Emerging Pastor

As a young and naive small group leader I used to believe that you could do things in your group like, pick the next study, by canvasing the opinions of the whole group, garnering a consensus and then together going down to the local Christian book store and picking one out that meets all the agreed upon conversation.

This in fact did work for a while, when the group was very small, 3-4 people finding such consensus was easy because the group was traveling very closely together in their discovery process with God. When the group grew bigger, say 6-8 people, it became much harder to reach an agreement on who would bring supper next week let alone what we should be studying.

I put these kinds of issues into the subject of Shared Leadership vs Leading by Consensus. When we lead by consensus one could make an argument that we are showing no leadership at all, I don't agree with that. It does however put an unnecessary strain on the group when people start to engage their opinions only to be upset when the group doesn't move the way they suggested.

Shared leadership on the other hand is in line with the model of mentoring new leaders from within the group to become group leaders themselves. Let's take the example of choosing a study again. In a shared leadership scenario, the group leader would pull aside the person (or people) they are mentoring and ask them what they believe the group should study next and either go with it or put it to the group. Doing this gets people to think not just about themselves but of the Spiritual needs of others in the group and that is the best training I can give them.

There is one other benefit from shared leadership, it keeps the leader accountable. It gives people permission to speak into the leaders life about where they think the group is and helps prevent leader ego trips.

Today is pretty exciting for me, I'm off to go visit the printers and get the ball rolling with the new church-wide bible study. It's due to kickoff on the 19th of May so I'm cutting it a little fine as far as production is concerned but it all seems to be going to plan.

I'm also going to send out a PDF copy to the small group leaders today so they can have some time to absorb the infromation. As a church we have performed 40 days of Purpose and 40 days of Community. The biggest problem with both of those studies was there was no formal equipping for the leaders, we just had to feel our way around.

I'm a firm believer that the group leader should lead. Be it by reading on ahead and nutting out the answers themselves or just being further down the road of Christian experience than those in their group. If the leader is stumbling for answers then the rest of the group will stumble along with them.

Along with sending out the advanced copy, I'm also setting aside two training days for group leaders where we will go through the study as a small group ourselves and learn and grow. Because the study is 8 weeks long, I'm planning to have one day just before the commencement and one day three weeks in both covering the following 4 weeks.

I've been looking over the logs for this site for the last month or so and something surprised me, people actually read my blog!

Not thousands a day but enough to encourage me, especially since I've only ever told three people about it, and one of them is my wife :) Hello beautiful!

So how about some feedback? I'd love it if you could leave a comment or two on this or other posts and let me know what's good, what's bad and what you would like to see more of.

This article is part of a case study I performed on a well known Christian welfare organization in Australia. The first part of
the case study was to build a picture of how and why God responds to suffering in the world today then
to perform a critical evaluation of that organization based on that study. I've extracted all of the theological
response parts that I can and it is a facinating insight into how God works in our world today.

What is God's response to suffering?

Theological training today prepares you for many things. It prepares you as a critical thinker. It prepares you meet peoples Spiritual and emotional needs. It prepares you for understanding the whole person and their welfare. What a good theological education doesn't prepare you for is the fear in peoples eyes when you want to involve them in a ministry.

We joke around our church saying if you visit two weeks in a row you will be on a roster, I'm not trying to get people onto a roster, I'm trying to get them into a small group.

At our vision casting confrence (VCC) we (by that I mean the church leadership) commited to developing three areas in 2008, number two with a bullet is small groups as a means for personal spiritual growth and development. It's the reason I'm employed by the church, to create this small group culture. Also at the VCC we promised to undertake a church-wide study to kickstart our small group program.

So I've been spruking this for some weeks, I have sign up sheets, new leaders ready to take up the reigns, training planned but so far it's a little like pulling teeth to get people to sign up. This Sunday again I made an announcement during the service about what this is all about (them and God) and said I'd be at the back of the church after the service to help people find a group that's good for them.

As people filed out of church a few wouldn't meet my gaze, some rushed past and others made excuses. But the worst were the ones that had fear in their eyes that I might talk to them and display some interest in their spiritual well-being.

