[CS-FSLUG] OT: The Hidden Dangers of Peacemakers

[Ed Hurst]

On Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:20:09 -0600, Timothy Butler <tbutler at ofb.biz> wrote:

> Oh, and the pastor and leaders that aren't following the spirit of
> the program? The pastor is a founder of a major regional Peacemaker
> endorsed mediation/counseling organization and the Peacemakers
> "Certified Christian Conciliators" at that organization were the ones
> advising him on what he did. The church even hosts major, directly
> endorsed Peacemaker Ministries events.

On Jan 9, 2010, at 12:37 PM, Jason P. Franklin wrote:

> As for the PDC thing... the two have nothing to do with each other.   
> That accusation (if there is anything to accuse of) is something of a  
> non-sequitor.

Tim didn't make the connection, but I will more concretely. The connection  
is a similarity in methods. I'll bite, and keep my nomex underwear on. ;-)

We know that Peacemakers proclaims it was designed to prevent the very  
thing which happened to Tim. He reports it was the people staffing the  
program management which perverted it. We know PDC is not supposed to  
destroy churches, but it does. It does so when program staffers training  
church leadership instruct them to do things contrary to the spirit of PDC.

There are numerous news stories where large portions of church membership  
were effectively disenfranchised and tossed out. They were tossed out  
because they dared to resist changes in church management which came in  
the door with PDC training (not always related to the study of the books).  
It is the people who run the sessions for PDC pastoral training who teach  
the pastors to become tyrants. It is the training from the staff of  
Peacemaker who have pressed similar behavior.

The material does not encourage these things, but the apparatchiks who go  
forth and train church leadership are the ones doing it. I suppose if I  
took the time to look up all the references, there are similar problems  
cited in articles, news reports, etc., showing this is a trend in a whole  
range of modern church management programs and so forth, bringing  
corporate style church management to the fore. PDC can be reduced to  
self-help psychology and successful living, with church management by  
standard corporate practices and ethics. Peacemakers reflects the same  
corporate philosophy, the same underlying assumptions about human  
behavior. It objectifies and manages behavior rather scientifically, but  
it is behavioral science of a particular school.

Take the time to analyze not just the material, but the way things are  
done. This is not slander, nor unsupported generalizations, but I admit I  
do not have a massive collection of footnotes and resources. I'm not on a  
crusade to stop these programs; there are plenty who do that better than  
I. You don't learn about counterfeits by studying the samples of fakes,  
but by knowing the genuine article so well forgeries are easy to spot.  
Churches were never meant to be modern corporations, but spiritual  
families. Any compromise with that principle brings trouble; the degree of  
compromise predicts the degree of trouble.

I don't expect many here to agree with me, but I would assert it's not a  
non-sequitur.

-- 
Ed Hurst
------------
Associate Editor, Open for Business: http://ofb.biz/
Applied Bible - http://soulkiln.org/
Kiln of the Soul - http://soulkiln.blogspot.com/