Undermining the Church's One Foundation, One Stone At A Time

Well, tomorrow is the start of this year's session of a program called Disciples of Christ in Community ("DOCC") at our Church. This is an adult education course that was invented somewhere out west about 30 years ago.

Basically, it is an exercise in what I call Applied Christianity, an attempt to emulate the small group structure of the Early Church and to emphasize the Commandment to love thy neighbor. The group gets together to discuss matters of spirituality and through this, to draw closer together as members of a discrete community. It isn't traditional Bible study and it isn't group therapy, although elements of both of those are included in its general characteristic.

I participated in the program last year and found it very rewarding. This year, I was fool enough to volunteer to lead the thing. This is hard. My personal Eleventh Commandment has always been "Thou Shalt Mind Thy Own Bloody Business." To be put in the leadership position of having to try and coax a group of folks into reaching out to each other (both physically and spiritually) has me a bit apprehensive, not so much because I object to the process, but because my own natural inclinations might not set the best example.

The other thing to worry about is the group itself. We have some strong personalities that will be there this year. As my pal Sparky knows, the wrong group dynamics can ruin the whole experience. So I'll have to watch that. I figure I'll just keep asking myself, "What would B.A. Baracus do?" I pity da fool who tries ta hijack da group fo his own ego-centric pu-poses!

Wish me luck!