The event, held at Memorial United Methodist Church in Thomasville, was sponsored by the Center for Congregational Health. About half of the 80 people attending were N.C. Baptists. During the Thomasville meeting, Simmons talked about how to decrease resistance to cooperation, discussed ways to help people examine themselves and showed participants how to get people to honestly dialogue with each other.
Blame is our enemy.
People make up reasons to hoard information, she said. In churches, some people can be territorial about their relationship with the pastor. Simmons said the move from hierarchical authority to participative decision-making requires new skills for church leaders. While the group is trying to make a decision, someone grabs the decision and runs. In the world of perception, if you get there first and if you get there in a legitimate looking way, it's yours.