May 8, 2008
The Wright View of the Resurrection
Does this theologian indict or vindicate the teaching that goes on in our churches?
Newsweek recently interviewed Anglican bishop N.T. Wright. Whether or not you have an opinion on our brother from the U.K., one thing is clear in Wright’s work: he does his work with a pastor’s heart.
A few quotes from the Newsweek interview stand out, especially since Wright spends much of his time speaking to people who would call themselves Christians (as, I suspect, many of us do too).
As you read on, note how Wright’s view of the resurrection sees it as literal, historical, relevant, and comprehensive to every aspect of life. Such a view can transform and inspire ministry. May it do so more and more in each of ours!
The full interview (well worth the read if you’re into this kind of thing) can be accessed here.
NEWSWEEK: When you talk about the resurrection, are you telling people something they haven't heard before?
N. T. Wright: Usually, yes. People have been told so often that resurrection is just a metaphor, and means Jesus died and was glorified—in other words, he went to heaven, whatever that means. And they've never realized that the word resurrection simply didn't mean that. If people [in the first century] had wanted to say he died and went to heaven, they had perfectly good ways of saying that.
What does the resurrected body look like?
The analogy that I use is this: if you are with somebody who is very sick, you say, "Poor old so-and-so, he's just a shadow of his former self." He's still recognizable as the same person. Who we are at the moment is just a shadow of our future selves. There's a real you, a real me, which will one day be there and we'll say, "My goodness, you're looking well." There's a sense of "like but more than."
How do you reconcile your orthodox theology with your progressive politics?
…The resurrection gives you a sense of what God wants to do for the whole world, and it gives the church the courage to say, "God's new world has actually begun already." The church can then say to the powers that be, whether it's George W. Bush or Gordon Brown or the United Nations, "We are urging you to do justice, and we're going to hold your feet to the fire and go on reminding you when you're getting it wrong and congratulating you when you're getting it right."
May 5, 2008
My great-grandfather was born during the Civil War, and his parents named him Robert Lee Shelley. Want to guess which side of that conflict they were on?
I didn’t know this until recently, thanks to my dad’s genealogical research, which traced the family to Grand Glaise, Arkansas, where the Shelleys ran a sawmill and a small hotel. Since this revelation, I’ve been newly interested in the character and leadership of my great-grandfather’s namesake.
I learned, for instance, that one of General Robert E. Lee’s most significant moments of leadership was not on a battlefield but on the eve of his surrender.
After four years of warfare, during which, except for the final campaign, he had repeatedly out-performed his opponents, he now had to face the reality that he could not continue the war against the well-resourced Union Army. His Army of Northern Virginia numbered 15,000, while Union forces under General Ulysses Grant numbered 80,000.
His soldiers weren’t ready to quit. Even with their shortages of food and ammunition, they would greet him, “General! General! Say the word, General, and we’ll go after them again.”
The night before he met with General Grant to discuss an end to the war, his artillery officer, E.P. Alexander, recommended that the Confederate Army should “scatter like rabbits and partridges in the woods” and fight a guerilla war.
It must have been a tempting suggestion. Lee had already lost his home and virtually all his worldly goods, including his savings and investments. Worse, he had lost a daughter, a daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, and countless friends and comrades. A patriot who loved his country and his home state, he now was deprived of citizenship and liable to be tried for treason. Why shouldn’t he give his men permission to continue striking back at those who had carried out the Union’s policy of total war, destroying much of the South’s countryside?
But Lee looked at Alexander and shook his head.
“The men would have no rations, and they would be under no discipline,” he said. “They would have to plunder and rob to procure subsistence. The country would be full of lawless bands in every part, and a state of society would ensue from which it would take the country years to recover. The enemy’s cavalry would pursue… and everywhere they went, there would be fresh rapine and destruction.”
Lee told Alexander that he mustn’t think of what surrender would mean in terms of lost honor; they had to do what was best for their country.
