Showing some "Good Sense"

Some thoughts from Paul in Second Corinthians chapter 10 verses 12-13, 15, 18 (Wesley Study Bible NRSV):

“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves.  But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense.  We, however, will not boast beyond limits, but will keep with the field that God has assigned to us, to reach out even as far as you…our hope is that, as your faith increases, our sphere of action among you may be greatly enlarged,…For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved, but those whom the Lord commends.”

Now maybe, these words really struck me because I had just finished reading about John the Baptist, in the beginning of Luke, and it was very clear that his calling was to be the one who prepared the way, even though there were others who wondered.  Maybe it’s because of all of the buzz that has gone on since General Conference.  Either way, this became a real “ah-ha” moment for me this morning!  Classifying and comparing with those who hold themselves up as the standard.  Measuring and comparing ourselves with one another.  These things were going on, even in Paul’s time, and his conclusion on the matter was “they do not show good sense.”

Isn’t that what we just attempted to legislate at General Conference?  Oops!  Yet, God in his goodness, managed to work through mere imperfect mortals and stop it dead in its tracks!  Thank you Lord for saying NO!

So where do we go from here?  Paul actually gives us a blueprint for how to proceed.  He gives us the proper perspective on how to look at things.  Do not “boast beyond limits.”  “Keep with the field that God has assigned to each of us.”  The outcome being “as a (congregation’s) faith increases, (the) sphere of action…may be greatly enlarged.”  Ta da!  Simple, concise, straight forward.  Ya gotta love Paul, for stating the obvious plainly enough, that even today, people can grasp what he was trying to say!  Bottom line, it’s not going to work unless it is what “the Lord commends”, not what we choose to commend!

Where is your  field-your “sphere of action”?  Your local community.  Your friends, your family, your co-workers, your neighbors.  Is it urban, suburban or rural?  Although there are similarities, each one is unique and different.  Different stresses, different focus, different interactions.  What might work in a city is not necessarily going to work in the country and vice versa.  That’s reality.  What works in one community may not work over in the next town.  My field may not look exactly the same as your field.  So, for me to tell you to do things exactly the same way that I did would be crazy!  There are  differences or “limits” and we should respect that!  I do not know your community the same way you do.   I know my community and I need to do what is best for it, instead of worrying about what someone else is doing.    

That doesn’t mean that we do not share ideas, thoughts and suggestions.  Try the things that seem reasonable and leave the rest!  It doesn’t mean that we do not strive for some consistency on our message or worship.  There are certain things that make us Methodist and we need to be crystal clear on those particular points.  But the actual job of ministry in our community- the way that we grow the faith of  those around us,  must be unique and appropriate for our community!  One size can not and should not be expected to fit all!

God has assigned each of us a field.  We are not meant to make them all look exactly the same.  We are meant to know the field, put in what is best and nurture it so it will grow.  Anyone who has ever attempted to garden understands the wisdom in this approach.

Let each of us commit to adapting an approach that actually shows good sense!

The More Things Change

For those of you who long for the “good-ole-days” allow me to share a little dose of reality with you.  Awhile back, I went to the library and borrowed a copy of E.B. White’s collection of essays called One Man’s Meat.  For those of you who are saying to yourself “the name sounds familiar,” E.B. White is best known as the author of Charlotte’s Web.  He also wrote for the New Yorker magazine for many years.  The essays were written just prior to the start of World War II and they were published in book form in 1942.  Mr. White chronicles the journey of his move to a farmstead in Maine and what life was like, with some observations about the world at large, thrown in for good measure.  Reading through the book, I am reminded, once again, of the old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

In an essay titled “Sabbath Morn,” written in February, 1939, Mr. White made the following observations:

“In this house we cling to a few relics of religious observance, but there is no heart in it.  If we possess faith (and I guess we do) it is of a secret and unconsecrated sort ill at ease in church….The church sometimes seems painfully unimaginative in its attempt to perpetuate a faith which has been gutted by so many fires.  Whether or not people are essentially less religious than they used to be, I don’t know, but it is obvious that something has happened….I go to church once in a while and sing the hymns very loud; it clears the blood, and I love the gush of holiness when the old bone-shaking anthems ripple up and down my spine and crackle in my larynx.  But for the most part, religion is tucked away in a bottom drawer among things we love but never use.  In two generations there has been a great falling off.  When I was a child, I could feel heaven slipping…By the standards of a hundred years ago, my family to-day is a group of misguided agnostics, seeking after an illusive beauty and fumbling for grace…”

