Monday, May 29, 2006

A church community that heals & doesn't enable


From going through the process of adopting a older child, one of the most powerful things our family has learned is the idea of 'being an enabler'. We learned (sometimes the hard way) that some behaviors we thought were cute or loving were sometimes cute and loving, but sometimes good old fashioned manipulation to avoid an uncomfortable situation that really needed to be dealt with.
To enable someone means you make it possible for them to be able to do a certain behavior or to think a certain way. Through how you interact with them, what you say, what you encourage or discourage in them, etc, you make it possible for them to grow in a good and healthy direction. The opposite is also true in that you can can also encourage them to move along a path that is unhealthy or even bad or sinful through what you say, do, accept, etc.
When you think about the passages from scripture that talk about how we are to interact with each other (including what we are to do together, how often we are to be together in one kind of setting or another, what we are to encourage/discourage, etc), what are the things that God asks of us or calls us to do as fellow believers called to live as his family? What are things he calls us not to do?
How do we sometimes enable unhealthy or even sinful lifestyles, attitudes or behaviors among our communities as believers? What are some specific behaviors that get a 'pass' by how we avoid them, ignore them or even protect them? What does the church's leaders, teachers, etc do to help or hurt? How could we be more of a church that helps people heal from wounds and grow in the kingdom rather than be enablers?

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