For the last year at Candler, whenever I have talked with other students about dreams of future ministry, I have asked, "Have you ever been part of a healthy church? What did it look like?" So far, I have heard two positive replies.
One described a church in which the leading elders made it a point of demonstrating servant leadership by taking on the most menial tasks. The most senior leaders were the ones that had the right to take out the garbage. Amazing.
Recently a student described a church in which the leadership was very honest. There were no secrets. Issues were addressed immediately and publicly.
I do think that secret keeping is symptomatic of church problems, similar to secret keeping by families. I guess twice I've been sideswiped by learning about a big secret about something that had happened a few years before joining the church. I shared these thoughts with a chaplain friend, any he responded that it's a lot more difficult for a church to heal than for a family to heal. A family can get honest and make healthy changes. A church has to give up the
illusion of holiness before she can even start being honest.
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