An Ancient And Healthy Tension

reposted from http://www.wcablog.com

Tastes great, less filling
One of the longest running and most successful advertising campaigns of all time was produced by the Miller Brewing Company celebrating their famous Miller Lite beer.  The tag line was “tastes great, less filling.”  They would feature all sorts of celebrities engaged in arguments over which claim was greater.  Did Miller Lite taste great or was it less filling?  (Those of us of an older vintage will remember a similar advertising campaign about Certs.  Was it a breath mint or a candy mint?)  Now the obvious point behind this advertising campaign is that both claims can be wonderfully true (unless you’re a beer snob).  A beverage can both taste great and yet not fill you up.  There is no need to have an argument over it.

Living with the tension
But we like arguing over such things.  We are often not so comfortable with the tension of competing values.  Many people enjoy living in a more tidy world where everything is either black or white, right or wrong, this way or that way, democrat or republican, right or left, tastes great or less filling.  Yet, when we reflect carefully on our lives, we realize that it is hard to ever capture a situation, or a truth, or an experience, or almost anything with such hard-edged and air-tight categories.  Life is more nuanced than that.  There are many facets to the diamonds of these lives we live.  One of the more important life skills we can develop is a deep appreciation of the tensions in this world.  We can learn to carry competing values with a curious and discerning mind.

Missional versus Formational
Which brings us to a current tension in the religious world today: the competing values of being missional while at the same time attending to the spiritual formation of our lives with God.  The missional people are those who argue that the driving focus of the church must be directed towards the needs of this world and the people of this world.  We are to give our lives away for the sake of the world.  On the other hand, the formational people are those who emphasize that in order to give our lives away, we must first have a life that is worth giving away.  In order to effectively bear witness to the goodness and grace and transforming power of God, these truths must first be a living, authentic reality in us.

And so the argument goes.  Missional people will call the formational people self-absorbed navel-gazers who are content to let the world go to hell in a hand-basket while they light candles and chant the psalms.  Formational people will call the missional people shallow activity-junkies who jump on every popular cause that comes along as a way to ignore their own disordered and fragmented lives.

An ancient tension:  The contemplative and the active life
Fascinatingly enough, there is nothing new with this tension.  It is the ancient tension between the contemplative life and the active life.  This tension has always been a creative dynamic of the Church.  From the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth and fifth centuries to the missionary movement of the nineteenth century, contemplatives and activists have called the Church either to a deeper, more transformative life with God or to a more courageous, vigorous engagement in mission and evangelism.  The truth is obvious.  We need both.  And from time to time the Holy Spirit will call the people of God to a needed corrective of either contemplation or activity, being or doing.

We will find this tension in our own lives as well.  We will discover seasons where we are called to pull away from all the activity and doing and learn how to sink our lives deeper into God.  At other seasons we will be called to get up off our knees and roll up our sleeves and engage fully in service to this world.  To go do something.  To make a difference.

The crucial role of the church
The most beautiful and ideal place where this ancient tension can be creatively and wonderfully lived out is the local church.  In every church there will be those who are primarily called to formation and others to mission.  In other words, some of us will primarily be contemplatives while others will be activists.  And here is the crucial truth: we need each other.  It is possible to live well with this tension.  It will take maturity and historical grounding to do this well, but it is entirely possible to learn how to do this.  We can argue vigorously for the importance of our particular calling, while at the same time celebrating and realizing our desperate need for those whose calling is different than ours.  It appears that this is how God has designed and built his Church, so it would be wise for us to joyfully receive this gift of each other.  There is no need to argue here.  The church can both taste great and be less filling.

Suggestions for further reflection or next steps:

For the Activist:

1. Go hang out with someone who leans towards contemplation and ask them to speak in detail about their life with God.  Listen closely and learn.
2. Go on a day-long private retreat and just be alone with God and see what happens.
3. Read a book that emphasizes contemplation and spiritual formation: “Way of the Heart” by Henri Nouwen; “Renovation of the Heart” by Dallas Willard

For the Contemplative:

1. Go hang out with someone who leans towards activism and ask them to speak in detail about their life of service to others.  Listen closely and learn.
2.  Go serve at a soup kitchen or get involved in some activity where you are working hard to accomplish something.
3. Read a book that emphasizes activism and mission:  “Friendship at the Margins” by Chris Huertz and Christine Pohl;  “Compassion” by Henri Nouwen, Donald McNeill, and Douglas Morrison;  “The Hole in our Gospel” by Richard Sterns

2012 Global Leadership Summit - Chicago Review

From a former US Secretary of State to the two foremost world class business consultants, to leading edge pastors, the speakers at this year’s Global Leadership Summit are outstanding.

