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Wise King Solomon:
Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge. (Proverbs 18:15)
Futurist Alvin Toffler:
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot unlearn, learn, and relearn.
Questions:
This is the third in the series of books from Dr. Jim Collins: Built To Last, Good To Great, and now How The Mighty Fall. This is a book that Dr. Collins wished he didn’t have to write, as he uncovers the markers that contributed to the failure of once-great companies.
If you are a frequent reader of my blog, you’re probably wondering why I’m reading/reviewing a business book. The answer is simple: the principles Jim Collins uncovers in his books are rock-solid principles of success and failure, regardless of the organization in which they are practiced or ignored. In all three of his books, I have mined so many great truths to apply to my personal life, as well as the organizations I lead.
This is a weekly series with things I’m reading and pondering from Oswald Chambers. You can read the original seed thought here, or type “Thursdays With Oswald” in the search box to read more entries.
I Am A Constant Work-In-Progress
If you are a worker whom God has sent, and have learned to live under His shadow, you will find that scarcely a day goes by without your Father revealing the need of further chastening. If any child of God is free from the goads of God, he is not in the line of the succession of Jesus Christ.
From Approved Unto God
The writer of Hebrews said the same thing…
And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as His children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when He corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child.”
It’s true: No pain, no gain. God will continue to work on you and me as His child.
These are my “raw notes” from The And Conference. If anyone wants to add on, modify, or delete, please feel free.
Cultural differences – imagine numbers 1-4 as barriers to even starting a conversation (m1-m4).
In western culture we’re pushing more toward m3 or m4. In fact, the gap between m0 and m1 is shrinking.
Our idea of church is 17 centuries old (tracing back to Constantine), so there is a HUGE assumption we’re making when we think “church.” From m0 to m1 is the church’s current domain. No cultural barriers have to be crossed. However, much of culture is in m3-m4.
If we act attractionally in a missional setting, we’ve extracted them from their “m” zone. New believers in 3-5 years after becoming a Christian will have no non-Christian friends. We’ve extracted them!
Most people feel good about God, Jesus, and spirituality. However, there are negative feelings about “church.” Most people remember or focus on only three things in their “perceived set.” Marketers try to get their product/service in that perceived set.
Jesus, yes; church, no. Kind of like iPhone, yes; AT&T, no. But now the Apple logo on the iPhone reminds people of AT&T.
The dechurched have been inoculated against the church.
Dream out-loud at high volume about what the church could be!
“As the Father sent Me, so I send you.” How did the Father send Jesus? He stepped into culture, He lived in the culture and spoke to people out of culture. Church should come out of mission, not mission out of church. Just like the Acts church didn’t require Gentile believers to adopt Jewish practices. So we don’t plant churches, we plant the Gospel and let the church grow out of that.
The Bible doesn’t know the difference between “clergy” & “laity.” Why do we persist in putting people in these categories?
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“Apostolic” is the Greek version of the Latin “missional.” We need an apostolic environment to take movements to a place of spontaneous expansion. The apostle is a catalyst to growth.
Paul starts churches which start churches = movement → expansion.
Paul then teaches. He is the custodian of the movement’s DNA. He is also the guardian of the purity of the DNA.
An “apostle” is not an apostle if it’s a top-down leadership. An apostle is a servant leader.
Ephesians 4
Leadership is a calling within a gifting. APEST gifts are given to everyone, but some are called to be leaders within their gifting.
APEST gifts carry more of a vocational weight. Gifts of the Spirit are more of empowerments for the moment. The gifts of Romans 12 are motivational/paradigmal gifts.
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Re-Jesus = a renewed focus on full Christology: most of our focus is on the Cross, resurrection & return. We need to include Incarnation & His life among humanity. We make Him Savior, but not Lord.
Re-mission = who God is must determine what the church does.
Re-organize = missional churches are responsive to the world around us. Our churches must be organized to be nimble.
Every new term that comes out tells us we’re doing church wrong. So Tim says “Missional schmissional!” and “Attractional schmactional!”
Most churches are defined as “Come to us.” But this only works for <40% of people. People are still “spiritual,” but they don’t like “church.”
Do we attract the unchurched 60% OR missionalize the churched 40%. How about BOTH-AND? We have to help the 40% reach their 60%.
