Our congregational model of decision making comes out of the Reformation. Many Reformers argued that not only had man fallen, but so had the Church. When Constantine proclaimed Christianity the religion of the realm in the Council of Nicea in 325 AD the State took the Church captive. As Adam yielded to temptation in the garden, the early Church fathers also did in this unholy alliance. The Edict of Innocent I in 407 AD which made infant baptism compulsory completed the job by guaranteeing an abundance of church members, continued institutional growth and increasingly meaningless membership. Many Reformers argued the civic right of a free person to private religious interpretation and the Christian duty of voluntary association to enforce a strong internal discipline. These led to a congregational decision making model, where Spirit working through the gathered assembly had more authority than Scripture, tradition, reason or force.

Decision Making: A Discussion Paper

Ronald Arms

July 1997

Decision making defines a structure for people to make their own choices, for community to make decisions together and, when well done, it refuses to make choices for others even if they are the right ones. It would be fascinating to have a record of how Jesus and the disciples made decisions. Did he always command and they simply obey? Did they struggle to reach consensus? Did the majority rule? Did they always make choices the same way? A group that included a tax collector and a zealot is not likely to have come to easy agreement on some issues. Dealing with a traitor required some hard decisions. Judas, as treasurer, questioned the use of resources on at least one occasion. Unfortunately, the New Testament does not contain simple, clear and sufficient instructions on decision making.

Reflecting on the life and teaching of Jesus, using the theme of mathetes, (disciples-learners) as a guide, some observations come to mind. Jesus uses decision making as a school. It is a place to learn. The lessons and the teachers change. Decision making is a place to practice positive politics. It is where Jesus learns to deal with evil without becoming evil. No one answer is always right, but the learning posture is often helpful.

Sometimes Jesus turns the other cheek and goes the second mile. Other times he takes up the whip and chases the money changers out of the Temple. More often he practices forgiveness. If we read the New Testament to see how Jesus deals with decision making what surfaces is the way he continues to widen the repertoire of his responses. He does not advocate a particular method of decision making. Rather he sees choice as a practice and discipline which deepens faith.

The basic lesson Jesus teaches is that there are no experts in loving, no scholars in living, no doctors of the human emotions and no gurus of the soul. We are each and all priests. We must each and together give our best effort and conduct our own experiments.

I participated in a course in the School of Christian Living that began to do this for me several years ago. There I had a vision of what decision making in Seekers might look like. I called it a dance in four movements. It goes like this:

First movement: solo/overcoming inertia

Rationale: we must each reclaim our birth

* to be a person on pilgrimage

* to participate

* individual choice

* to show up

The first movement of the dance is personal. "We are born alone, die alone, and must be reborn alone–whether we are talking physically or spiritually. It cannot be done as a group. It cannot be done for you by someone else. It cannot be done for you by an institution. The spiritual task of empowerment is to find your own unique relationship with Spirit and to discover and live your own special version of Spirit incarnate." (Sacred Eyes, p. 168) When individuals make the choice to be present, to show up and participate, the dance begins. The steps, the rhythms and cycles are many. The first movement is always ours.

Elizabeth O’Connor’s Cry Pain, Cry Hope touched me deeply. After reading it I wanted to meet her. I called her. She invited me to lunch at the Potter’s House. I shared my appreciation for her writing, and talked with her for a while. I then asked if she would recommend a church in Virginia. I forget her exact words, but they said to me, "Quit making excuses. Drive the forty miles a Sunday and come experience us." Ten years ago now I made the decision to do that. I’m not sure what your story is, but we each made that initial decision. It makes sense to begin a discussion paper on decision making by remembering, and sharing the individual and personal choices that bring us here.

Second movement: folk dance/invoking imagination

Rationale: fundamental community choices made on a democratic basis that encourage and invoke maximum participation.

* call

* budget

* staffing

* location

* majority rules

* size

* popular vote

* property

* by laws

The second movement is a folk dance that invites maximum participation. A Biblical basis for democratic participation in what matters most to a community flows from two parables. Those who arrive late at the vineyard and work only the last hour will be paid the same wages as those who have labored all day long. In this sense, God is recklessly extravagant. There is more joy in heaven over finding one lost sheep than over the 99 that are safe. This generosity is mysterious. Pragmatically it is a reminder that democracy is the best safeguard against the abuse of power. Theologically it is a reminder of God’s preferential option for the lost, the least and the little.