In his usual inspiring and down to earth way Bill Hybels challenges us make the most of the privilege that we have as leaders, and reminds us that there is no greater force on earth than the local church when it is working well.  Condoleezza Rice reflects on her story of humble beginnings to become a leading academic and then US secretary of State.  Jim Collins in new groundbreaking research shares the factors that have contributed to the long term success of great companies.  Patrick Lencioni draws on his experience to share of the vital place of organisational health.  Pastor Craig Groeschel exhorts us to create a culture of honour between generations, and Pastor John Ortberg reminds us of a leader’s influence as he unpacks the remarkable influence of Jesus as a leader.  The impact that a leader can have is demonstrated in the stories of Pranitha Timothy bringing hope to vulnerable women in India, and Geoffrey Canada an educational campaigner championing the cause of children in America’s poorest communities.

In powerful video cast presentations this year’s Summit presenters will inspire, encourage and equip you to grow in your leadership vision and capacity.  Join us at one of the 13 locations around the country and be ready to have your minds expanded and hearts engaged.   

For more reflections on the Summit, check out these posts of Chicago Day One and Chicago Day Two by Stu Cameron, Facilitator and Host Paster of the Gold Coast Summit Site.

Andrew McCafferty

CEO, Willow Creek Australia

Biblical Leadership Characteristics

Some of the best leadership principles are discerned through strategic Bible study.  Recently in reading two scripture verses from Hebrews I became aware that the writer really understood leadership.  Here are the verses and what I gleaned from them.

Hebrews 13: 7 and 17, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.  Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith… Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.  They keep watch over you as people who must give an account.  Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

The following leadership principles stood out for me:

1. Leaders need the prayers of their people – remember them. Leadership can be very lonely at times, extremely demanding and quite risky. Many leaders have intercessors who pray for them regularly.
2. They speak God’s word because they are steeped in it. My practice is to read about four chapters of the bible each day and to write in a journal what I perceive God is saying to me. Consequently when I speak and preach I can bring fresh bread to hungry people.
3. They have fruitful outcomes. They get results, bearing the fruit that indicates excellent time management and shows that they are disciples of Jesus. (John 15: 8)
4. They are teachers and mentors worth emulating and their faith is an example to follow.
5. They carry authority in their very being through living a life of integrity, excellent character and high competency. Hence they deserve willing “obedience.” Serving such a leader is satisfying because they have the passion and skill to grow your leadership and your capacity.
6. They carry great responsibility; they keep watch and consider the big picture. They study trends and they monitor progress. They consider the whole of the organisation and how each part relates to the whole. They also, together with others in the organisation, decide what is to be done and what is to be left undone.
7. They are accountable. Perhaps more than others in the organisation they have to report on progress and account for their leadership and the health and productivity of the organisation.
8. Wise and fruitful leaders gain success through the people they mentor, release and empower in leadership. They surround themselves with people who complement their own strengths, and in other areas are smarter than they are. Hence they have inner security in Christ, excellent self-acceptance and deep humility.
9. They experience much joy in their leadership, because they are at the helm of a very effective organisation and, particularly through empowering others, they also have excellent life balance which creates a healthy culture throughout the organisation.

Good leaders read widely on leadership. Great Christian leaders also wisely read the Bible, for in it is a wealth of wisdom that enhances leadership excellence.

 

Rev Dr Dean Brookes

Leading In The Small Organisation

Eighteen months ago I left a leadership position in a large parachurch organisation, following a call from God to come to lead the Willow Creek Association in Australia.  From a leaders perspective it may seem like an odd move and almost a “step back” in leadership. But what I have discovered about leadership and the size of the organisation has been quite surprising.  Let me share some of my experiences and insights.