We can still say “Come and see,” but emphasize “So that” = “Come and see what Jesus does so that you can tell others.”
There is no one-plan-for-all method for churches to do BOTH-AND. Each church must discover what works for them in their community.
Linear thinking is how our brains process info. That’s why telling stories with a plot twist is so powerful. Like when Jesus said, “You have heard… but I tell you….” Twists get people’s attention.
People in the world have had their imaginations devastated by culture who says love is conditional. When we talk about God’s unconditional love, it’s a plot twist they never imagined.
We have a mandate to do something beautiful. Beauty awakens imaginations to see God’s love. Like sympathetic vibrations: God’s beauty begins to resonate and awaken imagination.
“The church is God’s imagination to the world.”
What can we do for those who won’t come to church?
Missional people (micro level) + Multiplying churches (macro level) = Missional movement
How to create a missional culture: (1) Ordain every member; (2) Lead with a “Yes”; (3) Make heroes of everyday people.
Saying “Yes” doesn’t mean funding the project or even announcing the project. It just means giving people permission to reach out.
Business paradigm that makes money but not movements: say “No” to anything that you haven’t fully researched.
We can’t have “professional Christians” that do ministry & those that only receive ministry.
Christianity today needs to look like what we see in Acts.
What if instead of attracting new people to church, we released current attendees to do ministry?
What if it wasn’t “come and see” but “go and do”?
Small group success = seeing & addressing a need in the community. “Nothing builds community better than mission. When we aim at community, we may get it. But when we aim at mission, we get that and community too.”
Need to share success stories and failure stories. This creates a culture that let’s everyone know that it’s okay to try.
We need to redefine “disciple” because now we define them as “church attendee.”
Two categories: missional and sojourners. Missional people prepare the way for sojourners to become missionals by making the Kingdom of God tangible.
A better definition of disciple is apprentice. An apprentice is learning by doing; they’re hands-on.
Second decision environment = people choose to get more involved. For example, Sunday morning attendance is a first decision; a small group is a second decision.
Barriers to discipleship: individualism, consumerism, materialism. To overcome these barriers, Jesus put people in a place of tension. This typically can’t take place in a first decision environment.
Other ways to address these barriers: modeling, confrontation, action/reflection.
Jesus wasn’t interested in followers, but in disciples.
“Every member is a minister.” – Mark Beeson
Attractional churches use centripetal force to bring people in. Missional churches use centrifugal force to send people out.
Attractional is embedded inside missional. Attractional is the seed for missional. As Hirsch said, it’s more “extractional.”
Attractional seeds → Missional community → Extractional movement
Do we have to see church as institution and church as movement as opposites? Or co-existing? Genius of BOTH-AND!
In the Old Testament, there’s a phrase the repeats at the end of the historical record of almost every king of Israel and Judah —
As for all the other events of his reign, and all he did, are they not written down in the annals of the kings of Israel/Judah?
This phrase is repeated again and again (almost 40 times!). To me, the question mark at the end of this key phrase is really more like this: These stories are all here for your benefit… are you reading them? Are you learning from them?
“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” — George Santayana
But maybe we think, “Those things don’t pertain to me.” Or even, “C’mon, that’s as plain as the nose on your face! I don’t need to study that because everyone knows you shouldn’t act that way!” How about this…
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm [if you think you know it all], be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:11, 12)
Questions to ponder:
When was the last time you learned something new from something old?
Check out these opening paragraphs from an article on WebMD (if you wish, you can read the full article here) —
People over 50 get a self-esteem boost when they read negative news about young adults, a study shows.
Researchers also say young people, when given the choice, would rather read about people their own age and aren’t very interested in stories about their elders, whether the articles are positive or negative.
“Our results reflect that the younger readers did not perceive older people as all that relevant,” study researcher Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, PhD, of Ohio State University, tells WebMD by email. “They’re more concerned with figuring out who they are and where they stand, and those in the same age group appear to provide the relevant comparisons for that.”
Okay, this disturbs me on several areas. Basically each age group is dissin’ the other age group.
The senior citizens are projecting a snickering, see-I-told-you, father-knows-best, condescending attitude on youth. Why would anyone who is willing to learn and grow want to be around that kind of person?!?
