What makes a ministry team or a small group worth being a member of is its purpose. The reason the group exists is what will attract new members and retain the existing ones through the travails of mediocrity and the mundane.
And that mission or purpose or reason for existence might be defined by what the members believe.
My belief is what attracts me to you. The group's collective beliefs are what define it and keep it going.
Whether or not I decide to join or give up my time to be a part of the project has to do with what I believe and how well I see that fitting into the overall purpose of the group.
The best groups I have been a part of are the ones that allow me to articulate what I believe and hold those ideas up to the beliefs of others. We can then begin to understand and eventually trust and and in the rarest of occasions love one another for who we are and what we individually believe and why.
On the other hand, the most life sucking self defeating groups are the ones comprised of people who seem bent on making sure that everybody believes pretty much what the other members of the group believe.
Believism is the idea that what I believe is so important and correct that you and anybody else who comes into my sphere should believe it too.
The group gets together to reaffirm that what it believes is right and that people who don't believe what it and its members believe are wrong.
There doesn't seem to be much trust or understanding on display at these group meetings.
Another casualty of adding ism to what you and your group believe is love.
But that's just me. Not everyone has to believe that.
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