[CC1]

Originally Posted by aegsm76

CC - I am sure you are. And you can be sure that I am not. I will defer to someone's opinion who used to be a prominent poster, here.
She and her husband also became convinced of the non-essentiality of some of the UPC teachings.
However, they left the church which they were pastoring and went and started another, in a different area of the country.
She stated that it was not right to attempt to move a church from those basic doctrines and that you would end up destroying people when you did it.
She was and still is right.
I still have the utmost respect for her and her husband.

I think it all depends on how you do it. The mistake a lot of pastors make is that they will put on a congregation changes in thinking that took them years to get to in too short of a time frame.

I remember several decades ago talking to a UPC preacher who had visited a prominent exUPC Pastor seeking advice on how to implement change and he said that pastor told him that it was like steering a large, long ship. You had to tack slowly and make wide turns. I would add to that metaphor that sudden changes in directions causes some people to be thrown out of the ship and some end up drowning.

You are correct that sudden change will make some people feel as if the rug has been pulled out from under them and can end up destroying people. This comes back to the aspects of psychological conditioning that goes on in any type of intense indoctrination. I know it makes people angry when I say this but it is only natural that when you are taught week after week, year after year, a set of doctrines and rules it becomes your mental measuring stick of right and wrong so anything that controverts that causes confusion and guilt. People need to be brought along over time to look afresh at the Bible and christian teachings.