Then our youth have a I’ve-got-it-all-figured-out, I-don’t-need-you, you’re-out-of-touch attitude toward the senior citizens. Why would anyone who is willing to mentor someone ever want to be that kind of person?!?
I think both of these generational groups could learn from this wise advice —
Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right. “Honor your father and mother” is the first commandment that has a promise attached to it, namely, “so you will live well and have a long life.” Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.
It’s so important to learn from others… to borrow their brains. I try to take something from other people’s brains every day.
One of the saddest things is to hear someone say, “I’m a self-made man” or “I’m a self-made woman.” Really?! That’s rather limited, isn’t it?
So whose brains are you borrowing? Please share in the comments so that others can tap into those brains too.
I love studying leadership books and learning from the lives of great men and women of history. The leadership section of my library is only slightly larger than the biography section. One of the saddest things to see is a leader who self-destructs. I was just reviewing some of my notes about leadership failures when Tim Elmore’s latest e-newsletter arrived entitled Self-Destructive Leaders.
Check out a couple of blurbs from this excellent article (which I encourage you to read here).
Projecting their self worth.
There are few things more unappetizing than a leader who has to constantly talk about how important they are. They name drop, they remind others of their busyness, accomplishments, authority, past positions, degrees or pedigree. It’s like they’re lobbying for attention and affirmation. It’s a sad commentary when so much of a leader’s energy is spent dong this instead of helping their team reach their goals.
Possessing a controlling spirit.
Often, insecure leaders react to their inward desperation with control. They feel if they can control people, they’ll maintain absolute authority. … They resort to more regulations and policies to enforce compliance among staff instead of trusting them and earning their loyalty….
Comparing themselves to others obsessively.
When a leader has a low EQ [emotional intelligence quotient], they naturally tend to look around them; they look outward rather than inward (at their own natural strengths and style) or upward (to their Creator for their sense of identity). They become consumed with comparing their own traits or achievements to those of other leaders. Soon, their team ceases to operate in a healthy way. They’re driven by comparing and competing with others instead of capitalizing on their own core competencies.
Possessing self-imposed blindness.
This one is huge. All leaders have blind spots. Like in a car, blind spots happen not so much because of stupidity but position. The driver can’t see certain things. Sadly, self-destructive leaders refuse help. They repel any input from colleagues and insist in living in a bubble that makes them feel good. All is well, or so they think. Their insecurity won’t let them face the facts. They prefer a perspective that’s limited, but comfortable. Their narrow view will eventually lead to an accident.
Here’s what wise King Solomon said about the self-destructive leader:
Arrogant know-it-alls stir up discord, but wise men and women listen to each other’s counsel. (Proverbs 13:10)
If you ignore criticism, you will end in poverty and disgrace; if you accept correction, you will be honored. (Proverbs 13:18)
The saddest part is this – the self-destructive leader will read this and then say to himself, “Nope, that’s not me. This is describing someone else.”
Don’t be that guy (or gal)!
In Moses’ instructions to the priests he said, “You must distinguish between the holy and common, between the unclean and the clean.”
Why? Because these men were to be leaders. He went on to say, “You must teach the Israelites all the decrees.”
If I’m going to be a leader, I must be able to distinguish. Here’s where the Holy Spirit is challenging me. I am working on distinguishing between…
Good and Best
Acceptable and Excellent
Common and Holy
Ordinary and Extraordinary
Want and Need
Present and Participant
Quantity and Quality
That’s just my list. Feel free to share any distinguishing traits you’re working on.
Part two of our Spiritual Self-Defense series went well last night. Considering this was a difficult concept to wrap our finite, human brains around, I felt that everyone was tuned in. Trying to wrestle with the concepts of God as omnipresent, the unique Three-in-One arrangement of the Trinity, or Jesus as fully God and fully Man are not easy. But it is so important to keep learning and keep growing in our understanding of who God is.
Some people bail out too quickly. “It’s too hard,” they complain, and then walk away. But we have to keep stretching.
A couple of thoughts I’m pondering today:
“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” – Augustine
“It seems that when we encounter a hard truth about God, we either bend our understanding to Him or bend Him to our understanding.” – Chris Tomlinson
I want to believe the Bible more, so I’m asking the Holy Spirit to continue to bend me and shape me to the deeper truths about God.
What do you do when you are faced with a difficult truth?
