Why it is dangerous as a Church leader to depend wrongly upon polling.
Polling is good because it gives you information. Anything that increases one’s knowledge about what really is going on is invaluable. To however use the data as a way to make decisions that are now driven by the manifest desire of the people is to lose the kingdom of God. This will be trying to become popular by surrendering to the wishes of the collective.
Church leadership is not based on the natural desires of the people. It is also not decisions based on “revelation” that is outside the context of the experiences of the people. If this path of pandering to the whims of the people is followed, it will end up in a loss of the identity of the minister and the ministry. Can you imagine Moses polling the children of Israel in the wilderness to find out what they really wanted? The answer would have been simple “take us back to Egypt please”.
That would have been in direct contradiction of why he was called in the first place. Spiritual leaders must work as doctors do. You must hear from the people but you have to give the correct interpretation to what they are crying out for or you will be responsible for leading them astray.
A medical doctor asks to find out where the person is feeling the pain to understand what is going on in the patients body. The doctor then interpreted this in the light of the knowledge he is equipped with to say what the remedy is. The doctor is not being led by the patient but he is being guided by the information the patient gives to know what is appropriate for the person.
This is leadership. It is not to execute the will of the people but to execute the will of God in the context of what the people are feeling and experiencing. To shed light upon their path. There is no leadership without people following and for that to happen the voice must connect with their beings.