Face Value Decisions

The healthy way of voting in a Church is not to try to read meanings into votes. Votes need to be accepted at face value, or one is headed for the quagmire. That is the way that it works in a constituted Church -- it is unconstituted Churches which are run on a sea of emotion. I think this is all the more important in a Congregational Church. If anyone says that a vote wasn't quite a vote because [fill in the blank], then the value of the person who voted, together with their vote, may be diminished (in fact, sometimes augmented) -- where they are really meant to be regarded as precious equals. Besides, does one know that this was their mind or that was their motive? So, votes are votes, and one doesn't "break one's head" over the personal insides of them. It is a given, of course, that reasonable effort is made to share information and reach well-thought-through decisions. OBSERVATION: In fact in the Congregational Church, at the level of the Church, reading meanings into votes is basically ruled out, as (quote) "the findings are those which Christ imparts."

POSTSCRIPT: In theory, all Churches in South Africa must be constituted. In practice, many are not. Not only that, but those which are constituted may not be run constitutionally -- a previous ministry of my own an example.