In Theory....
In theory, you preach to the gospel to those who are willing to hear it, and there will be significant, long-lasting, positive change.
Best Books Ever
I moved my sidebar around a little bit, so the following will be a permanent feature. But I wanted to include a post about this.
The following are the books I wish I had written, they're are not just brilliant, but incredibly pointed, bold, and God honoring. They are all available free (except their Amazon Links), I've gotten them off of Google Books, or Archive.org or elsewhere. The best I can tell they are all public domain books (if for some reason you think otherwise let me know, I'll just remove the link), and therefore you are also free to distribute them.
I'm a huge fan in a big way of all of these though I only posted briefly about each.
Do Not Say: The Church's Reasons for Neglecting the Heathen, by James Heywood Horsburgh.
A Serious Call to Missions
EPUB (iBooks), MOBI (Kindle), PDF, Amazon
This book is an in-your-face call to stop making excuses and just go!
Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours, by Roland Allen.
A Missionary's (or minister's) Handbook
EPUB (iBooks), MOBI (Kindle), Amazon, Online
This is the book I wish I had read before entering the field. I knew most of what he had to say, but unfortunately I learned it the hard way. There are also some wonderful principles about preaching, evangelism, etc... which would be applicable to every Christian, but especially the minister.
Secret Power: The Secret of Success in Christian Life and Work, by D. L. Moody.
You NEED the Holy Spirit
EPUB (iBooks), MOBI (Kindle), Amazon
I mentioned before that this is the book Francis Chan tried to write about the Holy Spirit, but didn't. Moody nails it almost all the way through (the last 3-5 pages are a little weird). We need the Holy Spirit for just about everything as Christians, and yet we ignore it.
I pray these books are as big of a blessing to you as they were to me.
The following are the books I wish I had written, they're are not just brilliant, but incredibly pointed, bold, and God honoring. They are all available free (except their Amazon Links), I've gotten them off of Google Books, or Archive.org or elsewhere. The best I can tell they are all public domain books (if for some reason you think otherwise let me know, I'll just remove the link), and therefore you are also free to distribute them.
I'm a huge fan in a big way of all of these though I only posted briefly about each.
Do Not Say: The Church's Reasons for Neglecting the Heathen, by James Heywood Horsburgh.
A Serious Call to Missions
EPUB (iBooks), MOBI (Kindle), PDF, Amazon
This book is an in-your-face call to stop making excuses and just go!
Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours, by Roland Allen.
A Missionary's (or minister's) Handbook
EPUB (iBooks), MOBI (Kindle), Amazon, Online
This is the book I wish I had read before entering the field. I knew most of what he had to say, but unfortunately I learned it the hard way. There are also some wonderful principles about preaching, evangelism, etc... which would be applicable to every Christian, but especially the minister.
Secret Power: The Secret of Success in Christian Life and Work, by D. L. Moody.
You NEED the Holy Spirit
EPUB (iBooks), MOBI (Kindle), Amazon
I mentioned before that this is the book Francis Chan tried to write about the Holy Spirit, but didn't. Moody nails it almost all the way through (the last 3-5 pages are a little weird). We need the Holy Spirit for just about everything as Christians, and yet we ignore it.
I pray these books are as big of a blessing to you as they were to me.
Vain Discussion. Theological Crusaders. Morons Like Us. (1 Tim 1:5-7)
"The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions." - 1 Timothy 1:5-7
The point of Paul's teaching is love. Love. And yet there are those who study the word so that they can teach the word, and they don't realize the whole point is love. Love.
There are more than a few people who have wandered away from good teaching and instead have become caught up in vain discussion. I'm fascinated by how many people I know who come out of reading a book, or a seminary class, or whatever, and lose the whole point. Instead of them better chasing Christ — loving Christ — they instead chase foolish controversy or vain discussion. I myself am not above this, I have been caught up in the very same thing.
In almost every situation, or especially theological arguments, both sides of both arguments have much smarter and more knowledgable people than you or I. But we make confident assertions without understanding. This is fine if we're playing a game like RISK, and we're foolishly speaking confidently about a winning strategy. But this is life, eternity, and the love of Christ we should be preaching, it is not a simple game void of eternal consequence.
