Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Signs of Community Transformation
Jay Van Groningen is the Executive Director for the Communities First Association whose mission is to provide "a supportive learning environment, resources, and tools to those who transform communities." What follows are some thoughts from Jay about the signs of community transformation.
Moving Christians and congregations in their thinking from individual betterment (which is good) to community transformation (which is more impactful) is very challenging. I have been thinking through this week, How can one tell if a church is engaging in Community Transformation? What are some indicators of progress?
Many churches have language, liturgy, leadership, programs and practices for Ministry of the Word and sacraments. What would the language, liturgy, leadership, programs and practices be for a church that was equally focused on community transformation?
Here are some initial thoughts: What do you think?
A. Congregational Readiness: Does the congregation have a target neighborhood? Yes or No. What is the specific neighborhood that the congregation has committed to? How can a church leave a redemptive (and sustainable) imprint in a community, if it does not have a declared neighborhood as its focus for transformation?
Does the congregation have a community transformation leader (or team)? Yes or No? Who is teaching and guiding the congregation in its community transformation engagements? The work will not be sustainable without a leader or team who leads/guides the transformation story over time.
B. Community Transformation Process: Is there a systematic (and ongoing) listening process with the community that results in: (1) Discovering and cataloging neighbors (and members) gifts; Is the gift information transparent, accessible and shared with the community for the common good?
(2) Discovering what residents care about, enough to work on it with support from the congregation. Is there an agenda for change that is shared with the community that arises from the listening process? Is the agenda co-owned by church and community?
(3) Are there community action groups (with congregants and neighbors) forming around the agenda items and working on the things they care about? Is there a shared venue(s) for reporting back to congregation and neighbors the progress being made on their agenda?
(4) Is there evidence of cooperation with other congregations, associations and institutions in the community in accomplishing the agenda? Is there evidence of Church(es) raising the voice of the poor to change the systems that perpetuate poverty?
C. Sign Posts of Progress:
Moving Christians and congregations in their thinking from individual betterment (which is good) to community transformation (which is more impactful) is very challenging. I have been thinking through this week, How can one tell if a church is engaging in Community Transformation? What are some indicators of progress?
Many churches have language, liturgy, leadership, programs and practices for Ministry of the Word and sacraments. What would the language, liturgy, leadership, programs and practices be for a church that was equally focused on community transformation?
Here are some initial thoughts: What do you think?
A. Congregational Readiness: Does the congregation have a target neighborhood? Yes or No. What is the specific neighborhood that the congregation has committed to? How can a church leave a redemptive (and sustainable) imprint in a community, if it does not have a declared neighborhood as its focus for transformation?
Does the congregation have a community transformation leader (or team)? Yes or No? Who is teaching and guiding the congregation in its community transformation engagements? The work will not be sustainable without a leader or team who leads/guides the transformation story over time.
B. Community Transformation Process: Is there a systematic (and ongoing) listening process with the community that results in: (1) Discovering and cataloging neighbors (and members) gifts; Is the gift information transparent, accessible and shared with the community for the common good?
(2) Discovering what residents care about, enough to work on it with support from the congregation. Is there an agenda for change that is shared with the community that arises from the listening process? Is the agenda co-owned by church and community?
(3) Are there community action groups (with congregants and neighbors) forming around the agenda items and working on the things they care about? Is there a shared venue(s) for reporting back to congregation and neighbors the progress being made on their agenda?
(4) Is there evidence of cooperation with other congregations, associations and institutions in the community in accomplishing the agenda? Is there evidence of Church(es) raising the voice of the poor to change the systems that perpetuate poverty?
C. Sign Posts of Progress:
- There is movement from “ministry to/for” those people to “ministry with” our neighbors
- There is movement from “inward” to “outward” focus in ministry
- There is movement from “simple responsiveness” to “more complex” (w)holistic engagements that address root causes.
- There is movement from “mono cultural” to “multi-cultural” engagement
- There is movement from economic homogeneity to economic heterogeneity
- There is movement from “commuter-based” ministry to “geographic-based” ministry.
- There is movement from “church-centric” to Kingdom-centric language and frameworks.
- There is movement from focusing on “problems” to “future/vision” oriented focus
- There is movement from understanding stewardship of “our gifts” to stewarding of the “community gifts”.
- There is a “relocation” strategy for changing the residential mix in poor communities (a healthy mix of low, middle and upper-income residents).
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
My Dad Used To Have This Shirt....