Alexander recounted later, “I had not a single word to say in reply. He had answered my suggestion from a plane so far above it that I was ashamed of having made it.”
When I found that story in H.W. Crocker’s book Robert E. Lee on Leadership (Prima, 2000), I asked, “What does this say about Lee’s character?” Perhaps a leader’s most difficult task is to view the current situation from a higher plane, to see beyond the immediate situation to the long-term effects.
This requires more than 20/20 eyesight. It requires a wisdom that rises above accomplishing my current agenda.
Have you and your team ever prayed for a “God’s-eye view” of your ministries? When we do, it both humbles and energizes us.
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May 1, 2008
Eight weeks ago, Leadership journal partnered with BuildingChurchLeaders.com (our main site), as well as a few other sites at our parent company, to spread the word about Scot McKight’s Hermeneutics Quiz.
Tens of thousands of church leaders—even entire church staff teams—have used it to gauge their approach to Scripture and, if you’re like me, uncover a few blind spots along the way (one of my more obvious blind spots: a high view of Scripture but a low view of the Sabbath).
If you haven’t taken the Hermeneutics Quiz, here’s your opportunity. It’s a great way to engage one of the more important questions of ministry: how do you read the Bible.
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April 21, 2008
Secular Thoughts on Sacred Marketing
Seth Godin’s advice on spreading your church’s message.
StreamingFaith.com recently sat down with marketing guru Seth Godin and asked his advice on church “marketing” in our increasingly plugged-in, techno-driven society. At the forefront of Godin’s thought-world these days is “new marketing”—methods of communicating messages that aren’t top-down (from an ad firm to your TV) but side-to-side (from a bootleg YouTube clip, to your blog, to my blog, to the evening news). New marketing reaches smaller audiences, but it creates more of an impact.
His advice may surprise or offend, but it is still worth thinking about.
Consider these excerpts (you can see the full interview here):
"Churches are the oldest businesses around today. And yes, they’re businesses. They don’t necessarily sell a physical product, and they don’t always charge money, but there’s a transaction nonetheless. And that involves the individual paying attention. Attention is precious and it’s rare and it’s non-refundable…."
"Just because it’s important to you (and it could be your Tupperware product line or your sermon) doesn’t mean it’s important to me. The essential idea here is that new media is selfish and you can’t buy or demand attention, no matter how worthy you believe your idea may be…."
"I'd say you need to concentrate on what's remarkable and interesting and noteworthy and touches my faith, and stop spending time on tasks that don't amplify any of those elements. Doing something because you've always done it isn't an idea worth spreading…."
What do you think? Do we short-change ourselves by taking people’s attention for granted? Do we recognize the selfish way in which people listen to our messages? How can church leaders make the most of insights from the business world?
Let us know what you think. If you want to read more, check out the full interview on StreamingFaith’s website.
April 14, 2008
Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church
Every church can do more to encourage unity across ethnic and economic barriers.
I recently had the opportunity to return to my native Arkansas. I had forgotten that spring arrives in some parts of the country by March. But I was even more surprised to find, in Little Rock of all places, a vibrant and growing multi-ethnic church.
Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, led by pastors Mark DeYmaz and Harry Li (with several supporting staff), is an intentionally multi-ethnic and economically diverse community in Little Rock's University District. Though only six years old, the church has gained credibility by shining forth the love of Christ in a historically divided town. It has done so through its focus on inter-ethnic ministry and worship. In his book, Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church
I believe the homogeneous church will increasingly struggle in the twenty-first century with credibility, that is, in proclaiming a message of God's love for all people from an environment in which a love for all people cannot otherwise be observed.
In his book—and on the Mosaix Global Network website—DeYmaz offers "Seven Core Commitments of a Multi-ethnic Church":
1. Embrace dependence: determine to trust God to provide financially and spiritually.2. Take intentional steps: make changes to attract people outside the majority demographic.