What is the aim of your charge? A few more Calvinists? Converting a church to congregationalism? The color of the walls in the sanctuary? Whether or not the pastor should be using notes, or the band drums?
Or is it like Paul who says, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."
Mmmmm.... Sound teaching. Love. Sincere faith.
The point of Paul's teaching is love. Love. And yet there are those who study the word so that they can teach the word, and they don't realize the whole point is love. Love.
There are more than a few people who have wandered away from good teaching and instead have become caught up in vain discussion. I'm fascinated by how many people I know who come out of reading a book, or a seminary class, or whatever, and lose the whole point. Instead of them better chasing Christ — loving Christ — they instead chase foolish controversy or vain discussion. I myself am not above this, I have been caught up in the very same thing.
In almost every situation, or especially theological arguments, both sides of both arguments have much smarter and more knowledgable people than you or I. But we make confident assertions without understanding. This is fine if we're playing a game like RISK, and we're foolishly speaking confidently about a winning strategy. But this is life, eternity, and the love of Christ we should be preaching, it is not a simple game void of eternal consequence.
What is the aim of your charge? A few more Calvinists? Converting a church to congregationalism? The color of the walls in the sanctuary? Whether or not the pastor should be using notes, or the band drums?
Or is it like Paul who says, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."
Mmmmm.... Sound teaching. Love. Sincere faith.
Who Killed Men's Hats ➙
A hundred years ago — and that's when this picture was taken, in 1912 — men didn't leave home without a hat. Boys wore caps.A subject closer and closer to my heart, as I quickly grow more and more bald.
On Methodology
1)
If you have to pick a method, pick one which enables you to leave at any time without adverse effects. The best model I know of for this leans heavily on the side of support. Support what already exists and focus immediately on raising up leaders under the leaders you're supporting. The next generation of leaders is of utmost importance, and calling people to focus on reproduction is never a bad call.
Lead leaders. Bless pastors. Encourage those already in ministry. If you feel called to plant your own church submit yourself to the authority of another pastor, and call others to do the same. In this you will knit together the church in an area, or in a country and begin to be a blessing to the church as a whole.
2)
Methodology is of little importance. At the end of the day you will find you have to choose a "how". But I'm more and more convinced if you are consistently dependent on the Holy Spirit your method is of little importance. All of our methods are influenced by the fall. Some more than others — certainly. At the end of the day however, it's just a matter of how willing we are to allow the Holy Spirit to work through our foolishness. How much do we let Him in?
There is only one thing we can "do" which has nearly certain results, and that is to pray. Because prayer causes us to be dependent on the Holy Spirit. Prayer reminds us of our utter incompetence and desperate need for divine intervention in all we're doing. That's how we can be sure it is helpful.
3)
If I were to write a history of what I've been learning over the last year or two it would be two or three pages on correct methodology, followed by one page of the Lord telling me my methodology will only ever be of secondary importance. The Holy Spirit. This alone is of primary importance.
To quote Ghoti Hook (in their brilliance)
"God god god god god god god
God god god god god god god
God god god
Aaghh
Whoo hoo"
Leader vs. Elder or Overseer
My ESV only uses the English word "leader" twice in the New Testament. One is specifically in reference to Jesus:
A leader has authority over people. An elder is an example, not a leader. His role is to speak and live truth. How is that different from your concept of a leader? Or, perhaps more importantly, how proud are you to be a leader instead of an elder? And what do you find in the scripture about the kind of person you should be? Maybe the Bible is clear about it in Acts 5:31. Then again, I've yet to look at the original words to see how they're translated... Thoughts?
"God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins" - Acts 5:31And the other is a warning to him who sees himself as a leader. That he should become as one who serves.
"But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves." - Luke 22:26This is pertinent because when we read Titus, or the Timothys and read about the qualifications for elders and overseers, it's interesting to consider our cultural understandings (or perhaps misunderstandings) of these words.
