So I thought I could make it through this election season without blogging about it. Nearly.
Six days short of my goal.
But why?
Is it because I just discovered that attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund want pastors to endorse a candidate from the pulpit so they can engage in a legal challenge against the IRS rules taking it all the way to the Supreme Court to win the right for pastors to speak freely from the pulpit?
Is it because everyone else is talking about it so why don’t I join in?
Is it because prophetic speech about political stuff is an essential part of the Christian identity?
Is it because I’d prefer one candidate to win over the other?
Is it because some Christian's contributions to the debates are just downright unchristian and I’d like to disassociate my name from that sort of junk?
Maybe. To all of them.
Maybe the whole show has just got too much for me. We’ve gone crazy. Beyond the money, the rallies, the reality TV, the books about each candidate, the pundit’s thoughts, and the yard signs, the late-night comedian’s lines, and the latest polls – it’s begun to feel like a giant American Idol contest…..but the danger is there’s no Simon to tell us the truth.
Or perhaps there’s something else.
Why Vote?
Imagine standing in the pulpit the Sunday before the elections and daring to ask that question?
Some will jump to their feet and declare – we fought hard to win that right ..taking it back to running out the English and declaring constitutional independence.
Some might rise to their feet and declare that the civil rights struggle was about obtaining for everyone the right to vote.
Other will declare that democracy is American and America is Christian therefore you need to vote to be a good American and you need to vote to be a good Christian.
But I’m not even coming from that angle.
Why vote?
Maybe alongside whatever other reason we have for voting, we vote as some form of social action. In this election our voting could save lives – soldiers and unborn; our voting could feed the hungry; our voting could protect the environment; our voting could provide health care for needy people etc, etc.
This is my issue.
For too many Christians voting is the only form of social action they carry out. But it’s the weakest form, if not the most ineffective form. Christian social action is never secret, is never private, is never individual. It is never the action of public opinion. Christian social action is always communal, it is always public, it is always unpopular. More than that, and this is the biggest issue – Christian social action is not through the benevolence of the State or through majority opinion – it is through the sacrifice of the church and its people.
So ….we expect record voter turnout in this 2008 election – millions of them will be Christians.
Somehow, some way, prophetic pastor-leaders need to make sure that these same millions know that voting is not their social action.
Somehow, some way pastors need to delineate between political action and Christian social action. And if the surest way to delineate is to appeal to people not to vote – maybe you’ve done a greater good.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
'Better Christians" go into Africa - that's just how it is.
Let’s stay away from guilt.
Let’s stay away from heart tugging photographs of starving AIDS ravaged children.
Let’s stay away from even Jesus’ teaching to go into all the world.
Let’s stay away from James’ exhortation to care for the orphans is pure religion.
Here’s something really interesting…….
As our church has begun to send dollars and people to Africa – our monthly giving has gone up!
As our church has taken big steps in being global and turning our focus to new continents and new countries – more and more people have begun to come to our church searching for faith!
As our church has devoted time and attention to people in need 10,000 miles away – our church has never been busier!
As our church has helped people connect with people beyond our borders – we’ve seen more doors open within our community to extend the Kingdom of God.
I love this about God.
You can’t out give Him; you can’t out work Him; you can’t out do Him.
The more you sow - it seems the more you reap.
The more you give – it seems the more you receive.
The more you go – the more He comes.
It changes how you lead a missional church.
Maybe becoming a missional church is not singularly focusing on reaching more lost people, but maybe it more about focusing on forming ‘better Christians’ than just ‘more Christian’.
If you’re only about making ‘more Christians’, you’ve shrunk the church down to a local organization concerned about the individual often for the sake of the church. But, if you aim to form ‘better Christians’, you’ve expanded the church to be a catalyst for the good of the world – concerned about both the individual and the world in which the individual exists.
‘Better Christians’ (to use a Brian McLaren phrase) are at the heart of church growth. Don’t take McLaren’s word for it; if you’re familiar at all with the Willowcreek REVEAL study – it says much the same thing. The heartbeat of a growing healthy church are not new converts or ‘more Christians’ – but ‘better Christians’. These are Christians that have a bigger view of the church, a bigger view of salvation, and a kingdom theology.
‘Better Christians’ take seriously the great commission.
‘Better Christians’ go beyond individualism to globalism.
So here’s a very practical invitation. Become a missional leader by becoming yourself a ‘better Christian’ – orphans, AIDS, poverty, Africa.
Some GHC churches are already involved in Nairobi, Kenya and can connect you and your church to incredible indigenous leaders doing incredible Kingdom work.
Join a GHC pastor next year in Africa to see the role you could lead your church to play in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth.
To explore this further email Pete Shaw at pete@CrossWalkNapa.org or myself at gilbert@reedleyfbc.com – both church web sites link you to videos and blogs about what’s happening. Worth checking out.
Grow a church through developing ‘better Christians.’
Let’s stay away from heart tugging photographs of starving AIDS ravaged children.
Let’s stay away from even Jesus’ teaching to go into all the world.
Let’s stay away from James’ exhortation to care for the orphans is pure religion.
Here’s something really interesting…….
As our church has begun to send dollars and people to Africa – our monthly giving has gone up!
As our church has taken big steps in being global and turning our focus to new continents and new countries – more and more people have begun to come to our church searching for faith!
As our church has devoted time and attention to people in need 10,000 miles away – our church has never been busier!
