a Jesus thought...
Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. (Matthew 12:33)
a Godly thought...
For genuine Christian community to develop and be maintained, it requires a gentle rhythm and a certain social ecology, an element of serendipity that simply cannot be planned or programmed. (p212 Frost & Hirsch)
a leading thought...
We live in a Knowledge Worker Age but operate our organisations in a controlling Industrial Age model that absolutely suppresses the release of human potential. This is shown by the fact that we want a person's body in the workplace, but don't really want their mind. (p15 Covey)
a Dave thought...
If you don't know where you're coming from, and if you don't know where you're going, then any bus will do. This Latin American proverb is unfortunately very true for many in church leadership today. We tend to take the latest model of discipleship, growth or planting and try and implement it in our church without even thinking. Many of our churches have ended up with a whole range of imported models and programs some of which work against each other but because they worked somewhere they will do for us.
Í believe that certain models and programs suit certain leadership styles and giftings and what works for one leader may not work for another. So why don't we look at our leaders first and educate them to think rather than obey. If we have thinking leaders operating churches then they will know where they are going and will be able to use the best people and ideas to help them rather than using international imports from any denomination.
Just a thought.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Will any bus do?
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1 comment:
There is a great deal of advice and what appear to be good ideas being given about cultivating leadership in the church. Problem is much of it is borrowed from other arenas - business or corporate. When we do this we actually form a character and identity as a leader that, though successful, leads us away from formation as God's person.It distorts our understanding of Christian leadership and its purpose because it has a different end. When we borrow and apply models we miss the opportunity to shape leadership around the biblical sense of what Christian leadership is all about. What is missing from borrowed frameworks is a theological accounting of leadership as the calling to form alternative communities of the Kingdom of God that are shaped by the biblical narratives. Such leadership tends to be in short supply. Tertullian is an interesting read because it was his theological understanding that shaped his actions as a leader as well as all the practical questions about how to lead the church.
WJE
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