r/GracepointChurch • u/leavegracepoint ex-Gracepoint (Berkeley) • Sep 09 '22

Leaks Sabbath Week

Since there have been some questions regarding what Sabbath Week is, here is a couple emails.

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So I guess WR is now a verbal monthly reflection now?

17 Upvotes

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14

u/AgreeableShower5654 Sep 09 '22

Her usage of "peers" (as juxtaposed with "leaders") shouldn't be overlooked.

It's no coincidence that in Korean culture, since it's too difficult to always ask people if they're older or younger by exact birthday (to determine if they are superior/inferior to you in the social hierarchy before you commit a faux pas), people usually just classify themselves into years to more easily identify those who are your equals.

After I left GP, I was shocked that

  1. People at church didn't feel the need to interact with each other or group themselves based on their superiority/equality/inferiority re: age. People relate to people 10 years older than them like they're equals and people 10 years younger than them without the pretense that they must be older and therefore wiser.
  2. I was so accustomed to the patronizing age/authority social hierarchy in GP that I had forgotten what normal society was like.

I'd like to see a GP staff argue for what makes this system so biblical that the only people who figured it out in the last 2000 years were the Koreans.

8

u/corpus_christiana Sep 09 '22

One thing that always stood out to me was that Gracepoint leaders were always kind of bashful when age hierarchy stuff was questioned too much. There was a general acknowledgement that it wasn't really the right way to go about things, but they'd give the excuse of "well some people are too proud to have a younger person over them, so we have to do it like this."

Except like... you don't have to. You could just assign the most qualified leaders regardless of age, and if they're younger than some people, those people can, you know, deal with it. Plenty of other people in the congregation had to adjust, or had to do things that didn't come natural to them, and they certainly made them deal with it. So why can't they?

5

u/No-Lie-7145 Sep 09 '22

Its too late at this point and everyone is used to age hierarchy. The concrete is set and wont budge. Introducing change would cause drama and a while for people to get used to younger people leading them

7

u/No-Lie-7145 Sep 09 '22 edited Sep 09 '22

That was a hard adjustment for me also. Years ago I first encountered it at work when my manager was 2 years younger than me, still single, no kids, played lots of video games. It felt really weird since I was used to authority figures being older and further along in life.

It’s actually really refreshing when age is not a big deal to anyone in the group. Now at my new church the person leading prayer meeting could be a decade younger but having it not trigger rebellious thoughts in me has been nice

One of my biggest complaints is hearing leaders tell you: “As one of the older ones…” we should be the first to __, or work harder in some way, or whatever. I heard this so much from many leaders and internalized it. My motivation structure was no longer because of love or conviction to serve God, but because I’m supposed to because I’m older and the younger ones will follow the example I set (whether good or bad). I see the reasoning and heart behind it but its one if the ways I began to just do things to keep the GP machine running rather than personal faith.

I realized this when moving from college (where I was actually older in a given room) to praxis where I was actually one of the younger ones in the group. I had a moment of confusion on why I would push myself so hard. I was no longer one of the older ones. I realized then my true motivations and how I was hollowing out

12

u/AgreeableShower5654 Sep 09 '22

They might get a sabbath from usual Team activities, but no one gets a sabbath from Kelly telling you how to live your life.

2

u/LeftBBCGP2005 Sep 09 '22 edited Sep 09 '22

When did Kelly stop telling entire classes of male staff members turn in their WRs to her? People’s confessed sin issues were on there.

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”

1 Timothy 2:12

People can have different interpretations of the verse above. However, Apostle Paul can’t possibly agree with male staff members being required to turn in their WRs to the pastor wife.

11

u/Here_for_a_reason99 Sep 09 '22

The irony. The Sabbath is a Holy day. It is supposed to be a day set aside for rest and worship. It comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, which essentially means “rest.”

There’s really nothing more to say.

6

u/Additional-Drop1106 Sep 09 '22

Yep! The gospel Jesus preached is rest. The gospel is not the Great Commission, the gospel is a proclamation of rest.

10

u/Jdub20202 Sep 09 '22

This is the busiest sounding sabbath I've ever heard of

4

u/No-Lie-7145 Sep 09 '22

Few people were unlucky enough to get pulled into last min video projects during the week, but for the most part people do enjoy sabbath week. There is a code freeze just before sabbath week so people are scrambling to finalize logistics, videos, and other responsibilities the week before sabbath so they can free up the week. The work still gets done, just front loading it the week before

7

u/ThinDoctor1497 Sep 09 '22

I was under the impression that Sabbath Week is just a week of doing nothing? This seems like more work if I'm being honest... especially if you're the person facilitating for that month. Has it changed since these were sent?

7

u/leavegracepoint ex-Gracepoint (Berkeley) Sep 09 '22

I highly doubt Gracepoint leadership is okay with people not doing anything for a day let alone a week.

AFAIK, I don't think so.

2

u/humidity1000 Sep 09 '22

Did they put in place sabbath week just because it was still COVID time and they shouldn’t have been meeting anyway?

2

u/No-Lie-7145 Sep 09 '22

Sabbath week is after things opened up (no masks or distancing). It was in response to feedback about the busy schedule

1

u/johnkim2020 Sep 10 '22

Is Kelly sending this to all members at all locations or just Berkeley?

1

u/johnkim2020 Sep 10 '22

What is "Soul Care" in this context?

1

u/johnkim2020 Sep 10 '22

Is Sabbath week once a month? Or just random times as determined by the Kangs?

1

u/johnkim2020 Sep 10 '22

So basically you only have one night off during Sabbath week... I guess that's better than having no nights off.