Lead a Worth Life

October 22, 2009

Paul says in Ephesians, “I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” There is a lot of meaning packed into a seemingly simple sentence.

First, you have been called. Did you know that? If not, maybe you haven’t been listening. So first comes listening for the voice of God (one major part of prayer, by the way). Then God speaks and you must discern the meaning and understand you’ve been called. Calling in this case is a noun, but it implies a verb–something  you do in response to God’s request.

Later in this section, Paul lists a bunch of callings to help his readers understand what he meant. The list is familiar including teachers, preachers, apostles and the like. That’s really sort of a guide. As society changes, types of jobs subtly change, too. We need all sorts of called people today.

I came to the conclusion years ago that the Bible as well as all great philosophers consistently teach how to live. The instructions are ancient–and they really haven’t changed much in over 5,000 years. But we still have trouble actually doing it–living a with-God life. Paul begs us to lead a life worthy of the calling. You can only do this by living a life (as Paul said in another place) where you pray without ceasing. It is so easy to get caught up in emotions, sticky situations, relationship problems, needs. That’s when you need to spiritually “step back” and look at yourself and your situation, ask God for help, and then return to the fray with the refreshed attitude and right-relationship with God. Then maybe we can approximate the worthy life.

Tags: ,
Posted in Christianity | Leave a Comment »

Praying

October 19, 2009

Yesterday continuing the study of Ephesians, Barb spoke on prayer (the last part of Chapter 3). This is where Paul prays for the church in Ephesus. Thing is, when Paul “prays” in these letters, it’s still part of his message or argument. The one thing that always leaves me wanting more information is — what did all these spiritual heroes we read about do when they prayed? Jesus went off by himself and prayed. Daniel took time off from his busy days running an empire to pray three times daily.

I’ve spent a lifetime praying, learning about prayer, learning from my praying–and I still wish that the Christian church taught how to pray instead of telling you that you should pray.

I’m not going to write an essay on how to pray here, but maybe it’s something I should work on. I just remember when I tried to teach a class on prayer. The students seemed to want only to read and discuss the book. When I tried to have silent time to work on an aspect of prayer, it was awkward. Perhaps that’s part of the answer. Prayer begins in silence. There’s nothing wrong with calling it prayer time when you flood over with requests for God to handle for you. But let’s go back to the source. What did Paul pray for the Ephesians to experience? It was the deep dwelling of God in the inner lives of the people. Richard Foster of Renovare calls it the “with-God” life. Paul in another place calls upon us to “pray without ceasing.” The Russian peasant detailed in a lovely little book called “The Way of the Pilgrim” tries to live out that admonishment of Paul’s.

First, we need to become comfortable in silence. This is perhaps more difficult for us in the twenty-first Century than at any other time in human history. In silence, you can hear God and converse with God. There are techniques to become silent. But these require work. Perhaps that’s it. Prayer is work. And often we take the easy way out to just demand things of God rather than living continually with Him. Are you “with God” right now? Do you need to work on that experience? I’ve done this for years and my answer to the second question is still “yes.”

Tags: ,
Posted in Christianity, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Awareness

October 17, 2009

I’ve been pondering the first part of Ephesians–what are God’s spiritual blessings. As I settled into the whirlpool at the YMCA yesterday after my workout, it occurred to me that too often in my contemplation or other prayers–or even my work as a writer–that I sink into some sort of deadened state. Then the word (not The Word, I suppose) came to me–Alert. When I was first learning meditation, a teacher said you should be in a state of “restful awareness.” I’ve been resting without the aware part. Not a good combination. I’m sinking into a state of reduced energy and not being aware of the presence of God and others and not being alert to the opportunities and teachings that could be unfolding for me.

Time to check my energy level and restore the “aware” part of restful awareness. That’s related to another “a” word, attitude. Got to get them all correct.

Tags: ,
Posted in Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Every Blessing

October 13, 2009

One of my commentaries says Paul’s opening in Ephesians that includes God providing every spiritual blessing is derived from a common synagogue prayer in his time that his readers would have understood. However, a joy of reading with fresh eyes includes gaining new understanding. What would it mean to live as if you had every spiritual blessing? I recently heard a talk by noted management writer Gary Hamel where he quoted survey respondents saying that they saw no difference in the way their Christian friends lived and anyone else. Does that apply to you? Are you living as if you have received every spiritual blessing from God?

OK, that’s probably not something you attain as final during your life. Rather, it’s more like a guide during the journey. Few of us are perfect, but all of us can show something of the indwelling of the Spirit. Right?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Christianity, Spirituality | 1 Comment »

Every Spiritual Blessing

October 10, 2009

In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul says God gives every spiritual blessing. While pondering this passage, I heard a talk by Kevin Kim at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. He talked about the story of Adam and Eve living in the Garden. They lived in a state of grace–their lives were a relationship with God, they walked with God, had no shame and there were no rules. Well, except one. They were not to pursue the knowledge of good and evil. God decided what was good.

Eve one day ponders “why does God  get to decide what’s good for us?” So they decide to “eat the fruit” that is decide for themselves what’s good for them. The result was loss of intimate relationship with God, shame and sin. Jesus came to restore that natural order of God–relationship with God and life in grace. That would be every spiritual blessing

Tags: , ,
Posted in Christianity | Leave a Comment »

Believing is Seeing

September 8, 2009

Well, actually, I should say “believing leads to seeing.” Steve Leveen, founder and owner of the mail-order “tools for readers” company Levenger, tells a story of not being able to see something because “we see what we look for.” I have a T-shirt from a conference with the quote “some things must be believed to be seen.”

