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Host
a Gathering
Leadership
is not a position, leadership is action. You don't
need to be an official member of our organization to hold
a gathering. You don't need our permission, nor do we even
need knowledge of it. It is not our place to control or
"coordinate" your efforts to advance
truth. Don't wait for "orders from
Headquarters", just do it! Here
is a ten minute audio file which explains what we are
trying to do with gatherings and fleshes out the concept.
Gatherings
are not exclusively for purposes of education, though that
is the first and foundational of the sevenfold activities
from our
charter. Gatherings can be used to facilitate each
of the activities from our charter, which are the heart of
the "action" in our action center. Here
are our sevenfold activities with an example of how
gatherings can be used for each of them:
1. Educate both ourselves and others
on what God’s standards for civil government are.
This is as simple as inviting people
over to your home, especially the half-convinced or those
unexposed to a classical view of government as God's
servant. Then play some of our (or others) online
content to the small group. After they are exposed
to some content, you can all have a talk about it.
The only way we would need to know is if you scheduled a
live interaction with one of our society members for your
gathering.
This is at the heart of what we do, and
especially at the first, the type of gathering that should
be held above all other. There is a crying need to
understand basic truths that, once understood, will lead
to correct public policy. We can't hope for
our leaders to produce a just society until their base
assumptions are the correct ones. All we can do otherwise
is try to react to the worst of their poor
decisions. It is the difference between a better
environment by cleaning up litter and a better environment
because we have taught people not to litter.
2. Contend in the public arena with
vain philosophies which exalt themselves against the
knowledge of God, particularly in matters affecting public
life and policy.
This type of gathering can take several
forms. These include Debate, Protest, and Defend.
One way is to host a debate. No
one has to be a world expert to debate ideas, high school
students are trained in debate on a regular basis.
Say a local atheist college professor gets press to push a
radical secularist agenda. Select a champion from
among you and set up a debate. Challenge the
professor, and go to the same paper and ask for the same
amount of press for the debate as they gave the
professor. If they refuse to debate, hammer the
point home to anyone who will listen that the Theophobes
will not defend their ideas intellectually. If you
desire, Society members are available to give counsel in
how to set the terms of the debate. If you
fear the ability of the adversary, you may want to invite
a Society Member to be your champion, either live or in
videoconference.
You can also meet to discuss what
issues merit letters to the editor and other forms of
contention. You can gather to Protest. You can
gather to defend the innocent when they are under unfair
attack. You can gather at a city council or school
board meeting, where citizens are often granted an
opportunity to speak. Going as a group gives you
more credibility than each of you would have as a single
individual.
3. Commend and support efforts by
public officials to uphold God’s standards for civil
government.
What a joy it is to be able to honor
those who do well. We can meet to determine who to
praise and honor as well as who to oppose. It could
be as simple as reserving a room at the local steakhouse
and buying them dinner and presenting them with a plaque.
4. Endorse and support candidates
for public office who are willing to uphold God’s
standard’s for civil government.
and
5. In cases where such candidates
are lacking, recruit and support candidates ourselves,
whether they run under our banner or some other.
The day may come when we are more
formal in structure for purposes such as this one.
But even if we are not, someone will pick who your next
state representative will be, who your next city
councilman will be, who your next congressman will
be. We ask that you not
sit by while radical secularists, be they of one faction
or the other, pick your civic leaders.
We are in the service of God, not any
political party. In fact, no one who is a committee
member of either of the two current dominant political
parties is even eligible for a society membership.
We ask that you be open to all possibilities when
considering the route your candidate takes to elective
office. You could encourage them to run in the
primary of the two dominant parties, or as an independent,
or as a candidate of some other party. We can
offer our endorsement and some other aid to select
candidates regardless of the route you choose. Our
main requirement is that they believe the right things and
have the right heart. Party labels are unimportant.
6. That the name of Christ be not
maligned, to oppose those who support unbiblical policies
in His name or who benefit by association with His name
while supporting such policies or exhibiting a lack of
virtue.
A gathering can be held to
fulfill a prophetic function of rebuke to a political
leader who capitalizes on the Name while advancing an
ungodly agenda. This is in the form of a press
release, a public protest, letters to the editor, or a
letter directly to the leader.
Our
National Society will likely perform most or all of these
functions at each of our gatherings. Once
established, each state society will do the same.
But every citizen has that right and duty. You don't need
our formal recognition to do the same thing in your
community, though in time, we may call upon you to
formally align with us. The main thing is not
whether some title is bestowed on any of us, the main
thing is that we act. May God bless us in our
efforts to serve Him in this ministry. For
details on scheduling a Society Member/content author
visit with your gathering via PC-PC voice click here. For
details on scheduling a Society Member/content author
visit with your gathering via chat-room or special forum thread click
here. For
details on scheduling a society member to visit your
gathering in person, contact them directly here.
If
you are not yet ready to make the commitment to organize a
gathering, at least consider examining our forum
articles
and online
audio/video resources.
Then make your friends aware of what
you think are the more thought-provoking offerings from
among them.
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