Really losing my interest in prolonging this...I have enough in my life I must see through to completion, this series is not one of them! So this is the final post in which I fire off a bunch of random thoughts.
1. Let eschatology guide your current practice.
Some people are victims of their past. Christians are victims of the future. We are trapped by it. We know and feel what this world will be when Christ returns and, as much as we are able, we act as if that reality is now.
If your view of the coming Kingdom includes personal vocation, management, leadership, and being part of various teams to accomplish amazing things and if it includes the idea you will continue to acquire knowledge which will help you relate to people and perform tasks better, then it behooves you to practice the best you can now and learn and lead in a "heavenly" way. When you possess the "Kingdom" touch - everything you touch turns to Kingdom because as Richard Rohr puts it "everything belongs." I hope you see how this applies to the early posts.
2. Be Consistent.
It is my experience many of the people who are most vocally skeptical about the more corporate parts of church leadership are the same people who are most open to the idea of church being defined in really broad and inclusive categories.
Some sample conversations to show you what I mean:
"Yeah, we don't go anymore because we can experience more of God when we pray in the park on Sunday AM. GOD IS NOT LIMITED TO JUST BEING IN A BUILDING YOU KNOW."
or,
"When I am hanging with my buddies and one of us starts talking about a problem in his marriage and we pray for him, THAT IS JUST AS MUCH CHURCH AS GOING TO A BUILDING."
or,
"God doesn't ONLY speak to people in churches you know. In fact, I just watched this movie and totally felt God convicting me about how materialistic I have become."
or,
"God is bigger than the box we try to put Him in."
If you have been around a certain generation, usually who grew up in a church, you have heard this stuff and the proper response I think is:
"Sure, fine, God is truly that big. In fact, He is even bigger than that! Yes siree Bob! You can find him in the park, He can speak to you in a movie, He is present when love and care are present, and get this...wait for it...HE IS SO BIG HE CAN EVEN SHOW UP IN VISION STATEMENTS, HE CAN CHANGE LIVES THROUGH 4 YEAR PLANS, EMPOWER PEOPLE WITH HIS SPIRIT TO DREAM UP STRATEGIES, AND CONVICT US OF OUR SIN THROUGH BOOKS WRITTEN BY THE CEO OF HONEYWELL."
3. Trust leaders who don't trust themselves.
This idea is all of 30 seconds old so grain of salt please. I find it easier to trust leaders who second guess themselves. Not who are paralyzed by this second guessing - no need to trust them because they never ask you to do anything risky anyway.
I am talking about the leader who is constantly examining their motives, prayer life, moral behavior, health, family relationships, theology, emotional health, and choice patterns. If I see someone who is working really hard to not "pull the wool" over their own eyes, I trust they will not be misleading me. Most leaders feel they need to lead with absolute certainty. I don't think so. Absolute clarity maybe so people can move with them. But certainty is different - the times I have appeared most certain externally are also the times I have been most dishonest with myself internally.
1 Timothy 4:16 "Keep a close watch on your life and teaching."
Psalm 119:29 "Keep me from lying to myself."
Usually when I meet a leader and get the sense he or she is merely regurgitating something they heard from somewhere else, I find it hard to trust them because I am not hearing THEM. Perhaps this experience, or something like it, is at the heart of some people's skepticism regarding the corporate side of church leadership. When a pastor with the heart of a shepherd reads a book on leadership and then unthinkingly tries to be something she was never intended to be for the sake of church "growth", it ought to smell kind of funky to those around them.
But then we shouldn't run from the stench. We should tell the shepherd how much we loved her as she was and try to remove the pressure for her to be something God probably doesn't want her to be.
You summed it up well Nathan! Thanks for your insight and your time to put it into type.
Posted by: Chris Enns | February 08, 2009 at 09:40 AM
Thanks Chris, felt like I started with a bang and ended with a fizzle but what can you do.
Posted by: Nathan Weselake | February 08, 2009 at 07:31 PM