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The Beautiful and Narrow Way
“The narrow way is one we travel together without fear.
The narrow way is fits and starts.
It’s running and walking and sometimes waiting.
It’s mountains and valleys and darkness and light.
It’s not being able to see the nose on our own faces and then things suddenly opening up into a magnificent vista.
It’s sometimes hard, but adventures usually are.
It’s not efficient; it’s a conversation.
You’re more likely to go three miles an hour than seventy.
You may feel alone but you’re not.
God is there.
And look around you: a great cloud of witnesses.”
-G. Christopher Smith and John Pattison, Slow Church
Elvis And Jesus: Discovering God In The Institutional Church
Elvis And Jesus:
Discovering God In The Institutional Church?
Not Discovering God In The Instutional Church
Discovering God In The Institutional Church!
My wife was at the dentist, talking around mouth tools with the hygienist. After inquiring where we go to church, this hygienist volunteered her own story. “We used to go to __________ church, but we’ve been looking around about a year. We are attending___________ church some. We’ve visited about everywhere. It all just seems like one big show.” This woman joins the countless other Christian people who are unsure about being involved in a church anymore. These are people who were key insiders, moving toward the periphery, eventually to the outside (The Dones). For her, this article title is a question: “Can God be found in the institutional church?” …said with frustration.
In addition, I read Dan Kimball’s book several years ago, They Like Jesus But Not The Church, (2007). Interviewing college students in Southern California he found great admiration and respect for the Jesus described in the gospels. At the very same time, these students described low regard and respect for the Church. The divide between the Jesus of scripture and the Jesus of the Church seemed gargantuan to them. Evidently respect and admiration for Jesus is on the rise, while belief that one will encounter him at church is declining. Some have decided it’s not a question, it’s a statement, made in the negative.
And then (like this fire needs more fuel), are you aware of the Missional Church movement? It’s been evolving and gaining strength for years, with the idea that we are to join God’s mission in the world – a mission expressed through many vehicles, not just through the church (shifts the role of a local congregation). Rather than the Church being the center of God’s activity, the Missional Church movement sees the world at large as God’s playing field. Perhaps this helps explain why God may or may not be found in any one particular church. God is busy enacting the mission in the world.
Finally, I was sitting with a denominational staff recently. These people see and hear much pain, organizational angst, and dysfunction in clergy and congregations. Sometimes they grow discouraged. With great hesitation and no small anxiety, one haltingly asked, “Has God, like Elvis, left the building?” Finding God in the institutional church is a sincere question for many committed Christ-followers.
With my head swirling and my soul disturbed, I worshipped with a congregation from another branch of the Christian family tree than my own. While there something happened – Communion. I sat there and watched until my turn. I watched the people filing out into the aisle and moving forward to receive the elements. There were little kids going up for a blessing, skipping and smiling, acting like God wants to see them. There was an older couple, one waiting for the other to walk back together, with a well worn love relationship written all over them. The years of Christian pilgrimage had clearly etched a gentle grace into their companionship. There was a teenager, with an outrageous shirt and flip-flops, walking toward Christ’s table. There was a man, with who knows what going on, who couldn’t stop crying. People were smiling, singing, crossing themselves afterwards, looking up (elation) and looking down (despair) – all gathering around Christ’s table. And for me, for a while during Communion, I knew that Jesus and Elvis had parted ways. All those questions, grew irrelevant in the powerful presence of Christ. Finding God in the institutional church moved from question, to statement, to exclamation. I discovered God right then and there, in no less than the institutional church itself.
Note: Today, January 8th, Elvis would have been 80 years old.
Money Motivates….Or Does It?
What motivates us (we human being types) to excel? What conditions or practices bring out the best in us? What will help us do our very best work, making a significant difference in this world? As a Leadership Coach, I’m always curious about motivation. My aim is to help my clients live out their dreams and ambitions as fully as possible. Naturally, I’m very interested in how organizations structure themselves. Each operates from a particular viewpoint regarding human motivation. Their structure reveals their perspective.
