LeadershipConneXtions

The Messiness of the Human Condition

NOTE:  I have a PAGE on the right hand column called Church Series of Posts. I didn't realize how many posts I had been doing on the church. So if you are interested in seeing any of those previous posts, they are listed in order of posting, and with their title.   -bkr-
 

*****************************

 

I love our church's mission statement. I should! I was part of the team that carefully, prayerfully crafted it.

Living Word
is a grace filled community where 
the messiness of life, 
the message of hope, 
and the beauty of Jesus 
converge.
 

I think healthy churches are those that are up front about the human condition. Life is messy. Very messy. Messy people bring their messes to church and so churches are messy as well. When messy and messed up people do life together, the result is, well --- more mess.

And that doesn't surprise us.

It doesn't catch us off guard.

We don't pretend there is no mess (in us or around us).

We don't shame people for having messiness in their life.

We exist for messy people to find hope and a beautiful (and wild) Messiah Jesus.

Our leaders are pretty messy at times as well. And most people aren't surprised by that.

Notice, it is grace that makes it possible to own the mess, to deal with the mess, and when necessary, to live with unresolved mess.

I could never quite understand why a church presents itself as "mess free" and criticizes the world for being messy.  The human condition is the same inside and outside the church (okay, I know that last statement begs for some theological discussion, which I'll avoid). 

 But I think the church should be the place where we are open, honest, authentic, vulnerable and optimistic about that condition. Because of GRACE.

I think that leaders will build healthier churches when we are honest and genuine about the mess. If we don't work with grace and honesty about our human condition, we will (almost inevitably) move into legalism and become contemporary Pharisees who are obsessed about the sin of others.

Brian "who is quite messy" Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

Church - Are All Things Permitted These Days?

 Church: Does Anything Go? 

Here is a thought that Deep Church stimulated.

If there is a Virtue in a postmodern culture, it is the virtue of Tolerance. Tolerance means I do not judge what you do, I do not condemn what you do, I do not restrict what you do. Tolerance means i cannot not, and should not impose my beliefs or morality on you.

This is the starting point for a pretty important discussion.

So - where should the church be on this matter?

Do we agree and do the same thing? 

Or do we act in a counter-cultural way and say, no, there are some things that are wrong and which we must not tolerate?  

If we say, no, there are some things we should not tolerate. There are some standards we must not relax. There are some rules we must not ignore. There are some beliefs we must affirm. There are some things we must require?

Okay --- what are those things?

And how long is your list going to be?

What criteria will you use to decide what should be on the list?

And in case of disagreement, who is going to decide what belongs on the list?

Once the list is determined, what will be done to those who ignore the list and break the rules? In other words, once we have a list - does it really matter?

 

Some Christian groups have a very long and involved list.

Some other Christian groups have a very short list.

Did Jesus have a list?

Is the Sermon on the Mount a place to start?

To do any kind of meaningful life together, these questions must be answered. And we must make commitments to one another to act accordingly.

This is not an easy discussion. 

And as a way of example . . .

Within the last year, our entire church staff team (about 45 people or so) went through a process of doing this very thing to guide how we would do life and ministry together. It was a nice collaborative process and we came up with nine guides.  They have to do with collaboration, how we will communicate, handle conflict, life in grace and truth, practice integrity, show kindness, respect and trust, be life long learners, do spiritual formation and commit to excellence.

We decided that not everything is okay.  We will not tolerate all things. We will take action to address the things that are not okay, if they happen. To be a healthy community, that group needs to be aware, intentional, strategic about the things that will and will not be tolerated.

It is a fact that we live in a cultural season where the lists are getting very short and offensive. So what does that mean for the church? Are we being culturally relevant and contextualized by accommodating this move, or are we moving into syncretism that has little to offer a world?

What are your thoughts?

