Difficult but Necessary Decisions

Perhaps the most difficult decisions that leaders make are those of personnel, both hiring and letting staff go. While some leaders are way too quick to pull the plug on situations that are not working, most of us wait way too long to take action when we need too, prolonging our pain, the pain of others and compromising the mission of the organization.

Our reasons for not addressing situations where the fit is not right, where there is not missional and philosophical alignment or where the job has outgrown the staff member are many. It can be conflict avoidance, hoping against hope that things will "work out," grace, or just fear of facing the pain of letting someone go. Usually, however, our "gut" has already told us that it will not work and since prior performance is the best predictor of future behavior, we have the knowledge we need - just not the resolve to solve the problem. I have been there like many of you.

There are three issues that we must consider when we face this kind of situation. First, if the fit is not right with the rest of the team, that lack of fit or alignment is like an anchor around the whole team, pulling it down and keeping it from moving forward. In other words, lack of fit hurts the team or organization as a whole and compromises its ability to move forward in health and vitality.

Second, where the issue is competence, the lack of competence of an individual to play at the level they need to play at hurts the reputation and perception of the organization. In one ministry that I consulted with, a program was started that had promise and made promises. Unfortunately, the individual running that program could never deliver on the promise and nearly everyone who used the program came away disillusioned. The program is still running in spite of the fact that every disillusioned customer hurts the reputation of the ministry as a whole. They would have been better off to cut their losses either by moving the staff member on, or shutting down a program which over promised and under delivered for more than a decade. I have made this mistake at times as well.

Thirdly, and this may be the hardest for us to accept is that when there is a lack of fit or the needs of the job have outgrown the competence of someone to fulfill it, we actually do a disservice to those who are involved by keeping them in that slot. Even when they do not understand that they are in the wrong spot (many who are don't), whenever someone is not in the right "lane" they will not be fulfilled and fruitful - two things we should want for every staff member.

How should we handle such situations? The one thing we should not do is to ignore the obvious or what we know in our "gut." Facing reality that the fit is not right or the competency is not present is one of the jobs of leaders - not a pleasant one but an important one. Not dealing with what they know to be true has a negative impact on the mission and organization they lead.

We all know that letting someone go must be done wisely, at the right time and in a defensible way. When a staff member does not have much of a constituency it is far easier. When they do, even though the fit is not right or competency not present it is more complicated and plan that takes into account unintended consequences becomes critical. What we cannot do as leaders is to do nothing because in that scenario we have neglected one of our key duties as a leader which is to ensure that the organization stays healthy and that barriers to our mission fulfillment are removed. At that point the issue is not if but how!

Building Cultures of Expectation

Good leaders are people of hope and optimism: they are evangelists of hope to those they lead. In addition, they are always intentional in helping develop cultures of expectation within their team or organization for what God desires to do in and through them. 


Many in ministry have little expectation for what God is going to do in and through them. All you need to do is to listen to them pray: small prayers for small things - without passion and without belief that God will actually show up. Contrast that with those who pray for big things, expect big things and plan for big things.


Jesus himself told us to expect big things: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15:7-8). Even more stunning is the statement to His disciples, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it" (John 14:12-14).


Not once in any of his Epistles was Paul pessimistic about what God was up to. His words are those of amazing expectation of what God was up to. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21)." I cannot read that without shivers going down my spine!


Because we live in a world full of problems and challenges, most people focus not on what God is up to but all the issues they face. Leaders are those who lift the eyes of others to our powerful Lord and remind them that God is always at work in amazing ways and that He wants to work through us.


Leaders encourage their people to be in the Scriptures regularly because focusing on Him and His word helps us to think like Him and to start claiming His amazing promises. Leaders encourage times of individual and corporate prayer focusing on the goodness, greatness and plans of God for our world. Prayer is time exposure to Jesus and we don't leave unchanged. Leaders also encourage their people to develop prayer teams who are together claiming God's promises for our work. I am privileged to have hundreds of people praying for me at any given time.


Finally, leaders lift up the purpose, power, passion and resolve of our Lord to reach this planet for Him on a constant business. God is always up to something wonderful. He is always providing fruit to those who seek his help. He is always working in improbable ways through improbable situations and improbable people. He is, after all the One whose glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea and the one before whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.


Leaders of ministries are the purveyors of the very hope that God lays out for us in Scripture and that Jesus demonstrated in the Gospels. They lift up the big and loving and powerful and "at work" God and call their people to join him in His amazing work. They build cultures of expectation that God is going to use our efforts in significant ways for His kingdom purposes. How are you doing as a purveyor of hope and one who is building a culture of expectation?

A tiny town, welcome homes

It was not a famous or important town in Jesus' day. In fact, it was a tiny hovel two miles from Jerusalem. Unlike Jerusalem it was a town that welcomed Jesus. Unlike Galilee it was a place that believed in Jesus. In this town, Jesus found welcome and needed rest. In this town, He was worshipped as the One who was worth a whole years wages of pure nard from India broken and poured over His head by a woman who was shunned by the rest of society.

It was in this town that a resurrection took place - before the resurrection in Christ himself - the friend of Jesus, Lazarus. In this town he invited Mary to sit at His feet where only men were supposed to be. In this town, Jesus dined at the home of Simon the Leper, something others would never have done. And while born in Nazareth and crucified in Jerusalem, it was in this town that Jesus ascended up into heaven after his resurrection.

A tiny, insignificant town. It was poor, it housed those who lived from paycheck to paycheck and more than a few disreputable types. But it had one thing that has preserved its name for all eternity - it was a town that welcomed Jesus. There were homes where He could come and spend the night and where he felt at home. There were homes where friends ministered to Him rather than He ministering to them. Here he was loved, here he could rest, here he could be ministered to, here he could be away from the crowds who only wanted something from Him. Here people like Mary just wanted to be with Him in His presence.

In Ascending from this town He paid it a great honor. He came to a family who loved him. He ascended from a town that loved Him.

Bethany: a place where Jesus was always welcome and at home. I want my home to be like the home of Mary and Martha. And I want my town to be a place where He is welcome because He has many friends in the neighborhood: who love Him, want to be with Him and honor Him with all that they are and have.

Calebs and Joshuas: The Key to Healthy Ministries

Our world is filled with naysayers: those who have little vision, small faith, high fear and frankly don't believe that God is capable of doing great things. This is true in the church, in missions, and any number of Christian organizations. The book written years ago "Your God is Too Small" applies today.

Small vision, little faith, and high fear factors to try something significant for God are responsible for much of the lack of fruit in many ministries. Board members who say "we've never done that before," pastors who are comfortable with the status quo, missionaries who don't really believe that God can break in and do something because of the "hard soil" all contribute to ministry initiatives that lack vision and faith or entrepreneurial spirit. It is life in the comfort zone of diminished and empty faith rather than life lived on faith that God can do what we cannot do!

The difference between those of small faith and those of big faith is this. The first group defines faith as that which we can accomplish by ourselves. The second group defines faith as that which only God can accomplish. The first is all about human effort and the second is all about divine power.

This was the divide between those who were sent by Moses into Canaan to explore it on behalf of the Israelites (Numbers 13-15). Ten of those who reported back reported what were probably true facts as they had seen them. Their conclusion was that the Israelites would never be successful in taking the land. They saw through human eyes and from that standpoint were probably quite accurate.

