The Seven types you might encounter in your efforts to grow a church. Good leadership requires prayerfully bringing all these elements into concert rather than allowing them to be antagonistic towards each other or catering to only one type.
Rightness: These are the folks who are concerned with Right Theology (and consequently like to be right). They have a tendency to see everything wrong with Christianity and Culture as a problem with wrong theology. Correct theology will correct most, if not all, of the problems. Folks of this sort tend to gravitate towards and convert in the direction of places like Confessional Calvinism and Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, and Fundamentalism. They also might be crossing every “T” and dotting every “I” and checking every aspect of the church finances and bylaws, if you let them.
Righteousness: Very similar to the Rightness crowd (and there might be a lot of overlap) are those who are concerned with the Culture Wars. Things wrong with the Culture need to be corrected and there is a tendency to see Political Activism as well as Right Theology as a way forward. Strictly speaking, the Rightness crowd will be ambivalent about how much Political Activism will help the culture. Political Activism also helps in establishing power in the congregation and the Righteousness type might well bring their knowledge of political science to the church-conflict table.
Religion: These individuals are very much concerned with Religion in its Devotional, Liturgical, and Pietistic elements. They see Christianity as the ultimate Religion (as in “Religion’s” etymology from the Latin to “tie things together”). The Aesthetic is important and these folks will team up with the Rightness folks, finding common ground during “Worship Wars.” They might well find common ground with those concerned with “Rigor” as well.
Revelation: These people are strongly interested in the claims of Revelation. They value the Prophetic and Declarative in Christianity. They want to see the impact of Scripture on people’s lives. They are evangelistic and often become fixated on Eschatology. Many times they might butt heads with the Religion element and the Rightness element as being into navel gazing and not into outreach. Other times they might be in concert with the Religion and Rightness elements. On the other hand, they find a lot in common with the Righteousness crowd and often see Political Activism as a way to bring the Church back to having power in the culture and a Prophetic impact on culture but often they are ambivalent and pessimistic about political activity since deep down they believe that the End Times are upon us.
Resurrection: These are the new Christians, the baby Christians, those who have come to Christ late in life and have not yet joined another group. It might be argued that they are susceptible to the influence of whatever group holds the most sway in the Church in which they find themselves yet it is hard to say what will happen. It isn’t that they don’t have a mind of their own, but if conflict happens, they are libel to get hurt easily when caught in the crossfire.
Rigor: This crowd can be dogmatic like the Rightness and Religion crowd. They have a tendency to do what is most hard – because it is most hard - and, while valuing the aesthetic, their hearts are drawn towards the ascetic. If they fall under the spell of those within the Revelation crowd, they might choose mission work. If they fall among the Religion crowd, they might choose communal life.
Relationship: This group values fellowship above all. The Resurrection Christian has a lot in common with them. They can be found most often in nominal Christian churches as well as in those bordering on the cultic – incidentally churches most opposed to nominal Christianity. Nevertheless, when push comes to shove in church conflict, they will, like the Resurrection Christians, be caught in the crossfire and, instead of fighting to maintain control of the church, they might well find a different fellowship without much of a fight. Once the gauntlet has been thrown down during church conflict, fellowship has gone out of the window. So they don’t see much of a reason to stick around.
All of this being said, there is a lot of fluidity and flexibility. People are individuals. They might have aspects of one group as well as another. This outline is only there to help for purposes of reflection and contemplation. People grow and change and change is possible. Nevertheless, again, it is the job of a church leader to be able to bring all the elements prayerfully into concert with one another. This is ultimately within the realm of God’s Sovereignty and the work of His Holy Spirit.
Rightness: These are the folks who are concerned with Right Theology (and consequently like to be right). They have a tendency to see everything wrong with Christianity and Culture as a problem with wrong theology. Correct theology will correct most, if not all, of the problems. Folks of this sort tend to gravitate towards and convert in the direction of places like Confessional Calvinism and Lutheranism, Roman Catholicism, and Fundamentalism. They also might be crossing every “T” and dotting every “I” and checking every aspect of the church finances and bylaws, if you let them.
Righteousness: Very similar to the Rightness crowd (and there might be a lot of overlap) are those who are concerned with the Culture Wars. Things wrong with the Culture need to be corrected and there is a tendency to see Political Activism as well as Right Theology as a way forward. Strictly speaking, the Rightness crowd will be ambivalent about how much Political Activism will help the culture. Political Activism also helps in establishing power in the congregation and the Righteousness type might well bring their knowledge of political science to the church-conflict table.
Religion: These individuals are very much concerned with Religion in its Devotional, Liturgical, and Pietistic elements. They see Christianity as the ultimate Religion (as in “Religion’s” etymology from the Latin to “tie things together”). The Aesthetic is important and these folks will team up with the Rightness folks, finding common ground during “Worship Wars.” They might well find common ground with those concerned with “Rigor” as well.
Revelation: These people are strongly interested in the claims of Revelation. They value the Prophetic and Declarative in Christianity. They want to see the impact of Scripture on people’s lives. They are evangelistic and often become fixated on Eschatology. Many times they might butt heads with the Religion element and the Rightness element as being into navel gazing and not into outreach. Other times they might be in concert with the Religion and Rightness elements. On the other hand, they find a lot in common with the Righteousness crowd and often see Political Activism as a way to bring the Church back to having power in the culture and a Prophetic impact on culture but often they are ambivalent and pessimistic about political activity since deep down they believe that the End Times are upon us.
Resurrection: These are the new Christians, the baby Christians, those who have come to Christ late in life and have not yet joined another group. It might be argued that they are susceptible to the influence of whatever group holds the most sway in the Church in which they find themselves yet it is hard to say what will happen. It isn’t that they don’t have a mind of their own, but if conflict happens, they are libel to get hurt easily when caught in the crossfire.
Rigor: This crowd can be dogmatic like the Rightness and Religion crowd. They have a tendency to do what is most hard – because it is most hard - and, while valuing the aesthetic, their hearts are drawn towards the ascetic. If they fall under the spell of those within the Revelation crowd, they might choose mission work. If they fall among the Religion crowd, they might choose communal life.
Relationship: This group values fellowship above all. The Resurrection Christian has a lot in common with them. They can be found most often in nominal Christian churches as well as in those bordering on the cultic – incidentally churches most opposed to nominal Christianity. Nevertheless, when push comes to shove in church conflict, they will, like the Resurrection Christians, be caught in the crossfire and, instead of fighting to maintain control of the church, they might well find a different fellowship without much of a fight. Once the gauntlet has been thrown down during church conflict, fellowship has gone out of the window. So they don’t see much of a reason to stick around.
All of this being said, there is a lot of fluidity and flexibility. People are individuals. They might have aspects of one group as well as another. This outline is only there to help for purposes of reflection and contemplation. People grow and change and change is possible. Nevertheless, again, it is the job of a church leader to be able to bring all the elements prayerfully into concert with one another. This is ultimately within the realm of God’s Sovereignty and the work of His Holy Spirit.
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