The following story of a congregation doing serious business with its goals and structures is an inspiration to all who wish for reform. While many readers belong to denominations with differing polities from this one, the principles and attitudes expressed here can be applied to a wide range of settings.

Two years after the British voters thanked Winston Churchill for his wartime leadership by kicking him out of office, the old man said in a House of Commons speech, "Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Nearly every pastor I know would agree with the sentiment. We have all suffered through power struggles in the church that left us in despair. The problem, we sensed, would not be corrected by a dynamic sermon or an inspiring song. Nor would a new program cure what ailed us. We dared to dream of radical surgery. But wouldn't another form of government be worse?

The congregation I serve got along rather peacefully ...