As our church has helped people connect with people beyond our borders – we’ve seen more doors open within our community to extend the Kingdom of God.
I love this about God.
You can’t out give Him; you can’t out work Him; you can’t out do Him.
The more you sow - it seems the more you reap.
The more you give – it seems the more you receive.
The more you go – the more He comes.
It changes how you lead a missional church.
Maybe becoming a missional church is not singularly focusing on reaching more lost people, but maybe it more about focusing on forming ‘better Christians’ than just ‘more Christian’.
If you’re only about making ‘more Christians’, you’ve shrunk the church down to a local organization concerned about the individual often for the sake of the church. But, if you aim to form ‘better Christians’, you’ve expanded the church to be a catalyst for the good of the world – concerned about both the individual and the world in which the individual exists.
‘Better Christians’ (to use a Brian McLaren phrase) are at the heart of church growth. Don’t take McLaren’s word for it; if you’re familiar at all with the Willowcreek REVEAL study – it says much the same thing. The heartbeat of a growing healthy church are not new converts or ‘more Christians’ – but ‘better Christians’. These are Christians that have a bigger view of the church, a bigger view of salvation, and a kingdom theology.
‘Better Christians’ take seriously the great commission.
‘Better Christians’ go beyond individualism to globalism.
So here’s a very practical invitation. Become a missional leader by becoming yourself a ‘better Christian’ – orphans, AIDS, poverty, Africa.
Some GHC churches are already involved in Nairobi, Kenya and can connect you and your church to incredible indigenous leaders doing incredible Kingdom work.
Join a GHC pastor next year in Africa to see the role you could lead your church to play in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth.
To explore this further email Pete Shaw at pete@CrossWalkNapa.org or myself at gilbert@reedleyfbc.com – both church web sites link you to videos and blogs about what’s happening. Worth checking out.
Grow a church through developing ‘better Christians.’
Sunday, September 28, 2008
What's most needed for leading in today's church - a brain ...but??
So we’ve moved into what some people call The Conceptual Age. For those who promote such a reality (i.e. Tom Peters and Thomas Friedman, to name two) this new era is pronounced with three simple yet profound questions:
1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the nonmaterial, transcendent desires of an abundant age?
These three questions, first posed by Daniel Pink, have been rattling around in my thinking for the past few months. What is the Conceptual Age saying to church and to church leaders?
But let’s not be too modern in our engagement with this question. Rather than straight line these questions, let’s take a curved approach. What are some of the animations of the new age? (Again Pink is helpful here.)
• Creation of artistic and emotional beauty.
• Crafting a satisfying narrative.
• Combining seemingly unrelated ideas into something new.
• Embracing high touch; empathize with others; understand subtleties of human interaction; to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.
This list could go on, but the amazing thing for every pastor or church leader in examining these animations is that the Church and the Gospel checks out high on each of them.
Everything the Conceptual Age calls out for – the Church and the Gospel can more than deliver on.
The Church and the Gospel should be fully impactful in the new age.
This is our time.
BUT ….for leaders to charge full speed into this new conceptual age leaders need to flick the switch from left brain to right brain. This is the challenge. Most of our churches and most of our denominations or organizations are led by left brainers. But, left brain will leave you short every drive.
This is the right brain time.
Strategic plan – out; holistic design in.
Church growth theory – out; journey in.
Goals - out; synthesis in.
Data and information – OK; but organizational and behavioral empathy better.
Size - says something; depth says something more.
So what could this look like in a local church setting?
While there will remain the need for making plans and having tactics, new aspects of church will emerge ….local church global involvement. Not the surrendering of this to a para-church missions organization, but the local church doing it. Community care – bigger than pastoral care, but community care that meets the needs of the community at large, not the community within. Planting churches, but churches that not only preach and teach but feed and care and heal and work for justice. Holistic design.
Theories, formulas, models of how it all works are out ….its the journey, the story, the narrative specific to your context, your thumbprint, your DNA. Each one will be distinct, each one will be compelling. But don’t try to replicate someone else’s story. Journey is in.
It’s about seeing, more than goals. It’s about art more than math’s. It’s about music more than science. The difference – art, music, seeing …are much more subjective, more relational. This pushes us away from the flat lines of goals, to the symphony of metaphor.
And …..it is done with feeling, with soul, more than with targets or data. This is synthesis, this is empathy.
Instead of seeking to grow a large church, the church will see the health of reproduction over production. This is the size of health. This is depth.
It’s a new day in church leadership. The shift is subtle.
It happens through fermentation.
But …it’s the way of the now.
It’s our day.
Make the shift.
Change your thinking.
Welcome to the labyrinth of effective church leadership.
1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the nonmaterial, transcendent desires of an abundant age?
These three questions, first posed by Daniel Pink, have been rattling around in my thinking for the past few months. What is the Conceptual Age saying to church and to church leaders?
But let’s not be too modern in our engagement with this question. Rather than straight line these questions, let’s take a curved approach. What are some of the animations of the new age? (Again Pink is helpful here.)
• Creation of artistic and emotional beauty.
• Crafting a satisfying narrative.
• Combining seemingly unrelated ideas into something new.
• Embracing high touch; empathize with others; understand subtleties of human interaction; to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.
This list could go on, but the amazing thing for every pastor or church leader in examining these animations is that the Church and the Gospel checks out high on each of them.