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

The Next Generation, New Churches and the Latest Walls of Dividing

I left a church when I was in my young adult years. I had been a Christian for about four years. I had attended that church during the summers when I was home from college for those four summers. But it felt old. Out of date. Behind the times. The sermons were boring expositions with little relevance for my life. There were very few people my age there. The folks were generally nice people, good people.  They even liked me a lot. But I left the church to find something that would be a better fit. (Please pay attention to all the language I used to describe why I left that church.)

And I did find that church. It had all that I was looking for. Lots of people my age. A worship style that fit my generation. Preaching that was interesting and relevant. It was a new wineskins kind of church and exactly what I was looking for. I hooked up with that church and became very involved in it.

This is the very issue of the new generation, who are also looking for new forms of church that are being led by people roughly their own age and with whom they relate. I understand this generational "divide." 

That was exactly where I was at in my   journey. I don't think there was anything that anyone could have said that would have changed my mind.

This is a perennial issue for the church. The wineskins that are loved and a key part of one generation's journey of faith, are the shackles for the next generation, who want to figure out how to do thins fresh and in a way that is "contextualized" for their situation and their needs. 

Bill Hybels and Rick Warren were virtually "kids" when they started their new thing. Well, they weren't quite kids, but just about. What they started was not just a new methodology, which it was, but also a generational dynamics of the next generation looking for a better, more "in touch" way to do things.

Today, Willow and Saddleback seem to be an old model for many young people. Cutting edge approaches don't stay that way forever.

We see this generational change in worship and the styles of music used in worship. We also see it in the illustrative content of sermons. 

This divide does go quite a bit past mere methodology of styles. There is substantial theological differences as well.

 

Is it okay to leave a church because it feels old, dated, and not so in touch with you and your generation? My answer is - YES.  It is okay.

Is it a good choice? My answer is - it DEPENDS on why and how you leave. But it can be a very good choice.

The struggle we are left with this… and i have no easy answers. Is generational age the "dividing wall" we can't overcome in Christ? I know it is hard. In one sense, this is just the old church growth methodology of the homogenous church growth principle. Churches that grow are those who tend to have a homogenous group. Like attracts like. We are repelled by those who are too different from us. And age issues, exacerbated by the modern - postmodern reality, seem like pretty strong dividers.

I wish they weren't. I think I have the ability to connect with and enjoy some different styles of different generations… but maybe I am fooling myself.

What are your thoughts on this?
 

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Movements That Change the World

I have had an interest in "movements" for some time. The biggest reason is that i am interested in starting one. Well, that sounds a little grandiose, so let me say, I am interested in being one more person who facilitates a movement that produces a new kind of leadership.

So I study movements. I have read some very helpful, popular level treatments of movements.

The Starfish and the Spider by Brafman and Beckstrom

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

Tribes by Seth Godin.

   

And I am reading some more technical stuff as well.

A new book I read in one sitting is a great introduction to movements and specificallly, Chrsitian movements.

Movements That Change the World by Steve Addison. It is 130 pages of concise, illustrative, motivational teaching on the nature of Christian movements.

If you are a Christian leader, get this book immediately. Block about two to three hours to read it. Then, sit down and start thinking about your organization and ministry in light of this book.

This book is basic and insightful. It focuses on the Five Core Principles and illustrates them nicely. It is biblicall based, especially looking at Jesus and the Gospels and then illustrated with some of the great movemetns in the history of the church AND, current historical examples. He also provides "just enough" sociological explanation of movements, to understand their nature and power.

After two introducory chapters, one on St. Patrick of Ireland as a case study, and then a short chapter on why movements matter, the heart of the book focuses on the five main principles found in movements,with a chapter devoted to each one.

1. White hot faith
2. Commitment to a cause
3. Contagious relationships
4. Rapid mobilization
5. Adaptive methods

I won't go into what he says in each of these chapters, but each chapter is highly accessible. The great follow through challenge will be for leaders and readers to assess their own organizations in light of these principles, and then the even bigger challenge will be how to "infuse" these principles back into the organization if they are lacking.

