Thursday, March 31, 2011

Leadership in the Emergent Church

“The Emergent Church: A Methodological Critique” highlights some major elements of the Emergent Church and briefly discusses its leadership. Because the movement grows organically and spontaneously, its participants see little need for “centralized, pastoral leadership.” In fact, some emergent communities have no leader at all. Emergent Tony Jones says that the “church should function more like an open-source network and less like a hierarchy or bureaucracy.” The EC is self-organizing and decentralized its leadership in 2008. While I admire many of the innovative things the EC is doing, I question whether its essentially formless structure is the best way to go. This seems like a good idea when reacting to the complex, often inefficient and ineffective structure of many churches, but does it prove successful in the end?

Not surprisingly, there have been at least two negative consequences of this arrangement. First, it has led to “a serious lack of consistency.” Having started with significant leaders who blazed the path for its followers, the EC has lost its driving forces. Second, this has left it “without clarity regarding its mission and purpose.” The rejection of structure has resulted in aimlessness. Although it initially provided an appealing alternative to the traditional way of “doing church” and engaged in a more holistic and orthodox expression of Christianity, I’m not sure how long it can survive given these current conditions. You can only go so far without clear form, direction, leadership, and purpose, even though these may look different than the norm to which the Church is accustomed.

Everything rises and falls on leadership? We need to define our terms.

The title of this blog originates from a quote from John Maxwell’s book, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You. I must be honest, I’ve never read the book, but the concept of everything rising and falling on leadership seems to be misguided or at least unclear. It’s almost as though the book title itself says that if you follow these 21 “laws,” people will follow you. The biggest problem with Maxwell’s statement is what does he mean by everything. I’ve asked those who have read the book, and they are not sure either (let me know if you do).
My fear with the statement is that we as leaders put too much stock in our role. I’m reminded of the words Paul tells the Corinthian church (2:1-5)—Paul did not come because he was this prolific leader to which everything is subject, but he came in fear and trembling to the Corinthians and “decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (ESV). Likewise, Paul notes that he did not come with plausible words of men, but with a “demonstration of the Spirit and the power of God.” This passage seems to indicate that at least in Paul’s case, the Corinthians faith needed to be in God, and not in the “wisdom of men.” The onus seems to be on the leader’s proclamation of Jesus Christ in brokenness and humility, empowered by the Spirit. If that is what Maxwell means by leadership, then I’m with him.

Leadership Summit

Bill Hybels and his team started the Leadership Summit several years ago to equip leaders of both non-profits and business to become more effective leaders through training. Each year the Summit speakers come from a variety of spheres of influence including academics, business, politics, churches, and individuals with vision and raw passion. In the past, the Summit includes some speakers that are not Christ-followers (Hybels believes that all truth is given by God). Each of the keynote speakers share the obstacles and struggles that they have faced and overcome in making a difference in the lives of others. The Leadership Summits are sponsored by The Willowcreek Association, which provides a multitude of resources including DVDs, Web Seminars, and more to empower leaders to develop others. Some of the writer's favorite resources include: "A Vision to Die For," "Holy Discontent," and "The Land Between." The topics are relevant, inspiring, and challenging to create vision, passion, and ministry that creates fully devoted followers of Christ. The WillowCreek association also trains people for small group ministry, art and worship, youth, and children ministries. The leaders frequently reflect on what is working well, what is not working well, and what can be improved to be more efficient and effective. Now the WillowCreek Association provides training to several pastors and leaders under resourced countries throughout the world.

Principles of Leadership

“Servant Leadership Principles” According to Dr. Richard J. Krejcir, Jesus modeled effective leadership by being a servant and incarnational leader. Krejcir goes on to distinguish between the two types of leaders. He suggests that the servant leaders do the “hands on work” while the incarnational leaders “are more visionary…set the tone and empower the Servant leaders.” He emphasizes that both leaders will be humble, enthusiastic, and value the opinions of others. While they do not worry about manipulating or gaining control, they seek to be loyal to Jesus Christ. Krejcir is right to point out that these principles are often missing in leadership models outside of the church, but should be employed by those within the church. If leaders in the church commit themselves to being humble, enthusiastic, and to value the opinions of others, with the ultimate goal of honoring Jesus Christ we would probably enjoy our work more. There could be a real freedom in giving up control. Yet, in complex situations these principles are certainly hard to live out. It is easy to say “be humble and value other people’s opinions,” but it is hard to live that out when conflicting opinions reverberate within a congregation. If only disagreements were a rare occurrence in the church, this list of principles might be sufficiently strong. But since real life teaches us that conflicts are inevitable, the reader realizes Krejcir’s principles are in the sky, and it is up to our prayers, hard work, and practice to bring them down to earth. © 1989, 2005, Richard J. Krejcir, Ph.D. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership, www.churchleadership.org http://www.churchleadership.org/articles_view.asp?articleid=41928&columnid=4540

