this might be quite long.
This weekend I attended a leader-training. It is based on john maxwells material. The thing is supposed to last for three years, meeting every half a year. I did have some good ideas and encouragement, but there were also stuff I couldn’t quite say resonated in me.
But anyways, it’s a good process to be in. this search of a biblical leadership.
Don’t quite know if I will be attending the training next time, but we´ll see.
Anyways with all may I have the grace to test everything and hold on to the good.
Also it was great that through niinas blog I came across an article about “kingdom leadership in the postmodern era.” (http://christianity.ca/church/leadership/2005/05.000.html)
Good stuff. I thought about passing some lines from it here.
The leadership style that once dominated our culture is becoming passé. Instead of the Lone Ranger, we have Frodo: the Clint Eastwoods and Sylvester Stallones are replaced by ordinary men. Frodo, Aragorn and Neo (the Matrix) are self-questioning types who rely on those around them for strength, clarity and purpose. Indeed, while they have a sense of the need and a willingness to sacrifice themselves, they may not even know the first step on the journey.
Postmodern people are not looking for a CEO, CFO, COO CIO, or any other three-letter combinations you can think of that starting with the big "C." Today, we are looking for the poet, the prophet, and the storyteller—the narrator. We don't "lead" people as much as listen to the needs of people and guide them along the path of faith. (The community direction is not based on the desires of one person, but grows from the leader's understanding of the collective vision.)
I think primarily, you don't lead, you example. Notice I did not say, "you lead by example"—because that is somewhat impossible, and all the time doubtful. To "example" you simply are you.
At a deeper level there exists the unspoken assumption that leaders have more to give than others, and that those who "follow" need us more than we need them. In reality, the strong offer one gift, and the weak another. Until we die to the idea that we are somehow "ahead of" or "above" the community of faith around us, we will continue to be frustrated in our attempts to have an authentic community that combines real relationships with real discipleship. Jean Vanier writes,
"We do not want two communities—the helpers and the helped; we want one. That is the theory, but in practice there is a tendency for the assistants to make their own community and be satisfied with that. Truly to make community with the poorest and identify with them is harder and demands a death to self." 6
Modernism (and much of what was called "discipleship") stressed "getting the right answer" (as if knowing something automatically transfers to lifestyle); post-modernism stresses "does it work"? It is important to give people space and time, within the context of a community of faith, to journey with us. Thus, a teacher of great worth in postmodern society isn't the one with the right answers, but the one who can ask the right questions, and then walk the road of discovery with others.
Where moderns trust the expert, postmoderns tend to respond or react to a person's energy or person more than to what he or she actually says or does. If postmoderns trust the who of someone, the what is negotiable and open to maturation. Postmoderns will go along for the ride and enjoy the process even when the goals are not clear so long as the who is trustworthy.
The open-ended question of how we follow Jesus in a post-modern society can best be dealt with in the Hebraic learning tradition, which views the teacher (leader, pastor, narrator or whatever) as a co-traveler with the learner on a shared journey towards truth. For the post-modern person, there is as much value in the question as there is in the answer, so reaching the goal becomes less of an obsession
First, we have to trust that what appears to be chaos may hide an incipient new order. We may not see the new order as it is emerging.
"Our God is a God of beginnings. There is in him no redundancy or circularity. Thus, if his church wants to be faithful to his revelation, it will be completely mobile, fluid, renascent, bubbling, creative, inventive, adventurous, and imaginative." 12
Second, quantum physics is teaching us that we don't need to understand and control the variables before order emerges, and leadership often arises spontaneously where it isn't expected.
Third, we have envisioned leadership as an individual and lonely pursuit. This worked in the modern world of commerce, and it works for an audience, but the practice is damaging to organic and communal life.
Unfortunately, we have built congregations rather than communities, buildings rather than temples of living stones, and audiences rather than families of faith. Building communities requires completely different skills than building an audience.
Its a good thought that leadership isnt about about power, confidence, knowledge, and position. makes it a bit easier.