Caleb and Joshua, however, saw through divine eyes and they simply said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it" (Numbers 13:30).

Their confidence was in the power of God rather than the strength of their army. "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them" (Numbers 14:7-9).

The negative ten focused on fear and human efforts. Caleb and Joshua focused on faith and God's provision. And it made all the difference in their perspective.

The church in the affluent west often bases their faith on what they can accomplish (or not) with their gifts, resources and plans. The missing factor is faith in Christ's ability and power to do far more than we could ever humanly do. After all, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not (and cannot see)" Hebrews 12:1. If our plans and strategies and expectations of fruit only goes to what we ourselves can do we have shortchanged ourselves and underestimated God. God is not interested in what we can do by ourselves. He wants us to reach for things that only He can make possible so that He is the One who gets the glory - not us.

The church today is full of people like the ten who said, we cannot take the land. The church desperately needs the two - Caleb and Joshua who declare that we can - but only because it is God who goes before us. The mission world has many like the ten who really don't believe that God will actually break through in amazing ways. It too needs Calebs and Joshuas who live in the realm of deep abiding faith in the power and purpose of God to do far beyond what we could ask or imagine - in his strength, not ours.

Are you a Caleb or Joshua or more like the other ten? God calls us to "abundant and copious fruit (John 15) for the Kingdom based on his presence and power and Kingdom authority (Matthew 28:18-20). That takes vision, faith, belief and reliance on a power far greater than our own. Small faith leads to wandering in the wilderness like the Israelites. Courageous faith leads to the taking of the land. Which world do you live in today?

Three Kinds of Work for Leaders

Because leaders are by nature "busy" and always have a boatload of things that need to get done it is easy to fall into the trap of activity that does not actually drive the ministry or team forward. One of the ways to avoid this common tendency is to think of leadership work in three categories - and to pay attention to how much time we spend in each of these categories.

The first and easiest category is "routine work." Routine work includes those things that we pay attention to all the time. The hundred plus emails I receive every day requires my attention - it is routine. This applies to many of the meetings we have, reports we may fill out, and those activities that are a part of one's normal work.

The second and more challenging category is "management work." This is the work required to manage staff and processes including check in meetings, walking around and actually seeing what is happening, paying attention to metrics and finances. It is work that keeps current people and processes moving in the right direction.

The third and most difficult work leaders do is "directional work." It is the thinking, brain storming and evaluation of where we are and where we ought to be going as well as developing ideas as to how to get there. Directional work is actually the most important work a leader does although all three categories of work are necessary.

Here is the challenge for every leader. It is very easy to default toward routine work because it is ever present, blinks at us on our screen in the form of email and is natural for us to do. We all tend to default toward the easy and the immediate. While more challenging, management is a given for us and requires our attention. Management ensures that the status quo is healthy. What often gets lost, however, because our schedules are full with the routine and management is charting a course for the future which requires uninterrupted time, thinking, study, evaluation and prayer. We know it is important but the immediate often takes us from thinking about the future.

An helpful exercise is to color code one's calendar for a month or two according to the kind of work each obligation represents - routine, management and directional. Often one finds that the routine and day to day management leaves little time for the directional. Yet it is the directional that helps the organization move forward. While the routine, management and directional are all important, what is most important is not to neglect any of the three and not to default toward the easy (routine) at the expense of the hard (directional). Ask yourself on a monthly basis whether these three kinds of work are in balance in your schedule.

A way to prevent this from happening is to block schedule time for the directional before each month starts for thinking, planning, evaluating and praying about the future. That way the most important is not driven out by the urgent!

Building High Trust Organizations

The issue of trust in organizations is a complex one. It cannot be demanded but it can be cultivated. It may not be your current culture but it can become your future culture. Cultures of trust do not happen by accident: rather, they are built over time with a series of intentional practices that if lived out by the senior staff (and others who are willing) can impact the whole organization in very positive ways. Because trust is one of the key requirements for healthy interactions, collaboration and common mission, this is one aspect of culture that cannot be ignored.

One of the givens in building cultures of trust is that mistrust is often the bias that people have toward leaders. Our very political system was deliberately created to prevent leaders from having too much power with a system of checks and balances. Unless one reflects on the difference in ethics and commitments of Kingdom living (in the church) from what we experience in the world we forget that relationships that have been transformed by the Holy Spirit and which exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (however imperfectly) are fundamentally different than relationships where the Spirit is not present. We need to remind people that the qualities of love and unity are the very qualities that set us apart as God's people and that means a high regard for one another and a bias toward trust and love rather than mistrust and distrust.

When I am called into troubled churches to help them identify areas of dishealth, address them and chart a plan to move toward greater health there are often significant areas of mistrust that have their genesis in bad decisions, poor communication, fractured relationships and poor behavior. All of these will breed mistrust like a virus and must be identified, repented of, talked about, and new behaviors agreed to. This must always start with leaders owning up to ways in which they have contributed to the current mistrust, asking forgiveness where necessary and committing to new behaviors that will build trust. The rest of the congregation will rarely rise above the practices of its leaders so they set the stage for what will be.

One of the fundamental lessons I have learned over many years of leadership is that the fostering of an open, candid, atmosphere where any issue can be put on the table (as long as it is not a personal attack or with a hidden agenda) goes a long ways toward fostering trust. Mistrust grows where issues cannot be discussed because everyone knows they are off limits. On the teams I lead we have a "no elephants" policy. An elephant is something that cannot be discussed but everyone knows the issue is there. Once the issue is put on the table it is no longer an elephant, simply an issue to be negotiated through. The more elephants you have the less trust you will have. The fewer, the more trust you will have.

And that goes for me as a leader. I recently had a senior leadership meeting where some of my team felt free to criticize how I handled part of the meeting. Whether I agree with them or not is immaterial - the fact that they felt free to share their views is. I had to remind myself that I have nothing to prove and nothing to lose so as long as we can dialogue without defensiveness (on my part) we come to a better understanding. If I were to go defensive, the discussion would most likely start to shut down which would be a trust buster rather than a trust builder.

The degree that a team or group can express itself candidly (without personal attacks or hidden agendas) is a barometer of the trust level within the group. Robust discussion requires a high level of trust which is why many groups never get to that level of team. Leaders set the stage for this because directly or indirectly they either encourage and allow such robust discussion or shut it down. Thus the senior leader of an organization or team has a huge impact on the level of trust that is developed in an organization. Threatened leaders will never be able to build high trust organizations.

It is a helpful exercise for leaders and groups to discuss together what practices are trust builders and what are trust busters - agree that you will work toward eliminating trust busters and toward making trust builders a part of your organization.

For instance, trust busters include:

• Not keeping one's word
• Not being honest and open
• Refusing to admit mistakes when wrong
• Taking credit for the work of others

Trust builders include:

• Keeping our promises
• Being open, honest and candid (and diplomatic)
• Keeping short accounts in relationships
• Giving credit where credit is due

It is an instructive exercise to white board "trust busters" and "trust builders" and identify areas where your team could minimize the busters and maximize the builders. It gives you a common vocabulary for developing a culture of trust and eliminating practices that do the opposite. It may feel a bit scary but a nothing to prove, nothing to lose attitude is at the heart of a culture of trust.

Trust is build one promise, one conversation, one dialogue, one relationship at a time. No matter where you are today, your church or organization can become a high trust organization with intentional attention and some changes in behavior.