Everything the Conceptual Age calls out for – the Church and the Gospel can more than deliver on.
The Church and the Gospel should be fully impactful in the new age.
This is our time.
BUT ….for leaders to charge full speed into this new conceptual age leaders need to flick the switch from left brain to right brain. This is the challenge. Most of our churches and most of our denominations or organizations are led by left brainers. But, left brain will leave you short every drive.
This is the right brain time.
Strategic plan – out; holistic design in.
Church growth theory – out; journey in.
Goals - out; synthesis in.
Data and information – OK; but organizational and behavioral empathy better.
Size - says something; depth says something more.
So what could this look like in a local church setting?
While there will remain the need for making plans and having tactics, new aspects of church will emerge ….local church global involvement. Not the surrendering of this to a para-church missions organization, but the local church doing it. Community care – bigger than pastoral care, but community care that meets the needs of the community at large, not the community within. Planting churches, but churches that not only preach and teach but feed and care and heal and work for justice. Holistic design.
Theories, formulas, models of how it all works are out ….its the journey, the story, the narrative specific to your context, your thumbprint, your DNA. Each one will be distinct, each one will be compelling. But don’t try to replicate someone else’s story. Journey is in.
It’s about seeing, more than goals. It’s about art more than math’s. It’s about music more than science. The difference – art, music, seeing …are much more subjective, more relational. This pushes us away from the flat lines of goals, to the symphony of metaphor.
And …..it is done with feeling, with soul, more than with targets or data. This is synthesis, this is empathy.
Instead of seeking to grow a large church, the church will see the health of reproduction over production. This is the size of health. This is depth.
It’s a new day in church leadership. The shift is subtle.
It happens through fermentation.
But …it’s the way of the now.
It’s our day.
Make the shift.
Change your thinking.
Welcome to the labyrinth of effective church leadership.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Summer of '08 Leadership Learns
It’s been a few weeks now since I wrote this leadership blog. Traveled many thousand miles, been in several countries, and enjoyed family time making sure that my Scottish accent remains loud and clear!!!
From a beach in Majorca, to the glens of the homeland, to the post-segregated Northern Ireland ……this summer gave me new experiences, experiences that offered leadership insights and developments. Yea we read many books ..but some of our most vivid summer leadership learning’s came from our locations.
Think about this.
Scottish people can cope with the 260 days of rain they get – if for two weeks they can fly away and soak up some glorious sunshine on some Spanish island.
260 hard days made bearable with 14 days of sun!
Leadership Learn - Sounds sociologically a version of Kotter’s short term win leadership strategy. Celebrate a win to help people stick with the mountain climb of change.
When last did you give your people some sunshine amidst the wind and storms.
Think about this.
We visited Northern Ireland to preach in Belfast, but on the Saturday we took a taxi ride up the Falls Road …and the taxi driver was an ex-IRA guy!
You maybe don’t know all about the issues in northern Ireland. But you’ve heard of the IRA and know that they were responsible for the innocent killings of many over years of the bloody conflict. They were a paramilitary organization wanting Northern Ireland to cease being part of the Union and join with the South – they used weapons to advance their cause. Now there’s more to it that that – but that’s the gist of it.
So we ‘re being driven up the Falls Road – a staunch IRA street …covered with photo’s of IRA hunger strikers and other paramilitary heroes and we’re listening in to the story of the troubles and the present through the opinion of an ex-IRA guy. This was a city where if you worn blue in a green area, or green in a blue area you’d be shot at! WOW!!
Leadership Learn - peace and progress can look very different that you imagined! Have you caricatured what peace and progress looks like and in so doing you’ve closed your mind to how that actually might look in the present. Who do you now consult with, listen to, befriend that you never imagined you would …or perhaps you haven’t …..take the risk. We were being driven around the Falls Road area by a taxi driver wearing green and we didn’t have a stitch of green on!!!!
Secondly – the story is very different when you hear it from the other side. Truth might be stranger than you think. The story we heard was from his perspective was the real story. It was how he viewed reality. The job of effective leadership is to help people view reality differently.
Leadership is managing differing realities while moving everyone towards a new reality.
Think about this:
We complain about $5 price of gas …..but it cost me $14 a gallon in the UK!!! So everything there is about fuel efficiency. Weird seeing GM or Ford try to sell a car here promoting it as getting a good, ‘here’s why you should buy this car’ 32mpg ……..the equivalent car in the UK or Europe would get around 45/48mpg!! Some argue its because of our US emissions requirements; some argue its because of the weight we require our vehicles to have for safety ….but the bottom line …we could if we really wanted to manufacture cars that have exceedingly greater fuel efficiency.
The point, the Leadership Learn – what could we do if we really wanted to.
There’s an old African proverb “Want something long enough and you don’t want it.”What is it you are saying you want but you don’t yet have …and question if you truly want it!
As for more summer 08 leadership learning’s?
Two more short ones -
A quote from Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission – “Jesus did not ask the disciples for what was needed, he just asked for what they had!” very helpful - made me and our team quit complaining about what we didn't have!
Secondly , Ax-i-om @ Bill Hybels …read it.
Got the time? Hit the blog response and let us in on any leadership learning’s you had this summer.
From a beach in Majorca, to the glens of the homeland, to the post-segregated Northern Ireland ……this summer gave me new experiences, experiences that offered leadership insights and developments. Yea we read many books ..but some of our most vivid summer leadership learning’s came from our locations.
