{"id":5732,"date":"2012-02-04T12:14:44","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T19:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/?p=5732"},"modified":"2017-04-28T14:16:32","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T14:16:32","slug":"challenges-ripe-with-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iamsignificant.ca\/home\/significant-sustenance\/challenges-ripe-with-opportunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenges Ripe with Opportunity – Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether we realize it or not, all of us are leading in a multiplicity of ways all the time and while we may lead well verbally, our actions and posture may be saying something else!\u00a0 Leading well is as much an art form as it’s models and strategies.\u00a0\u00a0 One such example of this is how we handle obstacles, difficult people or daunting trends. How we respond to them can either launch us into innovation or leave us hunkering down in a wine press!<\/p>\n

There is no shortage of doomsday prophets proclaiming woe to Church.\u00a0 Yes, there are some legitimate challenges facing the Church, but we are talking about the same thing Jesus Himself declared “the gates of Hell would not overcome<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>“!\u00a0 So embedded in each challenge are opportunities for innovation, creativity, connection and renewed life!<\/p>\n

Here are 5 challenges facing the leaders of Christian communities and some of the opportunities within them:<\/h2>\n

People in General<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a fairly popular saying among pastors that while humorous, reveals a bit (okay – a lot!) of truth.\u00a0 The saying goes \u201cLeading a Church would be awesome if it weren’t for the people”<\/em>.\u00a0 The truth is, as a leader, we deal with all sorts of people in a variety of situations and this often reveals the \u201cbad and the ugly\u201d in people.\u00a0 The reality is, working with people is difficult – the complexity of interpersonal relations is a breeding ground for disputes and pettiness.<\/p>\n

While people are in fact a source of stress and challenge, I am encouraged to consider the incarnation – the idea that God meets us where we are at – yet while we were still sinners…\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span> This will help us to remember that while the Church is meant to be a loving reflection of the Kingdom, we are also on a journey of becoming – becoming communities of love and becoming people of love.\u00a0\u00a0 The process is facilitated in the context of community – a place where we are safe, accepted while we all deal with the issues of our personal and corporate life together. \u00a0This can be incredibly messy! \u00a0However, this perspective will help us approach our communities with more realistic expectations.<\/p>\n

Being a pastor is about being faithful to that which you are called and the quality of response to that call.\u00a0 You are responsible to<\/strong><\/span> the people you serve to that end.\u00a0 The challenge is to resist the temptation of feeling responsible for <\/strong><\/span>the people. Responsible for people’s behavior and choices – healthy or otherwise.\u00a0 Taking on the responsibility that rightly belongs to those you serve will stunt their growth, frustrate you, burn you out and set you up for a nasty co-dependency in your communities, which will never find you on the winning end!<\/p>\n

The opportunity is for our communities to grow up while we are realistic about the journey. \u00a0It also affords us the opportunity to learn to love and care for those we serve without feeling personally responsible for their decisions, even their decision to not grow in Christ. \u00a0You will be amazed how your stress level will diminish significantly, your passion for ministry will be renewed and a\u00a0revitalized, and increased creativity and innovation when you release people from your expectations, release yourself from the burden of false responsibility and simply love them where they are at!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

People are busy!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a reality of life in 2017. Life is often lived at a frenetic pace and balancing life, family, home – work all week, get kids to activities, manage the home, fall into bed and up early to start all over again – is a significant challenge.\u00a0 The weekend hits and it’s the opportunity to take care of the household chores that had to wait all week.\u00a0 Yah – we get it!\u00a0 It\u2019s busy!<\/p>\n

It is my conviction, that if the greatest social issue in the New Testament was widows and orphans, the greatest social issue today is a deep sense of loneliness. \u00a0Busy should not be interpreted as a cure for this loneliness. This loneliness does not relent with activity but with a genuine community where we can connect in meaningful ways with other people – in ways that we can be known as we truly are, and still feel safe and accepted.<\/p>\n

The key opportunity for us is to facilitate quality<\/strong>\u00a0contexts that facilitate this kind of connection with each other.\u00a0\u00a0 It is time to abandon the industrial revolution approach to ministry where efficiency is king, to the kinds of programs which are respectful of people’s lives, the time they have available and that is deliberate at addressing the loneliness issue in people’s lives. \u00a0These programs will tend to be simple and more\u00a0accommodating.<\/p>\n

While fewer in number, new programs are scheduled at times and locales which work for people in the lives they live.\u00a0\u00a0 These programs will not only seek to impart information and experience but foster healthy relationships that epitomize Kingdom community – this is more a process of gardening than engineering.<\/p>\n

Moreover, this is an opportunity\u00a0to help people learn to cultivate meaning and deeper relationship with Jesus, and\u00a0an invitation into something bigger than themselves, into a community, based upon love.\u00a0 A community where each person is responsible not only for themselves but to others in the community.\u00a0\u00a0 Healthy leadership will understand this is a process and will commit to a healthy leadership of serving, will watch out for legalism, exclusivity, and protectionism, and look to facilitate healthy open ways of relating to each other.<\/p>\n

People are sophisticated consumers<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our culture has produced proficient and somewhat discerning consumers.\u00a0 They are typically marketing – hype savvy folks who are becoming more discerning because they are having to learn in this economic climate that they can\u2019t have it all. \u00a0People are also coming to realize that most of today’s “product offerings” are deep in promise and shallow on delivering.<\/p>\n