A leader has authority over people. An elder is an example, not a leader. His role is to speak and live truth. How is that different from your concept of a leader? Or, perhaps more importantly, how proud are you to be a leader instead of an elder? And what do you find in the scripture about the kind of person you should be? Maybe the Bible is clear about it in Acts 5:31. Then again, I've yet to look at the original words to see how they're translated... Thoughts?
On Our Ways and Motivations (Proverbs 16:2)
The other day I was reading Proverbs (something which I do far too infrequently) and read this verse:
"All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit" - 16:2
It had me thinking of how we make our plans and think what we're doing is wise when in fact, our motivations are seldom (if ever) good.
For most of us we believe what we are doing is good or we would not do it, but only the Lord can know, weigh, and judge our spirit. To know where our hearts truly are.
Then later, in verse 7 it says, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes his enemies to be at peace with him."
Outside of a time of war this may seem insignificant, but what it says is that a man's ways CAN please the Lord. So at least occasionally man can do something out of good intention. Probably not without the help of the Lord but nonetheless, I found this to be an encouragement.
"All the ways of man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit" - 16:2
It had me thinking of how we make our plans and think what we're doing is wise when in fact, our motivations are seldom (if ever) good.
For most of us we believe what we are doing is good or we would not do it, but only the Lord can know, weigh, and judge our spirit. To know where our hearts truly are.
Then later, in verse 7 it says, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes his enemies to be at peace with him."
Outside of a time of war this may seem insignificant, but what it says is that a man's ways CAN please the Lord. So at least occasionally man can do something out of good intention. Probably not without the help of the Lord but nonetheless, I found this to be an encouragement.
Maybe Your Church Sucks Because It Lacks the Holy Spirit
I just finished Francis Chan's Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. To be honest I wasn't overwhelmingly impressed. I think the premise was good, but I also think people who are neglecting the Holy Spirit needed more of a kick in the back-side than he provided...
That said the interesting part of the book was in the introduction:
“If I were Satan and my ultimate goal was to thwart God’s kingdom and purposes, one of my main strategies would be to get churchgoers to ignore the Holy Spirit. The degree to which this has happened (and I would argue that it is a prolific disease in the body of Christ) is directly connected to the dissatisfaction most of us feel with and in the church. We understand something very important is missing. The feeling is so strong that some have run away from the church and God’s Word completely.
I believe that this missing something is actually a missing Someone – namely, the Holy Spirit. Without Him, people operate in their own strength and only accomplish human-sized results. The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. But when believers live in the power of the Holy Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice.”I've read many books lately which argue, "There is something wrong with the church today and we all know it." Of course then each book attempts to address the issue from a different angle. Some think our preaching is lacking, either because it's not expository preaching, or because it's over 20 minutes long. Some think we shouldn't be "preaching" from the front at all, but rather our problem is that we aren't doing church like the first century Christians.
I've entertained several of these ideas and think many of them pose helpful suggestions. But at the end of the day I'm not completely convinced. However Chan's argument that what the church today is missing is God Himself (or more specifically the Holy Spirit) well... that's a pretty convincing argument. We do attempt to do church on our own strength. We preach methodology and more methodology when it might be that all we really need is the Lord.
The evidence for this being the case, in my opinion, is in the fact that the Lord is using churches with all kinds of methodologies. The guy from the inner city preaches to the church in the suburbs about how the Lord would use them if they would just move to the inner city. Or the minister from nowhere Africa says, "If you guys would just do church like the folks in the desert in Africa, then you would understand."
But the truth is the Lord is using all sorts of churches. Granted many are failing as well (perhaps those void of the Holy Spirit). But all over, in just about every broken model of church, God is at work.
God is at work and I think this is because the Holy Spirit is big enough to work through our broken models. But are we big enough to allow Him in?
—
For the record I'm not convinced you have to be a charismatic church to let the Spirit work. I think the Spirit is even big enough to work with people who are quite uncomfortable with Him. Just so long as they're aware of the fact that they're uncomfortable, and open with God about their understanding — seeking Him anyhow.