Think about this.
Scottish people can cope with the 260 days of rain they get – if for two weeks they can fly away and soak up some glorious sunshine on some Spanish island.
260 hard days made bearable with 14 days of sun!
Leadership Learn - Sounds sociologically a version of Kotter’s short term win leadership strategy. Celebrate a win to help people stick with the mountain climb of change.
When last did you give your people some sunshine amidst the wind and storms.
Think about this.
We visited Northern Ireland to preach in Belfast, but on the Saturday we took a taxi ride up the Falls Road …and the taxi driver was an ex-IRA guy!
You maybe don’t know all about the issues in northern Ireland. But you’ve heard of the IRA and know that they were responsible for the innocent killings of many over years of the bloody conflict. They were a paramilitary organization wanting Northern Ireland to cease being part of the Union and join with the South – they used weapons to advance their cause. Now there’s more to it that that – but that’s the gist of it.
So we ‘re being driven up the Falls Road – a staunch IRA street …covered with photo’s of IRA hunger strikers and other paramilitary heroes and we’re listening in to the story of the troubles and the present through the opinion of an ex-IRA guy. This was a city where if you worn blue in a green area, or green in a blue area you’d be shot at! WOW!!
Leadership Learn - peace and progress can look very different that you imagined! Have you caricatured what peace and progress looks like and in so doing you’ve closed your mind to how that actually might look in the present. Who do you now consult with, listen to, befriend that you never imagined you would …or perhaps you haven’t …..take the risk. We were being driven around the Falls Road area by a taxi driver wearing green and we didn’t have a stitch of green on!!!!
Secondly – the story is very different when you hear it from the other side. Truth might be stranger than you think. The story we heard was from his perspective was the real story. It was how he viewed reality. The job of effective leadership is to help people view reality differently.
Leadership is managing differing realities while moving everyone towards a new reality.
Think about this:
We complain about $5 price of gas …..but it cost me $14 a gallon in the UK!!! So everything there is about fuel efficiency. Weird seeing GM or Ford try to sell a car here promoting it as getting a good, ‘here’s why you should buy this car’ 32mpg ……..the equivalent car in the UK or Europe would get around 45/48mpg!! Some argue its because of our US emissions requirements; some argue its because of the weight we require our vehicles to have for safety ….but the bottom line …we could if we really wanted to manufacture cars that have exceedingly greater fuel efficiency.
The point, the Leadership Learn – what could we do if we really wanted to.
There’s an old African proverb “Want something long enough and you don’t want it.”What is it you are saying you want but you don’t yet have …and question if you truly want it!
As for more summer 08 leadership learning’s?
Two more short ones -
A quote from Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission – “Jesus did not ask the disciples for what was needed, he just asked for what they had!” very helpful - made me and our team quit complaining about what we didn't have!
Secondly , Ax-i-om @ Bill Hybels …read it.
Got the time? Hit the blog response and let us in on any leadership learning’s you had this summer.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
It has to always come back to the Kingdom of God - always.
It's not often I publish on this blog what is on http://www.scottishpastormusings.blogspot.com/ .....but today I do. Keep thinking and keep reading below..........
So it’s a balmy early summer evening and we’re sitting around the barbeque enjoying a Saturday evening when one of the group pop the question ‘Gilbert, what do you think of California’s recent law allowing gay marrage?’
For those who read this blog across the pond and have no idea what this is all about let me explain. In May California Supreme Court past a ruling giving the right to marry to same-sex couples, making CA the second state, after Massachusetts to legalize marriage for same-sex couple.
In light of the Supreme Courts action some Christians have started talk of a renewed drive for a U./S. constitutional amendment. Other Christians have spoken of how ‘this decision puts marriage at risk all across the nation”, others suggest churches should ‘work to overturn it.’
The question hung over our barbeque waiting a response.
Now the front door of that question requires me to talk about homosexuality and marriage. Basic issue - definition of marriage and who defines it – the state or the church?
Or – both.
Is it wrong for the state to define marriage one way and the church define it another way?
Can marriage only be a religious institution or can it be a secular institution.
Who are the guardians of marriage – and what marriage?
Are we always talking about the same thing.
The single issue driven political culture of the US is a difficult place to engage in a balanced debate. Single issues tend to lead to singular answers …and singular answers though maybe right are not always the only answers.
So take the common response of Christians – gay marriage is wrong. Of course it is in the eyes of God and the eyes of His followers. God’s sacrament of marriage is between one man and a one woman. As a Christian that’s how the Bible says it and that’s how the Christian should see it.
But what about marriage as seen through the eyes of humanists or secularists or even plain deists – what definition of marriage do they need to hold – the Christian definition or the state definition. Or to ask this another way – what definition of marriage does the state need to hold – only the Christian definition, or could it hold multiple definitions due to the pluralistic and multiplicity of our culture.
Should the church, should Christians, expect their view to be the only view.
So the front door question maybe isn’t the front door question. Maybe the real front door question is – what is the relationship of Christians in America to America?
Enter the theology of the Kingdom of God.
You do not define Christianity through American history or American policy – you define Christianity through the scripture and scripture majors on a ‘kingdom theology’.
Is this not all about why Jesus came …. “Repent for the Kingdom of God has come.”
It’s the template theology of Christianity.
The Christian prayer is a demand prayer “your Kingdom Come!”
