Growing health and effectiveness

A blog centered around The Addington Method, leadership, culture, organizational clarity, faith issues, teams, Emotional Intelligence, personal growth, dysfunctional and healthy leaders, boards and governance, church boards, organizational and congregational cultures, staff alignment, intentional results and missions.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

People are not always what they look like on the outside

See this moving story and video and be reminded that people are not always what they seem. They have a name, a story and may well surprise you when you get to know them.

(Posted from Oakdale, MN)

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Do we expect too much from our church and too little from Jesus?

I suspect that in the United States, we expect too much from the local church and too little from Jesus. Let me explain.

Church hopping is endemic today. American evangelicals are consumers of the local church and often deeply dissatisfied with what they have. Often for good reason. We want the best preaching, the best music, the best programming for our kids and the best of everything else. And we hope that our experience will change our life with Jesus - making us happy, fulfilled, and be there for us always.

I understand the frustration. Healthy churches are hard to find and even then they don't always fill the hole in our hearts. But perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for the fulfillment we seek. Not that the local church is unimportant, it is the Bride of Jesus and we are to be connected to the Bride. We need the people of God and the community of Jesus. They are our our encouragement, our help and our ministry partners.

But - if the church  becomes our substitute for our personal relationship with Jesus, if we expect that the church will fill the hole in our heart that only God can fill, perhaps our dissatisfaction comes from substituting the church for what should be a close personal walk with Jesus. The fact is, no church and no person can bring the joy that Jesus does. It can help us walk the pilgrimage of faith and we are called to walk that walk with others. The church is the bride of Jesus but it is not a substitute for Jesus in our personal lives.

We will never find the perfect church because we are in it. We can find the perfect Christ because that is who he is. We cannot  abandon the church which is the community of God but nor can we substitute the church for a deep personal relationship with Jesus. He is the source of life and satisfaction. The people of God are a necessary bonus and the church is the constant reminder of the God we worship. The church contributes to the walk we have with God but it never becomes the substitute for a relationship with the Lord of the Church, Jesus.

Something to think about.

(Posted from Oakdale, MN)

Christianity is alive and well in Cuba

I just arrived back in Miami from Cuba. I had the privilege of working with a large denomination there that is actively planting churches, both traditional and house churches (thousands of these) and doing ministry in a very transformational way. It was most encouraging to see that the Gospel is prospering in a very difficult environment. The Christian population is greater than 10%.

One of the things that impressed me was the sacrifice made by those who pastor these congregations. Most must work full time in addition to their ministry. Jobs are hard to come by, the economy is very difficult and unemployment may be as high as 30 - 40%. Yet there is an optimism and a deep commitment to see individuals and communities transformed with the Good News. One leader I met has planted 40+ churches in a new community and oversees their ministry.

As an aside, Cuba is a beautiful place and the people very friendly. And, the response to the Gospel is an indication that there is a hunger for deeper meaning in life. Pray for Cuba and the church there. They are committed to loving on their country in order to see God  bless their nation.

(Posted from Miami)


Friday, April 4, 2014

Leadership friendly environments

I asked a group of church leaders this week, if it was easy or hard to make decisions. They said "hard." What they were really saying without knowing it is that they do not have a leadership friendly environment. This not only makes it hard to lead but it robs good leaders of a lot of joy and it keeps leaders from being more effective. Their answer is an indication that their structures or ethos need to change.

This scenario is all too common in the local church where the ethos is more often than not a permission withholding structure rather than permission granting. Some like it that way as it prevents leaders (staff or lay) from making decisions. But the end result is that ministry opportunity is left on the table and the missional agenda is compromised.

What does a leadership friendly environment look like?
1. Leadership is valued as important to the organization. In many Christian organizations and ministries it is not! In fact, many churches don't want to support leaders on the mission field (they don't do real missions) even though they would never think to have staff with no leader or accountability in their own organization.