We live in a time when there is a lot that is up in the air for "negotiation, re-engineering (what a modern term), revisiting, revisioning and renewing about the church. We live in a time when some of this renewing work might become a movement (or might not). For those who are interested in renewal on a large scale, this is a good book to read.

Brian K.Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lci.typepad.com

GRACE is the Air We Must Breathe in the Church

My friend and lead pastor, Steve Almquist figured out a few things many years ago and he has managed to keep them the main thing.

For Steve and Living Word Community Church, GRACE is the first thing and the main thing (well, okay, Jesus is actually first, but Grace through Jesus is very high on a very short list).

Grace, unconditional acceptance by God, fresh starts, second chances, new beginnings, radical forgiveness… this is the pure air we must breathe if we are to be healthy. Legalism, self-righteousness, the Pharisaical way and other such things - these are toxins that poison the atmosphere of any religion.  So Steve has worked to build a place where Grace is the air we breathe. Grace from God, grace from and to one another. 

Oh, we fall short all the time, but when we do, we know we have fallen short of being "gracious" and "grace-full" so we know what we need to do.

Grace then makes two other things possible. Conversion and ongoing transformation. Saved by grace, changed by grace. And that grace will eventually lead me home, but not yet, not today. First it has a lot of work to do here and now). So, it is no surprise that we have seen a lot of beautiful conversion and amazing transformation at our church.

This conversion and transformation (by Grace) then makes two other things possible.

 

First: Authentic community, counter-cultural community, friendship together with Jesus, the company of friends of Jesus, doing life together, speaking truth in love, iron sharpening iron...

 

Second: Out of this (grace, conversion, transformation, community) comes sustainable missional service to the world in the name of Jesus. In other words, we extend grace to the world around us. In fact, our former Mission Statement had "extending grace to broken and searching people" as a core element.

I wonder if a lot of the toxicity in church, and the resulting damage to people, is because we don't have the Grace thing in place… and therefore, the authentic conversion and transformation process is not what it should be… and therefore, community is weak and mission is just about non-existent?

I also wonder if a lot of our theological/biblical debate is pretty much a sure thing to tear us apart, because we don't have the glue of grace to hold us together as we pursue truth in epistemic humility and not angry intellectual arrogance.

I think if we want to see reformed, renewed churches… GRACE is the place to start.

I finally think that if we want to see churches full of GRACE, it is pretty much, another sure thing, that those who lead those churches need a profound encounter with GRACE.

So, Grace to you, in all its magnificent fullness.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
 

p.s.  This last image has nothing to do with the post, just that I thought it was intriguing.
 

 

Christmas Playlists on the iPod

I have three Playlists on my iPod for the Christmas Season. Three distinctly different Christmas genres.
 

 First is the Trans-Siberian Orchestra playlist what has all five of their albums:

Beethoven's Last Night
The Christmas Attic
Christmas Eve and Other Stories
The Lost Christmas Eve
Night Castle (their latest)

 

Second is a quieter, more classical playlist:

Blackmore's Night - Winter Carols
A Winter's Solstice, Volume 2 and Volume 3
Canadian Brass - Noel
Handel's Messiah - three differnent versions

 
 
Third is a guitar heroes kind of list, with virtuoso guitarists:

Steve Lukather - Santamental (tasteful, twinge of jazz, hard rock)
Brian Seltzer - Boogie, Woogie Christmas (rockabilly)
 Gary Hoey - Ho, Ho, Hoey, 2 CDs (one of the master surf guitarists on heavy doses of steroids)
Michael Angelo Batio - Holiday Strings (delicious fretboard mastery)
Neil ZaZa - One Silent Night, 2 CDs (now one of my favorite guitarists)

What are you listening to on your iPod for Christmas?

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Quotes (December 09)

Here are this month's quotes, minus the ones on books and reading which appeared a few days ago, click here to see them.

