LeadershipConneXtions

The World is Changing

 

You already know this, but are you actually living, learning and leading in light of this reality?

Here is an illustration (maybe a metaphor) for the radical, discontinuous change we are experiencing.

In 2002 (ten years ago) 50% of humanity never used a phone!

In 2012 - 77% of humanity has a cell phone!

 

I just uploaded books, music, magazines, power point presentations, articles I am working on to my iPad. 

It is amazing!

When I travel, I don't need a computer any longer - this iPad machine can do everything I need (and actually, I only use a fraction of its capacity).

Imagine if you can (and you probably can't) if you could go back to 1992 (20 years ago) and show people the iPad. It would be inconceivable. Take your iPhone along as well.

These things are so ubiquitous in our daily lives, so normal that we take them for granted. But for twenty years ago - the iPad and iPhone (okay, and their equivalents no matter the brand) would be like science fiction. 

Now, think about what is coming our way in ten, fifteen and twenty years.  May I suggest we can't really imagine it. 

 

Everything is changing.

• Rapidly.
• Massively.
• Continuously.
• Disruptively.

 

This is the brave new world. Or maybe it is our confused, uncertain, scary new world.

Either way, this is the world we are called to lead in the name of Jesus.

I don't know about you, but I think my prayer life could be a little stronger.

 

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

 

 

Books I've Recently Read on Emerging Paradigms and Our Changing World

I teach this course about once a year and every time I teach it, I do another round of reading to refresh my thinking and get psyched for teaching these themes once more.

Here are the books I read in preparation for this time around with super brief comments. You may be interested in them. 

 

Missional: Joining God in the Neighborhood by Alan Roxburgh. Roxburgh is one of the fiercest critics of the established way of doing church. He is a missiologist, a futurist, an entrepreneur... and he is fundamentally concerned with the future of the church in our post-Christendom world... for which we are ill-prepared. This is a nice, accessible recommendation for how we can move away from attractional models of church to incarnational models.



 
 

Missional Map Making: Skills for Leading in Times of
Transition by Roxburgh. This is the third book Roxburgh has done on missional leadership. But it is not a retread of previous topics, although there is great congruence. Here Roxburgh makes his best case (to date) that a radical new way of leadership is necessary for those who lead the church... and that the existing models are in disastrous shape.




 

A Whole New Mind by Pink. This is a left brain, right brain book where the author says that left brain thinking will not be sufficient to move us through these challenging times and into the emerging world. It is a very easy book to read, and loaded with insight and tons of practical guidance. This is not just for leader. It is for everyone. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.



 

 

Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Ramo. This was probably the most "in your face" book I read, but at the same time, it was delightfully challenging, great stories, a major critique of the failure of our current leadership models, political models, economic models (and again, those who are leading the way in this). In one sense, Ramo is giving us painful examples of how the old ways of thinking are disastrous and showing that new ways of thinking (A Whole New Mind) are vital if we are to survive the coming crises. I find myself wishing we had more Christians who were thinking and leading like Ramo is providing for the world of politics and economics. Brilliant. Readable. Provocative. Must Reading... but you will have to "work a little to do this."  Worth it... Get it...



 

Culture Making by Andy Crouch. I re-read this book in preparation for Emerging Paradigms. I don't think this is the best book on the subject of culture and the role of the Christian (and the church) as agents of culture... but it is a good one. Crouch is a good writer and a story teller. If you have never read anything about your vocation as a creative and an artisan and a cultivator of God's world - this is worth reading. And then figuring out how to make your way in the God's work of building culture.



 

Viral by Len Sweet. Sweet has long been one of my favorite authors. I read everything he writes. This is his attempt to explain what the emerging world is like in terms of its radical, social networked, internet-essential, googled citizens. And they are indeed differnet from their Gutenberg generation before them. Sweet is good, funny, clever, creative... but not quite as persuasive in this offering as he is on other things. Still, for the emerging world, those who are citizens of the Age of the Book are strangers in a new land of the Internet World. Life is becoming fundamentally different. New strategies and skills are needed for survival, much less "thrival."

 

 

 

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

Missiological Leaders (We Aren't in Christendom Any Longer)

 

Kansas is Going, Going, Gone...

And it isn't coming back!

 

Here are two great lines. The first is from Dorothy to Toto.  "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."

Here is the second one, from the Matrix, when Cypher says to Neo, "Buckle your seat belt Dorothy, cuz Kansas is going bye bye."

Kansas has long ago gone bye-bye. And in this case, Kansas is Christendom. 

Christendom is the condition that exists when Christianity has a privileged and powerful position in the culture. It is when Christianity is in the air, it is the values, the ethos, the norms, the way, what is natural and comfortable.

For many centuries, Christendom was the way of life in Europe and then in North America. The only real question is - what version of Christendom. Would it be the Roman Catholic version or a Protestant variety? In Europe, the issue was often determined by those who lead in the various regions and countries.
 

In North America, which received vast numbers of immigrants who intermingled in the areas where they settled, denominations sprang up in every town square and village green. They occupied the main streets of culture. They migrated out to the suburbs when people spilled out past the boundaries of the city.

Seminaries trained their clergy to be pastors of congregations (kind of a chaplain who presided over the transitions and seasons of life) and to be preachers of the specific theological doctrine affirmed by the denomination. (Really, convincing the congregation and visitors, that's its way was the best way to understand the Christian faith.)  This was the pastor-teacher who often had a secure and respected position within Christendom. 
 

But Christendom has gone bye-bye and there were far too many of us who did not have our seats buckled.

In the emerging order and the not so brave new world, the religious leaders of communities MUST BE missiologists. That is, those who interpret the culture, who discern the times and who know how to speak, not just to the church dwellers who know the language of Zion, but to the much larger numbers of people for whom the Bible is an ancient and archaic book and to whom the ins and outs of Christianity are strange indeed. 

The pastor as missiologist knows the truth of Hebrews 11. We are sojourners, stranger in a country we don't understand. And we who want to sing songs of lament (Psalm 137), instead, God has called us to the work of Jeremiah 29.

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce Marry and have sons and daughters, find wives for yoru sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughers. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, becaues if it prospers, you too will prosper.  Jeremiah 29:4-9

 

This is the work of emerging leadership which we spent our week discussing. This is the new vocational calling of Christian leaders. Missiological entrepreneurs who know how to architect new communities of missional friends of Christ.

This is what we spent our week pondering over, praying baout and preparing to go forth as a new kind of leader.
 

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

"Here Be Dragon" Times

 

 Disruptive Change,  
a Dangerous Era
And called to lead...

One of the core ideas we work with in the Emerging Paradigms class is the rapidly and massively changing world around us. The world is exploding with change, at almost frightening levels. Change is happening faster, more often, more widely and more disruptively than ever.

A Church That is No Longer Relevant.
I have a friend who use to say, "I was trained to do ministry in a church that was no longer relevant, in a world that no longer existed, using methodologies that no longer worked." That is a fact in our emerging world. The old ways no longer work. Christian leaders have to face this.
 

Best of Times... Worst of Times.
I find the quote from A Tale of Two Cities is always powerful for leaders. Dickens opens his book about the French Revolution and the general turmoil within Europe with these words:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness... it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way...

This is our situation also. Best of and worst of times. Exciting opportunities and enormous challenges at the same time.

Serious Times.
I use the quote of John Adams to his friend Thomas Jefferson, describing the revolutionary times in which they had been called to lead. "My friend, you and I have lived in serious times." Yes indeed -- the times are serious. Our times are very serious.

Here Be Dragons Times.
I use the idea of "Here Be Dragons" kind of times. If you look at some of the very old maps, when they were poorly drawn, when the terrain was not very well known and when it was risky to sail in to these largely uncharted waters, map makers would put on the boundaries of the map, sea creatures and the words - Here Be Dragons. It was symbolic of the dangers that lay beyond the known world.

I borrow this idea and say that we live in the time when all the cultural maps (religious, moral, spiritual, political, philosophical, etc.) are literally being redrawn. We do not yet know what this emerging world will look like. But it will be risky and dangerous. The temptation will be to stay safe in the known harbors.

