The Either/Or Syndrome                                                                                              By                                                                                Dallas M. Roark Recently I read a book maintaining that fellowship or "koinonia" groups were the answer to the problems  facing the institutional church. The author even went so far as to maintain that any pastor who was not open to promoting such groups ought to be told to shape up or ship out. This is one example of the muddleheaded either/or mentality afflicting many church leaders.     The either/or syndrome can be seen in the pastor who jettisons the traditional church program and grasps at anything new that comes along. With blinded enthusiasm he promotes it as the answer to the church's ills. While he defends his new "toy" as being biblical and as the means to restore the church to its "apostolic" fervor. the church loses direction, purpose, and cohesion.           The    "new toy" fever causes the pastor to ignore  the teaching ministry of the Sunday school or the potential of the youth program. He tirelessly plays with his new toy until another one catches his  attention, and then he is off. On the other side is the "tradition" syndrome. The church leader defends the form of the methods that 'have been  quite successful and ignores the new method, the new toy or the new gimmick. He is a slave to form and will insist upon form as being practically   apostolic.    If people do not accept the form, then that's too bad for them.      Happily. Southern Baptist programs are not built on an  either/or basis. Our denominational programs have variety demanded by variety in our church personalities.But, sadly; there are pastors  who have never applied the wisdom of Paul's statement: "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (I Cor.  9:22 RSV) Paul is' not flippantly saying that the end justifies the means. Rather, applied to the modern situation ministering dictates versatility             To those who need form and structure, there must be given the traditional program with all its integrity, ambition, and force.   Likewise, where it is needed, ministry must be free and without structure. But there is a real problem  lurking behind all of this.             The excuse is that ministering must be relevant to the needs of people and in the name of relevance one method is thrown out and a new adopted., But the upshot may be that relevance may be nothing more than what people want rather than what they need. The two are not always the same.         The Baptist Digest, Oct. 23,1971