The Kingdom of God defines how Christians living in America relate to America.
The Bottom line …….the Kingdom of God is an alternative kingdom and Christians leave one kingdom (the Kingdom of this World – America) to enter the Kingdom of God – on earth but marching to the beat of another drummer. Jesus himself told Pilate (the representative of the Empire), “My Kingdom is not of this world”
Early Christians never tried to overthrow or even reform the empire, but they also weren’t going along with it. Never were the early Christians reformists offering the world a better Rome. They offered people another world altogether.
So ….bring this back to our gay marriage issue …….yes, the Christian holds to the biblical teaching on marriage –between one man and one woman - but, the Christian does not expect America to be Christian. Christians expect America to live out its own values and its own believes. And they are not Christian because America, or Britain, or anywhere is not the Kingdom of God …the Kingdom of God is always subversive, always counter cultural, always working within and away from the kingdom of the world……..the Christian holds to what the Bible says – but in holding to the same Bible the Christian does not expect the kingdom of this world to hold to such. The Christian is not trying to reform America to offer a better America – the Christian is offering something completely different, revolutionary, another kingdom – God’s.
Tony Campolo once wrote “we may live in the best Babylon in the world …but it is still Babylon, and we are called to come out of her.” This is the right outworking of a true Kingdom of God theology. This is John’s revelation being practiced, this is the Book of Revelation done today not waited for some future dispensation.
This guides how I handle the gay marriage debate.
Of course you might recognize this is another form, a cousin of this position – the separation of church of state.
Its funny how many church people strongly endorse this philosophy but on something like gay marriage that philosophy is thrown out! Wise Christians support separation of church and state for the church’s sake – not the country’s. Remember Constantine …the disaster that befell the church when it gained power in the State …never again – God forbid.
A strong kingdom theology upholds this essential separation.
But of course our barbeque engagement with this question didn’t stay at a kingdom theology level. It is my strongest argument to let the state be the State and the Church even stronger be the Church – the primary agent of the Kingdom of God.
But there are other paths to explore.
The cry of a moral argument is often used. Maybe rightly so. But watch how you outwork that cry.
Sometimes the loudest voices condemning gay marriage are Christian voices driven by a Christian morality. But where are those voices condemning the bombing of innocent lives in the multiple wars we are engaged in. Where are those voices condemning the inequality in our own nation’s health care provisions – the rich enjoy it the poor can’t get it, or our own nations education divisions. Where are those moral voices engaging with the our immigration crisis …the moral voices that see all men as created equal and equally valued. So the list could go on.
If people, Christian people want to engage with the gay marriage debate from a Christian moral position at least make sure that your moral position is not one-sided based upon some condemnatory preaching you’ve sat under. Make sure the morality is a godly morality …..a godly morality that is enraged with the injustice, the inequality, the oppression of innocents, the rejection of basic human dignity and value on the poorest, the innocents, the most vulnerable.
We could take this one a lot further – but I’m guessing you’re catching my drift.
It appears that too often our view of truth is biased.
Biased to our subjective experiences and conditioning.
That’s our reality.
Not wrong, but not always good.
We are subjective people.
We read and view life through the lens of our lives conditioning.
Today, as at all times in the advancement of the church and the Kingdom of God, Christians need to strive to surrender their conditioning to the text rather then submit the text to their conditioning. That surrendering will see Christians move from a moralist stance to a revolutionarist stance. It’s not that our morals are wrong – far from it - but it does mean our morals are not the whole story. There is something bigger.
So the barbeque evening rolled on, the kids got restless, all the food was gone and the cool breeze guided us towards home and rest.
As for the question ……you can tell it moved. It moved from being a question on “gay marriage”, to a question on truth…and how Christians live it, preach it, share it.
One word from the early church begins to surface – μαρτυρε – martyr. It means witness. Literally, ‘one who bears witness by their death’. In the early church Christians didn’t only want to live like Christ, they wanted to die like Christ. That living and that dying didn’t revolve around reforming Rome or defending morality – it revolved around the bigger thing ….the witnessing and confessing of allegiance to a new kingdom – God’s Kingdom.
For that they didn’t gain political office nor seek to get their issues on the ballot – for that they got burned alive, eaten by the beasts, crucified upside down ….martyred.
So let’s return to the question ……….. are you martyring or willing to be a martyr?
Monday, May 26, 2008
The Church is both one and more than that.
The other day after preaching a guy from out of town came up to me and after thanking me for the service told me that ‘the church needs to go back to what it was in the New Testament.’
Now this isn’t a new idea to me. I grew up in a tradition that would have you convinced that they were the closest thing to the early New Testament church.
Of course my response to the guy who said it to me …was the classic reply. "Hey man, I’ve just finished an eleven week series on 1st Corinthians – do you really think we should try to get back to that!"
It was the classic reply. Still perhaps the best reply.
[For an interesting, though slightly naive modern look at the question of getting back to the New Testament kind of church read Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna. I say slightly naive because I don't think the book resolves anything, nor does it present a good hermeneutic of history - but, it is certainly interesting.]
But ever since that conversation – questions are rattling around in my head. Leadership questions. Maybe even primal pastor leadership questions.
What is it we are leading …and how do we know we are leading it to the right thing.