2. The structures and ethos are such that it is easy to make decisions. This allows the organization to move quickly when it must and empowered within appropriate boundaries at all times. Generally this means that leaders have appropriate authority to act with clear boundaries without getting additional permission. bureaucracy is kept to a minimum.

3. There is room to fail. Not all decisions get us to where we want to be and not all strategies work. The tendency when something does not work is to become even more cautious, pull our heads into the shell and get blamed for the "failure." Yet, if there is not room to fail, innovation never takes place. Leadership friendly organizations allow for failure which is why they see innovative thinking.

4. New leaders are regularly mentored and released. No organization is truly leadership friendly if it is not training the next generation of leaders. Leadership that does not train the next generation is selfish leadership while those that do display an unselfish leadership. The intentional development of new leaders makes it clear that leadership is a priority for the organization.

5. Leaders have both authority and responsibility. One of the most disempowering actions is to give someone responsibility without the requisite authority to accomplish it. This is not leadership at all but is rather an abdication of leadership. In addition, leaders who are regularly second guessed by their superiors after they have made decisions with due process are likewise disempowered and kept from leading well.

6. Good leadership is modeled and lived out at the top of the organization. Senior leaders always set the tone for what leadership will look like within the organization. Poor leadership at the top is always an indicator of a leadership unfriendly environment.

How leadership friendly is your environment and how leadership friendly do you allow others to be?

(Posted from Havana Cuba)

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Where everyone in the world is migrating in one gorgeous chart

Check this out

World migration

(Posted from Havana Cuba)

Is your ultimate focus on Scripture or Jesus?

I do not worship Scripture, doctrine or theology. I worship Jesus and there is a big difference! It is easy to substitute the word of God for the person of God even though the word points to the person. The word without Jesus and His transformative work is dead and can lead to little else but legalism. The word understood and Jesus worshiped leads to freedom and life.

In my years of consulting with churches some of the most damaging and dangerous people have been those who knew the Scriptures the best. They could quote Scripture (and used it against other people), knew fine theology (and loved to show it) and often were the most rigid and legalistic people in the congregation. To say nothing of the lack of grace. These individuals worshiped the Scriptures at the expense of worshiping Jesus.

The word is designed to lead us to a living Lord and the transformation of our lives through the Holy Spirit. It does so only when we engage with Jesus (John 15) and are organically attached to Him. Jesus did not tell us that the Scriptures were the vine and we the branches but that He is the vine and we are the branches. It is as we remain in Him that we find life.

The word is truth about God but it is not God. Furthermore, without the Holy Spirit working in our hearts the word cannot transform our lives but only add to our intellectual knowledge and lead to a dead orthodoxy (if one can call it orthodox without the living Lord).

I love Scripture and read it through almost annually. But I love Jesus more and worship Him. He is my savior, not the Scriptures. He gives me life while the Scriptures help me understand him better and align my life with His. 

Never substitute the word of God for the person of God. The first can lead us to the second but it is the second that gives us life. Together His person and His truth are a powerful combination for life transformation.

(Posted from Havana, Cuba)

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

When supervisors go south on you

In a healthy workplace it is unusual but in any workplace it can happen: a supervisor takes out his or her frustration on those who work for them in an unfair or unhealthy way. It may be in the form of public criticism or a biting email. Whichever, it leaves the staff member feeling disempowered, demoralized and sometimes angry.

What should one do?

Nothing - until the emotions have cooled. But, once they have it is usually prudent to express one's discomfort with the kind or tone of the communication in a respectful way. This does several things. First, it makes it clear to the supervisor that you are unwilling to be treated in a disrespectful way. Second, it clears the air. Third, the supervisor will usually back down and apologize. If they don't they know that they cannot be careless in their communications.

Supervisors are human and get irritated. We need to give them space and we hope they give us space. But, we need not accept careless behavior on their part toward staff. Respectfully pushing back sends a message that you will not tolerate disrespectful behavior.

(Posted from Miami)