TALKING AT PEOPLE TO TALKING WITH PEOPLE

Current culture elevates the voice of the individual more than previous generations have. For instance, the way we watch television has changed. Before, we would sit and watch the program. Now, we watch the program and ‘text’ in a vote which influences the direction of the show. The shift away from being ‘told’ what is good and entertaining, is shifting toward each of us having a voice in that conversation. We get to decide who the next singing sensation will be and which dancer is the most graceful. For years the Church has stood up and told people what the Word of God is and what it means and cared very little of what the gathered community of faith had to say on the matter. The Church needs to be “conversation-al” rather than “dictation-al”. We need to move out of our pulpits and down from our stages and invite people into conversation about the Living God. Just as few people want to live under a monarchy, we need to stop treating the Bible and the message of Christ as though we “church people” are the monarchy of the Word telling people what it means and how to live. Rather, to become a cultural architect is to acknowledge the value of every person and engage everyone in a conversation, because each person matters – not just the monarch.

FEAR OF FAILURE TO EMBRACING OF FAILURE

Previous posts have looked at what it means to shift from being Church focused to becoming Kingdom focused and shifting from maintenance leadership to missional leadership. All of these efforts are in an effort to explain what it means to be a “cultural architect” in the life of the church. This installment invites us to look at something that every successful group in the history of the world has understood. We all know the story of the invention of the light bulb, specifically the number of failed attempts it took Edison to perfect what he was looking for. (As a sidebar, Edison did not create the light bulb but only improved it. Humphrey Davy actually is credited for “inventing” it.) It is not a matter of needing to share about the need to “get back on the horse that bucked you”, it is a matter of recognizing that we need to find the bucking horses! The Church has a bit of a reputation for playing it safe and looking “old fashioned” (take a look at the book Unchristian), and it might very well be rooted in our fear of failing. As argued in previous columns, the fear of failure is directly tied to the Church’s felt need to get members of the institution rather than seek to make disciples of Jesus Christ. When we are seeking members over Disciples everything we do will be pushed through the lens of “will this upset or drive people away”? Jesus did many things which did not make people feel very warm and fuzzy (driving out the money changers, pointing out the woman at the wells situation, not throwing stones at another woman, ignoring Pilate’s questions, etc.). God’s desire is not that we build up a wonderful institution with many members. Rather it is God’s desire that we build up the many members of the body of Christ! It is our call by Christ to go out into the world and Make Disciples, but it is hard to make disciples when we are fearful that we might fail and people might leave the institution. Of course this does not mean we fail for the sake of failing, but that we learn to fail forward. When (not if) we fail we must fail in such a way to learn from our failures so that we can advance the Kingdom of God. Perhaps one of the greatest numbers we do not count in the UMC is the number of failures we have had. I would argue that the rate in which we fail forward is directly tied to the amount of growth a community of faith sees. So the question is, have you failed forward this week/month/year?

MAINTENANCE LEADERSHIP TO MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP

Over the next several posts I would like to invite the community to join the call of the Christian to be a creator of culture – specifically the culture of the Kingdom of God. There are at least nine shifts which have been expressed by many Christians that the Church must deeply consider as we find the dominate culture around us changing so quickly, last week I wrote a bit about shifting from church focused to Kingdom focused. This article I would like to share a bit about moving from maintenance to missional leadership.

If a community is church focused then it is important to the church to maintain the church. So for the sake of maintenance of the church, leadership will avoid real risks and failure because it might result in embarrassment and a “black eye” on the church. However, if the community is Kingdom focused then it is important to the church to promote the values of the Kingdom of God. So for the sake of the Kingdom, leadership will embrace risks and learn to fail forward because it will result in an explosion of the Holy Spirit. As we look at AHUMC I think it might be good to ask are we maintenance or missional focused. Do we embrace risks? Are we willing to be embarrassed for the sake of the Kingdom? Are we willing to fail? Can we see the working of the Holy Spirit? If the answers are ‘yes’, then we should share those stories with the community. If the answers are ‘no’ then perhaps we need to shift our leadership focus.