Think Outside the Box

For those out there that are experiencing a calling which for them is a second career, do not be afraid. I wanted to share with you the idea of thinking outside of the box in order to maintain or deliver a company (in our case a church) from the brink of destruction. I point my attention to Ford Motor Company and their bold move in hiring a non-automotive guy to take over their company. For those of you who are preacher’s kids, please don’t think that I am saying that we need to change things up, I just saying that for those of us who are not, and have anxieties about our call, there is real-world experience that we all can bring to the table, and that God can use us to make a difference as well. Back in 2006, FoMoCo took a risk when they hired Alan Mulally as CEO. Alan was the CEO of Boeing, and had saved them from bankruptcy shortly after 9/11. His leadership and organizational skills helped saved a failing automotive giant. In fact, as a result of his leadership, Ford was the only one to not take a hand-out or bail-out from the government over the last couple of years. This in fact strengthened the company, and as a result, they have been experiencing a positive return on their investment in Mulally and in the market as well. Mulally, as it turns out, sat in the front pew as a kid in his church, anxious to hang onto every word of the preacher to learn how he managed to light a fire under them. ^ "Ford's New Top Gun". Bloomberg Businessweek. 2006-09-18. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_38/b4001042.htm. Retrieved 2011-3-31.

It's the Simple Things that matter....

“He was told to do something simple and to see what God would do.” - The Story of Naaman in 2 Kings. Potential leaders and seminary students (aka...US) want to do such big things for God, but yet we forget about the simple things that God calls us to do each day. Often we students and leaders get so focused on our ministry and our school work that we push aside our one on one personal time with God. Drew Sams explains, “Leaders needs something fresh from God every day.” The greatest commandment from Jesus is to love God with all of our hearts, strength, souls, and minds – Luke 10:27. We need to make that personal time with God daily where we seek Him with all of our hearts to be filled by his love and Holy Spirit. We also need to remember the simple things that God places in front of us daily that we so often overlook. What people are right in front of us that need God’s love but we are to busy focusing on school work or preparing for a sermon? How often do we skip out on family time because we are too preoccupied other things in ministry? How often do we not even give people the true time that they deserve because we are too busy thinking the things that we need to get done. It’s the simple things of loving God and loving His people that truly matters in leadership and in life.

Refusing To Lead

Peter Rollins’ main goal is to figure out what Christianity might look like in post-Christian and post-modern western Europe. In many ways Europe helps us see into the future of American culture. It is for this reason that I suggest that perhaps there may be something to be learned by his insights.

In this short video Rollins suggests that a Christian leaders should be one that refuses to lead. For Rollins, a leader refuses to give answers to people, pushing those questions back on the person, thereby making them find the answerer for themselves. He believes that this is seen in the life of Jesus where people ask, “Who are you?” and Jesus answers by asking, “Who do you say that I am?” For Rollins, Jesus is an excellent example of a leader who refuses to give answers, thereby causing people to wrestle with there own question and come to their own conclusions.

He also suggests that one of the reasons we push questions back on the one asking is because we must refuse to be manipulated. This manipulation takes on many forms but the main way that this manifests itself, as Rollins points out, is by a congregation merely wanting a leader that will affirm their already held beliefs. For Rollins, the position of leadership is easily manipulated by the wants and desires of those we are supposed to “lead.” When leaders refuses to lead by the whims of those that they are “leading,” true leadership takes place. In the leaders refusal to lead he/she truly leads.