He is Risen Indeed
Lest I let Easter pass without mention: how stinking awesome is it that we worship a God who was willing to humble Himself enough to come live with us? To put up with our foolishness face to face, eat our fallen food and use our stinky toilets? How awesome is it that He gave up His life as the ultimate sacrificial lamb for the sake of offering us again a relationship with Him?
How amazing is it that Jesus conquered the grave? Rolled the stone away and walked out in an act so ridiculous many never believed Him? How awesome is it that Christ led the way and now we have hope for life even after death? For our sins to not be counted against us?
Holy snap this is good news.
He is risen!
How amazing is it that Jesus conquered the grave? Rolled the stone away and walked out in an act so ridiculous many never believed Him? How awesome is it that Christ led the way and now we have hope for life even after death? For our sins to not be counted against us?
Holy snap this is good news.
He is risen!
The Newspaper is Dead
I don't write about tech stuff often (ever), though I read about it a lot. For that reason I considered submitting the following post elsewhere, but then I realized my opinion is not revered enough, nor are my thoughts innovative enough to warrant much for readership. And with that wonderful disclaimer, have yourself a treat:
The newspaper dead. I know you know this because you've read about it. Probably online. But I don't just mean the tree-destroying paper-pile we all loved as children because the print stuck so clearly to Silly Putty. I'm not talking just about that. I mean the news as we know it is dead. And here's how I know. I subscribed to The Daily for a week. The Daily is awesome, but at the end of the day it's nothing more than a reminder of a broken system.
The problem with the news is all the articles I don't care to read. And more than that, just about any writer worth reading is writing for their own website these days. I get my significant tech news from Techmeme, or Hacker News. And I listen to the NPR broadcast in the morning because it's under five minutes and keeps me tuned in to the world outside of tech.
But my RSS feed brings me Grubes, Shawn Blanc, a few theology writers, a poetry blog I read (and write for), and one or two friends of mine who happen to be excellent writers. I also have a feed from a Diigo account a friend of mine posts interesting articles to. And I read my RSS feeds ravenously every morning, several times throughout the day, and right before bed.
Reeder is the best publication I've ever known. Because it's 100% tailored to me, and because for (what is for me) the first time in RSS history, it is as beautiful as a regular publication; not to mention much much cleaner.
And Reeder isn't the only app. My wife doesn't know what RSS is, but with 15 minutes of my setting up a Google Reader account, and linking it to her Flipboard, she has never looked back. My wife adores Flipboard, and I'm sure she isn't alone. She subscribes to 0 paper magazines. To her credit she does occasionally buy some used magazines off some friends, but thats just so she can give our daughters something to cut up and glue when they're playing. She used to still need a few around for decorating inspiration, but Pinterest filled that final need. You could almost say it was the final pin in the coffin (publications may be dying, but cheese is still going strong).
But back to The Daily for a moment. This was the shining last hope for the news industry old guard. And it really is very very good — good looking, well written etc... But no one who has an opinion I actually care about writes for them. Maybe I could grow attached to a writer or two over time but what is the point of trying? We have become loyal to people, and no longer loyal to publications. It's a strange shift, but very real.
Also, did I mention The Daily takes forever to download unless you're on a great network connection? Reeder takes about 15 seconds even when connectivity is slow.
The news industry is out. News is here to stay. The writers will stay, their publishers are simply no longer needed.
The news is out because:
The newspaper dead. I know you know this because you've read about it. Probably online. But I don't just mean the tree-destroying paper-pile we all loved as children because the print stuck so clearly to Silly Putty. I'm not talking just about that. I mean the news as we know it is dead. And here's how I know. I subscribed to The Daily for a week. The Daily is awesome, but at the end of the day it's nothing more than a reminder of a broken system.
The problem with the news is all the articles I don't care to read. And more than that, just about any writer worth reading is writing for their own website these days. I get my significant tech news from Techmeme, or Hacker News. And I listen to the NPR broadcast in the morning because it's under five minutes and keeps me tuned in to the world outside of tech.
But my RSS feed brings me Grubes, Shawn Blanc, a few theology writers, a poetry blog I read (and write for), and one or two friends of mine who happen to be excellent writers. I also have a feed from a Diigo account a friend of mine posts interesting articles to. And I read my RSS feeds ravenously every morning, several times throughout the day, and right before bed.
