Tim Chester on Community Decision Making

“In our culture we expect to make our own decisions. But decision-making must have a communal dimension

First, we need the community to make good decisions. We need one another to help us see when our reasoning is corrupted by our sinful hearts.

Second, we should involve the Christian community in decision-making to the extent that our decisions affect the community. This doesn’t mean that the community or its leaders tell people what to do in their personal lives, but it does mean that we should:

• make decisions with regard to the implications for our Christian community; and
• make significant decisions in consultation with members of our Christian community.

A single person typically makes decisions without regard to anyone else. Marriage  changes everything. When asked to go for a drink after work, they think about the implications for their family. Big decisions get made in consultation with the family. The same is true in the Christian family. The family doesn’t makes decisions for us. But we make decisions with our family and in the light of our membership of that family.”

Read the whole thing here

~ by John on January 9, 2010.