The Dance

This video makes a very interesting point about the importance of the first follower. This man starts dancing and he looks like a fool until he gets his first followers, then a chain reaction is started until the whole park is dancing. One by one, people join this dance in a rush of mass insanity. I find this video to be an incredible metaphor for leadership. After all, isn’t leadership a dance? You have to learn the right moves, and someone has to want to dance with you. You look silly dancing by yourself, just as a leader looks foolish trying to lead when no one is following. A good dancer can spread his/her dance like a wildfire. Once the dance is caught, it cannot be squelched. Dance is powerful and contagious. It is also incredibly fun. A good leader can cast a vision that spreads like wildfire, and as the leader leads his/her people, they start to dance like the leader, and just as the dance is fun, people get caught up in the excitement of following something bigger than themselves. When the dance in this video started, it was one man, alone. He could not have continued for long without a follower. After the first handful of followers came, people started coming in groups until the masses were flocking to the leader/dancer to become part of something bigger than themselves. He began as a dancer, but he ended up starting a movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Using Crisis to Lead

The article to click on is "Don't Waste a Crisis." We find ourselves constantly trying to avoid any type of conflict or crisis in our lives and ministries. However, this article points out how suffering can bring about spiritual growth. The author, John Ortberg, states, "Crises, while unwanted, are windows of opportunity for the cure of souls." The article goes on to share how we as ministers can use situations of crisis to helo others change their lives. He says the only way a crisis can bring growth is by dealing with it appropriately. As leaders we need to learn what that appropriate way is. If we do not act on a crisis in the right way then the growth stops when the crisis stops. When we act in the right way then the growth continues Ortberg writes here about spending time with the person in crisis and giving them the time and guidance that is needed for them to work through their distress. We are to be there to listen and guide, instead of to teach. A time of crisis is a time for a person to see things in his or her own life that need changing. Ortberg says that if we do not get these things changed during the crisis that the opportunity is gone, and we revert back to our old ways. I disagree with this because I have experienced the ability to change after the crisis was over by remembering what was happening during that time and using that memory to help continue the change.

Followers need a leader.

The One Thing For Christian Leaders

The general thrust of this article is that the church overemphasizes the qualities of leadership that work in the marketplace rather than lift up leaders who exhibit the qualities of Biblical leaders. In particular, the author points to Moses as someone who lacked the qualities that we tend to associate with talented leadership yet possessed the necessary traits that the church needs in those who lead: humility and obedience in relationship with God. While I agree with much of what the author says, especially the point that leadership in a corporate setting is not necessarily 100% transferrable to the church, I think he goes too far in suggesting that as a result the church should no longer concern itself with leadership.

Throughout the Bible, we see examples of God elevating men and women to positions of authority among His people. This was most obviously true in the case of the twelve apostles who Jesus handpicked and mentored to assume leadership in building the church after His time on earth ended. The key in choosing leaders is to let God do the choosing. God calls and the people respond. Prayer from both leaders and followers is needed in order to discern the call of God for leaders. While the idea of everyone being a follower may seem ideal, it is unrealistic. A leader without followers may just be taking a walk, but followers without a leader drift aimlessly in any, and possibly the wrong, direction.

Websites & Communication

OK. I feel like I’m taking a little bit of a risk in this post: talking about a website sounds more like management or administration than leadership. However, the point of a website is communication, and (duh) leadership is all about communication.

Here is why I think this website (and this church’s rationale behind it) is significant:

1. The emphasis is on what people need to know; not what I want to tell them. If I have already learned and forgotten more theology and biblical facts than many people would ever care to know, why do I squeeze them all into a sermon? Actually serving someone is way more impressive than trying to impress them.

2. Integration rather than re-creation. Do we really need to create the next Facebook (but the Christian version)? Personally, I find that the value of integration—leading people to integrate their faith among the people they already know, the places they already go, the homes they already live in—is a huge step in living in redemption, where Jesus takes what is old and makes it new.

3. These leaders recognize the value of story. I have a question: Are Christians afraid to deal with real life? It just seems to me that many people run from the grit of incarnation and find safe haven in facts, lessons and morals. People might memorize facts; but they live in story.

Communication is key to leadership.

