Anyone who leads any type of association where membership/stockholder/board member votes are in play can sympathize with the dilemma faced by leaders of the tiny Gulf States Conference of Mennonite Church USA. You can read the account of their recent losing-and-yet-winning vote here.

This past Saturday I was privileged to facilitate some training in group decision-making and design for a variety of organizational boards, many of them Christian Care Communities. I tend to call this type of training the Art of Agreement

There seems no escape from the deep divides between urban/rural, republican/democrat, left/right and the radically different orientations they take with further fracturing issues such as immigration, gender identity, public education, and health care. Even more, the most articulate about their positions demand loyalty, supress reasoned discourse, discourage further learning and expect any additional evidence to support their pre-determined positions.