I think that I will still post something from the leadership training as well, but this post is beginning to be so long already, and its getting late, so maybe I can do that later. and the stuff about prague is still coming :)
But anyways, it’s a good process to be in. this search of a biblical leadership.
Don’t quite know if I will be attending the training next time, but we´ll see.
Anyways with all may I have the grace to test everything and hold on to the good.
Also it was great that through niinas blog I came across an article about “kingdom leadership in the postmodern era.” (http://christianity.ca/church/leadership/2005/05.000.html)
Good stuff. I thought about passing some lines from it here.
The leadership style that once dominated our culture is becoming passé. Instead of the Lone Ranger, we have Frodo: the Clint Eastwoods and Sylvester Stallones are replaced by ordinary men. Frodo, Aragorn and Neo (the Matrix) are self-questioning types who rely on those around them for strength, clarity and purpose. Indeed, while they have a sense of the need and a willingness to sacrifice themselves, they may not even know the first step on the journey.
Postmodern people are not looking for a CEO, CFO, COO CIO, or any other three-letter combinations you can think of that starting with the big "C." Today, we are looking for the poet, the prophet, and the storyteller—the narrator. We don't "lead" people as much as listen to the needs of people and guide them along the path of faith. (The community direction is not based on the desires of one person, but grows from the leader's understanding of the collective vision.)
I think primarily, you don't lead, you example. Notice I did not say, "you lead by example"—because that is somewhat impossible, and all the time doubtful. To "example" you simply are you.
At a deeper level there exists the unspoken assumption that leaders have more to give than others, and that those who "follow" need us more than we need them. In reality, the strong offer one gift, and the weak another. Until we die to the idea that we are somehow "ahead of" or "above" the community of faith around us, we will continue to be frustrated in our attempts to have an authentic community that combines real relationships with real discipleship. Jean Vanier writes,
"We do not want two communities—the helpers and the helped; we want one. That is the theory, but in practice there is a tendency for the assistants to make their own community and be satisfied with that. Truly to make community with the poorest and identify with them is harder and demands a death to self." 6
Modernism (and much of what was called "discipleship") stressed "getting the right answer" (as if knowing something automatically transfers to lifestyle); post-modernism stresses "does it work"? It is important to give people space and time, within the context of a community of faith, to journey with us. Thus, a teacher of great worth in postmodern society isn't the one with the right answers, but the one who can ask the right questions, and then walk the road of discovery with others.
Where moderns trust the expert, postmoderns tend to respond or react to a person's energy or person more than to what he or she actually says or does. If postmoderns trust the who of someone, the what is negotiable and open to maturation. Postmoderns will go along for the ride and enjoy the process even when the goals are not clear so long as the who is trustworthy.
The open-ended question of how we follow Jesus in a post-modern society can best be dealt with in the Hebraic learning tradition, which views the teacher (leader, pastor, narrator or whatever) as a co-traveler with the learner on a shared journey towards truth. For the post-modern person, there is as much value in the question as there is in the answer, so reaching the goal becomes less of an obsession
First, we have to trust that what appears to be chaos may hide an incipient new order. We may not see the new order as it is emerging.
"Our God is a God of beginnings. There is in him no redundancy or circularity. Thus, if his church wants to be faithful to his revelation, it will be completely mobile, fluid, renascent, bubbling, creative, inventive, adventurous, and imaginative." 12
Second, quantum physics is teaching us that we don't need to understand and control the variables before order emerges, and leadership often arises spontaneously where it isn't expected.
Third, we have envisioned leadership as an individual and lonely pursuit. This worked in the modern world of commerce, and it works for an audience, but the practice is damaging to organic and communal life.
Unfortunately, we have built congregations rather than communities, buildings rather than temples of living stones, and audiences rather than families of faith. Building communities requires completely different skills than building an audience.
Its a good thought that leadership isnt about about power, confidence, knowledge, and position. makes it a bit easier.
I think that I will still post something from the leadership training as well, but this post is beginning to be so long already, and its getting late, so maybe I can do that later. and the stuff about prague is still coming :)
posted by laura at 11:01 PM
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