GCI says "in spite of.......it worked."

Grace Communion (WCG) is patting it's self on the back on how they operated in the past and for their new "collegial" approach they now use.

I am surprised at how easily the past abuses can be glossed over by this defense, "in spite of the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants aspect of our approach – it worked."

Neil Earle has this to say: Pyramids and Webs

Fruit Bearing Activities

Even in our old days as Radio Church of God and then Worldwide Church of God (1968-2009) we knew we had to be active in God’s service, to bear fruit. This led us to do some things no-one else had quite done in the same way. In fact, we got a reputation for chaos and indecision both inside and outside our church that was due in large measure to our pioneering efforts – that we were pushing the envelope in many diverse areas.

In the 1960 we were among the first big mailing operations to get into computers. We set it up so well that IBM sometimes used us as a paradigm for some of their customers. Really.

In the 1970s we published seven foreign language editions of the same magazine full color every month on five continents. Even Reader’s Digest could not do that. This won us many articles of praise in publishing and trade journals.

In the 1980s, faced with sky-high responses to our media work, we invented such things as a Wide Area Telephone System or WATS Line. This device, staffed by attendants and even when not, handled thousands of telephone calls for lit on a twenty-four hour basis. Yep, there we were. Pioneering. Innovating. Learning and relearning and making inevitable mistakes on the way.

In the 1990s in a converted gun shop on a sloping hill in Pasadena the Arbitron people (TV survey experts) handed us the title as the most listened to religious TV program in North America. And we used only a half-hour of power not the full hour of our closest emulator.

We were off-base in many of our teachings and approaches, of course, but the call to fruit-bearing effectiveness was there. Even some of our staunchest critics conceded that. We had the old pyramid style of operating which (to oversimplify) was a simple pyramid with HQ at the top telling everyone below in the organization what to do. This worked, however. Yes, it led to lots of abuses and our hard-working employees were not given the kind of pensions and retirement security most normal workers received but – in spite of the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants aspect of our approach – it worked.

The Modified Pyramid

Today we operate under a “new pyramid,” to coin a phrase. And if you envisage the top of the pyramid remaining as HQ you could put the Pastor in the left corner and the Congregation in the other corner. Today we have a “modified Episcopal” structure or more collegial approach in place. This means there is a church hierarchy of course but the pastor and local congregations have much more input into the running of the local churches. Power flows up and down along both sides of this softer gentle pyramid. The way we appoint new pastors illustrates that. In the past, HQ said we’re sending you Pastor Soandso and that was pretty much it.

Today, if a pastor wants to retire our Church Administration Department (CAD) lists an opening in Sasquatch, Saskatchewan and licensed GCI pastors may apply for that post. Then the new applicant visits the area, speaks and interacts with the congregation and the church members get to vote Yea or Nay. Wow.

This is a striking departure from the past but seems to echo Acts 6 and the choosing of the first deacons much more closely than our previous approach. The casting of lots for Matthias in Acts 2 was also much more “democratic-seeming” than hierarchical.

And so it goes.