Two years ago our church leadership took an adventurous strategic step and we completely redesigned our Sunday services. This was the highly visible catalyst of an even bolder plan to see our church become what we feel it should become in the future years. Wise leadership knew we would end up somewhere so it’s probably best to think through where we would prefer to end up.
But, and this was an essential but …..before we pulled the trigger we spend time, dialogue and study on what theologically is a local church. Beyond our strategic plans, beyond our new design and direction ….peel it all back, strip it down to its birthday suit – what is a local church??
Now this is when this blog begins to get interesting. Stick with me.
Pastors have to first and foremost be theologians. Too many churches set sail on tides of culture, popularity, or reducing church down to the capitalistic mindset of ‘if it produces more people it must be right.’ Yet, it must be theology that guides our leadership.
Calvin rightly taught we are theologian’s first, preachers second.
[The sad thing about most US seminaries or at least their students – they major on subjects that are ‘easier’ than the core biblical theology classes. I remember a fellow student plotting their way through seminary to avoid all the ‘hard courses’ which seemed to always be the theology – either pure or biblical theology courses.]
So as theologian’s pastors have to lead church leaders to examine what it is we are leading.
Simple.
Not.
Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church governance – Episcopalian; Presbyterian, Congregationalism, etc - from the one Bible.
Pastor-Theologian or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church functioning – Alexandrian model, Antichan model, Jerusalem model – from the one Bible.
Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church mission – attractional, engagement, seeker, emerging, incarnational, house church etc, etc – from the one Bible.
Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church community - ecumenical model, confessional model or missional model - from the one Bible.
Even the newest emerging church Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors on the block offer differing models of the new way of churches – Deconstruction model, Pre-Modern model, open Anabaptism model or Foundationalist model. [See interesting blog http://gatheringinlight.com/2008/01/13/the-four-models-of-emerging-churches.]
Every differing model under gird by theology and outworked by pastors birthing churches that look theologically and ecclesiologically distinctively different
So how does a pastor lead effectively when theologians speak differently?
How does theology shape our leadership if theology offers multiple outcomes?
Some might suggest that we go the route of applied theology – that trumps pure theology.
Others suggest we should place a socio-historical or a social-cultural template over our pure theology to explore our right model.
Or ….maybe there’s another angle.
The acceptance of one gospel, many forms – one church, many forms.
Maybe all those models are there, will always be there. Maybe it’s not so much about applied theology, socio or historio interpretation. Maybe there is only one church – but there are clearly different forms in which that one church can be expressed.
Take our cue from the gospel.
Tim Keller writes an intriguing article in Leadership Journal Spring 2008 entitled “The Gospel In All Its Forms.” His premise – like God, the Gospel is both one and more than that.
Take that cue and turn it earth-wards – like God, like the Gospel – the church is both one and more than that.
The job of the Theologian-Pastor is to ensure that the ‘more than that’ is still solidly encased within the ‘one’. The one is not dependent upon applied theology, socio nor historio interpretations – the pastors job is to ensure the one is pure…and then with the one pure – design and interpret in any way that makes the
The church is both a simple formulation and yet multiple contextual presentations. The latter is the linguistic applied theology of the former pure theology.
The pastor leads by outworking both. This means he knows Corinthians, but he doesn’t stay in Corinth. He takes the one he learns in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus…all over Asia Minor and then knowing the one he outworks the multiple that relates most to his or hers socio, historio and cultural context.
The danger – no theology, only pure theology, only applied theology.
Now this isn’t a new idea to me. I grew up in a tradition that would have you convinced that they were the closest thing to the early New Testament church.
Of course my response to the guy who said it to me …was the classic reply. "Hey man, I’ve just finished an eleven week series on 1st Corinthians – do you really think we should try to get back to that!"
It was the classic reply. Still perhaps the best reply.
[For an interesting, though slightly naive modern look at the question of getting back to the New Testament kind of church read Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna. I say slightly naive because I don't think the book resolves anything, nor does it present a good hermeneutic of history - but, it is certainly interesting.]
But ever since that conversation – questions are rattling around in my head. Leadership questions. Maybe even primal pastor leadership questions.
What is it we are leading …and how do we know we are leading it to the right thing.
Two years ago our church leadership took an adventurous strategic step and we completely redesigned our Sunday services. This was the highly visible catalyst of an even bolder plan to see our church become what we feel it should become in the future years. Wise leadership knew we would end up somewhere so it’s probably best to think through where we would prefer to end up.
But, and this was an essential but …..before we pulled the trigger we spend time, dialogue and study on what theologically is a local church. Beyond our strategic plans, beyond our new design and direction ….peel it all back, strip it down to its birthday suit – what is a local church??
Now this is when this blog begins to get interesting. Stick with me.
Pastors have to first and foremost be theologians. Too many churches set sail on tides of culture, popularity, or reducing church down to the capitalistic mindset of ‘if it produces more people it must be right.’ Yet, it must be theology that guides our leadership.
Calvin rightly taught we are theologian’s first, preachers second.
[The sad thing about most US seminaries or at least their students – they major on subjects that are ‘easier’ than the core biblical theology classes. I remember a fellow student plotting their way through seminary to avoid all the ‘hard courses’ which seemed to always be the theology – either pure or biblical theology courses.]
So as theologian’s pastors have to lead church leaders to examine what it is we are leading.
Simple.
Not.
Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church governance – Episcopalian; Presbyterian, Congregationalism, etc - from the one Bible.