Inbetween the Times.
Finally, I use the theme of "Inbetween Times." I borrow this from Drucker who said:

Every few hundred years in Western history a sharp transformation has occurred. In a matter of a few decades, society altogether rearranges itself - its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions. Fifty years later, a new world exists. And the people born into that world cannot even imagine the world into which their parents were born.

This too is our situation. We are living in about the middle of one of those times of great transformation and upheaval. Everything is changing. We are not yet sure what the end result will be. But in another 25 or so years - everything will be radically different than life that we experienced in 1980.

A new world is emerging. 
A new kind of leadership is necessary.

This establishes the motivation as well as the urgency to consider these matters. That is what we spend our week probing, arguing, debating, exploring and trying to discern... as did those sons (and daughters) of Issachar who also lived in paradigm changing times.

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

Only the Paranoid Survive

 

 

I don't always know how I should think about some things. Andrew Grove's book and thesis:

Only the Paranoid Survive

falls into this category

 

Before you dismiss this thought by Andrew Grove (read a brief bio of his remarkable life here) consider the political and economic conditions of the world in which we live.

Everything has changed and everything is changing.

Change
Rapid Change
Massive Change
Painful Change
is now business as usual.

And paradoxically, that is probably NOT going to change.

In this book Grove talks about Inflection Points which constantly erupt and insert themselves in to life. These Inflection Points are the things that happen outside of us, in our surrounding environments.
 

Here is what we can say about these Inflection Points.

They are quite beyond our control. 

They will keep coming our way, perhaps with greater speed and intensity than ever.

They will DRAMATICALLY impact us.

And only the "paranoid" are going to survive those times of Inflection Impact.
 

In a simple but massive way, the computer and the Internet are Inflection Points which have changed everything, for those in . . .

• the music industry
• the book industry
• any industry involved in printing texts (newspapers, magazines)
• movies and DVDs
• TV
• anything involving entertainment
• university education
• the postal service
• shopping for goods
• advertising
• searching for jobs
• viral ideas spreading
• fostering revolution in dictatorial countries
• etc. to infinity and beyond

And new internet technologies are constantly emerging and evolving and changing everything.

The paranoid are simply those people who know the unexpected is always going to happen.

The paranoid are those who know life will never be simple or easy.

The paranoid are those who choose not to hide or retreat or lament.

The paranoid are those who will be thoughtful, innovative, courageous, faithful and hopeful, prepared and preparing, learned and learning . . .

Welcome to the Future.

I hope you are sufficiently paranoid to survive.
 

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

 

 

Integrity

 

Whoever walks in integrity walks securely...
Proverbs 10:9 

The integrity of the upright guides them,
but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
Proverbs 11:3

Several years ago, Yale law professor, Stephen Carter wrote an outstanding book, Integrity. Carter says integrity requires three things. I have put his ideas in bold and then added a brief interpretation beneath.
 

Discerning what is right and what is wrong.
Of course this assumes morality and it assumes one has a framework from which to make moral decisions. This one is increasingly difficult in a pluralistic and relativistic culture. Christians believe that wisdom for moral discernment must emerge from the truth of God revealed in the Old and New Testaments.

Acting on what you have discerned to be right, even if there is a cost involved.
It is not enough to simply know (discern) what is right and wrong. Integrity REQUIRES that one act according to what is discerned to be good, right and true.  This takes faith and courage, for there are often repercussions for doing what is righ.

Speaking clearly to others (explaining, interpreting) the meaning of your actions as in accordance with what you know to be true.
I find it interesting that integrity requires knowing, doing and speaking. How many times have we "Christians" assumed it is sufficient to  live the truth and not need to explain it! Yes there is. Why would you not want to? And certainly, to explain one's reaons and motives and desires for living according to what you believe to be true.

Knowing what is right
+ Doing what is right
+ Speaking what is right
____________________ 

Adds up to INTEGRITY!

Without it, a leader cannot be a good leader. As I listened to the primary debates over the weeks, I found myself wondering about "integrity."

In a world of contant internet information... integrity becomes more and more important. For you are instantly caught when you don't have it.
 

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

Whistleblowers

 

Dangerous Secrets
& Vital Lies

And those who let the cat out of the bag.

 

 

I recently read an essay by James O'Toole, Speaking Truth in Power, in Transperancy: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor ... that was simply magnificent. 

By the way, I am going to start to read everything I can by this guy. I LOVED him. Check him out at his HOME PAGE.

It sparked considerable reflection on my part and will give rise to a number of posts in the next few weeks. One of his topics was on whistleblowing.

Whistleblowing is when an insider reveals damaging secrets an organization does not want revealed. Here are a few of my thoughts that summarize his argument. (Which he copiously illustrates with examples from politics, military and business.)

 

(1)  It is a fact that organizations do not always (or even often) serve the public good or the greater good. Nor that they believe their mission is to do that. For most organizations, the bottom line is to be profitable (at all costs).

(2)  It is a fact that organizations have dangerous secrets and that they vital lies so they can ignore what is wrong, hide what is unethical, ignore the facts and continue doing business as usual.

(3)  It is a fact that many of the most highly positioned leaders are not deeply ethical, moral leaders. The entire system of leadership training in our most presigious universities has been seriously lacking in fostering ethical leadership.

(4)  It is a fact that few organizations have good systems in place for rigorous debate, to challenge unquestioned assumptions, to argue against senior leaders . . . and for those who do, there are almost always consequences.

(5)  It is a fact that within every organization are individuals who are more moral than its senior leaders, whose conscience burns when it sees wrong-doing and who are stuck between a heavy rock and a crushing hard place.

(6)  But those individuals have an EXTREMELY HARD TIME calling attention to what they system wants to ignore and what has already been "spun" differently. In most cases, there are few mechanisms for "truth telling" in organizations, and even fewer for "speaking truth to those who lead."

WOW.... think about that one for a while.

With options for truth telling and open dialogue squashed and squelched, frustration builds as the problems grow severe and finally, "a few" whistleblowers can no longer be quiet. They go public with what they see and know.

 

**********
It is a fact that whistleblowing is almost always a HUGE RISK for the whistleblower.

First, because they are labeled by the organization as disloyal, angry, uninformed, vindictive, etc. Slander is one of the favorite tools from the regime. And it tends to work.

Second, because the public generally does not like whistleblowers. This one surprised me. But O'Toole has the stories and the research to back this up. He had a list of names and situations of whistleblowers who suffered for speaking up and telling the truth. (By the way, he also illustrates is nicely from history and literature, as well as contemporary times.)

Third, even when they are believed, they lose. They lose jobs, future opportunities, livelihood, friends and respect. 

(Found on the website listed in the next paragraph)

It is tough being a whistleblower. It requires a robust character and a strong moral system. It requires emotional intelligence. It requires a willingness to suffer.  (Be sure to check out this brief article on Myths of Whistleblowers) by a leadership professor who specializes in this topic.

*********
And how about this? It is often WOMEN who are those who are the whistleblowers. O'Toole has some fascinating thoughts about why women are willing to do this. He affirms our great need for the leadership strength of women. 
 

*********
How about you?

If you are a leader, are you creating mechanisms for truth telling on your team, in your department, in your organization?

If you are a leader, how do you receive bad news and counter-arguments against your personally held positions? What do you do when you are challenged and your positions are criticized?

If you are a follower, what truth are you not speaking, because it is too costly to tell the truth?

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

Work and Leisure: It's Not What It Used To Be!

 

Work, Leisure and Rest

Let me stir the pot without telling you
how to move forward on this. 

 

We ALWAYS have to remember how culturally situated and biased we are in our interpretation. For today's post I want to talk briefly about leisure time. And soon (in a few days), look at the issue of retirement.

One of the ways we come to know how conditioned and biased we are by our cultural settings, is to go outside our culture.

There are a few ways to do this.

One is by going cross-cultural and visiting other cultures and discovering just how different other cultures are. Those differences can be jarring and jolting as they introduce some "disequilibrium" into our thinking.

