A response to "Paper Chase" Case by case: Case by case

Read Ellen Blue's fictional narrative first.

Conflict is neither good nor bad. It is just inevitable, and it’s another tool for leadership. Jesus Christ started most of the ones he experienced, so why should his faithful disciples expect to avoid them? The challenge for a leader of Christ’s church is to make a conflict redemptive.

Larry likes to think of himself as a pastor devoted to “empowerment.” That sounds good these days. For a long time we have chaffed at the old hierarchical, top-down forms of organizational leadership. We now expect enlightened pastors to free the gifts and passions of their parishioners, and we assume that the Holy Spirit will use all of this energy to build up the church into a harmonious whole. But there is little biblical warrant to support such a naïve assumption.