So, when I was little, my dad (Jim) used to have this shirt that said "Why do people kill people who kill people to teach people that killing people is wrong?" ( I googled to find an image of the shirt, but all I got was a bunch of creepy zombie pictures from the 80s...) Anyway. As a Christian, I believe we have a responsibility to form a view on political issues from a Christ-centered perspective. I know I know...separation of church and "staters" might not like that statement. But for me, it's impossible to separate my relationship from God and the moral implications of social issues in today's society. The Death Penalty is one of those issues that requires some soul searching right? I came across this article today in the Huffington Post's religion (hate that word) section and it got me thinking about this all over again. Are there times when the Dealth Penalty is justified? OR is killing someone for killing someone ever the right thing to do?
~ Ashley
~ Ashley
Thursday, November 25, 2010
thanksgiving
Here I am, sitting in the dark on my little macbook. not the cool silver one...the old white one. It's in amazingly good condition...I take care of my things! My tummy is full of home cooked food & my eyes are sore from looking online for Black Friday deals.
Today was great.
Small and quiet, but great. Aside from there being two cooks in the kitchen (if you get my drift) we had a very very nice Thanksgiving day together, just the three of us.
This time of year, I always remember the Thanksgivings when I didn't have anywhere to go. One year I volunteered at the Salvation Army and then ate dinner at wholefoods & I'd wonder, didn't anyone think to invite me over? Doesn't anyone hope I have a family to spend the holiday with. Have you ever been out of town for a holiday? Have you ever invited people into your family for a day? What was that like?
Thankful,
Ashley
Today was great.
Small and quiet, but great. Aside from there being two cooks in the kitchen (if you get my drift) we had a very very nice Thanksgiving day together, just the three of us.
This time of year, I always remember the Thanksgivings when I didn't have anywhere to go. One year I volunteered at the Salvation Army and then ate dinner at wholefoods & I'd wonder, didn't anyone think to invite me over? Doesn't anyone hope I have a family to spend the holiday with. Have you ever been out of town for a holiday? Have you ever invited people into your family for a day? What was that like?
Thankful,
Ashley
Sunday, November 7, 2010
How Christian Consumers Ruin Pastors and Cheat the Mission of God
The following is from the QIdeas blog (www.qideas.org). It is a challenging and honest look at a common codependent relationship many pastors and parishioners are experiencing that causes the whole church to be ineffective ministers to their communities. At One Church we are striving for healthy and strong collaborative efforts between churches so we may together serve our neighbors. For this to occur we must change our perspectives from "it's all about us," to "it's all about serving others."
Millions of Americans live in the shadow of churches that have become consumer Christian centers, but pastors are ruined and the mission of God is cheated when consumers enjoy goods and services from their local church. In their book, God is Back, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge described the state of the American church as the “Disneyfication of God” or “Christianity Lite – a bland and sanitized faith that is about as dramatic as the average shopping mall.”
Believers who think like customers contribute to the underachieving church in America. The damages move far beyond ineptness at engaging the mission of God. The incessant demands of a consumer congregation causes irreparable damage to those who lead such congregations. Some of the consumer demands are based on pastoral perception too. Pastors often experience chronic anxiety because they fear their flock.
Robin Swift is the Director of Health Programs for the Clergy Health Initiative at Duke Divinity School. She has been a part of extensive research by Duke to understand the challenge of being a pastor. In a recent NPR interview, Swift talked about realities faced by pastors: “Pastors, because of their calling, put everybody else first and have a difficult time naming their needs for self-care, and they also, like the Marines or emergency room staff, expect a level of high functioning from each other.”
Wayne Cordeiro, founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii has experienced incredible popularity among Christian leaders worldwide. His success is well chronicled through thousands of attendees at New Hope and planting over 100 churches in the Pacific Rim. Yet he was transparent about his near personal collapse in spite of his success in his book, Leading on Empty:
“I was out on a run on that balmy California evening. One minute I was jogging along the sidewalk, and the next minute I was sitting on the curb sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't stop, and I did not have a clue what was happening to me . . . For over thirty years I had invested my life in Christian ministry . . . But now I wasn’t sure I could keep going.”
Such situations make one wonder if the damage (self-inflicted and from consumer Christians) is inevitable in a modern care-giving profession like the pastorate? Are pastors destined to be victims of their own calling? What do they contribute to the situation?
I believe the mentality in the pew (or cushioned chair) may have another contributing factor: pastoral codependency.
What is a codependent? It's "loosely defined as someone who exhibits too much, and often inappropriate, caring for persons who depend on him or her” (I got this from Wikipedia—because you can trust everything there.) A “codependent” is one side of a relationship between mutually needy people.