3. Empower diverse leadership: multi-ethnic churches require multi-ethnic staff.
4. Develop cross-cultural relationships: work through awkwardness to develop true friendships.
5. Pursue cross-cultural competence: learn to be sensitive to cultural differences.
6. Promote a spirit of inclusion: commit to being comfortable being uncomfortable.
7. Mobilize for impact: take steps to minister to the greater community and make disciples.
Take a moment to think on these things. Are there things your church could do to develop a multi-ethnic and economically diverse ministry?
April 7, 2008
Choosing the Moment to Lead
The best leaders don't understand only why and how, but when.
Timing is very significant in spiritual leadership. Indeed, timing played a major role in shaping Jesus' ministry and death. Not only would Jesus not go to the cross for the wrong reasons. He didn't go until it was the right time ("Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father" [John 13:1; NIV]).
Great leaders understand the importance of timing, specifically when it comes to making decisions. There are right times to consider issues and right times to make moves. Conversely, even the right issue tackled at the wrong time faces certain defeat.
There is no formula for great timing. It is part instinct, part intuition, part paying attention to surroundings, part prayer life, and all of the above. But it is not guesswork. Leaders who have a good sense of timing seem very wired into their situations while, at the same time, wired into God for a perspective that transcends just what the leader and his or her advisers can see.
Leaders adept at timing know how to read audiences and situations. They have practiced this over the years, testing out their hunches and intuitions. They have learned how to monitor their own internal sensors and when to pay attention to the voices around them and the voice within. Leaders with great timing know how to test the water, sniff the wind, and commit just enough to gauge reaction before committing it all. They risk, but they do not gamble.
Continue reading "Choosing the Moment to Lead"...
April 2, 2008
When Group Members Talk Too Much
Practical tips for managing a dominant personality in your small group.
Few barriers can subvert the depth and transforming power of a small-group discussion faster than one or more group members who dominate the conversation. Such members can monopolize entire gatherings with their problems and perspectives and can hinder the participation of everyone else in the group.
Here are some practical tips for handling small-group members who talk too much.
Be Assertive
The best way to handle a dominant personality is for the group leader and/or facilitator to be assertive.
· Be assertive before the discussion. Prior to a discussion, or prior to asking a question, tell the group that you are looking for brief answers and thoughts. You may even consider setting a cap on the amount of time people are allowed to speak on each question—no more than one minute, for example. Also, make it known that you want to hear from as many people as possible on each subject.
· Be assertive during the discussion. If a group member ignores your request for brevity and begins to monopolize the conversation, the best thing to do is nip it in the bud—even if that means interrupting. Thank the person for his or her contribution, and then move the discussion in another direction by calling on another member or by asking a new question.
· Be assertive after the discussion. If a person continually monopolizes the group’s time, you may need to discuss the issue with that person in private. State that you appreciate his or her willingness to contribute to the group’s discussions and recognize the depth of his or her answers and opinions. But also be honest in sharing that the frequency and thoroughness of the person’s responses can make it difficult for other group members to participate. As a result of these conversations, it’s possible to ask the dominant person for help in encouraging the rest of the group to talk, thus turning a difficult person into an ally.
Continue reading "When Group Members Talk Too Much"...
March 31, 2008
Practices vary for church leaders seeking to hear God’s call. The most radical method is "the lot," used by many Anabaptists since their early days in Europe. This method of discernment, taken from the example of the eleven disciples in Acts 1, is still practiced today by most Amish and a few Mennonite groups.
When a church needs a leader, they hear a sermon (Titus 1 or 1 Timothy 3) on the necessary qualifications. Then each member submits the name of one person from the congregation who meets those criteria.
Anyone receiving three or more votes is given the opportunity to decline but otherwise enters the lottery. If, say, five names remain, then five hymn books (or Bibles) are taken outside the room and a slip of paper, on which is written the words of Acts 1:24 or Proverbs 16:33, is placed in one of them.
