The Rt. Rev. Dan Edwards, Bishop of Nevada, writes in a “17th Epistle to the Nevadans” post:
What is the temperament of your congregation? By “temperament,” I mean a habitual mood, a pattern of acting, a spiritual default setting. Just as individuals have temperaments, so too do congregations. Congregations have lots of feelings running about in them and various people behave in various ways. But the group has a basic was of being. Individuals have a lot of feelings in any given day, sometimes several feelings at the same time. But the individual has a basic temperament. It is the same with a congregation.
Just as some individual temperaments are attractive and others not, the same is true of congregational temperaments. Just as the temperaments of some individuals make them healers or leaders or friends, the same is true of congregations. There are people we gravitate toward when we need consolation or inspiration. Other people we flee from like the plague when we are a bit fragile. So what is your congregation’s temperament?
Image: Figure representing one of the four temperaments. Uploaded by Fæ to Wikimedia Commons
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