The full list of this month's quotes are found on the Quotes Page in the Right Hand column.

*************************

 AGE:  The older one gets, the more one feels that the present moment must be enjoyed, comparable to a state of grace. Marie Curie

DEPRESSION: Depression is the inability to construct a future. Rollo May

DYING:  The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying.  Sir Thomas Browne
 

In particular, I liked these next quotes on EXCELLENCE.
 

 EXCELLENCE:   The rareness of excellence should not be made into an excuse for the failure to recognize it.  John Ciardi

EXCELLENCE:  Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.  Warren G. Bennis

EXCELLENCE:  The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy; neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.  John W. Gardner

LOST:  It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way. Rollo May (pictured to the right.)

POETRY:  Perhaps no person can be a poet, or even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind. Thomas Macaulay

PRAYER:  Whoever wrestles with God in prayer puts his whole life at stake.  Jacques Ellul

 



SELF:  The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly.  Soren Kierkegaard

SELF:  The self is not something ready-made” but something in continuous formation through choice of action. John Dewey

Brian K Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

This is a very important book by Timothy Keller, senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

There are few themes as significant as that of idolatry and Keller exposes the idols of our time in a way that few others are able to do. Keller begins his book by explaining why idolatry is not just an ancient religious problem, but is the essence of "life" today, in modern and post-modern culture. We live in a culture that is an idol-making factory and the heart of every human is an idol-making factory as well.

The four great idols of today that he explores are that of love (romance and sexuality, relational security), money, success, power and glory. A chapter is devoted to each of these idols.

   
Keller's book is so significant because Keller is able to do what many writers cannot. While some are able to do any of the particular things that follow very well, Keller's gift is to do them all quite well and weave them together in a synergistic way.

FIRST: He exegetes the Scripture and tells the great narrative story of the Gospel in simply magnificent ways. He opens up a major text for each chapter and I will never read several of those texts as I use to. He is a biblical theologian who is accessible to all readers.

SECOND: He exegetes our contemporary culture in profound and yet very understandable ways. Specifically, Keller lives in one of the greatest cities in the world and he understands that culture in depth. He is both apologist and missionary, prophet and pastor as he dissects that culture and explains its significance. He is one of the sons of Issachar who discerns the time.

THIRD: He exegetes the human heart with the skill of a master surgeon, wielding the sharpest scalpels. As I am reading Keller, I am reading my own heart. My own idols are being exposed to me. He takes me deep beneath the water line and helps me understand and discern the intricacies of my heart. That this is crucial is seen in Proverbs 4:23:

"Above all else guard the heart,
for it is the wellspring of life."

Keller knows the damage of idolatry as what is hidden in the heart erupts into one's life.

FOURTH: He constantly brings us to Christ and to grace, for only Christ can conquer the idols in our hearts and only through grace can we receive the power of a new and greater affection.

This book is pastoral, biblical, cultural, prophetic, apologetic, missional . . . AND it is accessible to everyone. I am just not aware of anything else like it.

To say it a slightly different way, Keller exegetes the Scripture, discerns the culture, interprets the heart and weaves it together in a way that is pastoral, apologetic and a touch prophetic. Every chapter I read, was my favorite chapter.

And here is where this book will become extraordiarily useful for you. Use it as a stepping stone for reflection and discernment about the idols in your life.

Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com

p.s.  And as a final thought, in light of the series I have been doing on the church, I wonder if (for some of us) we have made the Church an idol and when it has clay feet, we are devasted, hurt and angry?

The Final Failure of our Apologetic

Finally, a short post on the church!  (At least I think it is going to be short…)

Here is a powerful phrase from Francis Shaeffer via Deep Church, with a slight detour through  John Stott.

John Stott (to the left) said evangelicals have a pathological tendency to fragment.

Francis Shaeffer described it as failing at the final apologetic -- which is to love one another (John 13:34-35).