I've decided that the best way to overcome this is to use rule number 1. My rule number 1 for all ministry situations is to have people personally invite others. We can put up a hundred sign-up sheets and not get a single commitment to come but a leader extending a sincere personal invitation is in my estimation 90% effective in growing a ministry be it a small group, welfare or worship.

One of the defining moments in my life is when I heard "I have a dream" preached by Martin Luther King jr. No, I wasn't alive to see it, but as millions of people have done, I watched a grainy bit of black and white film that is engraved with the sound and images of history in the making.

Why it had such an impact on me, God only knows. I believe it's because of the deep sense of justice he has placed within me. The words resonate with my heart and cause me to be anxious to be doing something, anything to be involved in God's mission of reconciliation.

In his speech MLK makes reference to one of my most beloved peices of Scripture, it is Amos 5:21-24

 I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
    I cannot stand your assemblies.

 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
    Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.

 Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.

 But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Before I came to know Jesus, before I read these words, I heard them in the lyrics of a song that I used to put on repeat all the time. The song is called Pepper by the Butthole Surfers

 Some will die in hot pursuit
 In fiery auto crashes
 Some will die in hot pursuit
 While sifting through my ashes
 Some will fall in love with life
 And drink it from a fountain
 That is pouring like an avalanche
 Coming down the mountain

Like MLK, I refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt, we do not need to drink from teh cup of bitterness and hatred. We can all drink freely from the cup of liberty because we are all called to be free!

The words of Jesus are: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." (John 7:37-38)

We no longer have to live as slaves to our desires but can have true and lasting liberty.

My friends, we are called to be free!

I've been trying to get a new small group up and running for a couple of months now but I've just been running into barrier after barrier. I've got people lined up, a study area and some exciting ideas to experiment on them with but the venue had been elusive.

The small group I run at the moment used to meet out of our house but recently we have been meeting at another couples place because they have a lovely new little boy and he needs to get some sleep! It's been quite good not having the group at our house every week, not because we don't want people around, we love having people around, but because after 4 years it's good to share the load a little.

So with that and another reason in mind I didn't want to start this new group out of our place. The other reason is I want it to be closer to part of the community we are focusing on at the moment and since a lot of them don't have transport our place would be a little too far.

I chose to meet in the cottage at our church. We have a main church building, a large hall, a manse as well as an old fibro building we call the cottage which houses the office and some space for Sunday school etc.

The cottage is on the same street that we are reaching out to with our soup kitchen so it seemed like a good idea go there and be close to the action. That way anyone curious about the Christian faith and wanted to know more can come along easily.

I've taken a brave step with this group, although I'm the one who started it up and recruited people to come (it is my job after all), I decided that I do not want to be it's leader. Last week I called up someone I have been mentoring in my home group to come and take over the reigns of this group.

If a church is going to develop a healthy small group community then it needs to be able to grow, and if it want's to grow it needs new leaders. I firmly belive that these leaders should come from apprenticing group members in existing groups so I thought I really should model that myself instead of just taking control.

So now I have a leader, a venue (and the keys!!!), and people to start with and I'm really looking forward to where God is going to lead us!

I guess it happens in all churches, some sort of emergency comes up with a key person and that creates a cascading effect in a ministry.

Two Sundays ago I was asked to swap my rostered week for worship leading, I was supposed to be in the 27th but the leader for the 20th couldn't make it so they wanted swap. This worship leader however didn't just want to swap with me, they wanted to swap their entire team. So with a good deal of effort the entire worship team I was rostered on with swapped to this week. So how did it go? It was brilliant!

Not to overstate it, but I usually take a bit of time getting the song selection right for a service. There are many considerations, service length, special events etc but this one had to be actioned with economy of time. So on Tuesday morning I was on the train with a friend who had the "Presenter" software we use for our powerpoints and we just riffed right through a song list.

I know some places like Hillsong put a great deal of production into their services, taking quite deliberate actiosn to make sure the music and message are connected, I believe the term is "building a platform of praise for the speaker". I agree with the approach in general that the two (well all elements of the service) should complement each other but there comes a fine line sometimes between architecting a service and emotional manipulation (not that I'm accusing anyone of that!)

