is covered up scandal about your church, then tell your congregation yourself, before it gets posted here. If you are partly responsible, apologise. If leaders need discipline - do it. This will be much better for your credibility and unity of your church than your congregation finding out from the internet message board.
2. Create a safe forum and procedures in your church for people to discuss their concerns and problems - without the risk of being victimised or thrown out of the church. Then people will discuss things and sort out problems in your safe forums without the need to come here.
Most churches do have such procedures and forums. EveryNation is fringe/cultic in that it doesn't do so. By creating such forums, you will be doing what almost every other denomination is already doing - whether Presbyterian, Methodist, Most New Apostolic Reformation churches or Episcopal etc. They differ in their methods, but almost all have such safe forums. People in EveryNation are resorting to the internet because there is no where else to go. That is what makes EveryNation fringe/cultic in its current form of governance and what is allowing all these scandals to grow so big and serious - rather than getting dealt with at a low level.
For example, you could do it with:
* A quarterly members meeting at which people can ask questions of the leaders and debate ideas.
* For a big church, break the accountability meetings up into smaller area discussion meetings.
* Allow the congregation to elect representatives who can convey the concerns of other anonymously or help them to articulate their concerns to the leadership.
* Create a set of rules for grevience/concern procedure that is fair to everyone and make it public.
If you are not used to it, then it is going to be hard to make the transition to an open culture of discussion forums. You haven't got experience, and if it is not handled well, a group of angry critical people can be tough to deal with. Solution: Invite an outside facilitator to help you with your first few meetings. Don't do it in-house. You can ask a pastor from another church who is good at this or you can hire a professional public facilitation consultant (but please don't hire a public relations consultant).
This thread is for EveryNation pastors who want advice on how to stop/reduce their congregation posting here.
Understand the reality of the new situation:
1. It won't help to tell them not to post here, it will just make them more curious - and you won't be easily able to find out who is posting because of the aliases.
2. Now that FactNet board has exceeded 15000 posts and is being read all over the world, you need to accept that the hierachy has lost control of the flow of information about the movement. You will never get that control back again. It is gone. You have got to live with a new situation.
3. If you have covered up scandal and/or serious abuses in your church, it will be completely impossible to keep them covered up in the long term. Somebody will talk - and probably soon. The time for the old culture of people getting away with cover up is over and gone and probably will never come back again.
So, how do you cope better in the new situation:
1. If there is covered up scandal about your church, then tell your congregation yourself, before it gets posted here. If you are partly responsible, apologise. If leaders need discipline - do it. This will be much better for your credibility and unity of your church than your congregation finding out from the internet message board.
2. Create a safe forum and procedures in your church for people to discuss their concerns and problems - without the risk of being victimised or thrown out of the church. Then people will discuss things and sort out problems in your safe forums without the need to come here.
Most churches do have such procedures and forums. EveryNation is fringe/cultic in that it doesn't do so. By creating such forums, you will be doing what almost every other denomination is already doing - whether Presbyterian, Methodist, Most New Apostolic Reformation churches or Episcopal etc. They differ in their methods, but almost all have such safe forums. People in EveryNation are resorting to the internet because there is no where else to go. That is what makes EveryNation fringe/cultic in its current form of governance and what is allowing all these scandals to grow so big and serious - rather than getting dealt with at a low level.
For example, you could do it with:
* A quarterly members meeting at which people can ask questions of the leaders and debate ideas.
* For a big church, break the accountability meetings up into smaller area discussion meetings.
* Allow the congregation to elect representatives who can convey the concerns of other anonymously or help them to articulate their concerns to the leadership.
* Create a set of rules for grevience/concern procedure that is fair to everyone and make it public.
If you are not used to it, then it is going to be hard to make the transition to an open culture of discussion forums. You haven't got experience, and if it is not handled well, a group of angry critical people can be tough to deal with. Solution: Invite an outside facilitator to help you with your first few meetings. Don't do it in-house. You can ask a pastor from another church who is good at this or you can hire a professional public facilitation consultant (but please don't hire a public relations consultant).