Church leadership: term limits

Christian ethics and theology with an Anabaptist perspective
temporal1
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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thebluffs wrote:Intriguingly enough, we have a set retirement age - 65 at play in our congregation. Our lead pastor (bishop), is nominated by our leadership team and serves for a 5 year term (pending an affirmation vote from the congregation). To date, this means that we have had our most recent lead pastor serve a total of 18 years in that role, prior to being ineligible due to being near the age of 65.

Ask me in 200 years whether it worked or not.
i am smiling. :)
my mother, who passed at age 88, considered men, aged 60-70-ish, to be "in the prime of their lives;" my dear great-grandmother-in-law, who passed at 100+, considered 50 to be youthful!
i tend to agree with these two wise women, each lucid until their deaths.

i also like to think of what we recognize to be ancient cultures, like the Chinese, and other Asians, who value their elders .. compared with our truly youthful and often impetuous U.S. culture.
we have so much to learn.

there's no knowing now whether the U.S. will ever become an ancient culture .. indications are not promising. God knows. we do not.

carry on. :D
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steve-in-kville
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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Quite honestly, I think the Bishop position shouldn't be a life term, but voted in by a congregation to serve a 4-year term. If all goes well, he can keep being elected as bishop of that congregation. If not, he's replaced. Boom. Done. No more "dynasties" that can't be broken up. Solves a lot of problems.

(Yeah, I'm a bit biased!)
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gcdonner
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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steve-in-kville wrote:Quite honestly, I think the Bishop position shouldn't be a life term, but voted in by a congregation to serve a 4-year term. If all goes well, he can keep being elected as bishop of that congregation. If not, he's replaced. Boom. Done. No more "dynasties" that can't be broken up. Solves a lot of problems.

(Yeah, I'm a bit biased!)
Kinda like a presidential election and term? So which style would you choose this time around, a Hillery style bishop or a Donald style bishop? LOL :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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Who ever isn't being investigated by the FBI, I guess.
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temporal1
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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steve-in-kville wrote:Who ever isn't being investigated by the FBI, I guess.
the way things are going, it seems as tho we're all included on their list. just waiting for their knock on the door.

which, by the way, happened to us one time, not long after 9-11-2001. :shock:
they visit in person.
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JimFoxvog
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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Sometimes church leaders take too much power over the congregation. They might not be doing anything seriously wrong enough that an effort to remove them would be more helpful than harmful, but a rotating of leadership in a congregation would help this not become too great of a problem. I think a term of three to five years, then a requirement to not be in leadership a few years, might work best.
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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JimFoxvog wrote:Sometimes church leaders take too much power over the congregation. They might not be doing anything seriously wrong enough that an effort to remove them would be more helpful than harmful, but a rotating of leadership in a congregation would help this not become too great of a problem. I think a term of three to five years, then a requirement to not be in leadership a few years, might work best.
And then if you get a really good one that you would like to keep longer???? Get rid of a good one and replace with another untested one who could be good or bad?
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temporal1
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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gcdonner wrote:
JimFoxvog wrote:Sometimes church leaders take too much power over the congregation. They might not be doing anything seriously wrong enough that an effort to remove them would be more helpful than harmful, but a rotating of leadership in a congregation would help this not become too great of a problem. I think a term of three to five years, then a requirement to not be in leadership a few years, might work best.
And then if you get a really good one that you would like to keep longer???? Get rid of a good one and replace with another untested one who could be good or bad?
the fail of human law. the only thing human law gurantees is: the need for more human law. :-|
law schools LOVE it. :shock:
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JimFoxvog
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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gcdonner wrote:
JimFoxvog wrote:Sometimes church leaders take too much power over the congregation. They might not be doing anything seriously wrong enough that an effort to remove them would be more helpful than harmful, but a rotating of leadership in a congregation would help this not become too great of a problem. I think a term of three to five years, then a requirement to not be in leadership a few years, might work best.
And then if you get a really good one that you would like to keep longer???? Get rid of a good one and replace with another untested one who could be good or bad?
Good point.

I just have not seen this happen. What I've seen too often is a self-perpetuating power structure.

I wish we could just trust to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but humans let their own fears, desires to conform, desires to be approved, their selfish desires for power get in the way so often.

If I could design the system, maybe I'd try team leadership (maybe 3 or 5 or 7?), term limits with staggered terms to keep continuity, with the option of keeping someone in a position with a unanimous anonymous ballot?
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Re: Church leadership: term limits

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JimFoxvog wrote:
gcdonner wrote:
JimFoxvog wrote:Sometimes church leaders take too much power over the congregation. They might not be doing anything seriously wrong enough that an effort to remove them would be more helpful than harmful, but a rotating of leadership in a congregation would help this not become too great of a problem. I think a term of three to five years, then a requirement to not be in leadership a few years, might work best.
And then if you get a really good one that you would like to keep longer???? Get rid of a good one and replace with another untested one who could be good or bad?
Good point.

I just have not seen this happen. What I've seen too often is a self-perpetuating power structure.

I wish we could just trust to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but humans let their own fears, desires to conform, desires to be approved, their selfish desires for power get in the way so often.

If I could design the system, maybe I'd try team leadership (maybe 3 or 5 or 7?), term limits with staggered terms to keep continuity, with the option of keeping someone in a position with a unanimous anonymous ballot?
Wasn't this the point of "plural ministry"? While I have heard about it, read tracts on it, I have seldom seen it in real application. Unfortunately, even with a brotherhood conscience, a egocentric leader will not pay any heed to them.
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