The Power of Incarnational Engagement

In the incarnation, Jesus stepped into our lives, took on our body, lived with our limitations, experienced our emotions and personally engaged with people wherever they were in their lives or spiritual journeys. It was deeply personal. It was sacrificial, costing him everything, and it was intentional.

There is no power greater than our personal involvement in the lives of others, meeting them where they are, being willing to get involved in their lives – whether as a friend, an encourager, a mentor, meeting a need or just being there when life gets hard. Like, Jesus, this is incarnational – it is stepping into their lives - and it is intentional engagement – being willing to get involved. It goes contrary in many ways to the selfish nature of our world which finds getting involved in the messiness of life of other people uncomfortable and inconvenient.

This is the Jesus life which revolved around people. While Jesus clearly had boundaries he was essentially other centric not self centric. He was driven by a huge heart of love both for his friends (disciples and followers) and the most unlovely and desperate. He saw his life and ministry in light of eternity not time. He went where others would not go and to people others would not minister to. He knew that it is the hurting that are most open so he went to the needy whether the rich tax collector or the beggar and prostitute.

He made time for people! He did not simply delegate people engagement to others but He took the time. That is a challenge for us who live busy lives or are even in professional ministry. We teach and preach incarnational lives but the real question is whether we have time for incarnational engagement ourselves. It is personal involvement in the lives of others that keeps our hearts tender and helps transform our hearts into the heart of Jesus. The closer we are to the hurts, pain and needs of others, the more our hearts reflect Jesus’ heart. One cannot live incarnationally without being changed. It is not what we give that changes us. It is what we receive when we enter into the lives of others.

Those who live this way do so because they, like Jesus, see people in light of eternity. They take seriously the words of Jesus that as the Father sent Him so He has sent us. And their lives reflect the unselfish and other centric life of Christ. The incarnate Christ touched them and they in turn want to touch others. It is a humble, Christ centered life of love and service no matter what our station in life.

Leaders and their convictions

Successful leaders become so through a set of beliefs, convictions and practices that developed over time become the core of their leadership philosophy. These deeply held beliefs form our leadership culture and provide stability for those we lead as they learn that they can rely on us to act consistently and predictions in alignment with on those convictions and practices.

Those in the organization I lead will recognize certain phrases which reflect my leadership philosophy. “Do not underestimate my resolve” indicates that we will chase after those things we are passionate about. There is no flavor of the month but a true north that guides all that we do. Our convictions are not optional. “Nothing to prove and nothing to lose” allows us to live with humility and not need to be right. “We engage in robust dialogue” gives us permission to speak with candor and honesty as long as there are no hidden agendas or personal attacks. “Autopsy without blame,” gives us permission to try new things and even fail and then talk about it without assigning blame.

Just as leaders do not like surprises, nor do those they lead. Unpredictable leaders create uncertainty in those they lead while predictable leaders provide stability based on certain foundational and widely known values which when lived out by leaders become a corporate culture. When leaders hear those same values articulated by other leaders in the organization, they know they are successfully creating a common culture.

This means that leaders must be articulate and communicate their values constantly. The test of how well we are doing this is whether those in our organizations can explain our leadership practices and beliefs. If staff cannot describe the belief system of their leaders they have not done a good job of articulating their convictions. Communicating those beliefs and principles often and in a way that can be remembered is critical. Consistent practice of those beliefs and practices is even more important. It also means that we must be careful about what beliefs and values we communicate because they do become the culture of the organization – so ensuring we have the right values is essential.

How would you articulate the beliefs and convictions that guide you as a leader? Could those you lead articulate those beliefs and convictions?

When money hurts mission efforts

It sounds so good! For a small amount of money you can support a pastor in the majority world where costs are low. Soon your church is supporting a dozen or so pastors and you receive wonderful reports of how God is working through them.

But, what we often do not consider are the unintended consequences. What is a pragmatic ministry decision for us is often a disaster for the church. Consider the fact that God designed the church to be the most flexible, missional and effective organization on the face of the earth and to survive and thrive in any economy or political system. The key to its success is its reproducibility and it is the reproducibility that is hurt when we pay pastors from the west.

It sounds so good – and it makes us feel good. After all we have funds and those we are helping do not. Of course it is the American way of getting results – money. Experience shows, however, that once we start paying pastors in a region of the world, new churches don’t start until someone picks up the bill for the next pastor, and the next, and the next. Our good intentions have compromised the reproducible nature of the church. Our money has become a barrier.

Furthermore, our money has robbed the congregation of the joy and responsibility of supporting their own ministry. Why give when there is money coming from somewhere else? Because we rely on money for all we do, we assume that others do as well. Sometimes it is not money that is given but chickens, eggs or other foodstuffs. Everyone can give something but when we take away the responsibility to give to their own ministry we hurt the church and those who make up the church.

I have never seen a situation where paying pastors ended up helping the church rather than hurting the church – in the long run. It is a short term pragmatic solution that actually slows down the reproduction of the church. That is why we are committed in ReachGlobal to churches that have five qualities: Healthy, reproducing, interdependent, indigenous and self-supporting. Paying pastors compromises church health, reproducibility, and even the indigenous nature of the church since the church is now indebted to those who support it. They now suffer from the disease of dependence and paternalism. Dependence and paternalism are unhealthy but we foster that in many parts of the world, taking away the dignity of local congregations to provide for the needs of the ministry and determine their destiny. We are often blind to the resources that God has actually given His people because we are so driven by budgets and finances in our own ministries.

There are many ways that we can use our financial resources to expand the church and I am a huge advocate of generous giving. How we use those monies, however is critically important. Some uses hurt the church while other uses expand the church. Paying pastors in the majority world is a pragmatic solution on our part that hurts the long term viability and reproducibility of the church. And, it creates unhealthy dependencies!

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.