[TLFisher]

Originally Posted by aron

Instead, what I usually see trends more toward what I call "groupthink": to some degree or another, everyone somewhat submerges their individuality to try and fit in. That's why, by definition, it's a group, not merely a temporary collection of individuals in shared space. Some common denominator, if only faith in Jesus Christ, calls us together out of every tribe, tongue, nation, and socio-economic class to gather together and celebrate God's salvation in Jesus Christ, and to look together towards His soon return.

Now, having said that, I really loved my initial "Lord's recovery" meetings because it was a free-for-all. Not chaos, though a few times it bordered on that. But what I loved was that everyone was allowed to share whatever portion of "Christ" they thought was relevant to the group experience. You had truck drivers sharing, then PhD's; you had some old Chinese woman who knew Watchman Nee back in China speaking right after some young blonde college student who just got saved last week. Somehow it all worked, and marvelously. God wasn't threatened by our "individualism" - hardly. Rather you got the sense of the Father rejoicing in all His children. More than once I got a glimpse of wide eyes and astonished face of some incredulous visitor, as if they were thinking, "Who's in charge here?"

There's a thread with an attached article on groupthink
http://localchurchdiscussions.com/vB...read.php?t=394

Those free-for-all days of brothers and sisters testifying of their daily experience of Christ are long gone. Typically now they are referred to as See stories. Back then as a high school brother, I received much encouragement from these "See stories".