Larger enterprises don’t necessarily demand better leadership.  In fact in some ways smaller enterprises demand more of a leader than larger ones.  Let me elaborate.  Larger enterprises generally have more “elasticity”.  They can spring back from errors of judgment with less impact.  In a team of 60, a few poor performers are felt less than in a team of 6.  A minor poor financial decision in a budget of millions is very different to one in a budget of less than a million.  The point is this, the value of preciseness in leadership in a small enterprise can be a matter of life or death.  In a larger enterprise, while preciseness is important, the consequence of some “slack” may not mean shutting the doors tomorrow.  

Each decision a leader makes is an important one, and it may seem as though the larger organisations require better decision makers.  But in the context of risk, there may be far greater risks for the decision maker in the small organisation than the large one.  The wrong staff or volunteer appointment, the wrong financial call may lead to a quick demise of the organisation or church.  The perception may be that the pressure on decision makers in larger organisations is greater, but this is not necessarily so.  In a small tight knit group the decision that Greg a lovely guy who has poured his life into music ministry, is not actually particularly gifted in this area and needs to be moved aside, ripples through the small church in a way that would not be the case in a larger one.  And the leader who makes this decision knows that s/he is risking many relationships amongst other things.  

Larger organisations have the capacity to engage specialists, whereas smaller organisations tend to demand a broader range of skills from fewer people.  The youth pastor may also be the part time receptionist and graphic designer for church publications.  And when s/he resigns you can’t just cover the gap by pulling a staff member from a less critical area, because everyone is engaged in a critical area.  

So I want to hail the leader of the small enterprise who faces challenges and pressures in ways that leaders of larger organisations don’t.  Sometimes we feel at Willow Creek that there is a perception that we exist for leaders from larger churches and organisations.  Not true!  God has called each of us to lead where we are, the phrase you will find firmly attached to our Global Leadership Summit. 

Andrew McCafferty

CEO, Willow Creek Australia

Bill Hybels’ hardest years

As one of the founders of Willow Creek Community Church, Bill Hybels knows the sacrifice that comes with starting a church. At the 2012 Exponential Conference on April 25 in Orlando, Florida, he spoke with church planters about their early successes and struggles planting Willow. And he invited his wife, Lynne, and two grown children, Shauna and Todd to join him for the interview.

“The first five years after Willow started were one of the hardest experiences of my life,” Bill shared with church planters. “I did a lot of scrambling. In the first five years it was like 25, 100-yard dashes a day.” 

Willow Creek began meeting in a theatre in Palatine in 1975 with approximately 100 people in attendance—most of them from a youth group who had met in the suburbs of Chicago. After six years of steady growth, the church took a leap of faith and committed to build a building at its current location in South Barrington. 

“When I look out at a crowd like this and see how many of you are in the first five to ten years of a church plant, I just want to sprinkle pastor dust all over you and wish you well,” he said. “I think [church planting] is inherently messy. I think it’s inherently confusing. I think it’s inherently complex. We can help, and council, and bless each other, but one of the toughest things I’ve ever been through is the first five or ten years of planting Willow,” he said.

It was hard on his family, too. “We didn’t have anybody giving us any direction or council,” Bill’s wife, Lynne said. “We weren’t a part of any organization. There were no church planters’ organizations that we knew of back then.” 

But as a family they were still able to make some good decisions. “We made a decision that if we had to choose between disappointing people in our congregation or our kids, we would disappoint the congregation because if they don’t like us they can go to another church, but our kids are stuck with us,” said Lynne.

“It was important for us to keep focused on our family while building into the church we were planting,” said Bill. “When our two kids arrived, nothing ever touched me as deeply. The thought of leaving these kids in the jet stream of a fast-moving church was unconscionable to me,” he said. “[My family] is my ultimate, lifelong small group. They are my permanent community. What do you have when you drive away from your church after 35 to 40 years if you don’t have an ultimate community?”