What a familiar tale, I think to myself!  How similar and relevant are Mr. White’s words today?!  The great angst that we possess as the United Methodist Church over decline in attendance is the same thing that was going on back in “the good old days” that we fondly talk about.  The rosy days of “back yonder” were not quite as rosy as we would like to believe.  The reality, the truth of the matter is this-we struggle with the same issues that previous generations struggled with.  That doesn’t mean that we choose to just accept this as a fact of life, we can choose to try to change the outcome.  But if we intend to change, we had better make sure that we have thought things through carefully.  “Change for change sake” is not true change at all.  Learning from the past, taking off the rose colored glasses and seeing things as they really were, rather than how we imagine-that is the lens that we need to use when we decide what to change and how we go about changing things!  Until we can do that, until we can accept the fact that there is nothing new under the sun, all of our best laid plans will be nothing more than just another plan.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and recognize the fact that the more things change-the more they stay the same, if we choose to ignore the truth of the past.  We will not change the course if we do not learn the lessons of yesterday.  In my humble opinion, this is indeed a valuable and timely lesson in light of General Conference.  A voice from the past holds an important reminder, to us all, for today!

Shepherd Leadership

I think that the first thing that we need to look at when talking about the seven churches in Revelation is the role that leadership played.  Leaders and leadership teams can make or break a congregation.  On the flip side, congregations can make or break a leader or leadership team as well!  Let's go back to First Peter chapter 5 where he tells the leaders his concern (from The Message paraphrase):

"Here's my concern: that you care for God's flock with all the diligence of a shepherd.  Not because you have to, but because you want to please God.  Not calculating what you can get out of it, but acting spontaneously.  Not bossily telling others what to do, but tenderly showing them the way."

Here is Webster's dictionary definition of Shepherd as it relates to leading:

"to conduct, guide (a group of people) and prevent them from lagging or straying" 

So a Shepherd leader guides a group diligently (preventing lagging and straying) and they do so because they want to please God.  It's not because they "have to", or because they like being in charge or because they think they'll get something out of it.  It's because of a love of pleasing God and doing what he has asked of his leaders.

Ezekiel 34 gives us an idea of what God had in mind when he describes what God plans to do as THE Shepherd.  God the Shepherd will:  rescue, bring them out, gather them, bring them to the mountain, feed them with "good pasture", make them to lie down (rest).  He will also, seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.

Feeling overwhelmed yet?  Sound like Mission Impossible especially with some of the goats at your church who like to ram into everything head first?  On our own, I would agree that the task seems insurmountable!

I started writing this particular piece on Monday with the intent of publishing it on Monday.  I wanted to come up with some sort of list of characteristics that define a leader and really flesh out this idea of Shepherd Leadership.  So I pulled all of my books out on church growth and spent time browsing through them again.  What took me by surprise, was the realization that none of these books talk about what makes a good leader in the first place!  Each and every book, that I have read, specifically, about church growth and turn-around strategies focuses on the congregation-not the minister leading the congregation.  It is assumed that a minister already has the skill set to implement an effective vision.  The closest I can come to a list of leadership skills comes from the book "Turn Around Strategies for the Small Church" by Ron Crandall.  Here are the 11 items that he labeled "Leadership role of the Pastor":

1)  Visionary  2)  Enabler/Encourager  3)  Partner/Friend  4)  Facilitator  5)  Cheerleader
6) Transformational Leader/Change Agent  7)  Spiritual Leader  8)  Caregiver
9)  Manager/Director  10)  Coach for Success  11)  Expert/Initiator

Pardon me for saying so, but I think that list is just as clear as mud!  And maybe, just maybe, that is why we have growth issues in the modern day church.  If a minister-the shepherd-the leader doesn't have a clear understanding of what is truly required of them out in the field, then how can they lead change?  A minister needs a clear understanding of their calling and vision.  They need to know their strengths and weaknesses.  What is a minister's specific gifts and how can they best use them when ministering to a congregation?  If you do not have that in the first place then how can an individual be expected to help a congregation cast a vision?

The first session that Adam Hamilton led at Leadership Institute had to do with Leadership Essentials.  His five point list is where I got the Ezekiel 34 reference from, that I talked about earlier.  Here's what he said:

1)  It's all about people.  Effective leaders build relationships.
2)  Leaders Clarify the Mission.  Mission=Why (Ezek. 34)
3)  Leaders help churches or ministries to discern God's Vision.  Vision=Where
4)  Leaders honestly face shortcomings and pursue excellence.  How can we do this better?
5)  Meaningful, moving, well led worship.

Bill Hybels also spoke at the Leadership Institute but I will leave what he had to say for another day.  As to Adam's list, I like it, I think it is workable but I also believe that the list comes from a place where the leader has a clear personal vision in the first place.  I'm not so convinced that all of our Ministers have that sort of clear vision to begin with!

