Nothing special ... simply recording thoughts on interesting issues others have raised with me.
1. On "we are all priests in a dysfunctional institution." Yes, but that does not equate to all being leaders. Being a priest is a definition of relational status, as a priest I have communication and access to God. But that does not mean that as a priest God sees me as the primary communication back to the church. So no, not everyone should have equal voice into the direction we go ... that would presuppose that God tells all of us everything. Instead God says I am a priest so that I may have intimacy with him, but I cannot presume access to his inner intentions for my community. If that were the case, why should I need a leader or obey my leaders. Perhaps the hidden question here is "what do I do with a dysfunctional institution". In my personal case, as a church community we are functional, and it is the external hierarchies are dysfunctional (we've been 5 years without a full time minister ... where's the pastoral oversight in that??? Systemic abuse I would call it). Fortunately in our case we can largely ignore the externalities. Internal dysfunction is that much harder. One of my most favorite stories in the bible is the rich young ruler. Jesus says to him, "for you this is the goal, now follow me". And Jesus moved on. The man had a choice, and fluffed it. Likewise, I believe a church needs to be future focused, "this is what's needed to get over there, now follow me". And if people walk away, better that than their being the inside poison. To what end are we our brother's keeper? Was Jesus not the rich young ruler's keeper at least as much as we are keepers of congregants? And yet there came a point where he walked on. 2. On "church management that it is incredibly focused on serving those inside rather than those outside". It seems oftentimes that a lot of church management is not actually serving ... but rather busy with fulfilling the criteria of management. That is, the management measures itself by how well it manages. If one looks at it spiritually, a different purpose should drive church management. All church activities can perhaps be wrapped up in two purposes; First to collectively worship, for true worship is the great leveler of pride, and the great unifier of spirit. Secondly, to disciple (whether that be internally or externally). Discipleship is too often (in my view) reduced to imparting knowledge: sermons, endless "courses you simply must go on", exhortation to read the bible (with associated enhancement of the guilt complex), and endless lists of "HowTo" and 7 steps to freedom. But, true as these are, right as these are, discipleship is also as much, if not more so, about facilitating people into action. There's a great similarity between discipleship and apprenticeship. We like to tell people what to do, but unlike an apprentice and his master, we don't do much showing how to do, and we don't hold their hands while they do the "do". But unless we apprentice people through doing, how can they ever grow into being. The master does not "do" his discipling, he/she is too busy being the master. Like the be-do-be-do-be blog post. 3. On "what is church and church leadership?" Church is not a democracy. It's also not a theocracy. Both concepts are misleading because they presuppose that the intention of the authority is institutionalization (excuse the innuendo). The leadership debate revolves on perspectives of what church is (or at least should be). The lay-perception of the mad-collective of leadership is just so because such leadership presupposes the institutionalism of purpose. And from this we get the destructive fights on style, ritual, activities, as factions fight for their preferred expression of the institution, and on the larger scale we have local church abuse by a disconnected upstream diocesan authority. For myself I find it helpful to think of church as the God-intentioned emergent property of community. Instead it seems that some churches turn it backwards and start with leadership imposed on community ... especially long established church. But think about it like this: we are saved individually to God who brings us collectively into family. Participation in family is not a flat structure; there is hierarchy of skill, intellect, wisdom, maturity and calling under God. The problem here is that leadership sometimes plays a token respect to family, and instead a weak leader's actions are played by how they are look up the pole at the deterministic hierarchical structures (that's not leader-ship, more like leader-slip), instead of standing backed by the hierarchical structures as they look into the dynamics of the family. In cases where there is family division, the former tends to focus on imposing structural solutions, while the latter seeks dialogue for healing. When I joined my current church we walked into a hurting legacy from the prior generations of leadership. Instead of resorting to "the institution says X", our new leader first researched to understand, and then opened a discussion of all the hurts and wounds to find how to heal. Only then could the issues be dealt with. Another way of thinking about it is, is the role of leadership to direct people, or to draw people? As a leader I can push a crowd of people in a direction with enough energy, effort, cajoling, and judicious application of the carrot and stick. I can even do it as a worship leader, employing musical skills to evoke a simulacrum of the real thing. Or I can instead walk toward a goal, showing the pathway around challenges, obstacles and structures, and the people follow like a herd of cats all jostling along behind the aroma of a pleasant meal (not drawn by the leader, but by the goal the leader is headed to). The cats will each follow short term diversions, move at different speeds, but as a group stay headed in the same direction as the leader goes - there's a group velocity. But the leader can only do that if the goal is clear to all, well communicated, the purpose is a priority, and the people accept and understand. The leaders job is to maximize the understanding of the mission so that like a cloud of particles the congregation is drawn along, entraining others along the way. 4. On "Where is our discussion forum to engage and grow on these issues?" At a recent leaders meeting over breakfast, one person really challenged me, and I had to work hard to articulate and reason a position with him, not with a view to winning, but to understanding. This is one of the leading areas where I believe we fail people in our discipleship, and which I find to be a huge gaping hole in my life. The pastoring of leaders is just about non-existent.
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Why?
Probably the best therapy is to express yourself. Why do you think psychiatrists make you lie on the couch and talk, while all they do is murmur "hmmm", "uhuh", or "go on"? Archives
May 2017
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