Some people are put off by the blatant appeal to power, which is an integral part of congrega tion-centered organizing. We tend to think of power as manipulative, as domineering, as too political, as “power over” someone else, and we suspect such power is out of keeping with our Christian values. We recall Lord Acton’s famous dictum: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely.”
More recently, however, we have come to recognize that power in and of itself is neither good nor bad. Power is nothing more than the ability to accomplish something.
Whether the goal is to accomplish something helpful or harmful is another question, but power itself is a necessary ingredient for any action. Power is constitutive of life. (Mark I. Wegener)
from Congregation-Centered Organizing: A Strategy for Growing Stronger Communities via The Gamaliel Foundation an organizing institute.