So instead of focusing on accountability, perhaps the leadership of the church should focus on helping their ministers create their own clear vision before they ask them to help a congregation create a vision for ministry in their community.  Perhaps we need to go back and look at how these individuals are being trained in the first place.  Are we truly preparing them to be able to handle what they will experience when they are assigned to a local congregation?  Have we helped them clarify why they are in ministry?  Is that vision strong enough to carry them over the rough patches?  Do they have the skill set to be able to Shepherd a church through a process of change?  I think that these are questions worth asking.  If we want to see change, we need to make certain that the individuals being asked to lead the change, clearly understand their vision, first!

Want to create Shepherd Leaders?  Then give them the tools they need to be able to see the process through!

A Fabulous Parable by a Fellow Blogger

John Meunier strikes again!  Here's a gem of a blog post for your reading enjoyment today!  A modern day parable.

The Little Miracle Church

I must thank John for mentioning one of my blog posts at his blog!  I'm thankful that it provided "food for thought!"  Once in awhile I do manage to get out of God's way....

Yes, God is patient and yes, God does have a sense of humor!

"Elemental P" A Life with Meaning

When you are a parent of a child with Asperger's (Autism Spectrum Disorder) you sometimes have to get creative in order to get your child to do what he needs to do!  My son Randy was not fond of washing his hands.  He would turn on the water, stick a finger in and then proclaim he was done!  After trying all sorts of things I finally came upon something that worked!  I told him that he had to put both hands in the water, rub them together and sing the ABC song.  Once the song was done, he was done and he could turn off the water and dry his hands.  Since he enjoys singing he was delighted with this idea and continues to sing the ABC song to this day!

One day, I noticed that when he sings L-M-N-O-P it sounds like he is saying "elemental P" and I thought "hmm...that's interesting" and kind of let it go at that.  The Spirit though, kept nudging me and I had a very clear impression that I needed to pay attention to this because there was a lesson just waiting to be revealed!

Elemental P-what could it possibly be and why is it so important?  Well guess what happened this morning when I was reading in Proverbs?  I made the connection!  Chapter 9 makes a clear distinction between Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly.  In The Message paraphrase Lady Wisdom prepares a meal and goes out to a prominent place and asks:

"Are you confused about life, don't know what's going on?  Come with me, oh come, have dinner with me!...Leave your impoverished confusion and live!  Walk up the street to a life with meaning."

A life with meaning!  Elemental P!  It's not one word, it is many words and all of them are connected to wisdom!  So I made a list.  It is by no means complete, but these are words that jumped out at me in regards to living a life with meaning.

Purpose:  Who am I and why am I here?  At some point in time everyone asks themselves this question.

Plan and Picture:  What is God's plan for my life?  How do I fit in to God's big picture?

Prayer and Praise:  Prayer being a two way conversation where I ask but I also listen.  Praise where I worship and bring my thanks and remain awed by the wonders God has created. 

Promise and Peace:  Promise meaning I listen to what God is saying to me and believe what is being said-that it will come to pass.  Peace-that I understand that even though challenges still exist I rest in the peace of knowing that God is fully in charge.

Perception and Parallels:  Another word might be discernment.  When I read God's word what is it saying to me?  Am I making the connection between how this verse or story from the past is still relevant today?  Can I see the parallel and apply it to something happening now? 

Person:  When I look at other people do I see them as God sees them?  Or do I judge them by worldly standards?  Am I being asked to do something in their lives?  How do I help them connect to a life of faith?

Parameters and Pace:  Boundaries are set for a reason.  To follow Jesus means to accept parameters for my own good!  Pace-do I let God take the lead or do I try to rush out ahead?  Running the good race does not imply a sprint.  It's more like running a marathon and any runner knows that if you don't want to hit the wall you have to pace yourself!

Honestly, I've blown the opportunity in each and every item on this list at one point or another!  I've been impatient, I've pushed too hard!  I have forgotten to be thankful.  I've whined, griped and complained.  I haven't liked the answer to a question.  I have had to confess my folly and ask for forgiveness.  That's the beauty of Grace, you can fall flat on your face and God will still love and forgive you if you ask Him!  Even your failures on your life journey can bring you closer to wisdom!  The closer you get, the more you realize that yes, your life does have meaning!  You were put here for a purpose.  Part of the journey is getting your ego out of the way and listening to the plans that God has in store for you!  My darling friends, my prayer is that you find your "Elemental P" and have the courage to follow and trust God!  

It has been an interesting lesson indeed!