A second way is by immersing oneself in a previous time in history (another way of going cross cultural) to see how other times experienced and thought about the issues we deal with today.

We must have a deep cultural and chronological HUMILITY and resist thinking that our particular culture is best and our particular time in history is advanced.

 

I recently came across some statistics about work time and leisure time that ROCKED my thinking. Here is a comparison of the "work hours" of the average American in the mid 1800s and the average North American living today.

150 years ago,
the working (man) spent 70 hours per week on the job
and lived about 40 years.
 

Today,
the working (peson) spends 40 hours per week on the job
and lives about 70+ years.
 

Depending on your retirement, you have 20-30 more years of non-working time on your hands. You have 30 more yeas of life than they did.

We have 30 more years of life than our peers did in 1850.
We have 30 less hours of work every week than they did. 

In other words you have an extra 1500 non-work hours of time per YEAR on your hands than did your peer 150 years ago. And you have a lot more years than they did.

This is a stunning development.

It provides perspective for those of us who think 50 hours of work is excessive. Really? By whose perspective?

In fact, our idea of "leisure" time is really a phenomenon of relatively late modernity and Western culture.

So is the "way" we think about vacation.

So is the way we complain about how busy we are and how much we work. I continue to read authors who complain about the active life, how busy they are, how much God has taught them to slow down... and ironically, one who I just read, is EXTRAORDINARILY busy and constantly on the run with seminars, conferences, and retreats... helping people slow down.

I believe the way we have created a dichotomy of work and rest, of activity and spirituality is fundamentally unhelpful and not the way forward. The way forward is to learn how all our activity is filled with the Presence, Work and Word of God in ways that are transformative and sustaining. 

I am struck that Jesus said his very sustenance, his nourishment, his food "is to do the will of Him who sent me" (see John 4:34-35). For Christ, activity was spirituality! It was not draining. 

Many of us would do very well to revisit the themes of work, leisure, rest, service and making the most of our time. (Remember, I said I am not mapping the way forward, just pointing out a general direction to head.)

If you have a few minutes today (and I hope you will) turn to Psalm 90 for a time of reflection, discernment and prayer about your years of vocational service as a steward of God.
 

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us-
yes, establish the work of our hands. 

Psalm 90:12, 17 

 

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

 

 

Burnout

 

The 21 Hour Workweek!

It is probably more likely that you'll have
a 21 hour workday before you have
a 21 hour workweek!
Unless you are under-employed! 

Overwork and stress have increased. Downsizing did not mean there was less work. It meant there were fewer people to do the same amount of work that had previously been done. And those fewer people had to get that additional work done.

It is not just more work. It is more responsibility, more pressure, more deadlines, more expectations, more consequences -- and this means MUCH more added stress. You can find this image on this site, along with some good quotes on stress (click here).

 

BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE.
Now to that problem, add this . . .

The proliferation of intrusions via the ubiquitous internet.

We are never unplugged, at least for long. Emails, Facebook updates, twitter, calls, texts. Computers turned into laptops which became notebooks and smart phones. We carry the instrument of our distraction and interruption with us everywhere. You can get this image as a "mousepad" (here) and it might be a good reminder of what constant connectivity is doing to you.

I intentionally put my phone on silence mode. I intentionally do not answer my phone or even look at it for periods of time. I do a lot of work on my computer and it is always a struggle to shut down the internet connection and work undistracted. But I actually do that. And I want to do it more.

If you haven't yet read it, check out: The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Your Brain. When I read that book, it led to a half dozen or more posts. Not only are many of us overworking, but while we work, we also experience constant interruption and switch tasking that leaves our brains that much more tired and distracted.

THE RESULT OF OVERWORKED AND CONSTANTLY DISTRACTED:
Here are a few stats quoted in Taking Your Soul to Work.

A study by the Center for Work-Life Policy, found that 8 out of 10 people say their jobs are affecting their health.

New York Times reported that 62% of people say they have had an increase in their workload in the last six months.

More than 50% say work leaves them excessively tired and overwhelmed.

BUT WHAT TO DO?
Here is the fact. Most of us do not have the ability to change our work environments. We don't have the position that gives us the power and authority. Work life has changed in the 21st century. It is not foreseeable that it will change back. In most cases, you don't have the luxury of just quitting, of opting out.

And to be honest, even if you are able to transfer, where you go will most likely be to a similar scenario.

The only way forward is to cultivate rhythms… make certain choices for the reordering of your life… so you have the resources of spirituality, emotion and intellect.

There is no short cut to this. It is going to take time, energy, diligence, patience . . . and some wisdom about the way of formation . . . and a generous lavishing of God's grace. You can count on the last one. The middle one is there for the finding. If you need help, drop me a note. You will have to supply the former. But God can help you with that one as well. 

 

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

A Strong Word, a Good Word, a Needed Word (check it out)

 

Not Quite a Jeremiad

But if we don't listen,
that is what we'll need next.

If you don't know what a Jeremiad is, see the final note. 

 

On this Lord's Day, it is worthwhile to read this pastoral exhortation and plea from a wise leader in the evangelical world today, James Emory White.

White is one of the most skilled, thoughtful and loving sons of Issachar who know how to "discern the serious times in which we live" and know what "the church should do."

I am struck that his words are as equally so for the modern and post-modern follower of Christ. For the post-modern emergent leader struggles with these temptations as strongly as does the modern evangelical leader... and maybe, if another post-modern cultural observer, Mark Sayers (in The Trouble With Paris) is correct - they struggle even more so.

 

It will take you about two minutes to read this. It could lead to hours of reflection and prayer.

The recent blog by James White on Church and Culture.

 

A sincere thank-you for the wisdom of this post.

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

The Great Tech War of 2012

One of the core leadership courses I teach in Latin America is called:

Emerging Paradigms of Leadership.

The premise is this: In the age of modernity, a certain kind of leadership philosophy/way developed that reflected the ethos and environment of that time. We now are in the inbetween times as modernity is fading and something else is emerging. 

In our course, we talk about the modern age (and its characteristics) and the kind of leadership that seemed suited to that age.

We then talk about the characteristics of the emerging cultural age and consider the kind of leadership needed for faithful, fruitful influence for Christ in this new way of life.

We have a great time talking about these things. 

To be sure, one of the irrefutable features of the emerging world is its global inter-connectedness around the ubiquitious internet. And since the Internet is so central and vital, those massive companies who rule the internet are positioned for the greatest impact.

Here is a great article from Fast Company, October 19, 2011 on Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon and who is going to "win the battle" (talk about a modern metaphor!) for the future of the innovation economy.

This is a substantial article (nine pages), which I downloaded in a pdf format from Fast Company. Please check out their site for this on line at:
Fast Company Web Link for the Article
 

And here is the pdf.
Download The Great Tech War Of 2012 | Fast Company

As John Adams said to Thomas Jefferson, "My friend, you and I have lived in serious times."

Charles Dickens, describing the French Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities said, "It was the best of times and the worst of times . . ."

However - they are OUR TIMES. 

Leaders need to be savvy and understanding as were those of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chronicles 12:32, 38). That means reading and careful thinking as the necessary preparation for wise action.
 

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

But This Language of Customer and Consumer Sounds So Unspiritual . . .

Including the original post that launched these thoughts on customers and consumers, this is the fourth post. For previous posts click on the following:

What Does Our Customer Truly Value and then scroll forward to find others.

This post deals with one of the most common concerns and objections:

But this language of customers and consumers just sounds so "unspiritual." Jesus didn't talk about customers and consumers. He talked about followers and disciples. So why make things more complicated by using such worldly concepts.

This is a gut level reaction and a very understandable one.

So let's take a few minutes today to talk about the use of this language.

This great image is found on this site about language (worth looking at).

 

I would, briefly, admit that language is supremely important and the language we use both reflects and shapes our mental framework. Careless use of language will have consequences. Using the wrong (or inadequate) language will have consequences as well.

So with that caution, here are a few thoughts.

The Church:
The church has always used the language of its culture to understand and communicate biblical ideas.