The books are brought back into the room and placed on a table. Each of the five individuals picks one book. The one whose book contains the paper becomes the leader! The chosen one (and family) often weeps because of the solemn and unsought responsibility, and the dramatic sense of God's calling.
Continue reading "Exploring "The Call""...
March 24, 2008
90 Minutes with Rich
Leadership insights from one of the world’s wealthiest businessmen (who is also a committed Christian).
Last year, I was at the Leadership Summit Debrief in Chicago. It's a gathering of all the lead pastors from different churches that serve as satellite sites for the Leadership Summit. This group gathers to review the Summit and be mentored by Bill Hybels and other key leaders that they bring in.
One of the leaders that they brought in this year was Rich DeVos. DeVos is a billionaire (listed as the 73rd wealthiest person in the United States and the 248th wealthiest person in the world), founder of the Amway Corporation, owner of the Orlando Magic, and Christ Follower. We had about 90 minutes to do questions and answers with this remarkable leader and here are a few of the highlights:Why did you decide to trust Bill and invest so much in the Willow Creek Association?
First of all, I believe success attracts success. I first met Bill through his father and I saw his ministry continue to grow and grow. I was always fascinated with church builders—people could grow a church that would reach people. Bill was a success and I wanted to be a part of helping him. Secondly, I’m a cheerleader. I believe the most important words you can say to a person are “You can do it!” It’s awfully simple, but I just want to tell people they can accomplish their dreams.
Dave Ferguson is lead pastor of Community Christian Church and an editorial advisor for BuildingChurchLeaders.com.Continue reading "90 Minutes with Rich"...
March 20, 2008
About this time last year, our outreach committee (of which I am a member) began planning our church’s participation in the community’s Fourth of July parade. It’s a big deal. Literally everyone in town shows up. Consequently, it has been a priority event for our church for years—a chance to connect with the community and tell them about church ministries.
So, after all our planning, a record breaking four people showed up to build the float. Three of us were on the committee. Complete disaster.
Continue reading "Outreach After Programs"...
March 17, 2008
Colin Powell: 15 Tips on Leadership
A general's tips on leadership principles might be worth bearing in mind as church leaders.
But I broke that self-prescribed rule when I listened to Pastor Bill Hybels' pre-recorded interview with General Colin Powell. Looking back on those notes, I'm glad I did.
Powell, the former U.S. Secretary of State for President George W. Bush, provided his thoughts on leadership. I counted no less than 15 tips he offered, some of the obvious nature, some not. And while I recall feeling somewhat disappointed at the time that the interview didn't cover any leadership lessons Powell drew from his experiences in the events leading up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, I was pleased with the rest of the ground he and Hybels covered.
In particular, Powell emphasized the power and importance of conflict done well. In a culture where conflict often gets viewed in negative terms, I found this advice particularly wise for leaders. Some of his other tips can be a bit unnerving--"Be prepared to disappoint and/or anger some people," and "Prepare to be lonely." Others were of the refreshing variety ("Check your ego at the door," and "Remember that perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.")
So, in the order Powell gave them, here's a quick summary of leadership principles through his eyes:
He is passionate about equipping and energizing church leaders with the principles and tools that help them more effectively serve the kingdom of God.
Continue reading "Colin Powell: 15 Tips on Leadership"...
March 13, 2008
Pursuing excellence with this motive is not a burden; it is a privilege. It is not a pursuit of excellence born out of an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist pathology. Great leaders feel profound gratitude to God for the opportunity to give their lives to the mission he has chosen for them. For them, practicing excellence is part of a grateful response to him. Their commitment to excellence shows up in as many ways as there are for leaders to pursue mission. It may be apparent in organizing a meal for people in community centers, in training small-group leaders at church, or in maximizing the efficiency of operational costs for a global missions enterprise.