Have you seen God alive and at work in the world? Have you looked for it? I was talking with someone this weekend who has come to the conclusion that there is nothing wrong with his hearing–it’s his focus. I think that this affliction hits all of us at times. Where is your attention? Your focus? Are you looking for God? Careful, you might just experience Him.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Christianity, Spirituality | Leave a Comment »

Where do you lead from

August 25, 2009

More from the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. Tim Keller (“The Prodigal God”) added more insights about the lack of spiritual vitality that rests in so many churches. His telling of the parable of the Prodigal Son is that both brothers were alienated from their Father, and that both brothers wanted his money. But one eventually was saved through his badness; the other was lost through his “goodness.”

His takeaways–get it in your heart that you don’t do ministry to save yourself; when you teach or preach, move beyond Biblical principles to teach the Gospel.

David Gibbons leads a “Third Culture” (that is, multi-cultural) church. One of his teachings is that it’s the people. Not their skills, ambition, but their story. Do you take the time to know a person’s story? We all have a story of our life, and we all want to share it. Listen to the people. Therefore, it’s all about relationships. “We don’t need more visionaries. We need more relaters,” he said. He now spend 70% of his time on leadership development (equipping leaders) where he used to spend at least that amount of time on sermon and Sunday morning program development.

Where do you go to develop spiritual vitality within yourself? Can it be developed in your church? Are you equipping people for the journey–or loading them down with rules?

Tags: , ,
Posted in Christianity, Leadership | Leave a Comment »

Overcome Entropy

August 19, 2009

The point of Gary Hamel’s presentation at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit is overcoming organizational entropy. Entropy, you may recall from your high school physics (or maybe not), is the Second Law of Thermodynamics and may be stated “in any natural process there exists an inherent tendency towards the dissipation of useful energy.” Hamel borrows another analogy from physics saying, “The problem is inertia.” In a turbulent world, is your church (or other organization) non-responding by doing the same old stuff and losing its energy?

Organizational entropy happens when visions become policies, which become procedures, which become rules, which become habits. He asks an interesting question–why is it in our organizations we must obtain change and new energy through “decapitation”–that is, cutting off the head (person)? It’s similar to the only way change comes in a political dictatorship.

Analysis is of no use with a prescription. Hamel challenges us to become “enemies of entropy.” He gives us ideas.

You can become an enemy of entropy in these ways:
1. Overcome temptation to take refuge in denial.  You see this when people dismiss, rationalize, mitigate current reality. Face the facts. Treat every belief about how to “do” the church as a hypothesis–that is an explanation of reality to be tested to assure that it’s still valid. Humility is a survival strategy, so listen to others. Especially listen to renegades and dissidents. They often see new ways, and if they aren’t successful in trying new things in their organizations, they go off and start new, competing, organizations.

2. Generate more strategic options. Make change more exciting than standing pat. Innovation always follows power law, that is the sum of the “little” ideas turns out to be as great if not greater than the “big hits” at the beginning. People are so anxious to find the one big idea that we don’t generate enough ideas to find the one that works.

3. Deconstruct what you already believe about how you do church. Ask what hasn’t changed in the last 4-5 years. Compare yourself to others in community. What are we all doing? Identify that and look at how to do it differently.

4. This is not feasible in top-down, autocratic structures. Is there a small group at the top who has a monopoly on ideas? The mental model of a leadership team is dangerous to those people. That’s why it’s so hard for ideas to come from the bottom. That’s why the dissidents leave and start their own, often competing, organizations. An alternative model, for example, is the WL Gore Co., inventor of GoreTex fabric. The creed is “I want people who innovate all the time and fight bureaucracy none of the time.”

Leaders today need to mobilize, connect and support people in the organization. Look for types of people who dynamic, malleable and experimental.

Or, as Hamel summed up, “Try a little dis-organized religion.”

Posted in Leadership | Leave a Comment »

Leadership Differently

August 14, 2009

Gary Hamel is a noted professor of management, director of the Management Innovation Lab and author of Leading The Revolution and The Future of Management. His wide-ranging keynote at the Willow Creek Association Leadership Summit Aug. 6 will be covered in several posts.

He began with a question to  ponder–Are you changing as much as the world around you?

You cannot possibly have missed how much the world is changing. Are you (singular) as a leader changing at least as much in your ideas and attitudes as the world? Are you (plural), the church, changing as much as the world around you?

I don’t mean (and neither did Hamel) that you change your core beliefs. Rather, are you changing how you “do church”?

As you ponder that, answer the question “What if the church stood out with spiritual vitality in a sea of indifference?”

Tags: ,
Posted in Leadership | Leave a Comment »

Leadership Summit

August 13, 2009

The first session was a panel discussion on hiring, firing and board meltdowns. If’ you’ve been involved either with churches or businesses for a long time, you’ve dealt with all three. Experiencing a board meltdown is not an experience anyone wants to duplicate.

The panel included Carly Fiorina, deposed CEO of Hewlett Packard, who has experience all three. She has recently had a life-changing experience and has become an active Christian. To be honest, I think there is still some defensiveness with her HP experience, but she has some valid insights. Think about these suggestions from the panel as you work with or on your boards.

Fiorina noted that if the board is not functional, then neither will be the organization.

A board is a team gathered for a specific purpose. Each member should understand the purpose, what they do to agree and how they agree to disagree. It’s a good thing to reflect at the end of meetings about whether the meeting moved the organization forward, if members can disagree about an issue without being disagreeable or disfunctional.

Membership of a board should be diverse so as to incorporate people of different skills and backgrounds. There should be term limits in order to bring in fresh ideas–and to prevent burnout. Boards should be smaller, perhaps less than 15.

A final warning–if you lose the team dynamics, then the organization loses its immune system.

Tags:
Posted in Leadership | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »