culture

MAINTENANCE LEADERSHIP TO MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP

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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.

SHIFTING FROM CHURCH TO KINGDOM

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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, and the first shift we must consider is from church focused to Kingdom focused.

Many ministries in the Christian world have an evangelical component and this is essential to the Christian call. However, evangelism sometimes is boiled down to “getting more members to join the church”. Which worked very well when the dominate culture was primarily Christian.However, this is no longer the case. The amount of diversity in the dominate culture has removed Christianity from is seat of prominence. We no longer have the luxury to assume everyone knows the Christian story and wants/needs to join a local church. Therefore, churches today can seek new members, but churches must recognize that the Church is not what we are called to create. God in Jesus through the Holy Spirit calls us to make Disciples. I wonder what ministries we would create if we did not worry about getting more members but making disciples? What ministries would we stop? I wonder if we stopped focusing on keeping an institution alive and focused, as in the book of Acts, on helping God create the Kingdom. What would that culture look like?