Reeder is the best publication I've ever known. Because it's 100% tailored to me, and because for (what is for me) the first time in RSS history, it is as beautiful as a regular publication; not to mention much much cleaner.
And Reeder isn't the only app. My wife doesn't know what RSS is, but with 15 minutes of my setting up a Google Reader account, and linking it to her Flipboard, she has never looked back. My wife adores Flipboard, and I'm sure she isn't alone. She subscribes to 0 paper magazines. To her credit she does occasionally buy some used magazines off some friends, but thats just so she can give our daughters something to cut up and glue when they're playing. She used to still need a few around for decorating inspiration, but Pinterest filled that final need. You could almost say it was the final pin in the coffin (publications may be dying, but cheese is still going strong).
But back to The Daily for a moment. This was the shining last hope for the news industry old guard. And it really is very very good — good looking, well written etc... But no one who has an opinion I actually care about writes for them. Maybe I could grow attached to a writer or two over time but what is the point of trying? We have become loyal to people, and no longer loyal to publications. It's a strange shift, but very real.
Also, did I mention The Daily takes forever to download unless you're on a great network connection? Reeder takes about 15 seconds even when connectivity is slow.
The news industry is out. News is here to stay. The writers will stay, their publishers are simply no longer needed.
The news is out because:
1) There is too much fluff in the old news we don't care about and it's no longer necessarily bundled with the parts we do.RSS has been around for a long time and people have been predicting it's takeover of the old news for a long time. It's actually happening now, and we're just now figuring out how to make the details invisible to the folks doing the reading. And it's brilliant.
2) We've switched our loyalty from publications to individual writers. Tailored news includes writing from many different sources, including our friends.
3) RSS is a strange acronym, but things like Flipboard have made an understanding of it unnecessary. And apps like Reeder challenge 'big news' in beauty and usability.
4) RSS is fast.
Pride in Sharing the Gospel or, My Foolishness On Glorious Display
Recently I was sharing the gospel with a couple of church leaders at a church which was in pretty bad shape. Actually sharing is probably the wrong word, I was almost yelling to be perfectly honest. I had asked them their understanding of the gospel and they shared their explanation — all of which was correct, but completely lacking heart. FYI: if you can talk about how Jesus' death and resurrection affect your life without being moved by it, there is a good chance your church is in trouble.
Anyhow, there I am yelling that the gospel is supposed to be good news — the best news — not a drab story. Because its not about us, it's about how we can do absolutely nothing because it's already been done. I'm telling these pastors it's okay they feel like they aren't good enough because they genuinely aren't. But Christ is! And that's the good news. I rant for a while and I think what I said was encouraging.
So then I turn to my teammate and he looks at me and says, "That was awesome", and then I light up. "Man I'm good at preaching the gospel," I think! Oh my foolishness. I'm preaching the gospel one second, and truly believing it. Then the next second I'm denying it in my heart by thinking prideful thoughts. How can you (and by "you" clearly I mean "me") find pride in telling someone it's all about God instead of man?
There is no room for pride in the gospel, because the heart of the gospel message is our insufficiency. And the sufficiency of Christ alone.
I'm not sure I've been this embarrassed by anything I've done in ministry since I got a D in Gospels at seminary.
Thank goodness my foolishness is atoned for. Praise the Lord for the Gospel.
Anyhow, there I am yelling that the gospel is supposed to be good news — the best news — not a drab story. Because its not about us, it's about how we can do absolutely nothing because it's already been done. I'm telling these pastors it's okay they feel like they aren't good enough because they genuinely aren't. But Christ is! And that's the good news. I rant for a while and I think what I said was encouraging.
So then I turn to my teammate and he looks at me and says, "That was awesome", and then I light up. "Man I'm good at preaching the gospel," I think! Oh my foolishness. I'm preaching the gospel one second, and truly believing it. Then the next second I'm denying it in my heart by thinking prideful thoughts. How can you (and by "you" clearly I mean "me") find pride in telling someone it's all about God instead of man?