With a belief that after a church planter has established the fundamental commitments and isn’t going to quit, Bill believes it is becomes a matter of managing the commitments. “The idea of bailing on this, and I don’t mean this unkindly, I think it’s the coward’s way out. I think it requires more courage to be a covenant keeper—your covenant with your calling to God, your covenant to your marriage, and your covenant to your children,” he said. “I had to pray to God, that unless you take my life or release me from my call at Willow, I’m going to serve this church with my heart, soul, mind, and strength every day. I’m not breaking that covenant.”

reposted from http://www.wcablog.com

Geoffrey Canada’s Thoughts on Leadership

If you saw Waiting for Superman, a documentary on the state of public education in America, you might recognize Geoffrey Canada. The president of Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), Canada transformed the organization in the late 90s into a center that actively follows the academic careers of youths in a 24-block area of Harlem. The model was so successful, that today the area covers 97 blocks. The New York Times calls it “one of the biggest social experiments of our time.” President Obama announced plans to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) model in 20 other cities in the US.

Harlem Children’s Zone isn’t simply helping children beat the odds, it’s helping to change the odds.

• Leadership by consensus sounds good, but it’s difficult because persuading everyone to do one thing is almost impossible.

• When you move away from a “leadership by consensus” model, people might not like you. They’ll think you’re in charge and want to do things your way. Being a good manager and having people like you aren’t always the same thing.

• Trying to persuade people to do things your way can be a waste of time. You might be better off to thank them for their difference of opinion, suggest they do something else with their life, and proceed with the people who are ready to move forward.

• A leader’s approach should be to respect people’s opinions and listen to the issues, but once a decision is made, people have to make it their job to carry it out. 

• Sometimes leaders have to make decisions that are risky, but risk-taking can be important in moving your organization forward. 

• A leader must drive the team to innovate. Help them figure out how to do things better and smarter. It’s a constant process.

• Innovation doesn’t last forever. In fact, it will last for about 18 months. If you don’t come back and reenergize it after 18 months, it will go downhill.

• People get excited about brand new ideas, but you must pay attention to the things that are fundamental to your business or organization. 

• Assure people on your team that there’s no negative side to bringing up a problem and asking for support. 

• To manage well, a leader must understand the underlying dynamics of a group. Be transparent with your team and that will help neutralize some of the anxiety in a group, then you can be about solving problems. 

• Be willing to learn from those who are doing things better than you are.

• No one wants to have “difficult” conversations and few are trained to do it. But a leader must be willing to tell people the truth. 

• Work with people who have struggled to do difficult things. Someone who has never experienced a setback may have a tough time working for your organization. Hire people who are the best and who are on a mission to make your business or organization better than it is. 

• Steer away from hiring people who see the job as an extension of their ego or who want to use it to their personal advantage. 

• Hire people with a decent sense of humor. Most of us work hard doing hard work and are under a lot of stress. If the workplace has a healthy sense of humor, you can take yourselves seriously and make fun of yourselves at the same time.
(Adapted from “The Corner Office” by Adam Bryant, Times Books)

View Geoffrey Canada in a segment of Meet the Press that addressed Education Nation.

reposted from http://www.wcablog.com

Training

With the growth in the workload on many pastors in the last few years, there has been an ever-increasing number of lay people ministering in church – and all-member ministry has become more of a reality. All to the good – until something goes terribly wrong, because the untrained are being entrusted with tasks they simply cannot do.

Why are we so suspicious of training in the church? There are three main reasons.

The first is that training is seen as unspiritual. The disciples never went to Bible College, we quip, and they started a church that had three thousand members in its first week or so. True, but they had three years of day by day instruction from Jesus. Paul trained those he worked with – we wouldn't have some of the letters if he hadn't seen the passing on of his wisdom and experience as crucial.

The second reason can be because, it seems to take so long. Most of us are far too busy doing the job to have time to train others to do it. And when we do delegate, they make a mess of it, so it’s obviously better to do it ourselves. Right? Wrong! In the long-term, it is much better to get ten people to do the work than to do the work of ten people.

The final reason can be the leader's insecurity. ‘What if people discover others are more gifted than me?’ ‘Will the congregation respect me less if others start doing certain aspects of my job better than I do?’ Let’s pray that both these things happen!

