How the LCM Affects Personality

[Freedom]

Originally Posted by Freedom

As I saw, the problem was that the elders, when presented with the facts, would not make the expected/reasonable decision. Especially when there was some sort of problem/conflict brought to their attention, they would downplay the need to take any action, even while acknowledging the facts and the problem.

Elders and leaders have a certain set of responsibilities. That list includes decision-making and addressing conflict. At a general level, I never saw elders take decision-making too seriously. Major decisions were made lightly, or deferred until the very last minute where an arbitrary decision was made. This was usually characterized as "waiting on the Lord" or "praying over the matter." It generated a perception of spirituality, but it was, in fact, just a cover for indecisiveness.

When it came to elders (not) appropriately addressing conflict, matters got even worse. In the LCM, any indication of conflict is characterized using terminology like: the enemy, the flesh, not in the spirit, etc. I think it tends to make people want to avoid conflict rather than work to find a resolution. What I observed in the LCM is that with most conflicts, either the issue was downplayed as insignificant or one side was expected to "drop the issue" rather than there being any sort of mutual resolution. In either case it alleviated the elders from having to fulfill their responsibilities.