Reggie has contributed to numerous denominational publications and church leadership journals, including Leadership journal and Net Results. His books include Revolution in Leadership (Abingdon Press, 1998), A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2000), The Present Future (Jossey-Bass, 2003), Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2006), and Get A Life! (Broadman & Holman, 2007).
Continue reading "Excellence"...
March 10, 2008
Frame 2: The sermon. With a Bible in one hand, the pastor proclaims, “…and we know this is true because God said it to us in his Word!” Again, the churchgoing man whispers to his wife, “You know, we can’t even be sure that exact line was in Paul’s original letter.” Her face shows the beginnings of a frown.
Frame 3: The churchgoing man now is in heaven. He is touring the New Jerusalem Museum of Original Manuscripts. A placard on the wall tells us he is reading the original text of Romans. His finger traces the words of chapter 1, verse 29—“They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, cynicism, skepticism, and malice.”
“Cynicism… skepticism,” he thinks with a guilty look on his face, “I’m sure glad those got lost in translation!”
Off to the side, his (former) wife is talking to Paul. “Why did that not make it into our Bibles?” she asks.
“Something about not testing us beyond what we could bear,” the apostle replies.
*************
I’ll admit that all blog posts are slightly autobiographical if you’ll admit that this is one of the constant struggles of serving in the church. We spend so much time around the work of God that we risk losing the wonder and a sense of the holiness of it all.
There are myriad ways to combat cynicism. I think we need to recover the ability to laugh about it (note: I did not say we should laugh at each other). Cynicism is pitiful—a bad attitude masquerading as thoughtful elitism. But it’s a poisonous defense mechanism. It gives Satan a huge foothold at the highest levels of church leadership.
If laughing at it will help us to admit the truth—that we’re tempted to deny the holiness of the things we deal in, and even though we continue to struggle, we know that cynicism is ridiculous—then may our churches be filled with laughter.
How do you combat cynicism and skepticism?
Chris attends College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, where he has served as a small-group leader, a short-term missions trip leader, a Sunday school teacher, and as a ministry intern. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical and theological studies from Wheaton College.
Chris collects books, and he has a growing collection of theologians whose last names start with B (Bonhoeffer, Barth, Bornkamm). He loves tennis and cooking. He is trying to love running. He lives with the perpetual hope that the Bears will win the next Super Bowl and the Cubs will win the next World Series.
Chris and his wife, Stephanie, live in Wheaton, Illinois.
March 5, 2008
Cutting the Competition
If you want small groups to succeed in your church, make sure your leaders have enough time to do them right.
Of course, there is no shortage of recommendations on how churches can succeed in cultivating and training legions of group leaders (we are in the information age, after all). But recently I heard something new on this subject that makes a lot of sense.
I was interviewing Larry Osborne—pastor of North Coast church in Vista, California—on the subject of integrating church members into small groups.
One of the keys he mentioned was making sure that your best people are involved in the ministry as leaders (including, he added, pastors and staff…). Naturally, I was curious to know how North Coast surmounted the obstacle mentioned above, so I asked him about it.
Here is his response:
“Cut the competition. If a church has so much programming going on that people are stretched too thin—Adult Bible Fellowships, Sunday schools, midweek programs, large community outreaches, and so on—small groups inevitably will fall to the back of the priority list. You end up not having your key leaders with you because they’re already overwhelmed. So you get your non-leaders in it, and it’s amazing—when non-leaders are in things, people don’t go.”I liked that idea. I liked it a lot, in fact. But it did spark another question in the interview: “Don’t you have people who want to start up new programs all the time? How do you process that without overwhelming people again?”
You can listen to Larry’s response below.
That sounds like good advice for all churches—even beyond the small-groups world.
Sam and his wife, Jessica, attend Bloomingdale Church in Bloomingdale, Illinois, where they have ministered to young couples and teens for several years. They have one son, Daniel Thomas, whom they hope will one day lead the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl victory over the hated Denver Broncos.