A recent story captures this spirit, "In one of the loveliest Arthurian stories, Sir Gawain, a knight of the Round Table, agrees to marry Ragnall, a most hideously ugly hag, in exchange for her telling the king a secret that will save him from death. The wedding is held, and all the kingdom has pity for this handsome and gallant knight who is marrying someone so horrible in both appearance and manners.

"After Gawain and his bride retire to their wedding chambers, she excuses herself to slip into something more comfortable, while he climbs into bed, prepared to do his conjugal duty with this hag. Then, out from the curtains steps a stunningly beautiful young woman, the "fairest woman in the land."

"Gawain is dumbfounded. "Where is my wife? What have you done with her?"

"I am your wife," the woman replies. Then she tells how an evil sorcerer had put an enchantment upon her so that she shifted from being rapturously beautiful to being repulsively ugly.

"Now," Ragnall says to Gawain, "you have a choice. As my husband, you must decide if you want me beautiful by night for your pleasure, and ugly by day, knowing that people will pity you; or beautiful by day, so people will honor you, and ugly by night, which will bring you no pleasure. Which do you want? You decide."

All husbands should take note of this, for Gawain proves his wisdom as a man and his smarts as a husband. He says, "This is not for me to choose. I want you to be the way you want to be. It is your choice."

"He gives her back her power. Gawain does not try to decide Ragnall’s life for her. He says, "You are the powerful one. It is your choice, not mine." With that, the spell is broken and she is beautiful all the time. He honors her sovereignty, and that frees her to be her true self.

"That to me is loving behavior: giving back power and honoring the integrity of another. It is valuing who the other is. That is a behavior that says, "God loved the world, so He (or She) sent you here, too. You are important. I want to honor you because of this importance. I want to honor your sovereignty. I want to treasure who you are."

Participative decision making seeks to respect the sovereignty of all those who have claimed a place in the circle. It gives back power to those who are merely beginning to experience community. It honors the integrity of others for no other reason than God so loved the world that each of us is sent here too.

Third movement: cheek to cheek/inviting intimacy

Rationale: decisions get made close to the point of implementation by those doing the work

* operational and administrative choices

* service and outreach decisions

* flexibility on methods

* multiple calls and new mission groups

The third movement of the dance invites intimacy. Currently mission groups fulfill this function. A willingness to reexamine their role and definition could enhance their contribution to the community. The notion of multiple calls could encourage each mission group to have internal and external calls. Each group would choose operational and administrative guidelines that warrant their attention and effort and relate to the inward and outward dimensions of their vision.

Christina Baldwin describes some of our experience and invites us to build on it when she speaks about calling a circle, "A circle is a way of doing things differently than we have become accustomed to. The circle is a return to our original form of community as well as a leap forward to create a new form of community. By calling the circle, we rediscover an ancient process of consultation and communion that, for tens of thousands of years, held the human community together and shaped its course…"…By hosting a meeting in a circle, (people) are saying: power will be shared, opened up, dealt with differently, so that we may find a new way of being together that can lead us to reimaging what culture might be.

"Hierarchy is a triangular structure that locates leadership at the top and provides efficient means for organizing and carrying out tasks. Hierarchy is a useful structure for teaching, passing on information, organizing data, and mass producing goods.

"The circle is an organizational structure that locates leadership along the rim and provides an inclusive means of consultation. Circling is a useful structure for learning, governance, creating community, providing services and observing ritual.

"Both the circle and the triangle have influenced each other. They work best when allowed to occur in combination. A council may be called in which every person has a voice and then a group of elders takes all these voices into consideration when they make a decision.

Seekers has valuable experience with circles in a hierarchical world. Widening the ways we use these will enhance our decision making.

Fourth movement: twirling dervishes/inspire insight

Rationale: accountability decisions are best made by those who have the longest, deepest and greatest compassion

* discernments

* disputes

* consensus

* disagreements

The fourth movement of the dance inspires insight. Here those with greatest compassion practice the art of discernment. Out of the silence they seek a consensus that mediates disputes and settles disagreements within the community. The malfeasance of funds, the inappropriate crossing of sexual boundaries, dealing with angry feelings, resolving competing priorities, the painful decision to ask a person to leave the community–these all need a depth of caring and an intensity of concern that are most accessible to the truly inspired. These are people willing to shoulder the blame without insisting on the credit. They enjoy rank without requiring privilege.

"A young man, beaming with good intentions, presented himself to Jacob and announced, "One day I hope to be as wise as you."

