Leading Ideas - Lewis Center for Church Leadership for Wednesday, 23 April 2014

Leading Ideas - Lewis Center for Church Leadership for Wednesday, 23 April 2014   

Jesus’ Lessons for Leading by Bill Wilson

Building a congregation’s life around a clear vision and purpose is easy to affirm. Aligning that purpose with biblical teaching and witness makes sense. Seldom will church leaders resist the idea that the path toward a vibrant and engaging congregation is to embody God’s mission in clear, dynamic, and powerful ways. The problems emerge when we begin to talk about the how of living out God’s call to be a people on a mission. Like barnacles on a ship, our preferences, traditions, icons, and cultural accommodations have encrusted the mission and threaten to smother it.
What if we used Jesus as a model for how to live out a clear and compelling mission? His ministry provides insight on the “healthy habits” that can help a congregation stay true to its calling.
Solitude. Jesus knew the value of time spent with a compass rather than a calendar. He repeatedly frustrated those who prized efficiency. From the beginning, he was prone to pull back from the limelight and reconnect with the divine dream and mission. Rather than allow others to sway his agenda and trajectory, he clearly defined who he was and what he came to do. The wilderness was his friend, and solitude was a regular habit. Planning and preparation claimed a healthy portion of his time.
Ruthless adherence. For God’s vision to take root, Jesus found it imperative to avoid every temptation to water down or diverge from the vision with which he had been entrusted. Repeatedly, he declined opportunities to compromise the mission. Instead, he demonstrated an iron will that held fast to the calling despite popular acclaim or the threat of rejection.
Right people. Jesus chose men and women to help him carry out the mission with an eye toward their visible and invisible gifts. He taught a diversity of gifts in which his followers were a living example of that lesson. He paid attention to individuals and pushed them to become what they had been intended to be. Missing in his actions was an insistence upon lock-step behavior or thinking. When he spoke of unity, it was a unity of purpose, not style. In the diversity of the disciples and other followers, he found a powerful combination that turned the world upside-down.
Repetition. On a regular and consistent basis, Jesus taught and re-taught the basics of the reign of God. Using parables, he helped those around him visualize what it would look like for God’s will actually to come on earth as it was in heaven. Whether it be a story featuring a waiting father, a good Samaritan, a lost coin, or a bridal celebration, he repeatedly reinforced the new way of living and being God’s people.
Reinforcement. Not content with mere theory, Jesus illustrated his prevailing vision with real-life examples. Blind men, innocent children, lepers, wayward women, and demon-possessed men all served as vehicles for him to reinforce and drive home the core teaching of this new kingdom.
Celebration. Along the way, there were victories that needed to be celebrated, and Jesus focused on those successes to build a growing sense of movement among his followers. When bodies were healed or lives redirected, the resulting exclamations and joyful dances served notice that this was going to be a kingdom whose end result was abundance and joy. The gospels are permeated by glimpses of joy and laughter.
Integrity. Jesus insisted that all of his life with his disciples be congruent with his teaching. He was the one who noticed the beggars, the blind, lame, and diseased. He was the one who stayed true to a life of simplicity and singular focus. When others wanted to crown him king or build him a temple, he redirected them to the deeper meaning of his coming. Even when the mission led him to the garden and the cruelty of the cross, he remained true to his calling and his divine mission.
If our churches were willing to exercise these habits in our quest to live out the mission God has entrusted to us, perhaps we would ask these types of questions:
How much time does our church spend reconnecting to its vision?
Does our church say no to lesser things so that it can say yes to the mission?
Are the right people leading the effort?
Is our church’s reason for being continually repeated and reinforced?
Does our church celebrate its successes?
Does our church call people to a faith that embraces their whole being?
Dr. Bill Wilson heads the Center for Healthy Churches in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. This article is adapted from a post on his blog found at http://healthy-churches.org/blog and reprinted with the author’s permission.

Saying Yes by Gary L. McIntosh

One of the surest ways to empower people to serve is to champion their ideas. If any church member approaches you with an idea for a ministry, the answer must always be yes! Does this mean your church supports and sanctions every ministry idea a person wishes to attempt? No, it doesn’t. But it does mean that you champion each idea in a manner similar to the following:
1. You enthusiastically praise the person for coming up with such an original idea. No matter how dumb you may think the idea is, the fact that he or she has taken the risk to approach you with a creative idea is outstanding. How many more ideas do you think the person will bring to you if you criticize this one? When you can’t praise the ideas, at least praise the person for being creative and outrageous enough to think of it.
2. Ask the person to find five other people who are willing to team with him or her to help build such a ministry. If the person can recruit others, this will tend to improve the idea. If others aren’t recruited, the idea will probably die. When the team has been identified, the person with the idea should come back to you. Doing this has a number of advantages. It empowers the person to begin working on the idea. It requires him or her to define and communicate the vision for ministry well enough to attract others to it. It allows the ministry idea to be confirmed, refined, or rejected by others.
3. When you meet with the team, let them know how enthusiastic you are to learn of their commitments and willingness to serve. Encourage them to think through how the new ministry fits with your mission and direction as a church. They should especially think through how their new ideas fit with your church culture.
4. Support the team with all the training they need but encourage them to find their own funding. It is the responsibility of leaders to provide training for ministry (Eph. 4:11-12) but not necessarily the funding. Placing responsibility for funding the ministry on the team developing it ensures that only ministries with a large enough vision to attract funding will likely be started. This is another way to verify the appropriateness of the new ministry.
5. Assure the team that the church will support them in every possible way, especially promoting the ministry through your church if they abide by the following guidelines:
The new ministry must maintain legal, moral, and ethical integrity.
The new ministry must be biblically based and doctrinally in agreement with your church.
The leaders of the new ministry must attend your church’s ongoing leadership training events.
The leaders of the group must report to the church a record of how many people attend their ministry, the parts that are going well, and the difficulties they are experiencing.
Taking the risk to empower people for ministry in this way will take a few years to develop. If your answer in the past has always been no when people approached you about starting a new ministry, it will take a few years to convince them that you are serious. Once you prove to them that you are willing to be a risk taker and allow them to begin their own ministries, people will approach you for encouragement, direction, and training.
Gary L. McIntosh teaches at Talbot School of Theology. This article is excerpted from his book Beyond the First Visit (2006) published by Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission. All rights to this material are reserved. Material is not to be reproduced, scanned, copied, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without written permission from Baker Publishing Group. Beyond the First Visit is also available from Amazon or Cokesbury.

Quotable Leadership

The greater the mission, the more simply it can be stated.--Laurie Beth Jones

Pastors Moving to New Churches Need the Right Start

Are you a pastor preparing to begin ministry in a new setting? With The Right Start video resource, you’ll learn how to end your current ministry well, develop a personal transition plan, and make the most of your first days, weeks, and months in your new congregation. The Right Start is refreshed for 2014 with updated information and is available in both Pastor’s and Group Training Versions. Learn more.

The Right Question

Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
There are times to identify challenges, but it is also important to identify signs of life and hope in your congregation through questions such as these: 
What do you see already happening in our church that gives you the most hope for the future?
What are we doing to build on this energy? 
Want more Right Questions? Check out “Right Questions for Church Leaders: 2013 and 2012 Collections.”
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Editors: Lovett H. Weems, Jr., and Ann A. Michel. Production: Carol Follett
Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary. 
4500 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016 United States
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lewiscenter@wesleyseminary.edu
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