Almost always we do this in the name of truth, or our interpretation of truth. Correct doctrine as the "I" define it means "I" am excused from loving you if you disagree with me. And so we separate and splinter - endlessly.

I wonder if "some" House Churches, in "some" cases, are just the latest example of our failure at the final apologetic. We have so little ability to be in relationship with those we don't like, with those who think differently, that we just leave them. And we move  into increasingly smaller communities which are extremely homogeneous in makeup.

Disagreements on doctrine...

Whether it is the Calvinist-Arminian debate, or the Baptist-Pentecostal debate, or the Modern - Postmodern debate... we will always have doctrine and interpretation to divide us. It is an enormous wall of dividing (Ephesians 2:14).

Or even worse...

Not being satisfied when my needs aren't being met…
Can there be any greater, final failure of the love apologetic... I no longer want to be with the church, with church people, because my needs are not being met?

And then there is...

Feeling personally wounded by other followers of Christ... they have hurt me, disappointed me, and so I remove myself from them. Another "final failure" for love above all, begs us to consider the needs of the other as more important than our own, to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to carry a cross, to sacrifice for the sake of the other...
 

Hard things to be sure!

These are our justification for our failure in the final apologetic to love one another.

I know the issue of truth and love and unity around both is a messy, murky matter, but I think it is quite clear that many times we failure in this final apologetic very prematurely. 

Let's at least pretend to wrestle with Jesus' command on this:

I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven… If you love those who love you, (big deal, anyone can do that) . . .  [slight paraphrase of last phrase]  

 Matthew 5:44-46

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emerging and Traditional (A Review)

This is a very good book, but I think it's audience will mainly be for church or mission leaders who are interested in and already familiar with the names, the issues, and the positions swirling around the "debates" about the Traditional Church, Evangelical Church and Emergent Church.

I have one main criticism. I don't know if Third Way is the best language to use. Probably One More Way would have been better, just less dramatic. 

I think there are more partners in this conversation than just the Traditional Church (which he doesn't really describe or define with a lot of clarity) and the Emergent Church (which he describes and defines very well). And he eliminates from the conversation, the Evangelical Church, except to occasionally make some general comments about parts of the Evangelical movement (which is a very broad and diverse movement). 

I understand why he chooses not to include the Evangelical movement as a legitimate partner in the conversation. But that doesn't feel real good for those of us who are in that movement, appreciate it and want to do it better. 

So in one sense, I felt a bit like an outsider, listening in to a conversation between two other voices. Since I was interested in that conversation, and in the two partners in conversation, I listened in.

 

 

However, with that said, this is a very good book. Here are a few things I really like about it.

He does a great job explaining the three main sub-groups within the Emergent Label. This is very helpful for the Emergent movement is far from monolithic. In fact, after reading Deep Church, I even wonder if the term Emergent is helpful, for it automatically lumps some very different people together who are quite far apart.

He does a nice job explaining classical orthodoxy or "mere Christianity" or the Great Tradition as vital for Deep Church. This is a key point and it grows with significance as he moves through the book.

He does an exemplary job charitably crafting a critique of both Traditional and Emergent approaches and charting out another way. I especially appreciate the warm, irenic, nuanced way he critiques the Revisionist Camp within the Emergent Movement (think McLaren, Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt). He refers to his "Reformed misgivings" about the Revisionist's theology. Whether he is right on all his critiques (and I think he is), he is certainly very right in the conversational, respectful way of engaging with that position.

And he does an adequate (and more than adequate) job on all seven chapters dealing with the primary issues:  Truth, Evangelism, Gospel, Worship, Preaching, Ecclesiology/Church, and Culture. I say adequate, because each theme is so big that is difficult to cover it well in a single chapter. I think adequate is about the best one could do on these major themes in a single chapter. Especially in trying to chart/map out what the Third Way Forward looks like. (So these adequate chapters are well done!).

Brian K. Rice  
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com