Just about every theologian ever, is shaped by some philosophical viewpoint and that philosophy is revealed in the language. Whether Aristotelean logic, or Scottish Common-Sense Realism, or Hegelian Dialectics, or _____ and I won't bore you with any more technical examples . . . we never do our thinking in a vacuum. We are always shaped by the intellectual currents of our time.  In fact, those of the Reformed faith are among those who take these issues most seriously.

The early church discussions about the nature of the Trinity and the divine-human nature of Jesus borrowed from the philosophy of its day to try and express the meaning of Scripture.

The contemporary evangelical church of the last 50-60 years has borrowed heavily on the models and language of hermeneutical theories (ironically which were based on Enlightenment modernity with all its unbiblical presuppositions) to guide us in how we interpreted the plain meaning of biblical texts. Most of the language and the models are not found in the Bible at all! But we don't hesitate to borrow this language and models for our work of interpreting the Bible.

Now, instead of the language of philosophy, in this case I am referring to the language of the marketplace.

 

Just Doing What the Bible Does:
And by the way, the language of the marketplace is also found throughout the Bible, including Jesus who uses it rather often. Why just in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus uses economic, marketplace, business language:

buying a field to make a profit (13:44)

a pearl of great price, worth giving up everything else to obtain (13:45)

the fishing industry to talk about true and pretend believers (13:47-51)

owners and treasures to talk about teachers and their teaching (13:52)

the story of paying temple taxes (17:24-27)

debts, paybacks, forgiveness, wicked servants, God's judgment (18:21-35)

the rich young man and rewards in heaven for following Christ (19:27-30)

the unfair payments of workers in the vineyard and how God's kingdom works (20:1-16)

landowners and tenants (21:33-46)

paying taxes to Caesar (22:15-22)

foolish virgins who don't have enough oil for lamps and must buy some (25:1-13)

the story of talents and faithfulness and reward and punishment (25:14-30)

and more, like shrewd servants who are commended and the intelligence of counting costs before building towers, etc. could be added from the other three Gospels.

It is really quite striking how much of Jesus' teaching used marketplace ideas of his day.

In these cases, the Bible (and Jesus) gives us the example of borrowing the language of every day, common experiences to understand and make sense of spiritual realties. When we do this we are using language in metaphorically (and in parables, similes and symbolically).

 

Missiologists:
When we do this, we are also working as missiologists (sociologists and anthropologists) who study the culture, interpret it and then speak of it in contextually relevant ways. The church exists rooted and embedded in culture.

Sometimes, I think some of us are rather docetic when it comes to using "earthly, contextual language" to talk about faith.

Docetism was the early church heresy that denied the humanity of Christ. Jesus only appeared to be human. In reality, he was only divine. Some of these early leaders were uncomfortable with the humanity of Christ. Many of us tend to be uncomfortable with the earthiness, the embeddness, the Word made flesh 
-edness of the spiritual life. 

So we frown on any such language as "unspiritual."

I"d suggest that Christ, the Word made flesh was the most "earthy," rooted, contextualized communicator ever. Just skim through the gospels and see how Jesus borrowed ideas from every part of daily life to talk about spiritual truth (not just the language of the marketplace).

In one sense, all I am doing with the language of customer, consumer, products, services, branding, marketing, etc. is what Jesus did. Using the language of the day as a vehicle to talk about spiritual realities.

So, don't have an over-reaction to the mere use of this language. In using it, I am NOT making any claims that this is the only way to talk about these things. NOR even the best way. But simply ONE of the ways that may be helpful to understand the cultural climate and realities in which we live and must faithfully minister the gospel of Christ.

If you can find a more useful language that talks about how individuals live and make choices about church, theology, preaching, worship, programming, etc. because of their needs, wants, biases, preferences, tastes, desires, expectations - then use that language. I am hard pressed to find a more useful language at the moment.

This is useful missiology and apologetics..

 

The Tension:
In one sense, I am talking about the Disciple as Consumer and Customer.

Now - should disciples be consumers and customers? That is a great question.

Is it even possible for a person "not be be" a customer and consumer?

Is it perhaps a matter of becoming the right kind of consumer and customer?

Does the gospel deliver one from being such a person and turn you into something else?

Or is it a both/and reality we have as followers of Christ?

I have tensions as I think about being a faithful, fruitful leader for Christ in our cultural era of history.

And I don't mind stimulating a certain amount of tension in you as well. In the final post in this series we'll name that tension and our map out our struggle to be faithful in that tension.
 

The next post on this theme: 
Consumers and Their Preferred Church "Brands" (We All Have Them)

 

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

Customers and Consumers: Definitions and Examples

Here are the Two Things in  Today's Post

1.  Definitions (so we know what we are talking about)

2.  Examples showing how we are "religious consumers and customers"

*******
 

First the DEFINITIONS.

PRODUCT:  Something produced or provided to others, either in the form of a:

GOOD:  which is a tangible item of worth; or a 

SERVICE:  which is work which is provided to others (whether for free or for charge)

CUSTOMER:  One that purchases or receives goods and services.

CONSUMERS:  One that receives and uses goods and services provided.

Please note that all these words are neutral terms. They are not good or bad. 
 

As I use them, I use their real meaning, but I will also use them a bit symbolically or metaphorically. If I go to a Christian bookstore and buy a Bible, I have purchased a product in the form of a good.  If I go to a church coffee bar and enjoy the coffee, I am a consumer of that coffee (whether I drop any money in the donation basket or not). If I go to a Christian psychologist for counseling and I pay for their time, I am a customer paying for a service. All this is real and literal use of the words - products, good and services.

If I am sitting in one particular church (and not another) than I have made a consumer choice as to which church I want to attend. As I sit in the worship service, I will receive the services of all those who are working to provide worship, a sermon, testimonies, programming for my children and so on. I may be receiving and using their services (the definition of a consumer) for free, but I am still a consumer. I also think these are real services, but let's also realize we are talking a bit symbolically on some of this.

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

 

Second, some examples of you and I being consumers of spiritual services.

You the reader of this blog are a consumer and a customer. The very fact that you choose to read it means you have chosen this particular "product" and decided it was worth your time to do so.

When it comes to things spiritual, religious, of the church and faith - in those things too - you are always a consumer and a customer. Let me prove this to you.

(1)  THEOLOGY:  
John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, John MacArthur, Joyce Meyers, Joel Olsteen, Benny Hinn, Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Andy Stanley, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels - or add any other name you want. 

Of all the names mentioned - whose theology (understanding of the Bible and the total Christian life) do you most like? Or what combination of theologies do you prefer? I am sure you have theological biases and preferences, like and dislikes and you make choices accordingly.  Therefore, you are both customer and consumer of some and not others. You are favorable toward some and critical of others.
 

(2)  SPIRITUALITY:
Evangelical, charismatic, contemplative, holiness, sacramental, or social justice.

Of the spiritual traditions and heritages just mentioned, which one(s) do you prefer? How do you practice your spiritual formation? What are the core ways of spiritual growth? And what don't you like and use? When it comes to spirituality - you are both customer and consumer (practitioner and devotee) of some and not of others.

 

(3)  PREACHING:  
Expository, doctrinal, thematic, narrative, practical, marketplace, seeker, pastoral, prophetic, biographical, evangelistic, revivalistic.

What style of preaching do you prefer? And what don't you like? I bet you have preferences and in most cases, I also bet you make choices about your church depending on the type of preaching. In other words - you are customer and consumer, preferring one way of preaching over the others, and possibly being critical of the other ways.

 

(4)  WORSHIP:  
Should I ask you about worship? Traditional or contemporary?  Hymns or choruses?  Classical, pop, rock or alt rock worship? Choirs or worship teams? Organs or guitars? Or some blended version? 

What do you prefer? You've heard of "worship wars?" These were and still are the incredible conflicts in church as consumers and customers grew irritated about the flavor and style of worship. Apparently they mattered a great deal to these consumer/disciples and they had strong preferences as to "how we were going to worship around here." And large shifts of attendance took place accordingly, as disgruntled customers went elsewhere, looking for a way of  (a service) they preferred.