Compliance driven organizations

One can tell much about corporate and ministry culture by simply reading their policies. Up front, I want to be clear that policies  are a positive and necessary set of parameters for any healthy organization as they spell out what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Well written policies are boundaries that are not to be violated. Organizations without clear policies on HR, finance, relationships with vendors, conflict of interest for example, leave themselves open to behaviors and practices that can harm and bring disrepute.

Beyond the basic, clear policies, organizations either have a culture of trust or mistrust. Compliance driven organizations - those who often are mistrustful seek to write a policy for any possible infraction - or as the result of an infraction. Thus everyone gets punished for the sins of a few. Someone misuses their time card so additional layers of policy and compliance are put in place to ensure that no one does that again. The end result is often the opposite of what is desired - cynicism because everyone knows that instead of dealing with the offender, another policy has been put in place to keep everyone in place - not a place most people want to be.

Healthy organizations develop policies that specify the expected behavior of its employees, keep them to a minimum rather than trying to anticipate all possible issues, hire good people, trust them and if the boundaries are broken, deal with that individual.

The same is true in terms of church bylaws which are often written to prevent past sins (in someones mind) from occurring again. Never mind that in doing so, the congregation is communicating mistrust toward some group (by the way they hem them in) or person (senior pastors or chairperson) that hamper the organization in the present. Far better to deal with the problem person(s) than to write unnecessary boundaries into bylaws that are hard to change in the present or the future.

Writing a policy to keep behavior within bounds rather than dealing with the behavior is usually the easy way out whether expressed in personnel or bylaws. It can also be the cowards way out since it avoids dealing with the behavior of an offending individual(s) and instead tries to solve the issue through a policy - which seldom solves the underlying problem which is personal behavior.

Compliance driven organizations - who believe that there needs to be a policy or procedure for everyone and everything are operating from a culture of mistrust rather than trust, foster a legalistic rather than grace filled culture and mistakenly believe that compliance to their rigid procedures will keep them healthy. Actually, healthy people working in a culture of trust and grace will make for a healthy organization - not the other way around.

Write policies where you must. Keep them to a minimum - same with bylaws, and deal with problematic people where that is necessary. Before you write a new policy to solve a problem, ask yourself if it is necessary and how it will be perceived by those who were not a part of the problem. Compliance driven organizations may solve some perceived problems but they also can create cultures of mistrust and cynicism.

Resolution or Revelation?

Think about the issues you face in your life that you wish were resolved. For some it is health, others, financial or family, relationships or jobs. We regularly walk through seasons where we wish for, pray for, and long for resolution of painful issues.

What we want is resolution. But what if the answer is not resolution – primarily – but revelation? In resolution the problem goes away, but in revelation we learn something about ourselves or about God that is far more important than the issue we face.

The Apostle Paul learned this: “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassing great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness…For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).”

Think of the power of Paul’s revelation. “For my power is made perfect in weakness…for when I am weak, then I am strong.” Had he simply been given his prayer for resolution, neither he nor us would have that lesson or learned that truth.

This does not mean that we don’t pray for resolution in the middle of hard times. It does mean that we also seek to understand if and what God might want to impress on us in a revelation from him that we would only learn in and through the process of difficulty and pain. At one and the same time, we pray for resolution and pray for revelation – in the sense that God may have something far more important for us than resolution. He might have a lesson or truth about Him and our lives that we would receive no other way.

Disciplemaking or Church Planting

A close friend asked me recently whether I thought that the mandate of Christ was to “make disciples” or to plant churches. His question came out of observing the often poor efforts to plant churches around the world. This is not a new question as many ministries focus on evangelism and discipleship while others focus on church planting. For those of us involved in missions it is a fundamental and crucial question.

Jesus commanded us to make disciples – people who would wholeheartedly follow Him. This is the heart of the Great Commission. What is interesting is how the apostles took that mandate. Their response to the Great Commission was not simply to do evangelism and to disciple new believers (which they did) but it was focused on church planting as their fundamental strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission. Indeed, they came out of a Jewish background where the worship of God was never simply an individual affair but was focused around the synagogue where they gathered for worship, prayer and teaching.

In the New Testament, the church is called “bride of Christ” and Paul writes that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-30). One could argue that this was simply the “church universal” but the New Testament is clear that each local church is a manifestation of the global church. Paul not only planted churches but several of his letters were addressed to individual churches (Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians Philippians, and Thessalonians). 

Jesus himself addresses letters to seven individual churches in Revelation two and three. The history of Christianity is a history of church planting wherever and whenever the church has penetrated populations where the Gospel was not present. Christianity has never spread without the spread of local churches.

What is clear is that the local church is God’s chosen method to reach the world for Him. At least that was the understanding of Christ’s disciples and their response to His command to make disciples was to plant churches where believers could gather for teaching, prayer, worship and the celebration of communion – and it was this gathered body of believers that made such an impression on both Jews and Gentiles in the years following Christ’s ascension.

Studies of conversions around the world show that a large percentage (often over 50%) of those who make a profession of faith are not following Christ three years later when they are not connected to a local church. Indeed, many campus ministries in Russia have seen disappointing results because while their efforts at evangelism were fruitful, a high percentage of those who made those professions are no longer following Christ because of the lack of healthy churches around those campuses.

Indeed, it is through the church that disciples are truly made – if the church is healthy. Now to my friends point: often our conception of the church is seriously flawed. We think of church as being defined by real estate, buildings and full time staff who have degrees. In a poor world where half of its population lives on three dollars a day or less, that definition of “church” does not work. 

Nor is it the story of the early church. If we define a church as a group of believers (small or large) who gather together regularly for worship, teaching and prayer and the celebration of communion under some sort of leadership we have a Biblical definition. In our organization we simply call these kingdom communities. It may be five former Muslims gathering in a home in secret, or a hundred believers worshiping under a large tree in Congo or a large congregation in the West in a fancy facility.

Often the reason for lack of success in “church planting” is that we are trying to plant a western version of a church rather than a Kingdom community of believers who gather together regularly for worship, prayer, teaching, the sacraments and to spread the gospel in their community. Multiply Kingdom communities and you multiply the church and one multiplies disciples. 

Flawed as it is, Jesus chose the church as His method of reaching a lost world and each of those kingdom communities, large or small are a part of His bride that shines His light in their community. Disciple making is the job of the local church. Evangelism is the job of every believer and every local church. But everything revolves around healthy churches – kingdom communities – whether a congregation of three or a congregation of 300.  

The mandate of Christ was to make disciples. The Apostles understood that the means of making disciples was to multiply local congregations where in Christian community believers grow together and together carry out the mandates of evangelism and disciple making. Those kingdom communities are His bride – for which He died and by which He intends to reach a lost world.

American Evangelicals, Israel and the rest of the Middle East

For a number of years now I have had the privilege of travelling in the Middle East and working with believers and ministries in that region of the world. When I ask Arab Christian leaders how we can help them, one of the consistent answers relates to Israel. When American evangelicals give cart blanch support to Israel at the exclusion of caring about and serving our Christian Arab brothers and sisters - we send a message that God cares more about those in Israel than he does in the surrounding states of the Middle East.

Indeed, in our desire to support Israel’s right to exist (which many of us would have theological reasons for) we often overlook inequities, injustices and practices by Israel that negatively impact other people whom God loves. Israel’s government is not God’s government. In fact, much of it is highly secular with a strong bias against Christianity and Christians. There have been and continue to be injustices imposed by Israel on members of the Palestinian community whose rights (like for many Jews) have been violated, whose homes were taken without recompense and who long for a homeland as the Jews did.

