Lara Rusch ~ 22
I don’t care what day you come here, somebody here every day […], and so that’s
why I try to limit the things that I do with my core team now because everyone on
my core team is a member of three or four other different auxiliaries and clubs.
Competition for resources, participants, and the pastor’s support among activities creates
a challenge for participation in community organizing, and therefore for the political
impact of congregations. That competition can also be complicated with internal politics.
In interviews, a couple of very active core team leaders pointed to the tensions of
organizing core teams within their congregations. One has been the core team chair since
2003 and in his experience, “it’s been a power struggle since day one.” The heads of
various sub-committees of the core team often want those committees to operate like
separate entities though the core team leader believes they must be accountable to the
team and therefore to the pastor.
People want to be in charge of—like I have committees and the committees are a
component of the core team so you’re supposed to give us reports on your
progress and whatever. Well they don’t do that and it becomes “my thing” instead
of a core team thing, and so it be a power struggle where “this is my territory.”
[…] You have to answer to the core team and the core team has to answer to the
pastor, and I’ve had situations where they use their power and disrupt meetings.
They use their power to sabotage a project we’re doing.
The interviewee said he has had to “shut down” a committee or “change leadership,”
which incurs resentment and hostility from other members. “And that’s when the
sabotaging come in, the character assassination come in.” Socio-economic class status
also shapes these dynamics. According to the interviewee, people who want to be
involved also tend to be leading other ministries: “people who have jobs as far as
supervisor positions and that’s just in their character, you know? So they’re used to being
in control and maybe their education is better than mine. Their financial condition is
better than mine and it’s a whole lot of dynamics that goes into that.”
Convention