*******
 

I think it is pretty obvious. You have desires, wants, needs and preferences on just about everything spiritual and having to do with church. Some of these you hold to very strongly, others are less intense. But if you wind up being unhappy on too many of these matters, there are three main choices you have (once again - back to you the customer).

ONE:  You can speak to those in charge and tell them you are dissatisfied with their service and product and that you expect them to accommodate your needs and make the necessary changes. You may be gracious about this or hostile. You may vote right away with your checkbook and your presence. But, you the customer seek to change those in charge.

TWO:  If that doesn't work, and it often doesn't, you are not going to remain as a consumer of that particular service or product. You are going to go elsewhere. And today, the options are more numerous than ever before. You take your business elsewhere. (Later I'll do a session on your church's "brand.")

THREE:  You decide that the organization, the church is more important that your customer preferences and you adjust your expectations and stay with the brand, flavor, denomination. You may do this with great integrity or you may be half-hearted. But you adjust.

*******

From day one of your existence growing up in late modernity (post 1960's) you have been raised in a Western culture that has become increasingly consumerist in nature. You breathe that air so naturally you don't even know it. You take your inalienable rights for customer satisfaction for granted. 

And you are no different when it comes to the church and religion and faith.

That point isn't even worth debating.

It just is!

Now, should it be that way is another story?

And what can be done about it, if it should not be that way is still another.

******
 

The Next Post (in a few days) on this topic will be Our Gut Objection to This Language of Customers and Consumers.

 

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

 

 

Consumers, Preaching and Kierkegaard's "Attack" Upon Christendom

My morning devotional time includes using some reflections from Kiekegaard. It "just so happened" that his reflection spoke directly to the theme of the post for today, so I took a few minutes to add this as a second thought.

*****

Speaking of Customers and Consumers, Kierkegaard weighs in on this discussion in no uncertain terms on how to preach.

When one preaches Christianity in such a way that the echo answers: Glorious, profound, brilliant, articulate Christian, you should be exalted with high praise," know that this signifies that this preaching is a base lie. . . .

When one preaches Christianity in such a way that the echo answers, "He is made," or "What nonsense," know then there are considerable elements of truth in his preaching . . . but he does not press hard enough . . .

When one preaches Christianity in such a way that the echo answers, "Away with that man, he does not deserve to live," know that this is the Christianity of the New Testament. Capital punishment is the penalty for preaching Christianity as it truly is. . . . Capital punishment is the penalty for preaching Christianity in character.

Preaching less, appealing to forms of the interesting, the relevant, or the controversial is nothing but a religious falsification.

 

This is from:
Kierkegaard's Attack Upon Christendom, page 278-279.

I suppose that Kierkegaard would not be too impressed with most preaching these days.

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

 

More Thoughts on Customers, Consumers, the Church and Christ

I think our series on I Love the Church got me thinking about how people think about the church, AND how the church thinks about people.

During that time I was reading some stuff on leadership and business that focused on customers, consumer needs and interests, branding, marketing… I was doing this mainly as I am thinking about Leadership ConneXtions and our work… but I found myself applying this to the church as well.

So about a week ago, I posted some thoughts on the nature of living in a consumer world where you and I are inevitably customers, and how this affects how we engage church and the Christian life.

That post had a variety of responses (all thoughtful, but some quite critical) and I decided to give some more thinking to this issue. By the way, many of the comments were on Facebook where the post appeared.

So, over the next few weeks, there will be a series of posts on Church Customers and Spiritual Consumers. I am not going to run them back to back because not everyone is interested in that topic AND I have other themes I want to talk about.

 

Today, especially in light of the comments given, I want to set forth a few perspectives that will shape this series.

ONE:
I want to provoke you (at least a little), stimulate your thinking about these things, and challenge your existing perceptions. So, I'll make some strong statements and every now and then be a bit prophetic (or irritating, depending on how charitable you are towards me).  
 

TWO:
I want to state up front that I stand in the evangelical and Reformed traditions of faith, with a generous orthodox sampling of many other theologies and spiritual formation approaches within Christianity. 

I am absolutely committed to:

• the supremacy of Christ our King in all things,
• the responsibility of faithful following of Christ by those who name Him as our Savior and Lord,
• the centrality of the Scriptures as shaping our theology, spirituality and faith practices on all things.

 

THREE:
I am in process on my thinking about this and as all bloggers (and in fact, all authors everywhere should do) reserve the right to change my mind as I continue to think on these things.

One of the recent books I read talked about the value of an open mind in life long learning. I hope we can all dialogue on this with that vantage point - what can I learn, how can I think more fully about this topic.

I also want to mention that I really struggle with these things and that I personally think I am very much "out of sync" with the prevailing culture. I posted my personal LAMENT on these things and you can read that lament here.

So what I hope is that you won't casually accuse me if being unfaithful as a disciple of Christ or having inappropriate motives of watering down the gospel as I talk about some of these themes.

 

FOUR:
This blogsite is especially written for leaders who are thinking about leadership, spirituality, church, culture and mission. I think leaders really need to be on top of this subject, for we are leading in the age of what I (and others) call "The Age of Homo Consumerus / Customerus" or the human as consumer and customer. It is an inescapable part of our cultural landscape. To ignore this is just being foolish. 

Good missiology and good apologetics wrestles with culture and seeks to understand it as fully as possible. I think the lack of missiological training for most North American pastors is a serious weakness and "one" of the reasons for our general inadequacy in providing a meaningful witness to our culture.

I have zero intention on watering down the gospel. Far from it. I just want to understand my culture and I want to understand how my culture approaches faith and spirituality so I can be a more faithful and fruitful witness in that culture.  

Here is one website devoted to missiology.

FIVE:
The following posts will look at themes like:

• Consumers in the Church (and You Are One of Them)
• Don't Object to the Language (and Here is Why)
• Branding (We All Have Them Even if We Don't Recognize It)
• Loyalty to Your Particular Brand of  Church (Going, Going, Gone . . . )
• The Leader as Chief Brand Agent
• How the Church Can Learn Some Lessons From the American Car Industry (More Appropriate Than You May Think)
• Jesus Lost Customers (Crowd and Disciples) and So Will You (and That's OKAY)

 

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

I know you'll feel free to offer your comments.

Feel free to vigorously disagree with what I say.

I'll feel free to disagree right back.

But let's not allow heat to get in the way of light.

And maybe along the way, we'll all find some more insight and perhaps even wisdom on these urgent matters.

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

You Are NOT a Good Multi-Tasker

I love the Internet, but . . .

Give me three to five minutes of your time and attention and permission to annoy you a bit, perhaps stimulate your synapses and even provide a bit of perspective.

**********
Part One:  The Urban Myth/Legend. 

We've all heard of Urban Myths.

Those fictitious stories that are told so often and by so many that we simply assume they are true. Their volume and frequency (and sensationalism) are just accepted as so.

But an Urban Myth is, well, a myth... not true... in fact - made up... actually False.

It is also easier than ever for Urban Myths to spread like wildfire thanks to the Internet. But give an anthropologist/sociologist a little time and they will track these myths down and back to their originating sources (or real close).

Here is an URBAN MYTH of sorts. 
It is one you have repeated.
It is one you believe.

Urban Myth #1:  We are getting better and better at multi-tasking. The advent of the internet age and communication technologies in general has created a new generation of multi-taskers unlike anything in previous history. 

Urban Myth #2:  I (fill in your name _________) am good at multi-tasking. I can surf the net, chat with a dozen facebook friends, IM to half dozen friends with my phone, even talk to one of them, while I listen to my iPod... etc.

I like to call this an Uber Urban Myth.
Ubiquitous and False.

You are not a good multi-tasker. You are not even a multi-tasker. Brain research and studies of cognition, learning, memory, etc. show that the brain does not multi-task.

Your brain does not multi-task.

Now, let me annoy (even irritate) you for a moment. Research consistently refutes your biased and wrong interpretation of your personal anedoctal experiences. No matter what you think about what you are doing (and how well you are doing it) you are not the rare exception. In fact, to be honest, you are just one of the crowd, just like everyone else.