Without getting into politics there are several convictions that ought to inform our attitude toward the Middle East, Arabs and Jews.

God loves all people equally. For God so loved the World that he sent His one and only Son ….. Politically, America faces a real threat from radical Islam. And, there are nations in the Middle East who would like to eradicate Israel (some not all). However, none of this changes God’s love for men and women from every tribe, every nation, and every language that will one day make up the crowd in heaven.

Whatever our political convictions, as Christians, we ought to be equally concerned for the salvation of Jews and Arabs. And our Arab brothers and sisters need to know that we love, value, cherish them as much as we do others. God is doing remarkable things in almost every country of the Middle East and there are many Christ followers who live under tremendous pressure and need the prayers and support of believers in the west.

It is fascinating how God describes the nations around Israel in Isaiah 19 – looking forward to the day when He returns. He uses the same language for them that He uses so often for Israel. “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day, Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’ (Isaiah 19:23-25).”

If that is God’s heart for both Israel and its neighbors, we ought to have the same heart. And the same concern for the populations that make up Israel and its Arab neighbors.  For all of the challenges for believers in these nations, God is up to something significant and many more Muslims are coming to Christ than we often hear of. In addition, believers in these countries are sharing their faith sometimes at the cost of their lives since they know that Jesus is the only way to the father.

My understanding of prophecy leads me to believe that God brought the Jews back to Israel. At the same time, I believe we must be even handed when responding to actions of the Israeli state or any state (including our own). If we expect justice and fairness from her Arab neighbors, we should expect them from her as well – and from our own government.

Most importantly, I want my fellow Christians in Arab nations to know that I value them, pray for the difficulties they face, want to support them in the spread of the gospel (as with believers in Israel) and that I will show no favoritism for God does not play favorites in salvation history and God has a heart for all people. Nor will I allow the politics of either Israel or her neighbors take away from my desire for all people to hear the good news of Jesus and for many to come to a saving knowledge of Him.

On that note, God needs some courageous churches, men and women who will get involved in the Arab world. Plenty of evangelicals are involved with Israel. My question is who will come alongside believers in the rest of the Middle East for the cause of the gospel? Those who are willing to take a trip to the Middle East quickly discover that God is up to something – and that they have much less to fear than they think they do. I invite you to pray for believers in the Middle East, and to consider engaging in some way there.

Debt and Tithing

One of the encouraging signs among believers today is that many are working to get their financial house in order. After years of living beyond their means, and through the encouragement of a number of helpful financial ministries, budgets are being built, debt is being paid down and many are trying to eliminate all debt – including their mortgages.



This has, however, raised a critical question because in their effort to become debt free many believers are choosing not to tithe until they are debt free – saying, “I will give to God when my own financial house is in order!” How does one respond to that trend? Does one have an obligation to tithe if they are in debt and is it “OK” to take a vacation on tithing until that debt is paid off? It is a good and important question.


On this face of it this may seem a reasonable position but if one probes beneath the surface we are quickly faced with some Biblical realities that challenge our rationale.


The truth of the matter is that getting my financial house in order always starts with choosing to put God first, not last with my finances because our first financial priority according to scripture is that of giving God the first of our income. Saying that I will tithe when all my debts are paid is exactly the opposite of what Scripture teaches about making God the beneficiary of the “first” of my income – which is a gift from Him in the first place. In fact, His portion should be the very first thing that goes on our budgets when we start getting our financial house in order rather than the last. It is ironic that our rationale on this issue is exactly the opposite of God’s teaching.


Paying my bills before I honor Him with the “firstfruits” of my wealth is putting my convenience above my obedience. It is elevating my needs and desires above God’s commands. Scripture actually has a name for that – sin: Choosing my way over His way.


In fact, this is nothing more than a rationalization for disobedience. Consider the case of how many white collar criminals get into trouble. They are short on cash and start to “borrow” money from their employer with the conviction that they will one day pay it back when they are able. It sounds reasonable to them but not to their employer and it always comes at a price (getting caught or living with a guilty conscience). Ironically, there is a direct parallel to our own lives when we choose to “put off” our giving until (like the embezzler) we have enough to pay it.


The prophet Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament calls this “stealing from God.” And it is. He challenges the people who were doing the same thing many of us are (putting our interests above God’s) to bring our treasures to His temple. Consider the following conversation between God and His people where He actually tells His people that in withholding their tithe they are robbing Him.


“I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.


“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’


“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.


“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’


“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 0 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 1 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty (Malachi 3:6-12).


These are strong words and unfortunately words that need to be heard by many of us today who are regularly robbing God by not putting Him first in our financial lives. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be guilty of robbing God!


Ironically, the text above points out that if we choose to put God first in our finances, He will actually help us meet our other needs. “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” Here is the principle. When we withhold from Him he withholds from us. When we put Him in His rightful place, He promises to meet our needs. This is the only place in Scripture where we are invited to "test" God and see if He does not come through!


In the ultimate irony, God says that if we want to get our financial house in order, He will actually help us do that – if – we put Him first in our finances. Many believers are trying to get their financial house in order without God’s help because they are “robbing from Him” in the process. Those who put Him first financially find out that He provides for the very needs they are worried about meeting.


Let’s be intellectually honest on this issue. Choosing not to tithe for any reason, debt or otherwise, is disobedience, selective obedience and contrary to what Scripture clearly tells us is our obligation. Obedience is often not convenient. But following Christ is the journey of bringing our lives into alignment with Him and His teaching whether it is convenient or not. If we truly want God’s blessing on our lives, we choose to follow Him even in the hard things and there are hard things because our sinful nature always want us to put our convenience, our pleasure, our needs and our desires above those of God’s.


One final word. Some believers in their quest to be financially independent have made a God out of being “debt free.” Certainly it is better to have no debt than to have debt. But to pour all our energies and money into becoming debt free at the expense of God and obedience in the matter of our tithe is to focus on the wrong thing. First we choose obedience and in our obedience He will help us meet our needs.

This is really a matter of our hearts and whether we want to please God and make Him first, or please ourselves and make ourselves first. We all have the choice.

Lectio Divina

I have been mulling on the lack of spiritual transformation in the lives of so many Christ followers in spite of our best efforts to provide the best preaching, small groups, programming and experiences in our churches today. While there are no simple solutions, I do have a simple question: Could it be that the lack of transformation mirrors the lost practice of personal Bible reading and meditation? We have a whole generation of believers whose practice of even the most basic of spiritual disciplines is lacking - and yet one cannot be a disciple without discipline: indeed the word disciple and discipline come from the same root word.


Henry Nouwen writes these words about this discipline. "The term lectio divina comes from the Benedictine tradition and refers primarily to the sacred or devotional reading of the Bible. My growing suspicion is that our competitive, productive, skeptical, and sophisticated society inhibits our reading the Bible with the reverence and openness to what the Spirit is saying to us in the present moment. When we approach the Word of God as a word spoken to me, God's presence and will can be made known. The regular practice of lectio divina presents occasions when my story and God's story meet, and in that moment something surprising can happen. To read the Bible in this way means therefore to read "on my knees" - reverently, attentively and with the deep faith that God has a word for me in my own unique situation" (Spiritual Formation: The Way of the Heart, p. XXIII).