So how do we get on with training? The following four steps can form a framework for action:

1. Envision

The church family must be made aware of the needs and their responsibilities in relation to meeting them: workers are needed to maintain current ministries and to develop new ones. God’s plan has always been to use leaders to train His people to do the ministry – not for His people to watch the leaders do the ministry!

Perhaps a sermon series could be preached, or a series of Bible studies planned. In as many different ways as possible the congregation needs to be alerted to their biblical responsibilities. One small, practical way to envision the church in this area is to publish a ‘jobs list’. That is, a complete list of everything that is done in church life to keep its ministries going.

Add to this list tasks the church should be doing and tasks you would like it to be doing, and you have a clear indication that there is something for everyone to do! Some of the jobs can be done simply enough, but most will require an element of training, some quite extensively.

2. Recruit

Asking for volunteers can be dangerous! It often results in the wrong people volunteering. It is sometimes useful, however, to ask for volunteers on a ‘just looking’ basis – giving people an opportunity to ask questions about a particular ministry without being committed to it before they are ready.

Leaders should not be afraid, though, of making a direct approach to people they think God might be wanting to use in particular ministries. A direct, non-manipulative, request to consider being committed to a particular task is especially valuable for busy (often gifted) people. They may well never volunteer for anything but might be stirred into accepting a role by a fresh challenge. Besides, sometimes we are the last people to recognise our own gifts and need someone else to point them out to us.

One key principle to remember when we are trying to recruit people for training is never to minimise the work and commitment involved for the recruit.

3. Train

Leading in worship, teaching a children’s group, running a youth group, serving communion – it all looks so easy, until you try it. Our enthusiastic recruit must be trained. One of the most effective methods of training was created by Jesus; ‘show, tell and do’. This avoids the sterile, unreality of simply ‘reading up’ about the subject area, and overcomes the bias and idiosyncrasies of a totally subjective ‘thrown in at the deep end’ approach.

4. Review

Training needs to be ongoing. We ought always to be developing our skills and growing in grace. No one in the church family should be exempt from this need for performance evaluation followed by continuing training. This will keep us fresh, relevant and increasingly effective in God’s work. As we submit ourselves to this process, our fellow leaders will do so more readily, and so will other workers at every level of the church family.

When we review, God has the opportunity to renew.

STEPHEN GAUKROGER WILL BE COMING TO AUSTRALIA LATE JULY/EARLY AUGUST TO HOST A SERIES OF SEMINARS ON TEAM LEADERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT, AND PREACHING AND COMMUNICATION, IN PERTH, MELBOURNE, SYDNEY AND BRISBANE. CHECK OUT WWW.WILLOWCREEK.ORG.AU FOR MORE DETAILS.

Article first published in The Baptist Times (UK) October 2010

Stephen Gaukroger is a senior church leader in the United Kingdom, having pastored two of the largest Baptist churches and served as President of the Baptist Union. Stephen is the Founder and Director of Clarion Trust International, a Christian charity working in the UK and overseas, involved in leadership training and development, advocacy, networking and the communication of the Christian faith.

2012 Global Leadership Summit Speakers Announced!

Bill Hybels

Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

- Founded The Global Leadership Summit, now in 450+ cities and 85 countries

- Passionate about the local church, he is committed to developing and mentoring leaders worldwide- Best-selling author of more than 20 books including his most recent, The Power of a Whisper

"If it's the last thing I do, I will give every ounce of the rest of my life to helping leaders and churches get better."

Condoleezza Rice

Former U.S. Secretary of State

- Professor of Political Science at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

- Former Stanford University Provost — responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program for 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students

- Author and co-author of numerous books, including: No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington

"I use the word power broadly. Even more important than military and economic power is the power of ideas, the power of compassion, and the power of hope."

Jim Collins

Nationally Acclaimed Business Thinker and Author

- Relentlessly curious student of enduring great companies, he is the author of the leadership classics Built to Last and Good to Great

- Former faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

- His newest release, Great by Choice, answers the penetrating question, Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not?

"Throw leaders into an extreme environment, and it will separate the stark differences between greatness and mediocrity."