You can't escape your physiology . . . or what culture is doing to it.

You are not a good multi-tasker!

 

*********
Part Two:  Switch-tasking. 

That is what your brain actually does. It doesn't work on things simultaneously, it works on them sequentially. Your brain is constantly switching things from the environment that is presenting itself to you, into your actual Working Memory. You switch your focus and attention from one thing to the next.

But, the news is not so rosy on Switch Tasking. Again, research is consistently showing that:

(1)  Your brain has the capacity to switch between fewer tasks than originally thought. Probably 3 or 4 is the number... and some think that is generous. That is all the working memory can hold or better, switch back and forth between.

(2)  You pay a "switching cost" every time you "switch tasks" from one thing to another. In one sense, your Working Memory has to reload or reorient. The brain needs time to change goals, to remember the rules needed for a particular task and to block out cognitive interference.

(3)  Too much switch tasking impairs brain functioning and literally, short-circuits understanding, which means learning is diminished, memory is lessened and of course, reforming of one's way is minimized.

Today, our world is an endless experience of switch-tasking, in greater frequency than ever. In fact, it is virtually non-stop. And, contrary to Urban Myth, you are not getting better at it, you are not taking the next step up in evolutionary cognitive development. Actually, you are regressing in important ways.

 

**********
Part Three:  Tag Lines to Ponder

Now, here are some great one-liners to consider. They all come from researchers who are describing what our internet world is doing to us. (They can all be found in The Shallows or in Distracted.)
 

The Internet is a "concentration fragmenting machine."

The Internet is an "interruption system for dividing attention."

The Internet is an "ecosystem of interruption technologies."

The Internet has taught us to be "skillful at being superficial."

The Internet "seizes our attention only to scatter it."

"We are training our brains to pay attention to crap."

"We are relentless seekers of irrelevance."

We live in a permanent condition of "continuous partial attention."

"We are devolving from being cultivators of personal knowledge
to being hunters and gatherers in the electronic data forrest."

 

**********
Part Four:  Me Personally . . .

Am I against the Internet?
Selectively not!

Am I concerned about what the Internet does to us and our lack of awareness of what it is doing?
Sincerely YES!

I use the Internet a lot. It is a vital tool. I don't ever want to even remotely go back to pre-Internet times.

But, I spend several hours a day:

in reading, study and learning;
in prayer, reflection and discernment;
in personal journaling and professional writing; 
in meaning making and soul shaping . . .

and all of that is apart from the Internet or the larger ecosystem of communication technologies.

Out of those above activities emerges a LIFE that is primed for ACTION, Missional Engagement with our world. A life, that I trust will be responsible, authentic, meaningful and ultimately fruitful and pleasing to Christ.

I am fully concerned about the growing disappearance of those activities from our Networked New World.

Therefore, I am just as concerned about whether, we as a community will sustain faithful, substantial lives who bear the Image of Christ in that world. 

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

 

 

 

 

"F" Reading on the Internet

This post is what is called an "internet page."
Do you know how long the "average view" of any internet page is?

10 Seconds !!!

So, if you are like most people, then you will give ten seconds of your time to reading this post.

And how you read material on the internet is different from how you read a book. They call it:

F Reading.

It is F reading, because the letter F is the pattern for how your eyes move through internet presented information.
 

We know this: You don't read internet presented information in a way that is methodical and comprehensive. 

You don't read line by line.

Instead, you skim and scan, quickly, through text.

You skip and dip down the page.

You glance across the first few lines entirely.

Then your eyes drop down the page. You scan about halfway across a few more lines.

Then you drift down the rest of the page, catching only a few of the first words.

 

Get this . . .

For every 100 words of text, you spend 4.4 seconds reading them! 

18 words in 4.4 seconds!

That's what accomplished (really good) readers can read

That means your internet reading engages less then 20% of the content of a page! And this is a very generous overstatement of how much you get.
 

Net Reading is actually a misnomer.

Internet reading is not reading as the word has been defined.

Even less is it reflective and contemplative of what is being read.

Let's call it what it is.

Net Browsing.


 

Let's mourn what is lost in the act of browsing . . .

*  Comprehension . . .

*  Enlightenment . . .

*  Integration . . .

*  Transformation . . .

Whatever else we may gain from Power Browsing and Net Reading, I'm not sure it is worth the exchange!

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lcitypepad.com

 internet surfing image found here

power browsing image found here

 

A Lament

More often than not, I feel out of step… out of sync…  disconnected… something of an anomaly, a misfit, an oddball.

The experience of being anachronistic is uncomfortable. (Note: Not anarchistic, but I often wonder if there is a connection, for me, between these two?)

Counter-cultural is the polite, positive way of describing myself.

I feel deeply, the tension of being rooted in a culture that is not my home, longing for a better country (Hebrews 11).

The conflict of being in the world and yet not of the world (John 17:15-17)…

Contextualized but not syncretistic (in missiological terms)…

Different but not irrelevant…

As Christ was, the mystics, prophets, poets and artists have always been on the periphery, listening to a different song, touched by another reality, moving to a different heartbeat, seeing an alternative way;  restless, discontent, misunderstood. It is a hard way to make a living.
 

I feel out of step.

J. I. Packer says our North American Christian experience is being 3000 miles wide and 1/2 inch deep.  (A Quest for Godliness)

A pancake culture. Spread wide and thin.

Relationally, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually - wide and thin!

Out of step, I long for depth of soul, spirit, intellect, relationships and fortunately, I feel I regularly move into and experience what I long for.

My tension and my lament is that I am an apostle of these realities, an artist/communicator of strange tidings to a world that really is not that interested.

We prefer to have a thousand Facebook Friends (really Acquaintances) who know us shallowly, through the surface impressions we offer, the fleeting glimpses, the chattering of our experiences and the disconnected hodgepodge of our being that is randomly displayed in fragments that make little sense.  This image can be found here.

But, to tell the truth, your Facebook Acquaintances really don't care (much), for they are already updating and refreshing their screen and your comments are 15 minutes out of date.
 

I am a deep reader living in the Age of Power Browsers.

Power Browsers who spend most of their time in the Internet world which is an "ecosystem of interruption technologies."  (quoted in The Shallows)

Power Browsers who want to be distracted. T. S. Eliot speaks of being "distracted from our distraction by distraction" (The Four Quartets)" How prescient are his words, who knew not the age of the ubiquitous, interruption technologies of the internet.

Daily I spend leisurely, lingering time in silence and solitude:  reading, reflecting, discerning, praying and encourage others to do the same.

A Sociology report (2005) described such activities as diminishing and now the experience of what was called a minority reading class, who are viewed as the:

"eccentric practitioners of an increasingly arcane hobby!"

 

I love the wizardry of the well turned phrase, but I live in a Twitter World where writing has been reduced to "a means of recording chatter" (The Shallows).

Virtuosity, poetry and word-smithing are giving way to much mindless, chattering ado about nothing. Which is forgotten as quickly as it is skimmed and scanned. All that we really have is the "illusion" of having been connected to the chatterer.

Interesting, isn't it, to think of the images of two birds, one tweeting and one reading!

 

And spirituality?

What can we say of emerging spirituality in this world?

What of the wisdom of the ageless classics, the guidance of past sages and saints, the hard won experiences of the devout seekers of God? It languishes in obscurity in a world that prefers sound/image bytes delivered in entertaining ways.

Distracted surfing and surface skimming has replaced slow, engaging, soaking and immersing in texts…

Jesus asked his followers, if they were unable to stay with him in wakeful attentiveness for extended prayer? Our spiritual attention spans today seem to be 10-15 seconds (really, that is what internet studies reveal). So, in truth, we must say to Jesus - no, we can't be with you in intentional, deep ways of intimacy.
 

So . . .

I am torn…

I am troubled...

I am tempted…

For this is my world, my culture, my context…

And my mission is to engage this world in which I keenly experience myself as a stranger. Engage this world with wisdom it needs but no longer wants.