There is no room for pride in the gospel, because the heart of the gospel message is our insufficiency. And the sufficiency of Christ alone.
I'm not sure I've been this embarrassed by anything I've done in ministry since I got a D in Gospels at seminary.
Thank goodness my foolishness is atoned for. Praise the Lord for the Gospel.
What Kind of Leadership Does It Take?
The other day in talking with a friend this discussion came up. It is admittedly a bit odd, but I wanted to write it down more for my own sake than anything.
Do you ever wonder about what kind of a leader it takes to do a certain thing? For example, and this is a terrible one, Saddam Hussein. Sometimes it seems like you just need a Saddam in order to run Iraq. No other kind of leader can do it. It has to be someone with an iron grip, and little or no morals. Does this mean you leave him in control just so things can stay somewhat under control (I recognize this is relative at best)?
Or what about the leader of our organization? Maybe our company has succeeded at mission as much as it has because we've had overpowering leaders. Maybe they were walking with the Lord but it was actually their faults or sins that lead to the growth we've seen, because the patterns they set in place allow for growth in numbers, but not necessarily success in the Lord's eyes.
What would you do if you were a leader of a large organization and you discovered that making changes in your organization to be more Christ-like meant that your organization would lose people? Shrink? Produce smaller numbers? Does the organization you work for have the balls to make such changes?
The real question boils down to what you or your organization are willing to sacrifice to be in Gods will.
I sometimes wonder if our organization is as "successful" as it is because it's not as holy as it could be.
Business vs. Ministry: Legacy
Steve Jobs passed away recently. Apparently what he left behind is the most valuable company in the world. I'm thankful for his impact. I love my iPhone. I love my Mac. And my Apple stock is the only thing on which I haven't lost money in the last 6 years. His legacy is his products. His legacy is the company. And his legacy is his fame. He will forever be known as one of the boldest, craziest, most driven leaders in history. He basically invented the personal computer, and then what will probably be the future (or demise) of the PC — the tablet.
But what should the legacy be of one who is in ministry? I'd argue that what we'd love to leave behind is one or two Timothys. Maybe a Titus. Our ministry may have minimal impact (in contrast to Apple), but would still have been of outrageous success if it produced one man who would seriously carry the torch for Christ. If we can be even a small part of raising up someone who will dramatically impact the Kingdom, it is a huge deal.
The thing which makes these two different from one another is who recognizes the legacy. For the businessman, he needs the world to recognize him. For the minister, if no one in the world ever knows his name or his impact, that is no big deal, as long as Christ knows what he's done.
The minister lives to glorify his Savior in eternity. The businessman live to be glorified themselves, preferrably before they die.
The legacy the businessman seeks is tangible. A product or an impact that can be seen and felt, and most importantly, recognized my man.
The legacy the minister seeks may not be tangible. It is a person or an impact that will be recognized by his Savior.
Business vs. Ministry: Leadership
Maybe the differences are obvious to you when it comes to leadership in the business and leadership in the church, but the books on our shelves in the local libraries and the books in our churches don't make it clear that people are aware of the distinction. What makes the two different?
First:
In business you need a visionary leader who is driven and passionate about what he's doing. In ministry vision casting is great, passion is necessary, and leadership isn't inherently a dirty word, but the two look very different.
The businessman needs to rally others to his cause. He needs his whole company to catch a similar vision and get on board so they're all driven to the same thing. If people aren't on board with what the company is doing then they need to be pushed out the back door.
In ministry the leader needs to be rallying everyone to Christ. Casting vision for specific ministries is great, but when someone isn't on board they aren't pushed out the back door (or at least shouldn't be), but are instead encouraged to pursue their calling. Sometimes this means sending them elsewhere. The difference is someone engaged in ministry across town targeting the same people is not in opposition with us, in fact we're in this together. A leader in business draws people to himself and his vision. A leader in ministry releases, equips, and enables people to do what the Lord has gifted and called them to do.