Pastor-Theologian or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church functioning – Alexandrian model, Antichan model, Jerusalem model – from the one Bible.
Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church mission – attractional, engagement, seeker, emerging, incarnational, house church etc, etc – from the one Bible.
Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors offer differing models of church community - ecumenical model, confessional model or missional model - from the one Bible.
Even the newest emerging church Pastor-Theologians or Theologian-Pastors on the block offer differing models of the new way of churches – Deconstruction model, Pre-Modern model, open Anabaptism model or Foundationalist model. [See interesting blog http://gatheringinlight.com/2008/01/13/the-four-models-of-emerging-churches.]
Every differing model under gird by theology and outworked by pastors birthing churches that look theologically and ecclesiologically distinctively different
So how does a pastor lead effectively when theologians speak differently?
How does theology shape our leadership if theology offers multiple outcomes?
Some might suggest that we go the route of applied theology – that trumps pure theology.
Others suggest we should place a socio-historical or a social-cultural template over our pure theology to explore our right model.
Or ….maybe there’s another angle.
The acceptance of one gospel, many forms – one church, many forms.
Maybe all those models are there, will always be there. Maybe it’s not so much about applied theology, socio or historio interpretation. Maybe there is only one church – but there are clearly different forms in which that one church can be expressed.
Take our cue from the gospel.
Tim Keller writes an intriguing article in Leadership Journal Spring 2008 entitled “The Gospel In All Its Forms.” His premise – like God, the Gospel is both one and more than that.
Take that cue and turn it earth-wards – like God, like the Gospel – the church is both one and more than that.
The job of the Theologian-Pastor is to ensure that the ‘more than that’ is still solidly encased within the ‘one’. The one is not dependent upon applied theology, socio nor historio interpretations – the pastors job is to ensure the one is pure…and then with the one pure – design and interpret in any way that makes the
The church is both a simple formulation and yet multiple contextual presentations. The latter is the linguistic applied theology of the former pure theology.
The pastor leads by outworking both. This means he knows Corinthians, but he doesn’t stay in Corinth. He takes the one he learns in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus…all over Asia Minor and then knowing the one he outworks the multiple that relates most to his or hers socio, historio and cultural context.
The danger – no theology, only pure theology, only applied theology.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Three hours later, one Thursday morning.
For 3 hours one day recently I sat with several other pastors and we debated and discussed the Emerging Church movement and the rise or not of postmodernity within our day and generation.
I enjoyed it very much.
I had the privilege to lead the discussion and on a topic that intrigues me I had the chance to dig deeper into to try and lay out a balanced and fair critique.
I then returned to my office to write and email to a dear friend in Kenya who lead the Kenyan church in a countrywide tour of reconciliation (check out his blog of some incredible events - http://msafara.wordpress.com ), and I read again the struggles of displaced peoples, injustice, families left with nothing and the key role of my friend in brining hands on, real help to real people.
…..and I couldn’t help but wonder ….did our emerging church discussion add any value to the Kingdom of God. It seemed removed from the real world – cerebral, academic, and too removed.
This wasn't helped by one of the pastor friends as he left saying "I didn’t understand a word you said!”
So how do we ensure that our days are spend in true kingdom extending, valuable ministry and not deflected to mere genealogies or boring administration etc, etc?
How many times that does happen in ministry? We write reports, we attend committee meetings, we do constant emails, we meet Board deadlines, we write more reports, we answer more emails, and we attend more committee meetings.
Give us the real stuff of kingdom leading!!
But then we have to ask further, maybe more analytical questions.
Is administration stuff not kingdom stuff also?
Could a 3-hour discussion on emergent theology not be critical to forming a strong ecclesiology without which we could be floating around in naivety let alone ineffectiveness?
[Maybe here I’m leaning again back to my last blog. Is most effective ministry not ministry that is placed within a broader, bigger, comprehensive ministry?]
So let’s return to my Kenyan friend.
He’s helping displaced Kenyans, he’s mobilizing the Kenyan church to model reconciliation, he’s working constant on the front line of a national crisis with the truth of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. BUT ……..he’s not doing that in isolation for the sort of things sometimes we see as getting in the way of ministry – long dialogical meetings, deep theological reflection, major administration and management support, clear systems and processes in place.
Rather than see them as hindrances to ‘real ministry’ we have to see them as crucial catalysts to effective ministry.
As practitioners we live in this tension.
Even as long ago as my first time through seminary …I went into seminary seeing it as a nuisance – “Why can’t I just begin preaching”.
But wisdom prevailed (if you give it a chance it always will) and seminary became a learning zone important to effective future ministry.
So in daily, weekly church life. The countless emails, the staff reports, the diligence to systems and management – they all deepen the impact of your ministry.
Let’s take our church’s glocal initiatives – When I Grow Up. Three initiatives in three countries all helping children. This idea could not fly without a strong theology undergirding it, countless hours of planning, strategizing; and it will not remain impactful without strong systems and management processes.
The rub however, or the contest …is to make sure you hit the right balance.
Larry Bossidy & Ram Charam wrote a book back in 2002 called “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done". On first read you might think their philosophy is quit all the strategy, all the planning, all the techniques and just do it, but this would be to misread their philosophy. Their leadership philosophy is that execution must be built into the company’s strategy, its goals and its culture. Execution flows out of good management and developed systems. It is the result of all the stuff we see as a nuisance.
