Low-hesed churches may look fine on the outside. People may be friendly and enthusiastic about their church. They might be excited about their five-year plans and bold strategies to grow and do great things. Prioritizing plans and vision above hesed attachments (the prime movers of growth) produces little transformation. Many churches do good things in their communities and around the world, but operate more like an efficiently run religious institution than a family. They do many good things but may not possess good character.
One of my red flags for church safety is describing itself as a family not an institution. This book is saying good things here but I instantly have red flags because while high-hesed churches speak of themselves as a family, so do abusive churches. And from the outside it is difficult to know if the church truly values people as family or uses family metaphors and structures to keep people silent about abuse. And nothing in this book speaks about complemtnarian or egalitarian models of church, but when you talk about family, that is important. Because if this assume a hierarchical understanding of family then it is hard for me to understand how it can be a high Hesed Chruch at the same time.