A codependent pastor needs a needy congregation. And we have too many of both. But relishing the applause that comes from being the local church superstar often results in performance anxiety and utter disappointment in an underachieving church. It is a vicious cycle where everyone ends up disappointed—including God, I think.
The pastor who insists on being the focus of local ministry trains the body of Christ to sin; believers who demand all ministry to be done by “professionals” lead the pastor to sin. So who started all of this dysfunction? Was it the needy, consumer-driven congregation? Or was it the pastor, hungry for significance? It’s hard to tell. But to break the cycle, the enablers must stop enabling. God cannot receive glory in the church when pastors are always up front receiving the credit and doing the things that their consumerist congregants should be doing.
We need to understand everyone’s role. When pastors do for people what God has called the people to do for themselves, everyone gets hurt and the mission of God is hindered. God designed the church to act as the body of Christ, and bodies have more than one part. Here is what it should look like: “Based on the gift they have received, everyone should use it to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10). “A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 12:7). The church is most alive when every believer serves in God's mission where assigned by the Spirit.
Congregants should release their pastors to escape the madness by doing what they should have been doing already: caring for each other. Philip Yancey addressed the problem when he said, “I wonder how much more effective our churches would be if we made the pastor’s spiritual health – not the pastor’s efficiency – our number one priority.”
But ultimately the pastor’s spiritual health does not rest only with the congregation but ultimately on the shoulders of the pastor. They should give themselves permission to release undue burdens, and learn to say “no” when necessary. They should visit their doctor for a check-up to get a professional opinion on where they are physically and emotionally. And by all means church leaders should continue this conversation with peers and church leadership.
These are serious issues in our faith communities if we truly believe that God desires to work through His church. We risk more than the implementation of poor practices. The very mission of God is at stake.
-----
Other than pastoral codependency, how does a consumerist mentality affect churches? In your opinion, what can be done to curb this trend?
-----
Editor's note: The artwork above by Vrno is quoted from here.
Millions of Americans live in the shadow of churches that have become consumer Christian centers, but pastors are ruined and the mission of God is cheated when consumers enjoy goods and services from their local church. In their book, God is Back, John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge described the state of the American church as the “Disneyfication of God” or “Christianity Lite – a bland and sanitized faith that is about as dramatic as the average shopping mall.”
Believers who think like customers contribute to the underachieving church in America. The damages move far beyond ineptness at engaging the mission of God. The incessant demands of a consumer congregation causes irreparable damage to those who lead such congregations. Some of the consumer demands are based on pastoral perception too. Pastors often experience chronic anxiety because they fear their flock.
Robin Swift is the Director of Health Programs for the Clergy Health Initiative at Duke Divinity School. She has been a part of extensive research by Duke to understand the challenge of being a pastor. In a recent NPR interview, Swift talked about realities faced by pastors: “Pastors, because of their calling, put everybody else first and have a difficult time naming their needs for self-care, and they also, like the Marines or emergency room staff, expect a level of high functioning from each other.”
Wayne Cordeiro, founding pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, Hawaii has experienced incredible popularity among Christian leaders worldwide. His success is well chronicled through thousands of attendees at New Hope and planting over 100 churches in the Pacific Rim. Yet he was transparent about his near personal collapse in spite of his success in his book, Leading on Empty:
“I was out on a run on that balmy California evening. One minute I was jogging along the sidewalk, and the next minute I was sitting on the curb sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn't stop, and I did not have a clue what was happening to me . . . For over thirty years I had invested my life in Christian ministry . . . But now I wasn’t sure I could keep going.”
Such situations make one wonder if the damage (self-inflicted and from consumer Christians) is inevitable in a modern care-giving profession like the pastorate? Are pastors destined to be victims of their own calling? What do they contribute to the situation?
I believe the mentality in the pew (or cushioned chair) may have another contributing factor: pastoral codependency.
What is a codependent? It's "loosely defined as someone who exhibits too much, and often inappropriate, caring for persons who depend on him or her” (I got this from Wikipedia—because you can trust everything there.) A “codependent” is one side of a relationship between mutually needy people.
A codependent pastor needs a needy congregation. And we have too many of both. But relishing the applause that comes from being the local church superstar often results in performance anxiety and utter disappointment in an underachieving church. It is a vicious cycle where everyone ends up disappointed—including God, I think.