Could it be that a renewed emphasis on Bible reading with some simple instruction on how to approach God's word could have a profound effect on those in our congregations? Just as many countries fight the problem of illiteracy, the church must fight the problem of Biblical illiteracy if there is going to be any hope of a deeper transformation.


True transformation always has four parts: Transformation of hearts, of thinking, of priorities and of relationships. Only God's word can help us transform our thinking so that we "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but (are) transformed by the renewing of our mind. Then (we) will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2). Until our minds are being constantly renewed and we understand his good, pleasing and perfect will we cannot bring our our priorities into alignment with him. And that transformation of our thinking comes through an intimacy with His truth, His way, His teaching, His path which is found in His word.

In Jeremiah 6:16 the Lord says to His people, "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Where are those ancient paths that show us the good way and provide rest for our souls? They are found in His Word. 


But ancient paths require us to follow the ancient disciplines of the church - including the regular (daily) devotional reading of His Word. 


We have many priorities in the church. Is this one of the primary priorities that would have a significant influence on our walk with God and therefore the transformation of hearts, thinking priorities and relationships? It is simple - but then ancient paths are pretty simple as well.

Dialing down the Noise

Our lives are full of noise! Distractions, diversions, hectic schedules, ubiquitous emails and text messages that chase us across the city or the globe, twenty four hour news, and beckoning computer screens that allow us to have dozens of multiple pages open, clicks to click and options to explore as the news scrolls across the bottom and music plays in the background. Our lives are full of noise.

Think of noise as everything that distracts from quiet contemplation, deep thinking, and quiet time with God. If your life is like mine, the cacophony of distractions often drives out what our soul often craves. The simplicity of quiet solitude with God where away from the distractions, we can think, pray, meditate and just "be" with Him.

Our distractions - schedules and technology - are often our greatest challenges. I confess to loving technology but I recognize that I can often be a slave to its noise and constant 24 hour ability to find and distract me anywhere I am on the globe. I also confess to running very hard, cramming all that I can into my days leaving too little margin at times. Noise!

I am learning to unplug and disengage more often for the sake of my soul knowing that the distractions also distract my attention from the One whom I serve and always need to spend time with. Theophan the Recluse wrote: "When remembrance of God lives in the heart and there maintains the fear of Him, then all goes well; but when this remembrance grows weak or is kept only in the head, then all goes astray." Distractions cause remembrance to grow weak. We are only as connected to Christ as the last time we spent time with Him.

As a youngster I knew my father rose at about 4:30 to spend time with God before going to work early as a physician and surgeon. I could not understand that early morning ritual. Today I do for it is in the quiet of the early morning that I find quietness, solitude, and time to reflect on my life in light of God's word. In the monastic tradition - one passed down to the Catholic, Anglican and Episcopalian church, this is often called "The Daily Office." Regular times of prayer, Scripture reading and contemplation. It is the discipline of taking time away from noise and distractions that will often chase us the rest of the day to be with Jesus.

As one who embraces technology easily I am experimenting with weekends and other periods where it is turned off. I am finding more joy in times of solitude, extended reading and technology free hours. When I do, my mind slows down, allowing it to wander down winding alleyways of thought that distracted thinking does not allow. One wonders if the Psalms would have been written if David had a cell phone and computer. The reflections of the sages we read, ancient and modern on following Christ were born out of deep thinking and long times with God and His word.

By wiring I love the challenge of what I do in life and leadership. I also realize that the drive that often thrives on noise and the adrenalin it produces causes my soul to grow weary and shallow when not nurtured by the solitude and silence of undistracted time with God. When one first dials the noise down it feels unnatural because we are so used to jumping on every text, every email and distraction. Indeed we have become the distracted generation. But practiced regularly, a daily office, if you will, away from the distractions and  noise nourishes the soul in ways nothing else can. And in the end, feeding our soul is far more important than answering the beckoning email.

Truth and Love: Conversations that Matter

Those who lead often face situations where direct feedback to a member of their team is necessary. Or, you may be a pastor with someone sitting in your office who needs to be lovingly confronted for choices they have made that are hurting them or others and you will need to be direct. Or, a friend who you care enough to talk to about an issue in their life but it will mean a difficult conversation.

All of us have encountered folks who do this badly, coming across as judgmental, blunt or harsh. More often in our desire to avoid conflict we also tend to avoid direct conversations. But in doing so we actually do a disservice to those who need to hear something that will help them in their job, in their walk with God or some other area of life.

Jesus was a master of direct conversation that went to the heart of things in a true, loving, non-judgemental way. He combined truth (what needed to be said) with love (wanting the best for those he spoke to) and did so in a way that invited conversation (the woman at the well). Because of the loving way in which He communicated, his directness did not provoke anger - with the exception of the Pharisees who wanted nothing to do with truth. He did not speak in anger to seekers or followers, he did not beat around the bush and avoid the real issues and He did not avoid the hard topics. He cared about people too much to do anything but speak in truth and love.

My wife was for many years a nurse at a suburban high school. Her favorite kids were the "bad" kids who often called her their second mom. She would keep food for kids that came to school hungry, talk to kids about their sexual acting out or drug use or choices that were hurting them. Rarely did they take offence because they knew that she was in their court, loved them unconditionally and wanted the best for them. She was direct (truth) in a spirit of love (grace). This was a combination that the kids were not used to but loved.

Pastors who speak truth in love to those not living in alignment with Jesus are being a faithful shepherd. Friends who speak truth in love to one another are faithful friends. Supervisors who speak truth in love to those they lead are faithful and wise leaders. In each case, our willingness to be honest and direct has the opportunity to help another in a significant way.

Direct conversation is not playing the role of the Holy Spirit. What people do with the truth we speak into their lives is between them and God. It is being honest in a clear way. Avoiding necessary conversations is often dishonesty because it pretends that an issue we need to address is not there. Nor is avoidance loving when direct conversation is in the best interests of a friend, a congregant or a staff member.

Direct feedback is most often received well when it is delivered in an honest but non-judgemental way, when people know we have their best interests in mind, when it does not judge motives and when it invites conversation so that it is not perceived as an attack or delivered in anger.

For those who lead others, honest and direct conversation is critical so that their staff know what their leader believes and thinks. It invites honest dialogue and robust discussion. Avoidance does the opposite.

We could learn much from carefully thinking through how Jesus interacted with people as He had the wonderful balance between truth and love that we all desire. None of us doe this perfectly but all of us can learn to do it better. With the humility that we too need others to speak with honesty and directness into our lives.

The choice of every church: Cooperation and Partnership or Competition and Autonomy

There are two choices that nearly every church in our nation has the opportunity to make: whether to compete or cooperate with other churches in their city or region. For most churches the choice is to compete since success is measured by numbers, programs and budgets. For a small but growing number of churches the choice is cooperation toward a higher goal of building His Church and reaching whole cities and communities for Christ.


I have no doubt that Christ himself would choose cooperation and partnership over competion and autonomy. But of course, Christ's definition of success is often different than ours - even what we do in His name.


“Did God call me to built a great church in my area or to reach my area for Christ?” was the question on the minds of a group of pastors in the Chicago area. What would happen if rather than competing with one another we actually joined together with other evangelical churches to make relevant, meaningful contact with every home in our city? What would happen if instead of caring just about “my” church we cared instead about The Church?




