Relationships

The relationships in the church should be circular. The "One Another Stuff" is more important than "Submission Stuff". Most of it will take place within pairs.

In contrast, in the conventional church, all the links go through the centre.

A good test of the quality of relationships is the amount of forgiveness that is taking place.

Forgive one another (Col 3:13).

If people are not interacting, there will not be much stuff to forgive. It is interesting that much of the offence among modern Christians is either against the pastor and worship leader, or against friends and workmates. The reason is that most interaction in the church is with the pastor and worship leader. Most Christians do not have enough interaction with each other to cause offence and need forgiveness.