The pastor who insists on being the focus of local ministry trains the body of Christ to sin; believers who demand all ministry to be done by “professionals” lead the pastor to sin. So who started all of this dysfunction? Was it the needy, consumer-driven congregation? Or was it the pastor, hungry for significance? It’s hard to tell. But to break the cycle, the enablers must stop enabling. God cannot receive glory in the church when pastors are always up front receiving the credit and doing the things that their consumerist congregants should be doing.
We need to understand everyone’s role. When pastors do for people what God has called the people to do for themselves, everyone gets hurt and the mission of God is hindered. God designed the church to act as the body of Christ, and bodies have more than one part. Here is what it should look like: “Based on the gift they have received, everyone should use it to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10). “A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 12:7). The church is most alive when every believer serves in God's mission where assigned by the Spirit.
Congregants should release their pastors to escape the madness by doing what they should have been doing already: caring for each other. Philip Yancey addressed the problem when he said, “I wonder how much more effective our churches would be if we made the pastor’s spiritual health – not the pastor’s efficiency – our number one priority.”
But ultimately the pastor’s spiritual health does not rest only with the congregation but ultimately on the shoulders of the pastor. They should give themselves permission to release undue burdens, and learn to say “no” when necessary. They should visit their doctor for a check-up to get a professional opinion on where they are physically and emotionally. And by all means church leaders should continue this conversation with peers and church leadership.
These are serious issues in our faith communities if we truly believe that God desires to work through His church. We risk more than the implementation of poor practices. The very mission of God is at stake.
-----
Other than pastoral codependency, how does a consumerist mentality affect churches? In your opinion, what can be done to curb this trend?
-----
Editor's note: The artwork above by Vrno is quoted from here.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Looking for Others Who Share a One Church Vision
Most believers would agree, I image, that the Body of Christ, the Church, is meant to serve our communities collaboratively. Yet, most congregations work and serve independently from the other churches in their communities. Even churches of the same denomination or persuasion seldom come together to seek out the concerns and needs of their commuinities and then plan together to serve those needs.
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Jesus reveals his heart for his church as ones who see others in need, are moved with compassion for them, and then simply go to them and do whatever they can to help.
I'm convinced that an intentional effort to mobilize the local Church is needed. If you share this vision and would like to discuss some possibilities, please post your reply to this blog.
A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) Jesus reveals his heart for his church as ones who see others in need, are moved with compassion for them, and then simply go to them and do whatever they can to help.
I'm convinced that an intentional effort to mobilize the local Church is needed. If you share this vision and would like to discuss some possibilities, please post your reply to this blog.
A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
My daughter gave me Pastor Pete Scazzero's, of New Life Fellowship in Queens, New York, little treasure Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: Unleash the Power of Life in Christ
, two summers ago; right when I was going through a tremendous life change. I got about a third of the way through it when what little energy I had left ran out.
This week I met an acquaintance for coffee who is becoming a friend. He is dealing with some big issues in his life and mentioned that he is reading Pastor Pete's book. I found out today why the Lord brought this back into my life at this time. It's the chapter about our journey through the Wall. Pastor Pete says, "the ancients called it the dark night of the soul."
I have been searching and searching for an explanation for the confusion I've been experiencing lately. There is nothing wrong and life is the best it has been in a long time; but, I've been experiencing a nagging sense of confusion about God's specific will for me. If I've prayed once I've prayed a hundred times, "Lord, I ask for the knowledge of your will for me."
Pastor Pete's point here is that God's will for us all is that "we be made perfect in love, that Christ's love becomes our love both toward God and others." The purpose of the Wall is to strip away everything getting in the way of that. Thank you, Jesus, for confirming your love for me and your presence with me even though, as Pastor Pete says, sometimes "I cannot see in front of me."
, two summers ago; right when I was going through a tremendous life change. I got about a third of the way through it when what little energy I had left ran out. This week I met an acquaintance for coffee who is becoming a friend. He is dealing with some big issues in his life and mentioned that he is reading Pastor Pete's book. I found out today why the Lord brought this back into my life at this time. It's the chapter about our journey through the Wall. Pastor Pete says, "the ancients called it the dark night of the soul."
I have been searching and searching for an explanation for the confusion I've been experiencing lately. There is nothing wrong and life is the best it has been in a long time; but, I've been experiencing a nagging sense of confusion about God's specific will for me. If I've prayed once I've prayed a hundred times, "Lord, I ask for the knowledge of your will for me."
Pastor Pete's point here is that God's will for us all is that "we be made perfect in love, that Christ's love becomes our love both toward God and others." The purpose of the Wall is to strip away everything getting in the way of that. Thank you, Jesus, for confirming your love for me and your presence with me even though, as Pastor Pete says, sometimes "I cannot see in front of me."
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