This is happening in Gurnee, Illinois where ten churches committed to evangelism are working together to bringing the gospel to every home in a city of 32,000 people. In Lake County Illinois, 45 churches are actively involved with scores of others participating in one way or another. Under the banner of Christ Together, churches are banding together across denominational lines and even theological differences in a major effort to reach whole cities and whole regions for Christ.


“The whole church bringing the whole gospel to the whole city” is the goal of Christ Together. The strategy gets its roots from the church in Acts 2 which banded together to reach the city for Christ. Churches who are involved see this effort not as an ancillary ministry but as one of the core ministries of their congregation. It is transforming churches, lives, and entire communities. Not only are these congregations working to bring the gospel to every household but they are banding together to serve the community in tangible ways as well.


What a refreshing difference from the autonomy and competition that marks so many ministries today!


Christ Together wants to help churches make five key shifts that they believe are consistent with the principles found in Acts 2.


“Move from Spiritually Struggling to Spiritually Transforming: We help churches to become agents of spiritual transformation, leading people into a vibrant, life-changing relationship with God.”


“Move from Relationally Fragmented to Relationally Connected: We help churches to build deep and trust-filled friendships with one another, enabling them to pursue God’s dreams for their city together.”


“Move from Functionally Anemic to Functionally Healthy: We help churches to overcome the pragmatic ministry challenges that threaten the strength and vitality of their faith community.”


“Move from Culturally irrelevant to Culturally Inspiring: We help churches to serve their community together in significant ways, reshaping people’s perceptions of God, Christianity and the Church.”


“Move from Missionally Ineffective to Missionally Effective: We help churches to fulfill the Great Commission by reaching their community more effectively, one life at a time.”


These are certainly five key shifts that are needed in the American church today. In a ministry culture that is driven by “my success” and the building of “my church” there is a deep need to repent of our selfish, autonomous ways that build our ego and pride and work to build His church, The church and reach our communities in humble partnership with the whole church.

Don't get enmeshed in the issues of others

One of the hallmarks of good emotional intelligence is that we are able to empathize with others without getting enmeshed in their issues. This does not mean that we do not care, provide counsel, pray and support. It does mean that we don’t allow the issues of others to become “our” issues.



A key to this is what I call “keeping my own counsel.” Everyone has a perspective on issues but they are not always accurate or fair. It is their perspective. This is especially true in relationships. I often hear negative things about others. In line with keeping my own counsel I seek to listen and when appropriate ask questions but ultimately I must make my judgments based on my own personal experience rather than on the perspective of others. It is not wise, fair or healthy for me to simply take on the opinions of others when my experience does not line up with theirs.


This leads to the second key to staying out of enmeshment. I cannot solve other people’s issues for them. I can encourage them to resolve their issues with whomever they have those issues. I can offer to mediate a meeting between them for resolution. But ultimately I am responsible for my issues and others for theirs. All manner of relational chaos is caused when I take up the offense of others without firsthand knowledge and based on their information alone.


In fact, getting sucked into the issues of others is often a ploy of the evil one to take what is a relational breakdown among two people and to multiply it among others who were never part of the original breakdown and who have simply taken on the stuff of others rather than keeping their own counsel. This is often the stuff of church splits and conflict. What was an issue between two parties becomes an issue between multiple parties and what was a small issue now becomes a major issue. What was complicated now has become exceedingly complex. What might have been resolvable is now often not resolvable.


Matthew 18 is clear that when I have an issue with another I am responsible for seeking to resolve it. If I cannot resolve it I bring another to help resolve it. What I don’t have the luxury of doing is going to others and pulling them into my issue, nor of picking up the issues of others and taking up their cause in the absence of first hand information. These Biblical principles are violated among Gods’ people all the time to the detriment of His reputation.


There is a final principle that is both Biblical and reflective of good emotional intelligence. When I have an issue with another I always have the choice as to whether I draw others in and seek to influence their opinion of the one I have issues with – unhelpful and sinful behavior – or whether I keep my own counsel, seek to resolve but not to influence the opinions of others. It is not my place to hurt the reputation of others but to ensure that my own behavior is healthy and biblical. Once we have done what we can do to resolve our issues, we leave the rest to the Holy Spirit whose counsel is always right, fair and accurate.

Proactive or Reactive Leadership

One of the ongoing frustrations of many church boards is the lack of progress they seem to make in endless meetings. In some cases, the issues they are dealing with are the same issues they dealt with last year – and the year before that. The reason often has to do with getting trapped into reactive leadership – which is not really leadership at all rather than proactive leadership.



While leaders must at times respond to issues, the heart of leadership is intentionally moving an organization or ministry toward a preferred future. This requires a board to deal with issues at hand but to focus on issues in the future. One way to do this is to agree to two board meetings each month, one for dealing with decisions and business and the other for prayer, discussion and thinking about the future – with no business allowed.


But what about those issues that seem to come up time and again? My experience is that many boards are negligent in actually making decisions with the result that issues are never really resolved and come circling back for another and another round of discussion. I recently met with a board facing this dilemma. Using a white board we listed the unresolved issues that seem to keep popping up. I then gave each member three post it notes with a one, two and three and asked them to put their “one” next to the most pressing issue, the “two” next to the second priority and the three next to their third priority.


Very quickly they had prioritized their most important issues. I then suggested that they tackled these one by one and make a decision on each. Clarifying issues with a decision, even if it is not the perfect decision is far better than not making a decision and allowing the wandering to continue.


One of the main responsibilities of a board chair is to ensure that the most important “big rocks” that will help the organization move forward are addressed before the minutia that probably does not belong on the agenda at all. In the final analysis, leaders choose through the agenda items they tackle what is truly important to them and whether they will be proactive in their leadership or merely reactive to issues that arise. The first will move the ministry forward while the second will merely guard the status quo. How is your board doing?

Predicting the Decline of the Attractional Church

I am sure that this blog will elicit comments for I am not a fan of the attractional church model and believe it is already in severe trouble with the young, old and some in between.

The attractional church model thinking goes like this: If I have a great performance on stage, relevant preaching and lots of programming that I will attract a lot of people, build a large church and therefore experience ministry success. The American church continues down this path blind to the fact that it is often not producing real disciples but that there are a growing number of folks who are rejecting it outright. This blog is not about church size but church philosophy!

Take the young generation. What they see in the attractional model is that people come to get and not give. They desire to be part of communities who are actively living out the gospel rather than simply hearing about the Gospel. There is a fundamental difference between those two. Furthermore they do not relate to a performance up front but would rather be a part of the worship experience. Finally, our preoccupation with service "excellence" is often seen by them as lacking authenticity. They can live with simple if they believe it to be authentic.

Oh, and the preaching? By dumbing down the gospel to make it relevant, by not addressing the radical implications of the gospel - that would make it too uncomfortable. By paying more attention to culture (the relevance thing pastors talk about) they feel cheated on the truth thing (what Jesus has to say about life). All of these reasons contribute to the dearth of the under thirty crowd in many churches.

On the other end of the spectrum are the fifty plus crowd who are increasingly but quietly leaving attractional church models looking for something different. They feel cheated in the worship (not just worship style) but in the often shallow worship theology and show up front. They especially feel cheated by the lack of emphasis on the word of God in today's "relevant" preaching. And they are more interested in doing ministry that makes a difference in the world rather than attending another program in the church. They have not rejected the church but they have rejected the attractional model of the church.

