[djohnson(XLCmember)]

Many Christians have been shipwrecked in the faith because of being trapped in systems of absolutism in terms of the leadership. Spiritual leadership is firstly servanthood and secondly any authority attached to it is derivative i.e. the seat of authority is outside the individual and the office they hold. Authority is held by the Lord and His word. But even this has to be qualified further. The individual believer is expected to personally know the word and be able to accept or reject interpretations for themselves. So if a leader thinks he is submitting to the Lord and the word the individual believer does not have to adhere to it if they believe the interpretation is incorrect.

Staying in a church and accepting it's leadership is an act of constant filtering: of all the things taught and done here what we will I accept and what will I reject and on the whole does one outweigh the other? If the accepts outweigh the rejects I stay. If the rejects outweigh the accepts I bid them farewell.