Why do I mention that? Because God really had his hand on the song selection. This weeks and the next two weeks services are based around missions and the song list really captured this theme brilliantly without even trying. The start and finishing song are two very missiony outward focused works and the rest of the songs allowed me to dig deep into what it means to be a Christian when I was meditating on communion.

If your interested, the song list was:

• Tell the world
• Always and Forever
• Salvation belongs to our God
• Nothing but the blood (old hymn)
• Create in me (another old hymn)
• Send me

In the beginning, we read, God created the heavens and the earth. These places are described as worlds without form, function or present reality, places to be developed and defined.
The Pentateuch, or Torah, is God’s story of how this was accomplished, and how it was all completed according to his will.

In this article I discuss the statement: “The holiness of God is demonstrated in the Pentateuch clearly in both the ethical and cultic demands of the law” It's not a dry and crusty question but something of relevence for our faith today because God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Happy reading!

This weekend marks a momentous occasion. Ready for it?

We have added a new addition to our family, his name is Denny Crane! (yes, with the exclaimation mark!)

Named after one of my favorite T.V. characters (played by... the brilliant... Will...iam... Shatner), little Denny, the Shetland sheepdog is bumming around our appartment scratching at everything in a desperate search for food. Not that he needs anymore food, he's a little porker.

As a rule I have chosen not to use this blog as a forum for non-ministry related things so here comes a really tenuous segue.

Denny is a sheepdog, and pastors are called to be shephards. Told you it was tenuous :)

As a pastor, you are called to be a shepard, literally someone who guides a bunch of often clueless people around life and into safe pastures for the next life. It is truly one of the greatest responsibilities a person can have. If by chance you are an athiest reading this or someone who just generally disagrees, you can not disagree with the fact that when someone who has a degree of authority in your life abuses the trust you have given them, it can have quite serious repercussions.

To take the biblical sheparding analogy to it's logical conclusion, if the shepard fails to watch over his sheep then the wolves get in and hurt and kill. They seek to get in and devour.

Now I'm not saying that the pastor needs to be coddling people, holding their hand through every trivial decision or signing off on whether they should get that car loan or not, but they have a responsibility to guide, guard and protect the spiritual well being of those God has blessed them with.

Denny Crane!

In one months time we start up our church wide bible study. I've nevery had to organize something on this scale before and it really is a learning curve. I'm trying to get 150 people (half of which are in groups) into groups which means creating new groups, get the study completed and to the printers and create a whole bunch of new leaders to lead the new groups.

Besides having a study to do, I think that getting the right leaders is the most important step here. A good leader can turn lemons into lemonade where a bad leader will just end up cutting people and squeezing the lemon juice into the wounds.

So how do you choose a leader?

This isn't a question of is a leader born or made, but really about picking the right sort of person for the role. My first stop was to ask the existing group leaders who they thought would make a good leader. I'll blog on this a little more later but I have something I call the group health check. It's a bunch of areas that I feel important for a group to be working in such as developing community, getting stuck into Scripture and reaching out together into the greater community. One of the other items on the list is "Are you identifying a leader to take over from you?" If we are aiming to grow our groups then at some point the group will need to divide and start over but that can't happen unless there is someone to take the other half.

So my first port of call is to those people that are being mentored and trained in existing groups including my own.

While all the leaders haven't come in this way, it's a principal that should really be held too as much as possible.

I came across this today from another blog. It's the words of an african pastor who lays out the true cost of following Jesus.

The thing about Christianity is we are not supposed to be living normal lives. We are supposed to set our sights higher and connect with the will of our Heavenly Father and live the life he wants us to live. We are called to be ministers of reconciliation, people who share the good news about what God has done for us. We are not called to stay home, accumulate wealth and live comfortable lives.

We are supposed to be a people who take up their cross daily, who suffer shoulder each others burdens and do God's will on earth as it is in heaven.

I’m part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power.  The die has been cast.  I have stepped over the line.  The decision has been made.   I’m a disciple of His.  I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure.  I’m finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.  I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded.  I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my Guide is reliable, my mission is clear.  I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed.  I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won’t give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.  I am a disciple of Jesus.  I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me.  And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me —my banner will be clear.

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