All of this is why I appreciate Frederick Herzberg’s (say that 3 times fast) and colleagues’ work. Daniel Pink, in Drive, makes good use of Herzberg’s research when describing what we have learned about human motivation in the workplace. Evidently, the great assumption most of us have made about worker motivation is false. “Hygiene factors,” like salary, security, and status are motivating in one way…they prevent job dissatisfaction. When adequate salary or money is not paid to employees, then they grow dissatisfied. On the other hand, an adequate salary by itself, is not sufficient to motivate excellent work over time. When people believe their salary or pay is adequate or fair, then at least they are not dissatisfied with their jobs. It turns out then that financial incentives, like bonuses or extra time off, really don’t motivate creative or exceptional work. These are extrinsic motivators, which the research shows, have minimal impact.
Conversely, intrinsic motivators turn out to actually be motivating. So if you are evaluating your position at work, or looking for a new position, or you are a leader who can structure your organization…look carefully at the intrinsic factors. Consider asking these questions as evaluation tools:
- How much do I enjoy the work itself?
- How much do colleagues in this job, or other employees, enjoy their work?
- Does this position allow and encourage me to make a positive difference in the world?
- Am I, or could I, contribute to the common good through this position?
- How much challenge is present in this job – enough to keep me engaged?
- What opportunities for skill development and learning are present here?
- How about relationships in this workplace?
- What’s the emotional climate like in this organization?
These questions evaluate the conditions in a position which contribute to creativity, lengthy tenures, and a more enjoyable work like. Since we spend so much time in our work, isn’t this worth exploring?
God’s Power Needed In Your Church?
When your church is called to, and attempts to, do something which is beyond its capacity…that’s when your church will access the power of God through Christ. When your church remains circumspect and decent, avoiding the attempt of anything risky or beyond its perceived ability…then there is little need for God’s power.
-Shift Learning Experience
Sunday – God’s Smile Day
Before any key turns in a lock this morning
Before anyone adjusts the thermostat
Before the crumbs from yesterday’s fellowship hall event are swept up
God’s up early this morning, the first one there
Tapping fingers, waiting
Watching, pacing
Eagerly peering out the stained glass windows Looking for the kids to come home
Sunday – God’s smile day
Navigating Congregational Change
“We need to be different than our clients, but not too different.”
-Kinley Sturkie, Marriage and Family Therapy Supervisor
“All social relationships have limits; therefore, one of the greatest challenges of leadership in any community or organization is keeping stress at a productive level.”
-Ronald Heifitz and Marty Linsky in Leadership On The Line
“A preacher’s task is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
-Ancient preacher wisdom
If we cling to either pole, productive change declines. One pole represents our need for stability, security, and safety. We gather around this pole when congregational change becomes overwhelming. When our energy is low, anxiety is high, and our thinking capacity declines, then we move to the security pole to remind ourselves who we are. We realize then that the swirling waters of congregational change won’t sink the boat. A long sigh of relief follows and we catch our breath.
The other pole represents our need for growth, adventure, and renewal. We move out in the waters, enjoying the thrill of the ride, feeling the current’s pull. We discover the congregation’s hidden strengths, see new leaders rise up, and are amazed at the courage of a church set free. Productive change flows.
But if we cling to this pole, productive change declines. We watch as muscles grow tired, movements change from graceful and rhythmic to stiff and staccato. Fear of the deep rises up, along with a growing dread that our boat will break apart. If we stay out in the foamy surf too long cling to this pole, the congregation will sink, not swim.
So where do we cling as congregational leaders?
Nowhere.
Instead we navigate.
Sometimes we steer into calm restful waters, close to the security pole. Sometimes we steer out into the waves, holding on with the adrenaline pumping. Sometimes we even steer into troubled waters, battening down the hatches, riding out the storm.
Mostly, we try to stay just ahead of the congregation floating along with us. Not far ahead, for we are in the same boat – but far enough ahead to help the movement continue. There’s no need for clinging, when you are in a sturdy boat with a good rudder.
Sail onward.
Parkinson’s Law
Parkinson’s Law
“A task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion.”
-truth
mark tidsworth 