I think of this quote:
"At present the military and economic might of Western nations is struggling to counter the threat of international terrorism. It is proving difficult to defeat an enemy made up of local cells working toward a common vision with high autonomy but shared values. They are flexible, responsive, opportunistic, influential, and effective. Together they seem to have an impact on our world far beyond what they would if they formed themselves into a structured, identifiable organization. Churches can and should adopt the same model with a greater impact as we 'wage peace' on the world." - Total Church by Chester and Timmis
Leaders can and should adopt the same model in the church. Ministry is about giving people large amounts of autonomy. Business is about drawing people together to be the biggest and best organization around.
Second:
The business leader leads from above. The ministry leader is a servant leader, he leads from below. The business leader's objective is to create confident, bold, self-sufficient leaders. The ministry leader's objective is to encourage humble, Christ-dependant, followers of the Lord. He must share his life, sins, fears and weaknesses with those he shepherds so they can learn how to lead in weakness. The business man must hide his sins, fears, and weakness so his people can learn how to fearlessly, boldly lead.
"But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. " - 1 Corinthians 1:27
"So the last will be first, and the first last.” - Matthew 20:16
Things are different in the Kingdom of God. They should therefore appear different.
First:
In business you need a visionary leader who is driven and passionate about what he's doing. In ministry vision casting is great, passion is necessary, and leadership isn't inherently a dirty word, but the two look very different.
The businessman needs to rally others to his cause. He needs his whole company to catch a similar vision and get on board so they're all driven to the same thing. If people aren't on board with what the company is doing then they need to be pushed out the back door.
In ministry the leader needs to be rallying everyone to Christ. Casting vision for specific ministries is great, but when someone isn't on board they aren't pushed out the back door (or at least shouldn't be), but are instead encouraged to pursue their calling. Sometimes this means sending them elsewhere. The difference is someone engaged in ministry across town targeting the same people is not in opposition with us, in fact we're in this together. A leader in business draws people to himself and his vision. A leader in ministry releases, equips, and enables people to do what the Lord has gifted and called them to do.
I think of this quote:
"At present the military and economic might of Western nations is struggling to counter the threat of international terrorism. It is proving difficult to defeat an enemy made up of local cells working toward a common vision with high autonomy but shared values. They are flexible, responsive, opportunistic, influential, and effective. Together they seem to have an impact on our world far beyond what they would if they formed themselves into a structured, identifiable organization. Churches can and should adopt the same model with a greater impact as we 'wage peace' on the world." - Total Church by Chester and Timmis
Leaders can and should adopt the same model in the church. Ministry is about giving people large amounts of autonomy. Business is about drawing people together to be the biggest and best organization around.
Second:
The business leader leads from above. The ministry leader is a servant leader, he leads from below. The business leader's objective is to create confident, bold, self-sufficient leaders. The ministry leader's objective is to encourage humble, Christ-dependant, followers of the Lord. He must share his life, sins, fears and weaknesses with those he shepherds so they can learn how to lead in weakness. The business man must hide his sins, fears, and weakness so his people can learn how to fearlessly, boldly lead.
"But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. " - 1 Corinthians 1:27
"So the last will be first, and the first last.” - Matthew 20:16
Things are different in the Kingdom of God. They should therefore appear different.
Business vs. Ministry: Bottom Line vs. Obdience
This probably should have preceded the last post. But no one has ever accused me of being a great maker of plans, so here you go.
Business is about money. Any corner you can cut to earn more money without affecting your product or business you cut because the goal is money. Now admittedly there are exceptions to this (those who live for affecting change in an industry), but the majority of folks are doing business for the sake of earning money. Money is the bottom line.
Ministry can't nearly so easily be measured in numbers. The number of people in your squishy chairs on Sundays, or the number of people you've shared your faith with this week. What do they represent? Numbers. And that is all. I can't find anywhere in the Word where we're commanded to have the biggest ministry we can have, can you? But obedience is demanded throughout. And you know what's really difficult to measure? Obedience.
I think of the advice David gave to his son Solomon before his death, “Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” - 1 Kings 2:2-3
I encourage you to show yourself a man and live a life of obedience, rather than a life in pursuit of greater numbers. If you're in ministry, your life is not about the bottom line.
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