Leadership vs. Management

"Excellent management can provide excellent results when working within an automated factory and working with machines, but excellent management will not always produce excellent results when dealing with people." When I think of a manager I think of my first boss out of college who was only concerned with my performance and not my development. His main concern was that I met my monthly sales and that I was on time every morning. He seldom affirmed my strengths or challenged me to grow and develop. He was a manager who was concerned about production; not a leader who was focused on development. But how do we lead people rather than manage people? The author of the above quote insists that leaders need to motivate and encourage people by focusing on people's strengths rather than their weaknesses. The author claims that when a leader attempts to correct weaknesses, the leader wastes valuable time and often de-motivates people. Instead, people are best motivated when their strengths are affirmed. While I agree that leaders must identify, affirm and develop the strengths of the individuals they are leading, I also think that leaders within the Church must address weakness; specifically when weaknesses demonstrate a need for character development. A Church leader's primary goal should not be only to develop people's strengths, but a leader should also challenge individuals to develop in a holistic manner to be the people God is calling them to be. Now, I do think that we should affirm people's strengths far more often than we challenge their weaknesses. However, if we only focus on developing people's strengths, I think we are practicing a form of corporate leadership rather than biblical leadership.

Redo...

This article essentially explains the 4 things this pastor of 20 years would have redone. It is always helpful for me to hear from someone on the other side, whether it be a life of ministry, successful bout with addiction, being out of school for good etc., what things would have changed. If hindsight is in fact 20/20, we can’t undervalue what these people in this position have to say. He says that there are 4 areas he would have changed. 1) more collaboration less competition. This can best be summarized by saying we must put the kingdom’s interests before our own interests. Church growth is certainly good, but not if our motivation is to rub our colleagues’ faces in their own pathetic growth. 2) More pastor less CEO this is one I already struggle with. I often find myself being overly administrative; planning every detail of what needs to happen (which incidentally is not my natural inclination), instead of first pastoring others. I will be a pastor, not a ministry administrator. 3) More rest less rush. His point is exactly what you think it is. I feel like this is said by everyone, but practiced by virtually no one. So I’ll say it too, and hope to mean it. 4) More friendship less isolation We are always pastors, we can’t fully take those responsibilities off. However, we, just as all those to whom we act as friends, need someone with whom we can share our struggles, heartache, celebrations. Creating a support system is part of good leadership.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

I don't need anyone....

I found this personal testimony from Dr. Tery Hofecker, the lead pastor from Northwest Chapel in OH. Dr. Hofecker teaches the church planting class here at the seminary and I was really challenged through many of his analogies and perspectives on coaching, supervisors, and mentors in the leadership process. I feel that he has a very healthy perspective on leadership when it pertains to his church. I appreciate his understanding of the vital need for Christian community in leadership. I think that many times we are told that the “mosaic model” of one man or woman going up to the mountain to discern God’s calling and heart and then bringing to the people is the best model to operate on and even more dangerously, the only model to understand what God is saying. The truth is that we are all designed to need community to keep leaders accountable, sharpen each other, and more importantly protect and encourage one another. Being around people, intentionally connecting, and valuing relationships is key, not only helping each of us on our personal faith journey’s but also affirming, evaluating, and discerning God’s call to leadership in each of our lives. I appreciate Dr. Hofecker’s attempt to plug people in immediately when they visit Northwest Chapel. I would love to say that I can continue to be shaped in the image of Jesus alone in my prayer closet but the truth is that I need other Christians in my life, confronting, sin challenging misconceptions, and speaking the truth in love.

Monday Hello

This article is about the response leaders should have when members of their congregation leave their church. The point that stood out to me the most from this article is the idea of not responding right away. If we are to respond right away we will respond with the emotions in the moment. Instead if we can give some time to allow our emotions to process then we will be able to respond appropriately to the situation. The author shares a personal experience he had in ministry with others, because he did not respond right away he was able to gracefully accept the couple's departure which has led to him continuing in a cordial relationship with the couple. I think another way to view the situation could help in our response which the author briefly touches on is the scarcity versus abundance mentality. If we view the world as being scarce in resources for church and being scarce in the number of Christians than we are going to hold on tightly to the people in our congregations. But if we can view the world through a lens of abundance than we will give our people permission to leave because we will trust and have faith that God has other people out there to raise up in their place. We be able to view the people as belonging to the Lord and not to us. We will be able to trust God that He knows what is best for them and that He will have His hand upon their life.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Welcome to the Person in Leadership blog

This is the Person in Leadership Blog spot for students in the Person in Leadership class, spring 2011 at Ashland Theological Seminary. This blog will serve as a repository of knowledge on the subject of leadership for students in this class. Students ONLY are allowed to post and add comment on this blog. If you are not a student, you are welcome to read our blog, but we kindly ask that you refrain from participating. This activity is restricted as a class exercise.

Let's start talking about Leadership!

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Dr. Lawson