We are aware that we can hold out too long for execution. We are holding out for the 4-star, bells and whistle plan. This can swing the pendulum too much towards management and systems. Rather we often now go with a 2-star plan that we can execute in the near future but still the out working of satisfactory systems and management in place.
It’s learning to live in the tension zone.
We need execution, but execution not adrift from effective systems and comprehensive thinking. It is the latter that enables the former to produce.
I used to be a banker. I saw so many small businesses go south – not because they weren’t great at their craft or their skill …but because they had lousy systems in place. You need both to move from good to great.
So let’s return to our 3-hour dialogical discussion of the Emergent Church.
Better things to do? Things that would add more kingdom value to our Thursday morning? OR ……gaining insight and knowledge about culture and the emerging of a new ecclesiology to meet this new culture (depending on which side of the EC debate you sit on), could be crucial to enable any execution of any front line ministry in the coming years ahead.
By itself ….it is meaningless, but attached to thinking, implementing leaders it could be transformational.
One Thursday morning could see years of impact and expansion. Effective missiology, flows out of developed ecclesiology built upon a true and discerning theology.
Maybe not next Thursday …..but I’m happy for another 3 hour discussion soon to help me better be a front line kingdom builder.
I enjoyed it very much.
I had the privilege to lead the discussion and on a topic that intrigues me I had the chance to dig deeper into to try and lay out a balanced and fair critique.
I then returned to my office to write and email to a dear friend in Kenya who lead the Kenyan church in a countrywide tour of reconciliation (check out his blog of some incredible events - http://msafara.wordpress.com ), and I read again the struggles of displaced peoples, injustice, families left with nothing and the key role of my friend in brining hands on, real help to real people.
…..and I couldn’t help but wonder ….did our emerging church discussion add any value to the Kingdom of God. It seemed removed from the real world – cerebral, academic, and too removed.
This wasn't helped by one of the pastor friends as he left saying "I didn’t understand a word you said!”
So how do we ensure that our days are spend in true kingdom extending, valuable ministry and not deflected to mere genealogies or boring administration etc, etc?
How many times that does happen in ministry? We write reports, we attend committee meetings, we do constant emails, we meet Board deadlines, we write more reports, we answer more emails, and we attend more committee meetings.
Give us the real stuff of kingdom leading!!
But then we have to ask further, maybe more analytical questions.
Is administration stuff not kingdom stuff also?
Could a 3-hour discussion on emergent theology not be critical to forming a strong ecclesiology without which we could be floating around in naivety let alone ineffectiveness?
[Maybe here I’m leaning again back to my last blog. Is most effective ministry not ministry that is placed within a broader, bigger, comprehensive ministry?]
So let’s return to my Kenyan friend.
He’s helping displaced Kenyans, he’s mobilizing the Kenyan church to model reconciliation, he’s working constant on the front line of a national crisis with the truth of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. BUT ……..he’s not doing that in isolation for the sort of things sometimes we see as getting in the way of ministry – long dialogical meetings, deep theological reflection, major administration and management support, clear systems and processes in place.
Rather than see them as hindrances to ‘real ministry’ we have to see them as crucial catalysts to effective ministry.
As practitioners we live in this tension.
Even as long ago as my first time through seminary …I went into seminary seeing it as a nuisance – “Why can’t I just begin preaching”.
But wisdom prevailed (if you give it a chance it always will) and seminary became a learning zone important to effective future ministry.
So in daily, weekly church life. The countless emails, the staff reports, the diligence to systems and management – they all deepen the impact of your ministry.
Let’s take our church’s glocal initiatives – When I Grow Up. Three initiatives in three countries all helping children. This idea could not fly without a strong theology undergirding it, countless hours of planning, strategizing; and it will not remain impactful without strong systems and management processes.
The rub however, or the contest …is to make sure you hit the right balance.
Larry Bossidy & Ram Charam wrote a book back in 2002 called “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done". On first read you might think their philosophy is quit all the strategy, all the planning, all the techniques and just do it, but this would be to misread their philosophy. Their leadership philosophy is that execution must be built into the company’s strategy, its goals and its culture. Execution flows out of good management and developed systems. It is the result of all the stuff we see as a nuisance.
We are aware that we can hold out too long for execution. We are holding out for the 4-star, bells and whistle plan. This can swing the pendulum too much towards management and systems. Rather we often now go with a 2-star plan that we can execute in the near future but still the out working of satisfactory systems and management in place.
It’s learning to live in the tension zone.
We need execution, but execution not adrift from effective systems and comprehensive thinking. It is the latter that enables the former to produce.
I used to be a banker. I saw so many small businesses go south – not because they weren’t great at their craft or their skill …but because they had lousy systems in place. You need both to move from good to great.
So let’s return to our 3-hour dialogical discussion of the Emergent Church.
Better things to do? Things that would add more kingdom value to our Thursday morning? OR ……gaining insight and knowledge about culture and the emerging of a new ecclesiology to meet this new culture (depending on which side of the EC debate you sit on), could be crucial to enable any execution of any front line ministry in the coming years ahead.
By itself ….it is meaningless, but attached to thinking, implementing leaders it could be transformational.
One Thursday morning could see years of impact and expansion. Effective missiology, flows out of developed ecclesiology built upon a true and discerning theology.
Maybe not next Thursday …..but I’m happy for another 3 hour discussion soon to help me better be a front line kingdom builder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