Geoffrey Canada

President & CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone

- Pioneering leader in urban education and fervent advocate for U.S. education reform

- Featured in the acclaimed documentary, Waiting for Superman

- Targeting a 100-block municipal area with educational and social services, the Harlem Children’s Zone has become a model for effective community engagement

"You have to be prepared to think outside the box...Stand back and think about what we could do creatively. We’ve got to do that to push the field forward."

Sheryl WuDunn

Pulitzer Prize Winner; Business Executive

- Author of the award-winning book, Half The Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

- Senior Managing Director of Mid-Market Securities and President of Triple Edge, two social investment and consulting firms specializing in companies run by women

- Pulitzer Prize winner for Asia: Thunder from the East and China Wakes, co-authored with her husband Nicholas Kristof

“One of the best ways to fight poverty and to fight terrorism is to educate girls and bring women into the formal labor force."

Craig Groeschel

Founder and Senior Pastor, LifeChurch.tv

- A pioneer in multi-campus church, LifeChurch.tv holds 76 weekly worship experiences, ministering to over 40,000 people

- Known for leveraging technology to reach a new generation, including the development of LifeChurch's popular YouVersion Bible App

- Author of influential books, including the soon-to-be released Soul Detox

"If we want to be better than normal we must move from good intentions to what I call God intentions."

John Ortberg

Senior Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

- Senior leader of a thriving multi-site church in Northern California

- A prominent voice in the worldwide spiritual formation movement

- Best-selling author of numerous books including the upcoming, Who Is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus

"God is a God of endless opportunities to do good; the God of the open door."

Mario Vega

Senior Pastor, Misión Cristiana Elim, El Salvador

- Leader of one of the world's largest churches with 73,000 attendees, campuses throughout El Salvador, more than 7,000 cell groups and a staff of 92 pastors

- Misión Cristiana Elim achieved exponential growth in the midst of civil war through the successful implementation of cell group strategies

- Known for his humility, his passion for justice and for the rights of children

"When you have the humility to listen to the Bible it does more than enlighten us, it transforms us."

Marc Kielburger

Co-Founder, Free The Children; Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Me to We

- At the age of 18, co-founded Free The Children with his brother Craig Kielburger

- The world’s largest network of children helping children through education, Free The Children has built more than 650 schools and school rooms in developing regions

- Co-founder and Co-CEO of Me to We, a social enterprise providing better choices for a better world including international volunteer trips, leadership training programs, a socially conscious clothing line and resources that address issues of positive social change

"How are you going to keep your workforce engaged, retained, active and motivated? It all comes down to what kind of meaning and purpose can you provide."

Pranitha Timothy

Director of Aftercare, International Justice Mission, Chennai, India

- Led over 50 slave rescue operations, serving as the chief legal witness in court

- Developed IJM's pioneering aftercare strategy for restoration and reintegration, successfully serving thousands of freed slaves

- The child of dedicated missionary doctors in rural India, she's a brain tumor survivor who describes her resulting feeble voice as a "voice for the voiceless”"

“In my work with International Justice Mission, I free slaves and work to restore them to a life of dignity and wholeness."

William L. Ury

Co-Founder and Senior Fellow, Harvard University’s Program on Negotiation

- A negotiator and mediator, with 30 years practical experience in conflicts ranging from corporate mergers to ethnic wars in the Middle East.

- A social anthropologist and teacher, he is the author of award-winning business books, including Getting to Yes, an eight million copy best seller

- Co-founder of the International Negotiation Network with President Jimmy Carter, a non- governmental body seeking to end civil wars

“Look for opportunities to act inconsistently with their perceptions. Perhaps the best way to change someone's perception is to send them a message different from what they expect."

Patrick Lencioni

Founder and President, The Table Group; Best Selling Author

- A leading organizational consulting firm, The Table Group advises clients with ideas, products and services to improve teamwork, clarity, employee engagement and overall organizational health

- Named by Fortune Magazine as one of “Ten Gurus You Should Know” and by The Wall Street Journal as one of America’s “Most Sought-After Business Speakers”

- His upcoming book, The Advantage, explores the significance of organizational health and why it trumps everything else in business

"The vast majority of organizations today have more than enough intelligence, experience and knowledge to be successful. What they lack is organizational health."