March 3, 2008
The Long Goodbye: Can Small Groups Break Up Well?
What should church leaders do when a group's on the decline, but no one is willing to pull the plug?
For several reasons I'll explain in a moment, Tim's group of eight years--one so close that members actually stood bedside with him a few years ago as his wife passed away from a difficult illness--decelerated during the past six months, basically to the point of becoming defunct.
But no one was willing to officially call it quits.
"I honestly don't know what to do," Tim said. His eyes screamed with frustration and disappointment. How could he pull the plug on a group that meant so much to him and its members?
The demise stemmed from a few factors. One couple valued the group's closeness to the point of insisting no new members get added. Another couple didn't want to study the Bible or read a book as a group--only social activities were acceptable. And another couple felt spurned when other members didn't provide the support they needed during the deaths of two parents and the developing health issues of the other two.
In time, the twice-monthly gatherings didn't attract full attendance, or they got postponed due to scheduling conflicts. By midway through last year, postponements grew in frequency.
Which led to Tim's question: How do I end it?
He is passionate about equipping and energizing church leaders with the principles and tools that help them more effectively serve the kingdom of God.
Continue reading "The Long Goodbye: Can Small Groups Break Up Well?"...
February 28, 2008
Highlighting Our Differences
Should churches set themselves in contrast to other congregations?
As a show of solidarity with my seven-year-old daughter, I recently reread the classic Little House on the Prairie books and Anne of Green Gables. One phenomenon I noticed this time around (probably because I’m in the habit of thinking about church leadership) was that the books’ good, churchgoing characters didn’t have to choose between churches of various sizes and stripes. They simply attended the church in town and enjoyed (or put up with) the teachings of Reverend So-and-So every Sunday.
My, how things have changed. Along with the constant and dizzying array of choices we face every day, we have the luxury of choosing the church we like best. I know some small towns and villages in our country still have only one church. But in most of those cases, people live within driving distance of other communities and might choose to drive to one of them to attend another church. And the situation is very different where I live—in some areas I can find a church on every block. And on a recent trip to the area around Fort Worth, Texas, I thought I saw at least two churches on every block.
Her background includes a 13-year career in Christian publishing and a lifetime of church ministry. She is the author of numerous resources for Christian ministry, including Diving Deep: Experiencing Jesus Through Spiritual Disciplines.
Amy holds an English degree from Trinity International University and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Colorado-Denver. She is married to Trevor and is mom to two fantastic kids.
Continue reading "Highlighting Our Differences"...
February 18, 2008
Her friends on the team felt hurt by the decision. The farewell party, despite the fancy cake, was visibly strained.
Meanwhile, I was reading Good to Great (HarperBusiness, 2001), in which Jim Collins explains the traits of leaders who transform good organizations into great ones. "We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy," he writes. "We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seat—and then they figured out where to drive it."
Makes eminent sense: If you get the right people, in the right seats, then you and they will be able to figure out where to take the organization. Once you've heard, "First, get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus," it seems self-evident.
Before we dutifully apply this principle as Christian leaders, however, we'd be wise to consider a few things.
Continue reading "Arranging the Passengers on the Church Leadership Bus"...
February 14, 2008
To Those Who Lead the Rural Church
An open letter to an increasingly marginalized—and marginalizing—church
I know where you live: in a nation ruled by the god of Business, where those who do not have the power to buy are shunted aside. The old and the very young are ignored. The few (who do not make up a critical mass, a niche market, a group worthy of attention) are dismissed.
Instead of a business, you rural churches have been a faithful family. You have refused to be professionalized; you have rejected the model of corporate effectiveness. Like me, you have chosen to be inefficient. You have lavished love and energy on the old and sick, on the isolated, on the very young. You have patiently waited decades for fruit. You ministers who spend your lives in the service of a congregation of 30, you teachers who pour out your souls for a Bible class of 5: you have understood what it means to be children of the Father and brothers and sisters of the Son.
