Poverty and wealth

Financial poverty where it is found around the world is easy to see. One cannot be untouched by the slums of Calcutta, the townships of South Africa and any number of places where the utter devastation of the human condition confronts us with overwhelming power.

What is not so evident is poverty in the developed world. I am not referring to financial poverty – although that can be easily found – but poverty of spirit and purpose. This is a poverty disguised by material success and all its trappings which is every bit as devastating to our hearts as material poverty is in the slums. In fact, our hearts can live in the slum of poverty of spirit while we reside in homes that have everything we could ever need.

 Of course the greatest poverty of all is that of alienation with our creator. But even among those who know Him there is often great poverty of spirit. The very gifts that He gives in income and possessions often tempt us to put our trust in our abilities, success and net worth rather than in simple faith that places all of life in His hands and for His purposes.

Such poverty of spirit leads to a poverty of purpose where the focus of our lives becomes ourselves and our pleasure rather than Him and His divine purpose for our existence (Ephesians 2:10). We are too busy with our stuff and schedule to engage in meaningful ministry. We have so many options in life that it is easy to crowd out the most important priority – knowing Him and dedicating our lives to making Him known.

Lives lived primarily for ourselves with dependence on ourselves are empty lives, not the abundant life that Jesus came to give. We have defined that abundance as material abundance. He defined it is an abundance of Him and the purpose that He brings. I want to be wealthy – in the way that only Jesus can make me wealthy. It is a wealth of His presence, His purposes for my life where I can join him in a meaningful way with what He is up to in our world. It is a wealth of enjoying the length and depth of his love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and presence. It is a wealth of being able to live by simple faith, trusting Him for my daily bread and direction. It is the wealth of Christ in Me, the hope of glory.

This is true wealth and it lifts us from the slums of poverty of spirit. Oh, and some of the folks that I have met in the literal slums? Some of those believers are the happiest people I have ever met – not because of their circumstances but because while their physical body lives in a slum, their hearts are wealthy with the love, purpose, and life of Jesus. Who is poor? Them or us?

Costly Devotion

Guest writer

Anna Blanc

Worship leader at the International House of Prayer in Kansas

City

I have a confession: I am terribly distracted while worship leading when I notice older saints connecting with the Lord in the room.  It is not as though I can avert my eyes and move on; I am taken with the sight.  Tears traveling down wrinkled faces, weathered hands lifted toward Heaven.  There is something awe-inspiring in the testimony of a man or woman having lived through years, decades, of turmoil, pleasure, the mundane, pressure and sorrow, and her confession through it all, openly displayed through her worship, is that He is worth it.

I am grateful that the Lord values and enjoys even the first declarations of love from the youngest believer.  To Him, a yes is a yes, and He receives it as His treasure.  Even still, there is a sweetness that comes when there is a cost to love.  When things are not going well; when there is loss at stake.  When the believer must turn his back upon all other pleasures, treasures, desires, face the God of whom he actually knows very little, and say in truth, “I choose You”.  When the One who holds in His hand our very breath allows difficulty, pain, and loss in our lives, the choice to love Him is often made in anguish and tears.  And yet in that pain-riddled declaration of love, there is a weightiness that plumb lines inexplicable joy into the depths of the spirit of the one who proclaims it.  In finally surrendering our self-perceived rights to comfort, ease and well-being, we tear down the idol that has kept us from walking in the way of true joy and peace.

God allows pain in this life.  We can hide from this reality, but in doing so we adopt a microscopic view of the great I Am, declaring Him impotent and unable.  God allows loss.  Look at Paul.  Look at Job.  Look at Jesus.  But if God is able, all-knowing, and all-powerful, then the wrestle of the human heart in the midst of trial becomes… why?  It is in the midst of this struggle, as the eyes of the believer are blinded to its answer on this side of time that the painful depths of love are plummeted.  Yes, it’s a real fight of the heart; God is a big God with big shoulders, and He can take all the overflowing, confused emotions we can dish out.  But eventually we lean, more like crumple, into Sovereignty.  Denying offence and refusing self-pity, it is enough that God knows, and that He can be trusted.

The struggle of the heart through the testing of sorrow is in sustaining a tender spirit.  How we care for the deep wound of the heart caused by loss is pertinent to how our spirits emerge from a season of pain.  Through neglect and denial, our hearts can harden, becoming dull and unfeeling, not unlike a scar on the body.  But as we wrestle for righteousness and simple faith, surrendering our own understanding in light of His unchanging kindness, we allow the tearing in our heart to become a riverbed for the Holy Spirit.  He gains access to new depths in our devotion to Him, and we gain a fresh infilling of His peace and presence.

A young girl in my twenties, how much do I really know about living through pain and suffering?  Not much.  But I see the woman in her eighties on row twelve, fully engaged in loving Jesus, declaring, “Great is Thy faithfulness”.  And I know that I want to join her, day after day, year after year, till my confession carries the weight and beauty of a love proven by time.

The Passion Factor

One of the ways we can tell if we are in our lane and living out God’s best for our lives is the level of passion we have for what God has called us to do. Show me a passionate Christ follower and chances are they are playing to their strengths, highly motivated, and fully engaged. 

Certainly there are seasons for all of us when passion is diminished because of difficult circumstances in our life or work - the tough times we just need to be faithful. But, if those times don't give rise to a renewed sense of direction, energy and passion we may have a more systemic issue to deal with.

Lack of passion and energy around what we do – or in staff members is a warning signal that boredom has set in, we or they are not playing to strengths or there is something in the way of motivation and passion. Getting to the core of our lack of passion is critical if we are going to maximize our gifting, impact and the role God has given us.

Here are some questions to ask when our passion diminishes:

• Am I in the right job or the right role, playing to the gifts God has given?

• Am I in the right job but need to spend more time in my areas of strengths which fill me rather than in areas that drain me?

• Do I have a supervisor who disempowers and micromanages and therefore demotivates me?

• Am I working on a dysfunctional team that is impacting my passion?

• Does my lack of passion flow from working for an organization that itself does not have clarity and passion?

• Am I so busy and distracted that I do not have time for refreshment and recharging?

• Am I bored through a lack of challenge in my present role?

Passionate people are happy, motivated and effective. When we start to lose our passion, it is time to ask ourselves some questions and clarify where the loss of passion comes from. God designed us to make a specific difference in His kingdom – something we can be highly motivated and passionate about (Ephesians 2:10). Take a moment and ask yourself what level your passion is at.

A test of character

How we leave our ministries when our time is up is a test of our character and emotional intelligence. One of the greatest gifts my predecessor gave to me was his absolute full support, commitment to pray for me every day and never to criticize my leadership – even though he knew that I would bring significant change – building on the gains he had made during his tenure. Because of his wholehearted support I felt free to ask Ben to serve as a Global Ambassador for the mission after his retirement. Ben demonstrated to me how to leave and I fully intend to follow the wonderful example he gave me.

Let’s be honest! What Ben did in his transition of leadership is hard. We pour ourselves into our role, we do our very best and then one day our time is up and we must humbly give to another something that is very precious, knowing that some things will now be different. It is far easier to be impressed with our own moves and success than the decisions and success of another.

Pastoral transitions are no different. We leave behind a web of long relationships and it is easy to subtly undermine our successor when we hear complaints from friends that things are not like they used to be – as they never will be. When we get pulled in after we leave, when we subtly criticize or even sympathize with our former parishioners we are guilty of sowing discord and division and we hurt the Bride. Humble and gracious leaders never hurt the Bride, or undermine their successor. Those who do, do so out of their own pride and insecurities.

Perhaps the most difficult transition and test of our character is when we leave because we are asked to leave. No matter how it happens, that hurts and our lower nature wants to bite back and hurt those who have hurt us. It is easy to do, it is commonly done and again it hurts the Bride. Sometimes it is to defend ourselves or our reputation. Yet, it never works to defend our own reputation. God can do that but we cannot as David says so well in Psalms 37 and 73. Furthermore, things do become clear in time. God has a way of redeeming even those things that are painful in the moment for His glory.

As a leader I have had on occasion needed to move people off of my staff. Sometimes, just because it was no longer a good fit as the nature of the organization changed. I have watched staff respond with great dignity, trusting God to go before them.  I have watched others leave in great anger and I have watched some act with dignity in public and sow discord behind the scenes. Each response is an indication of the true character of the staff member. When we intentionally hurt the ministry we worked for, we are hurting the ministry of Christ. 

My model is my predecessor Ben. He taught me how to both leave well and to support the one who takes up the baton when I am gone. I want to be their greatest cheerleader when that time comes.

Soft Hearts, Thick Skin

Healthy leaders develop a well regulated balance between nurturing a soft heart while maintaining a thick skin. Leadership is both a wonderful privilege and at times deeply painful. And it always requires us to have open minds.

Leadership is not for the easily discouraged, quickly offended or easily wounded. After all, one cannot lead for any length of time without being misinterpreted, unappreciated or even maligned. If it happened to Paul (Philippians 1, 1 Corinthians) it will certainly happen to us. To survive, it is absolutely necessary to develop a thick skin that does not take issues personally, keeps life and people in perspective and even maintains a sense of humor about otherwise crazy circumstances. The ability to laugh at ourselves is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves.

While a thick skin is necessary it can also insulate us from the necessary sensitivity to people and situations that make it possible for us to lead well. We risk the temptation of becoming hard in our desire to protect ourselves from the inevitable pains that leadership inflicts – losing our sensitivity to people and becoming immune to the counsel of others. It can cause us too to quickly dismiss counsel we did not seek, especially when it is delivered poorly – which is where the pain often comes from.

I am always impressed with the Apostle Paul's gracious love and sensitivity toward people, even when they had significantly disappointed him. This does not mean he could not be hard on individuals who needed to wake up and smell the coffee but he maintained a soft heart nonetheless.

Healthy leaders understand the need for both a thick skin and a soft heart and they nurture both. Thick skin helps us keep perspective and not take things personally – even when others make it personal and even seek to inflict pain. Soft hearts keep our minds open to the possibility that even though the delivery of criticism may be faulty, there may still be truth to the message that we need to consider. And, a soft heart allows us to stay connected even with those we may disagree with - if they are willing to reciprocate.

Soft hearts are maintained by an ongoing analysis of our own motives, attitudes toward others, compassion toward even people who hurt us and being willing to consider criticism while not taking it personally. When you get it down perfect, send me the recipe.  

Church boards and church culture

I do not believe that most church boards understand the direct correlation between the health of their relationships and practices as a board and the health of relationships and practices within the congregation. Generally speaking, there is an almost one to one correlation between how a board does relationships and behaves and what happens in the congregation itself. To put it directly: The congregation takes its cues as to what is acceptable behavior from its leadership.

I once worked with a board that was not unified over an important decision – even though the board had made a decision. Because this board did not have a covenant of behavior, several board members who didn't agree with the decision continued to bring their issues up at the board level. And, they shared their views outside the board meeting so the lack of unity on the board spilled over to a lack of unity as a congregation – a situation that could caused the congregation great pain in days that followed.

Here are some issues for boards to consider that directly impact the congregation as a whole.

• Do we encourage candid discussion in board meetings but once a decision is made all support that decision in all settings?

• Do we keep board discussions confidential?

• Do we resolve personal differences quickly and biblically? 
• Do we have a covenant of how we work and relate to one another and deal with board members who violate the terms of that board covenant?

• Are we able to set personal agenda’s aside for the health of the church and are we able to set our pride aside and support the decision of the group even when it is not the one we would have made?

• Do we have a culture of spiritual dependence in our deliberations?

Boards must understand that their commitments and behaviors will be mirrored in the congregation as a whole. To the extent that they are healthy they are likely to have a healthy congregation – or the opposite if unhealthy. The health of your church is directly related to the health of your board.

If you serve on an unhealthy church board I would encourage you to speak up and name the elephant in the room. Don't simply accept poor board behavior because in doing so you are hurting the very church that you are called to lead. There is too much silence in too many church boards over too much problematic behavior that directly impacts the spiritual health of the congregation.

Leaders as culture creators

Every organization has a culture that is unique to it. That culture is a combination of the ethos its leaders bring, past history (and leadership), as well as the spoken and unspoken values of its constituency. When we label a congregations with terms like legalistic, grace-filled, warm, loving, hard to break in or conflict adverse, what we are describing is its culture.

In most cases, organizations will have a combination of culture to celebrate and pieces of their culture that are problematic. For instance, a congregation may be very loving and caring and at the same time be unable to resolve conflict well. The former is healthy culture, the latter is unhealthy.

One of the key roles that leaders play is that of being “culture creators.” Leaders don’t simply accept the current culture as what should be. Rather they think deeply about what parts of the culture of their organization are healthy and worthy of celebration and those parts of the culture that are unhealthy and need to be addressed. For instance, when I took leadership in my current role I found huge loyalty to the organization among its staff – a positive and helpful part of our culture. On the other hand, we did not have an ethos that invited honest, robust dialogue over issues – a weakness in our culture. We have therefore worked hard to create a culture where such dialogue is always encouraged as long as it is not a personal attack or contain a hidden agenda.

Leadership teams, whether church boards, staff or other senior teams would do well to white board the cultural traits of their organization and then divide the list into two parts, “healthy cultural traits” and “unhealthy cultural traits.” Then create a third column “preferred culture” and describe what you would really like to see. Then start working together to create that culture by taking specific steps that will start to reinforce the cultural traits you desire.

Often this will mean that leaders must change their own behaviors which contribute to both healthy and unhealthy culture. Defensive leaders, for instance, cannot create an open environment where healthy dialogue is the norm without finding ways to lower their defensive reactions which create barriers to robust dialogue. Leaders who don’t deliver on their promises are unlikely to create a results driven environment. Instead they send a message that execution does not really matter.

Good leaders don’t ignore the culture question. They are always watching and thinking about the organization’s culture, both the healthy and problematic. And, they are intentional in celebrating and reinforcing the healthy and modifying and dealing with the problematic. Changing your culture is not easy but it is critical for those organizations that desire to be all that they can be. The most powerful cultural clues to an organization are the commitments, attitudes and behaviors of their leaders. That fact alone ought to motivate us to think about culture – we create most of is for better or for worse.