When I look at the American church at large today I ask the question, where are the gospel centered churches where truth is proclaimed carefully with real application. I ask, where are the gospel centered churches where the emphasis is more on reaching those outside God's Kingdom than programming ourselves to death to justify our buildings and facilities. One can see with our current model why it takes 168 people one year to bring one person to Christ in the course of a year.

I also ask how we have so mangled our definitions of success so that almost all that is talked about are numbers on weekends. We claim that spiritual transformation is our goal but the real marker in many Churches has nothing to do with that and all to do with numbers to justify the success of the pastor.

In a mentoring conversation recently with a young pastor I asked him how he would feel if there was not growth to his church in the next three years. His church has deeply problematic health issues and they may be what he needs to focus on. It took him a moment to say he would be all right with that....because for most of us success is in the numbers.

When I read the story of the early church I do see numbers being added to their ranks regularly. But the emphasis was not on the numbers. It was on radically living out the implications of the gospel - meeting together to share the elements and receive teaching, sharing their possessions with one another and being the people of God in their circles of influence which is why for instance the gospel penetrated whole communities with radical conversions, powerful miracles and a high emphasis on the word - read the story in Acts 19.

We have a deeply American model of church which has many differences from the Biblical model of church. A congregation I attend from time to time is a simple Anglican church. No flashy music, simple Biblical teaching, great Biblical liturgy and prayers and participation in the service of ordinary congregants who take their ministry seriously. Half of those that are there are former members of my own denomination who have left "attractional churches" for the simplicity of the gospel.

I predict that the American church of the future will look very different than it does today - in Evangelical circles. I pray that it is more word centered, authentic in its worship and committed to living out the "good works" God designed for us in our communities and circles of influence rather than through its programming keeping folks in the church. The program of God for the church is that they impact their communities, workplaces and circles of influence through living out and sharing the implications of the gospel.

I celebrate every gospel centered church I find, and the number is growing. They hold the key to the future of the American church. And they will attract people who are hurting, needy and looking for an authentic Jesus who can bring authentic change to their lives. Is it possible that the church of the future will attract people because it is centered on the person of Jesus Christ above all else? And in living out the implications of the gospel?

When Congregationalism goes amuk

There is a great deal of confusion around the concept of congregationalism. Many mistakenly believe that congregationalism means that all folks in a church have a voice in all matters and that the congregation gets to weigh in on all decisions. In addition, to keep everyone in the loop and to ensure that nobody has too much power many churches continue to operate with numerous elected boards and committees. At its core, like American politics the system is build on mistrust of leaders so it is designed to make decision making complicated.

Congregationalism as defined above says more about bringing our national polity practices into the church than anything the New Testament says about church leadership! In scripture there is only one group of senior leaders variously called elders or overseers who are responsible for the spiritual temperature of the church, ensuring that the congregation is taught, protected, developed - empowered and released in ministry and led well. When new needs came up they simply appointed ministry teams like the deacons. All of this was designed in an atmosphere of trust where leaders were actually loved and appreciated by the congregation. And they were to lead well as under shepherds.

But what to make of the congregational thing? Congregationalism originally conceived did not mean a democracy or that every individual has an equal part in decision making. The priesthood of all believers is not the leadership of all believers. If that were true Paul would not encourage those with the gift of leadership to lead well.

Congregationalism meant something very simple. There could be no authority outside the local church such as the state church that could tell them what to do. Second it meant that congregations had a way to change the direction of their church if their leaders took it in a direction inconsistent with Scripture. Thus we say in the EFCA that if a congregation calls its senior pastor, votes on an annual budget, votes on any changes to the bi laws or constitution and must approve the sale and purchase of property it is congregational. Boards may choose to bring other issues to the congregation but this is what it means to be congregational.

Too often, the way we practice congregationalism hurts the church rather than helps bit. Multiple boards and committees are like toll booths that hold ministry up. The number of people on those boards and committees keeps those very people tied up in meetings rather than using their gifts in ministry. Leaders become discouraged because it is so hard to get things done and there is a huge loss on Return on Mission if indeed there is a mission being actively pursued.

If your ministry suffers from some of these elements it may be the very thing that is keeping you from moving forward missionally. And you do not have to live this way. My books High Impact Church Boards and Leading From the Sandbox (NavPress) can help you think differently about how you lead and about the missional elements to that leadership. Don't let your system constrain your mission. Design your system to serve your mission.

On not speaking down to our children

Some of my most memorable years as a father were our family dinner conversations in the evenings. Mary Ann and I would talk about our work and ministry and the kids would weigh in on those, ask questions or wax eloquent on their own issues of life, faith, politics and people.

From an early age, we did not hide from them issues we were dealing with including problematic issues at work. We had a fast and standing rue called PC or "Private Conversation" that could not go anywhere and to me knowledge they never violated that commitment. In the process they learned how we handled real life stuff and they learned how to have "robust dialogue" on any issues they wanted without personal attacks.

This is perhaps why from an early age, Jon and Chip were so comfortable around adults. They were treated like adults at home who could think through adult issues.

I think that we too often speak down at our children thinking that they will not understand. We do this with every day life issues, and especially with theology where we feel a need to bring the gospel down to their level. It is interesting to me that Jesus never did that. He spent time with children, talked with them and they in turn simply believe what he said in their naivety! He called us to have the same child like faith in his promises rather than rationalizing them away. He said it was easier for a child to enter his kingdom than a rich man.

I remember as a young child listening to tapes of Bible Stories right out of the gospels and Old Testament. My earliest scripture memory goes back to those "go to bed tapes." I did not need explanation, I simply listened and believed with child like trust. Perhaps that is a reason for my gift of faith today! God said it and I believe it. In fact, I never struggled in that department but it goes back to my youth.

Sure there are complicated themes in the Bible. But there are many that are complicated to adults that are not complicate to kids. They simply take God and Jesus at his word: a novel idea unhindered by our western rationalism.

Years ago, an expert in education from England wrote these words.


We might gather from [misguided] educational publications that the art of education as regards young children is to bring conceptions down to their 'little' minds. If we give up this foolish prejudice, we shall be astonished at the range and depth of children's minds. And, we shall perceive that their relation to God is one of those 'first-born affinities,' which it is our part to help them to make good. A mother knows how to speak of God as she would of an absent father, with all the evidences of his care and love. She knows how to make a child's heart beat high in joy and thankfulness; as she thrills him with the thought 'my Father made them all,' while his eye delights in flowery meadow, great tree, flowing river. 'His are the mountains and the valleys, his the resplendent rivers, whose eyes they fill with tears of holy joy.' And this is not beyond children. (Charlotte Mason, Philosophy of Education)

Remember that when children are created they come with amazing minds, creative ideas and a spiritual component that wants and needs to connect with the living God. It is often we as parents that complicate the uncomplicated and limit their understanding through our disappointments in life and sometimes far from robust faith.

Understanding the wiring of your staff

Several long conversations with ministries recently - both church and other have reminded me of the importance of paying close attention to how individuals are wired before we place them in their jobs. In one case, significant mistrust had developed between a senior pastor and his board. Words like “mistrust” and “unqualified” “lack of communication” and “distant” were used and it was obvious that there was a significant gap between the work of the board and the expectations of the leader.