You have also rejected those who claim to act in my name: those church-planting experts who advise that my people "target" only densely populated areas so that the largest number of people can be efficiently herded into the kingdom; the denominational leaders who have seen you as a useful training ground for inexperienced pastors who will soon move on to "better pulpits" in more worthy (and populated) places. You have endured this, and remained strong, and understood the truth: that size and efficiency are important only in the economy of hell.
Continue reading "To Those Who Lead the Rural Church"...
February 11, 2008
Holding Leaders Accountable
Picking up the church discipline conversation where the Wall Street Journal left it
In mid-January, the Wall Street Journal published an article about church discipline, choosing for its focus a case in which a 71-year-old woman was expelled from her congregation. The article made almost no use of concepts that are central to church discipline—redemption, unity, and discipleship. Almost immediately, a small niche of the blog world erupted at the overwhelmingly negative portrayal of discipline. A few secular blogs picked up on the article, too, and they used it to bolster cynicism.
Off the Agenda decided to take the opportunity to address and to expand upon the core issue brought up in the article—how leaders and congregants can survive the pitfalls of conflict. In the following article, Ken Sande, president of Peacemaker Ministries and a member of Building Church Leaders’ Ask the Experts panel, explains several steps that leaders can take to avoid destructive conflict. This article first appeared on Peacemaker’s website:
Every year hundreds of churches and ministries are thrown into turmoil when someone criticizes or raises serious questions about the conduct of a pastor or ministry executive. All too many of these situations end in resignation, dishonor, or division—usually because those who are responsible for addressing the allegations commit one of two major errors.
Continue reading "Holding Leaders Accountable"...
February 7, 2008
Reggie McNeal: Ask the Right Questions
Then listen to those around you—and to God himself
Pastor Ned finally realized that changing the worship style and moving the worship times at his church were the wrong problems for him to be working on. This realization came only after he had paid a terrible price personally in terms of the conflict generated by his new initiatives. He had endured months of criticism from church members who resisted the changes before they happened as he nurtured the hope that the new worship would draw many new faces into the church, making all the pain worthwhile. Trouble is, it didn't happen. Now, four months into the new schedule and services, he was looking at the same faces—actually, fewer of those faces.
Ned finally came to grips with the real issue: the congregation's lack of mission. The right question involved helping the church gain God's heart for people, especially those who have yet to hear the gospel of God's redemptive love. Absent this conviction, the church members just viewed the worship and schedule changes as a loss for them.
This beleaguered pastor is not alone. All over North America churches and church leaders are busy addressing the wrong questions. Answering them not only won't address the critical issues facing them, it will, in fact, compound the wider church's dilemma and hasten its slide into spiritual obsolescence in the emerging culture.
Reggie has contributed to numerous denominational publications and church leadership journals, including Leadership journal and Net Results. His books include Revolution in Leadership (Abingdon Press, 1998), A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2000), The Present Future (Jossey-Bass, 2003), Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2006), and Get A Life! (Broadman & Holman, 2007).
Continue reading "Reggie McNeal: Ask the Right Questions"...
February 4, 2008
Pushing the Comfort Zones of Small Groups
Why today’s small groups need to move beyond a traditional Bible study
If you’re not familiar with that book, it’s basically a call for the church—both universal and individual—to return to the missional/movement ethos that drove its rapid growth and impact during the Early Church, and that is currently doing the same through the house-church movement in China.
In the book, Hirsch writes about six principles of missional movements that he identified throughout the course of his research. One of them really piqued my interest: embracing the idea of communitas instead of what we traditionally call community. If you’re not familiar with the term, communitas are basically a type of community that develops out of a shared ordeal or challenge—they’re what turn friends into comrades. Think of a house church that meets in secret to avoid persecution, for example.
I was curious how that principle could possibly be applied to middle-class America, so I asked him. Click below to hear what he has to say--to me, it sounds like pretty good advice:
