Freedom and structure in the Church – hypothesis – feedback welcome

 Increasingly I seem to see a problem of church structures blocking the road to spiritual maturity. Let me test out a hypothesis on spiritual development. The consequences are different in Russia and in Western Europe, but the underlying pattern is the same. I tried it on our mixed-confession group of English-speaking clergy in Brussels, and they reacted positively.  

Let me start with a basic three-stage model of Christian development, for both lay people and clergy outside monasteries:

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