\"\"The bottom line is – ‘what you win them with is what you have to keep them with’ – if you win them with entertainment and a good show, you have to keep them with it.\u00a0\u00a0 This requires money and people to keep the show going.\u00a0\u00a0 As recent research reveals, this style of ministry consumes more life (money, volunteers, etc.) than it produces.\u00a0 It also reinforces the consumerism within the church – a relationship of quid pro quo – what have you done for me recently?\u00a0 This inherently leads to spectators not necessarily participants or community. \u00a0This will continue to drive Pastors to make sure they have the “best show” in town.<\/p>\n

Stepping off the hamster wheel will help you re-position your ministry into niche’s where folks who are looking for a deeper relationship with God, community, and meaning are gathering, and allow you to allocate your resources in more effective ways that will gain momentum naturally instead of you having to keep the plates spinning. \u00a0Look for simple and meaningful ways to engage people in ways in which they can personally invest.\u00a0 As a sense of authentic, healthy community is cultivated, a sense of belonging, healthy ownership and fidelity will emerge.\u00a0\u00a0 The measure of success changes from quantity to quality, and more meaningful engagement with God, each other and ourselves. \u00a0This engages people in ways the “big show” cannot.<\/p>\n

Information<\/strong> Overload.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We live in an information age and we have access to information like no other time in history.\u00a0 Where in the past the elite would control the flow of information \/ knowledge, now that knowledge can be gained very easily from many sources.\u00a0 Educational systems are awakening to this reality and many are re-tooling the way in which they view education.\u00a0 Not just to impart information but the quality and kinds of information that are best suited to the learning needs of the culture.\u00a0 In addition,\u00a0 there is a growing emphasis on critical thinking – this serves to help students learn how to evaluate the information they have at their fingertips.<\/p>\n

This is a wonderful opportunity for us in Church communities.\u00a0 While foundational information will continue to be important, we need to help people to see the significance and relevance of faith in their real life today.\u00a0 Not shrinking back from science, psychology, social science or playing on the peripheries of politics and social issues but equipping the folks we serve to evaluate information in light of faith.\u00a0 If in fact, our faith is true (I believe it to be so), then we really don\u2019t have anything to be afraid of.\u00a0 The cultivation of Kingdom values for this end is key and then facilitate people learning to apply these values. \u00a0Learning to be comfortable with apparent paradoxes but having healthy, intelligent and faithful reasons for believing and acting the way they do.\u00a0 A little reminder:\u00a0 these have to be rooted in reality or they will crash and burn the first time they collide with the real world they live in!<\/p>\n

Propositional knowledge can puff up and experiential knowledge can blow up!\u00a0 The kinds of ways we know something needs to be balanced.\u00a0 We need both revelation and illumination, and our teaching cannot be isolated from real life experience.<\/p>\n

Suspicion of Institution and formalized structures<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is growing at an alarming rate.\u00a0 People are becoming disillusioned by institutional forms of almost anything – education, government and yes, church.\u00a0 The reality is, institution will always draw life to its centre and the health of the institution usually trumps the needs of the people.\u00a0 The institutions established by people to serve life, without exception, ends up being the largest consumer of life.\u00a0 Being aware of this fact will help us mitigate the consequences of this.<\/p>\n

The church is not on the decline, rather the ways people are doing church are changing.\u00a0 The transition to non-traditional forms of church is gaining momentum – not shrinking – \u00a0the challenge is the traditional ways of measuring and identifying are simply not applicable to what is happening.\u00a0 Regardless, there are a number of opportunities in this trend to reach and resource people for healthy faith even if the relationships manifest are not traditional.<\/p>\n

A few tweaks can also go a long way to addressing some of the key issues and spur some exciting and meaningful ministry. Understanding what exactly people are reacting to and looking for will provide wonderful opportunities for dialogue, to address people concerns and facilitate better, healthier communication<\/span>. \u00a0More over, it will help you minister to those<\/span><\/span> who may be searching for Church next in your midst. \u00a0Heavy handed, authority grabs, accusations, labels, and assumptions will only re-enforce their critique.<\/p>\n

Solid opportunities in the midst of<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Very real challenges <\/strong>for the\u00a0Church now<\/em> but are opportunities for Church Next.<\/em>\u00a0 Opportunities for creativity, innovation, deeper reach into society and greater impact!\u00a0 This is not for the faint of heart and will require a re-examination of core values and an honest assessment of how we express these values. \u00a0This will go a long way in helping us to determine how best to position our ministries to achieve our goals.\u00a0 We need to be courageous to examine our goals – most specifically our unstated goals, how we measure success in the Kingdom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our structures cannot be static and must change to serve life, to serve the people we serve.\u00a0 We will not succeed with a \u2018business as usual\u2019 approach to church and the need for new, responsive structures for community, discipleship, mission and leadership will no longer be able to attract, force, coerce, entice people to shape their lives around the efficient operation of our programs.\u00a0 The opportunity to recapture the apostolic nature of the Church and re-tool our structures and mindsets will go a long way to meet and meaningfully engage people where they are at, in real life.\u00a0 The challenges facing the church are real but the opportunities these challenges present are truly exciting.<\/p>\n

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