"Jacob thought back through his own life. "When we are young," he said, "we seek the wisdom to find our way. As we grow older, what we pray for is strength."

"The strength to do what?"

"To carry on," answered Jacob.

"And does God give us that strength through prayer?" asked the young man, his voice hemmed with hope.

"Prayer begins not so much with God’s hand reaching toward ours," answered Jacob, "but with our hand stretching toward God’s."

"But what about heaven, Jacob?" said the young man, his voice pushing for an answer it could pocket. "How can we find our way to heaven?"

"We find our way to heaven," said Jacob, "by caring about those who live on earth."

"And what if we don’t care," asked the young man, "what then?"

"God does not threaten us," said Jacob, "except with the lack of compassion we show others."

If we would use decision making as a school, if we would respect the sovereignty of all who approach our community, if we would share power, open up our structures and deal with it differently so that we can find a new way of being together these are some thoughts about decision making worth discussing:

1. We must empower beginners. If we would learn from our sovereignty, we will share ownership with others broadly.

2. Give full and accurate information. We must guard against secrecy, closed meetings and the many ways in which we all refuse to trust strangers, newcomers and others we disagree with. This argues for a sunshine decision making process that is open, inviting and inclusive.

3. Say no to the dominance of others, by others. It is a very human tendency to want a savior, to look up to elders. Good decision making works against this tendency. It promotes self reliance in community. It refuses to make decisions for others, even when they are the right decisions.

4. Promote spiritual and organizational literacy. This means helping others learn all the things they would need to know if they are going to be partners in our adventure. The price people pay for a greater say is learning what it takes to keep the ship afloat.

5. Promote partnership. Servant structures move people from privilege to partnership.

6. Train and practice. We need to see decision making as a skill and an art that invites continual learning on our part. Perfection will escape us.

7. Realize even good choices have bad consequences. The best we can strive for is the attempt to do no harm.

8. Forgive mistakes. How we deal with bad decisions and poor choices is as important as making good ones by a correct process.

9. Use decision making to transform knowledge into action. People act their way into a new way of thinking more often than they think their way into a new way of acting.

10. Be as concerned with awe as we are with answers. No matter how good our decisions, how transparent our process, how involved our community, God is still in the cracks and surprises.

Rachel Naomi Regmem addresses some of these issues in her story, On Naming and Awe,

"A label is a mask life wears.

"We put labels on life all the time. "Right," "wrong," "success," "failure," "lucky," "unlucky," may be as limiting a way of seeing things as "diabetic," "epileptic," "manic-depressive," or even "invalid." Labeling sets up an expectation of life that is often so compelling we can no longer see things as they really are. This expectation often gives us a false sense of familiarity toward something that is really new and unprecedented. We are in relationship with our expectations and not with life itself.

"Which brings up the idea that we may become as wounded by the way in which we see an illness as by the illness itself. Belief traps or frees us. Labels may become self-fulfilling prophecies. Studies of voodoo death suggest that in certain circumstances belief may even kill.

"We may need to take our labels and even our experts far more lightly. Some years ago I served on the dissertation committee of a woman in the Midwest, who was studying spontaneous remission of cancer. Among the people who answered her ad in the paper asking for people who thought they may have had an unusual experience of healing was a farmer who had done exceptionally well despite a dire prognosis. On the phone one evening, she told me about him. She felt his outcome was related to his attitude. "He didn’t take it on," she said.

"Confused, I asked her if he had denied that he had cancer. No, she said, he had not. He had just taken the same attitude toward his physician’s prognosis that he took toward the words of the government soil experts who analyzed his fields. As they were educated men, he respected them and listened carefully as they showed him the findings of their tests and told him that the corn would not grow in this field. He valued their opinions. But, as he told my student, "A lot of the time the corn grows anyway."

"In my experience, a diagnosis is an opinion and not a prediction. What would it be like if more people allowed for the presence of the unknown, and accepted the words of their medical experts in this same way? The diagnosis is cancer. What that will mean remains to be seen. "Like a diagnosis, a label is an attempt to assert control and manage uncertainty. It may allow us the security and comfort of mental closure and encourage us not to think about things again. But life never comes to a closure, life is process, even mystery. Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, only adventure."

Decision making is often also an attempt to assert control and manage uncertainty. As we work with the issue, let us enjoy the adventure! In our discussions let us share the ways we are comfortable with change and the unknown. Then in sovereign and circular ways we may dance beyond labels and share power in structures that allow us to find a better way of being together.