And I don't want to be a relic or fossil or the latest in the line of technological Luddites.

So I dispense diet soda ideas that appeal to our cultural tastes, when our need is the nourishing, thick, heady draughts of heavenly nectar (but that full bodied drink is now quite beyond the digestive capacity of our malnourished hearts and minds).

So . . . I water down the truth of the ages and package it in entertaining ways.

And I lament . . .

Brian K. Rice 
Leadership ConneXtions International 
www.lcitypepad.com

 This powerful image can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Documents and Resources for the LWCC Staff Discussion on Love Wins

The staff of LWCC had a "first" discussion of Rob Bell's latest book, Love Wins. A book that the senior leadership of the church believes falls well outside the boundaries of historic, evangelical faith. 

That is not an unkind, uncharitable statement, for Rob Bell refers to that historic, evangelical faith as toxic and a view that has hijacked the real truth about Christ.

Frankly, when Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Spencer Burke and Peter Rollins made similar statements, we never felt the need to address them. They just are not very relevant to the large majority of people in our congregation. 

But Rob Bell is a communicator of a different caliber and has a wide audience. So we felt the need to address his book and its theology.

Here is a pdf for the PowerPoint outline and images. It is not a very creative PP, but it does provide an outline for what we talked about.
Download Ppt RobBell 

 

Make no mistake, Rob Bell believes truth matters. It is just that his spin on truth shows he is the hijacker, rather than the hijacked!

Here are several documents (reviews) in PDF format, that we made available to our staff. They can also be found on the web. For the most part, we believe these reviews are accurate. Depending on the reviewer, they may have a different flavor, but in the end, their assessments are pretty similar.

(1)  This is by far the longest  (20 pages) and most critical, but I do not think it is unfair. He shows the many biblical gymnastics and inadequacies of interpretation in this book. It also hints at the historical exaggerations scattered throughout as well. Rob Bell has thrown down the gauntlet and is very critical of historic orthodoxy on many levels. He has set the tone for this discussion when he says evangelical theology is wrong on these many vital matters.
Download Bell LoveWinsReview

(2)  This is a review (5 pages) by Mark Galli, a senior managing editor of Christianity Today, which has been a mainstream journal for the evangelical movement for many decades.
Download Bell CT Review
 

(3)  This final review (2 pages) is by Ed Setzer and can be found on their website at Christianpost.com. Ed is kind but clear in stating that Rob Bell is much more standing in the tradition of mainline liberalism. And this has been shown to be a historic dead end.
Download Bell Setzer Critique

 

We did several things in our discussion.

ONE:  We talked about the importance of theology and our need to be theologically discerning.

TWO:  We looked at Augustine's dictum: "In essentials unity. In non-essentials liberty. In all things charity."  This launched our discussion of what is core and what is periphery in the Christian faith. And how different groups adjust the size of the core.

THREE:  We spent time talking about what is actually ESSENTIAL to make a saving profession of faith in Christ. For example, while we may say that the doctrine of the Trinity is core for the faith, must one understand that doctrine to cross the line of saving faith?

FOUR:  We looked at a model of plotting where various churches, writers and theologies fall on the spectrum of Change in Message - Change in Methodology.

FIVE:  We defined the terms of this discussion:  Orthodoxy, historic, traditional, apostolic, reformational, evangelical and the one main terms standing in opposition - Liberalism.

We walked people through an explanation of church Creeds, Catechisms, Confessions and Statements of Faith.  The first document is a short explanation for defining terms. The others are all documents easily obtainable on the web. We simply provide them here in a PDF format.

Download Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms

Download Apostles

Download Nicene Creed

Download Christianity Today International Statement of Faith

Download NEA Statement of faith

Download The Lausanne Covenant

SIX:  We looked at the issue of FALSE TEACHING (which the  Scriptures talk about often and forcefully). For example, see:  Jeremiah 23,  Ezekiel 34,  Matthew 23,  1 Timothy 4:1-10;  6:3-5;  2 Timothy 3:10-45 and 2 Peter 2. 

We looked at the issue of a "spectrum of false teaching" (is it unbalanced, distorted, bad, heretical or apostate) with the fact that there is an increasing seriousness with these words.

We then asked an important question: How much bad teaching needs to be in a book (or a sermon) until one concludes - this is just a bad book? By way of comparison. How much urine can be added to water until one refuses to drink the water, since it can no longer be called water? 5%... 10%... 25%... Or, how many times can a spouse commit adultery until you feel justified in saying, this spouse is not a faithful spouse but is an adulterous spouse? 

One of the reasons we did this is from hearing people say, yes the book has a lot of problems, but there are things we really like in the book!  (Just worth thinking about . . .)

SEVEN:  We looked at the theological positions of classic liberal theology, compared with classic orthodoxy and asked - where does Rob Bell fall on these matters?

EIGHT:  We spent some time talking about the missiology behind all this. We live in a time, once again, when Christianity has its many cultural despisers. In a cultural season of pluralism, relativism and tolerance as the greatest value (except for orthodox positions), how do we function as missional servants in the world? 

When it comes to the spectrum of the gospel in the world, we can be:

(1)  irrelevant (faithful to the gospel, but hopelessly unable to connect and communicate to the culture.

(2)  contextualized (faithful to the gospel, but skilled in connecting with the culture and communicating in ways that create dialogue and interest).

(3)  syncretistic (where we are unfaithful to the gospel, seeking to accommodate its message so it does not offend the culture.

And we didn't yet look at particulars of Rob Bell's book, Love Wins. This was mainly to set the stage for how one reads, thinks, assesses and responds to books like this.

Brian K. Rice  
Living Word Community Church  
www.lci.typepad.com

 

 

The Transitional Time in Which We Live

This past Sunday I spoke on The New Thing God is Doing. We spent time talking about the dangerous, serious, "here be dragons," inbetween the times of transition, "Kansas is going bye-bye" times in which we live.

Here is a chart that is out of one of Alan Roxburgh's books... I forget which one. I think it is from, The Sky is Falling.

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

Vocation: A Brief Reflection on Work and Life

Siddhartha Gautama (the one who came to Enlightenment and thus became known as the Buddha) said: 

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.
 

I am a little confused at how this fits into a Buddhist worldview, but it sure does so for a Christian approach to life.

Social activist, contemplative and author, Dorothy Sayers knows the centrality of work in the Christian framework."Work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do."  (For more on this amazing woman, click here.)

We are created to work… to work well… to work lovingly… to work carefully… to work as stewards who develop the creation around us. All that potential that has been downloaded into our wonderful world, it is our privilege to "tease it out" and by grace, move it to fullness.

Here is a beautiful thought (source unknown to me, although it is reminiscent of Martin Luther) that inspires me as I do this work.

If it falls your lot to be a streetsweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and earth will have to pause and say,'Here lived a great streetsweeper, who swept his street well'.
 

We will spend an enormous part of our life working. How vital then, that we learn to do this work as "contemplatives in action." That is, those who discern the Presence, Work and Word of God in these contexts and respond fully.

So today… what is ONE THING you can do toward this end?
 

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

 
 

 

 

 

 

Wordsmiths and Living in the Tower of "Babble"

This one is going to seem abstract (because it is)! So humor me!

We live in an age of manufactured texts, contrived messages, blocks of discourse, unread downloads, and unreadable metadiscourses.  (Robert Inchausti, Subversive Orthodoxy, 164)

Jargon, spin-doctoring, rhetoric, innuendo, outright deception, sloganeering, insipid and tired conversations . . . are all too often the norm.

Much ado about nothing . . .
Too much trivia and banalities . . .
Slogans and soundbytes...
Twits who tweet nonstop...
"Uniquack" and "Newspeak" are the official language of today (pp. 165).

The Tower of Babel, or is it the Tower of Babble?

We see this in all aspects of life, but perhaps in the realm of politics it is overwhelming....

I think we have too much of this in certain spheres of the church as well. Too much Christianeze that says little that is meaningful.

Into this context, we are called to speak words of life, words of light, words of truth, words of beauty.

