Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Unwalked tracks

Its my birthday today:)

a Jesus thought...
If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. (Matthew 5:40)

a Godly thought...
The missional-apostolic church must operate as a body at all levels and perhaps especially at the leadership level because it is leaders who model ministry to others. There is no room for the loner or the one-hand band in the New Testament model. (p173 Frost & Hirsch)

a leading thought...
People need to feel that their leader knows their stuff and even in the heat of the moment is able to judge what is the best course to take. (p145 Harris)

a Dave thought...
I came across this quote the other day by Beau Waters (an AFL footballer) who when questioned about the challenges that lie ahead in the season he responded by saying...
we love to walk the unwalked track.
I am one who loves the new, some may call me an entrepreneur, others may say an apostle, I'm not fussed on the label but that is who I am. Unfortunately we have managed over the years to lose many like me from the Salvos, as those who like to take fresh steps often get criticised or are misunderstood. There is a need in a declining organisation to reinstate and pursue those like to walk on unwalked tracks, so lets relax a little, maybe even side step a few policies if it is going to help grow the kingdom, and take some risks.
So my suggestion is we need look back over the last 10 years and find everyone who tried to start something new and were stopped or stifled and lets get them engaged once again. As unless we walk some unwalked tracks in the coming years there may be very few walking.

Just a thought.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

totally agree - most have either walked out the door or had the passion knocked out of them and just now tow the line even though that is painful.

See it all the time, I am married to one as well.

I have watched as young apostles have started out and their leaders dont know how to "manage" them so they supress them - I have screamed in my head "no dont do that" that is not how you get the best out of people.

Lets take risks - there are people who can help protect the boundaries in a positive way and work together to make it a brighter better way ahead.

GB

Anonymous said...

I have entered the blogosphere! Your thoughts are interesting. The problem for us (TSA) is that those apostle, dreamer types generally came from the same age group (18-35). We need to acknowlegde that in days gone by we TSA have sinned against these people. We need to pray that it doens't happen again.

Lets embrace creativity and even a little stupidity for the sake of retaining these visionaries within our organisation.

Matt

Anonymous said...

It's a good thought to look back over the past ten years and try and encourage those who have been discouraged to come back. However, there would need to be someone who is prepared to appoligize for ths sin that has been committed against them and many of them are so deeply wounded that maybe they wont even want anything to do with us.

However, it is worth a try I am not sure how you would provide an environment for them though as our organisation is geared up for those who are managers.

Tracy

Anonymous said...

That which is new, innovative or entrepreneural is not necessarily helpful or biblical. Seen many a fad that claimed to enable "us build" the Kingdom come and go and leave damaged people in their wake. Interestingly, verbs like build or extend are not found in the NT's grammare for the reign of God Instead it uses receive, enter and inherit. There is nothing new in being criticised or misunderstood, even those who seek to keep us on the right track cop their fair share. Experience has also shown that there has been good reason for somethings not to go ahead and that the reason people give for leaving is not always the real one.
WJE

Anonymous said...

We really need to take a look at the past to see how this has had an effect upon the present and ultimately the future. It is very easy to just walk in the same tracks that we have walked in for many years and as an officer it would be easy to just keep walking the same tracks, doing the same things et. It is hard to make new tracks to walk in - it costs dearly however it needs to happen because the old tracks lead us nowhere and our followers are falling at the sides and I do hope that we have the courage to continue in new paths that will bring revival.

Michelle