In our dialogue, however, it became very clear that the long standing frustrations had nothing to do with the integrity or qualifications of the leader. Rather, they had to do with how the leader was wired and gifted. In fact, we made two lists on the white board. List one was the list of all those things that the pastor did (or did not do) that caused frustration for the board. They were all organizational leadership issues.


We then made a long list of the leader’s strengths. They were almost all people related, things he did one on one and did very well. His areas of strength lie almost completely outside the organizational arena. They are strengths he uses one on one with people facing problems, in evangelism and in his preaching.


This took the conversation out of the real of “good or bad” “trust or mistrust” and put them into a category that revolved around current job fit. This could mean that this leader will be happier in another job. It could mean that the board needs to change his responsibilities so that he plays to his strengths. That is a process they need to run over the next months.


In our organization we actually have three steps in the hiring process. First, is this someone we want on the team: Do they have the emotional, relational, spiritual and skill healthy that we need? Once we say yes, we need to determine how they are uniquely wired by God. Are they individual producers or organizational leaders? How do they like to be led and how do they lead? We use the SIMA organizational tool for this analysis as well as long dialogue. Finally, we write the job description that is consistent with their gifting and wiring. The job description gets written last, not first.


People are hard wired by God in unique ways and that wiring is not going to change. We can grow in a number of areas but our wiring will not change. The leader above will never be a great organizational leader but he shines in his lane. The more we think along those lines, the better the fit, the lower the frustration and the more return on mission we will experience.

Missions and the Holy Spirit

I am going to make an observation as a mission leader that some may take exception to but which I believe to be true: In general missionaries from the west have much different expectations of the Holy Spirit in the missions endeavor than those we serve in the majority world. 

It saddens me that many missionaries I meet have very low expectations of what God might actually do through their work. They work hard, expect little and often see little fruit. Often, the very people they work with (from the south and the east) have a much larger expectation of what God intends to do through their ministries. They expect much, and see much fruit.

Why the difference? I believe it has much to do with out view of the Holy Spirit, His work in our lives and our expectation or not that He will show up in a significant way.  

In the book of Acts - our best primer on missions there are two concepts that show up together with regularity: proclamation of the Gospel and the power of God. Word and power together. It never surprised Paul with God showed his power in places that the Gospel was proclaimed. It was that power that gave credence to their claims that God was who He was and had the power to change their lives. Miracles, healings, and radical life changes accompanied the proclamation of the Gospel. "In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power" (Acts 19:20).

Why is it that in the rationalistic west where all things must fit into a neat box and everything have a rationale explanation that we see so little of that power in our ministries? Why is it that in the majority world, that power is regularly seen in miraculous events such as healings that result in people coming to Christ? 

The Holy Spirit defies rational explanation. He shows up unexpectedly, and does things that defy explanation. In my own life, in 2007 He chose to miraculously heal my mitral valve when surgery would have been a death sentence because of my dire illness. My cardiologist cannot understand how that happened! So why should I be surprised when God heals regularly in much of the world resulting in people coming to Christ? Or shows up in other amazing ways? Even raising the dead resulting in the birth of churches!

We have been taught too often in the West that all our theology needs to fit into neat little boxes - but God defies fitting into a neat little box. When He chooses to show up in power, the unexpected takes place - we cannot control Him. The real question is whether we in our rationalism are willing to allow Him to show up, expect Him to show up, want Him to show up or believe He will show up. 

Expect little and we will see little. Expect that the Gospel is the "power" of God for the salvation of everyone who believes...and pray that God would do beyond what we could "ask or imagine" and He might just do that!

Believers in the majority world don't have the sophistication to know that God is supposed to fit into neat categories. When they read the Scriptures and see God doing the unexpected and miraculous they actually believe he operates that way. When He tells them to ask for much fruit they assume He means what he says. And God blesses them for their naive faith. Actually that naive faith is the faith God wants from each of us. 

We have a lot to learn about the power of God through His Spirit. We have a lot to learn about believing that His power breaks through spiritual strongholds and changes hearts. We have a lot to learn about naively believing that He wants to show up in power, surprise us and others and bring people to Him. As for missions from the west, I believe our lack of faith in the power of God, through His Spirit is one of the greatest barriers to seeing the Gospel come the way we see it came in the book of Acts.

What I am encouraged by are the number of workers from the west who are re-examining the role of the Holy Spirit in their lives and ministries. And even reclaiming the "forgotten God" of the Holy Spirit. 

Here is my challenge to every Christian. Read the New Testament for the first time! By that I mean, put aside all your theological training, grids and commentaries for a while. Just read the New Testament and ask yourself, "What does the New Testament say about the Holy Spirit and His power in my life?" And, "if what it says is completely true what might I expect Him to do in my life and ministry?" And then - here is the scary part - invite Him to surprise you in your life and ministry. It's an invitation He will not turn down. 

   

Developing a Book of Knowledge

Think back to a time when you came into a new organization - perhaps your current organization. How long did it take you to figure out what was really going on, understand what the culture was, or get up to speed on issues they were dealing with? The discovery process can be frustrating and disorienting.

There is a way to shorten the process for new folks who come into your organization. It is to develop a comprehensive "Book of Knowledge." A Book of Knowledge is a compilation of every key document, policy, powerpoint, key meeting minutes, videos, white papers and so on - going back at least five years. It is all those things that those who have been around for a while already know but what a new individual has no clue about.

With a Book of Knowledge for your organization or team, one of the first responsibilities of a new staff member is to take a week or so and simply immerse themselves in that information. Coming out of that homework they then have context to ask questions of their supervisor and dialogue in depth over issues that are key to their success in their new role.

Not only will they get up to speed faster but the frustrations of trying to understand their new organization will be significantly alleviated. Do you have a Book of Knowledge for your organization?

The Magic of Questions

Many of us are great at telling others what we think and sharing our opinions or telling others what they should think or do. Fewer of us are great at asking questions which draw others out, show our interest in them or create dialogue around issues that allow us to understand others or get to common understanding. For those who develop this skill, there is a special magic in the way others respond to them.



One of my sons is currently looking for a job and a good friend has been coaching him on interviews. The first thing he taught Jon to do was to look around the office of the one doing the interview and notice everything that was there because every book, magazine, picture or memento tells a story about the individual. And then he suggested Jon comment on those items and ask appropriate questions to draw out the interviewer.


Why? Because relational connection is everything in an interview. Actually, relational connection is everything in all of our interactions and learning how to be naturally curious and ask good questions goes a long way in making that connection.


“Tell me about….” questions allow you to ask about situations, decisions or thinking of another person. It sparks a narrative or story which provides context and understanding about a specific issue. It is an open ended question that allows the narrator to take it where they desire and allows for one to follow up to clarify.


“How did you…..” questions are wonderful questions if you want to understand how someone is wired because it is really asking how one went about tackling a specific issue or dealing with a specific problem. All of us go after issues differently so “how” questions help you understand how they are wired.


“Tell me why….” questions allow you to probe why someone chose a certain course of action and if asked well does not indicate rightness or wrongness but simply why they chose that course. If the course of action was problematic one can follow up. Often, one will understand the rationale that they did not understand before for a course of action.


“What are you learning these days about….” allows one to probe on any number of subjects and often reveals the cutting edge issues that people are grappling with opening up a wonderful dialogue on the subject.


The magic of questions is that it creates relationship, gives great insight into the thinking and styles of others and most importantly gives honor to the one to whom we ask the questions. The more questions we ask, the more we honor others and the more we understand.