We are summoned to speak prophetic and poetic words.

Words that illumine, heal and bless; and words that confront and disturb (and sometimes, words that just plain mystify).

I have some of my favorite "wordsmiths," those Voices who are creative and daring in the juxtaposition of the words they speak and write. Eugene Peterson is surely one of the best. Leonard Sweet is another favorite. And Robert Inchausti has been added to that list.

Read their books. 
Read novels.
Read poetry.
Read the subversive Holy Scriptures.
Read the classics of great literature.
Listen to the great speeches of past and present.
Be moved by good resources and you can find some here.
Write...
Listen...
Enjoy slow conversations... 
Another site to check out.

And check out this website for great images of words. It is the source of the image below.

Christians have always been enthralled with the Word made flesh and with the power of words.  It is the work of leaders to think and pray about words and then to speak the most powerful words we can. Leaders are called to be Wordsmiths.

And that means we need to have enough silence around us so we can sort out the words that are needed in the moment.

May you have the silence you need and the Wordsmithing gift as you live and lead in the Tower of Babble.

Speak some real good words today...

Tomorrow - when God stretches your soul through suffering - how will you respond?

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

 

 

Wicked Problems

I was recently introduced to this idea in a nice little book by Keith Grint - Leadership: A Very Short Introduction. This is one of the more than 200 volumes in the Very Short Introduction series published by Oxford. These are very cool little books and you can find all of them on their website.

A "tame problem" is one that may be complicated but we can resolve it through the application of familiar ideas and approaches.

A "wicked problem" has a level of complexity that goes beyond the limits of knowledge and previous methodologies that worked in the past. In fact, wicked problems appear virtually unsolvable and unresolvable. Which is why they are WICKED.

We are seeing Wicked Level Problems everywhere in the world. The current global economic crisis is one such VERY WICKED PROBLEM. This image on complexity is found on this site.

Many years ago, James Emory White wrote a book called, Serious Times. He took the title of his book from a letter written by John Adams to his friend Thomas Jefferson, after the American Revolutionary War was ended. Adams said:

"My friend, you and I have lived in serious times."

Serious times indeed they were and are today.

Do you remember the opening paragraph from A Tale of Two Cities?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . .
(Charles Dickens)

Best of and worst of times indeed they were and indeed they are today.

Serious times, best/worst of times, Wicked Problem times . . . which require leadership far beyond average, considerably better than good, and in fact, great may not be sufficient. Superlative leadership is the need for today.  At all levels. From many, many people. Will we be such leaders?

I think I'll go and pray . . .

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

The Bible, Our Culture, and the Work of Transformation (Tim Adour)

To say it mildly, when LCI teaches leadership in other cultures, we have fascinating and important conversations. When we help leaders wrestle with new paradigms of leadership that emerge out of the Scriptures, sometimes the lights go on and there are "aha moments." Other times there is major resistance. 

Tim shares how he engages with leaders as we teach new ideas of leadership that are quite different from "the way things are normally done around here."  As I was reading Tim's thoughts, it hit me again - we North Americans have the same resistance to these counter-cultural ideas of Scripture!  -bkr-

***********

Any student of the Bible would have to acknowledge that communicating the gospel within the context of a culture is vital.  To ignore the culture and how the Bible comes to and engages its host cultures, is to add hindrances to the acceptance of the truth.

  

This theme is seen in the differences of the Synoptic Gospels. Even thought Matthew-Mark-Luke seem very similar, they are quite different. 

Matthew wrote to the Jewish culture, Mark to the Roman and Luke to the Greek.  Had Luke used as many Old Testament references as Matthew they would have been lost on the Greek reader.  The Old Testament scriptures did not carry the same weight with the Greeks as the Jews.  What were Matthew, Mark and Luke doing?  They were considering the culture to which they wrote and approached the presentation of truth from that culture.  Obviously, truth never changes but the approach must.  

When I travel cross culturally, I sometimes find a resistance to certain leadership ideas I am teaching.  On two recent occasions, as we were talking about biblical leadership (which is really quite radical and often "counter-cultural,") the argument against these ideas was simply - “You don’t understand our culture.  What you’re saying won’t work.”  

As we processed these questions (and challenges) it became clear there was a lack of understanding of two things.

ONE:  Christ came not only to redeem individuals, but also culture. Just because an entire culture functions in a certain way, that doesn’t mean what it is doing is righteous.  

TWO:  As Christ changes individuals, so He can and wants to, change culture.

The pessimistic conclusion from not understanding these realities is that culture won't change, the Biblical truth doesn't apply (i.e. won't work here) and that we'll continue to do things in the church as they do in the cultural world around us!

Here are a few of the ideas we unpacked.

(1)    Changing an entire culture is far beyond any one individual, yet all followers of Christ are called to be agents of cultural transformation.

(2)    Culture develops over generations and to say it is deeply rooted and established is a vast understatement. It is the way things are, we are rooted in a culture and the culture is established in us.

(3)    Cultural transformation will be a slow, gradual process.

(4)    It is the work of leadership to lead cultural transformation. We who lead for Christ must be re-rooted in the culture of God's kingdom and Christ's Way. That Kingdom/Way is seeking to break into this present reality and change it (redeem it, heal it, purify it, transform it).

Having seen the failure to grasp these concepts, here is my observation:  It seems to me that we are resistant to the above ideas for three reasons.

Theologically:  We don't understand how the eternal word is incarnated in to culture. We have not had the eyes (or paradigms) to see the beauty of the cultural diversity in which the Gospel was revealed to us.

Missiologically:  We haven't understood the process of how the Scriptures encounter and change the cultures to which they come.

Personally:  We are fearful of change.  This rone eally hit me. Sometimes we hear the concept of cultural change and suddenly realize - this concept will require personal change.  In my opinion, this is the greatest factor in the resistance I’ve encountered.  

So, what does one do?  

For a start we must become Self-Aware. We must examine our speech, attitudes, actions, and any other aspect of leadership, which is more concerned about cultural norms rather than biblical truth.

  

We must decide which is more important to us, the way things have always been done in our culture, or the new biblical Way we are invited to walk.  This is being Highly Intentional.

We must then do the very hard work of understanding models and methodologies of biblical study and cultural transformation (being Wisely Strategic).

And since this will always come with a price, Deep Surrender to the will and work of God is contantly needed.

Tim Adour 
Church of the Revelation 
The Bronx, New York

Sound Bytes

We live in the time of massive information overload.

We are vastly overstimulated on all sensory fronts.

We are inundated with data that never stops streaming into our consciousness.

We are breathlessly preoccupied, disturbed and pulled in myriad directions as we try to respond…

Life is inexorably moving toward smaller and smaller "bytes" of information.

We have descended from: Books (to) Articles/Essays (to) Blog posts (to) Emails (to) Text messaging (to) twittering tweets.


We surf over the top, we skim, we dip into, we rummage through life.

Substantial engagement, sustained reflection, lingering attentiveness… these things are disappearing.

Decades ago I read a book my Neil Postman -  Amusing Ourselves to Death:  Public Discourse in the Age of Show Bueiness. In that book, Postman talked about the decline in literacy an substantial thought processes. He asked - what will leaders do in light of the overwhelming cultural tide that is sweeping in upon us?

(By the way, this book is as timely and relevant today as when it was first published and eminently readable.) 

Here is a VERY GOOD QUOTE from Postman... well worth reading and your sustained reflection... and then responsible action.
 

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.

Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.

Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure.

In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.  

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.  (Postman)

Huxley to the left and Orwell on the right.
  
   
  

Today, these same issues must be faced.  What are leaders to do in a Sound-Byte world where what we love is ruining us?

Do we allow it to defeat us.
This image is found here.

 

 

  

Do we ignore it.

Protest it.

Begrudging flow with it

Accept it.

Use it.

Redeem it (can it be redeemed)?

I believe we need to take a vigorous stance against these cultural shifts. Superlative leadership and outstanding communication is the need of this hour. Leaders who learn and think and reflect and discern and pray AND THEN boldly act . . . 

Will you and I be such leaders? 

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