Lots of ministry team meetings I've been to involve a good deal of consternation about how to get more people involved.
Frustration about not enough pulpit support and people not knowing about what we are doing are usually way up on the unwritten agenda.
There is much angst about people not seeming to care.
It is very rare that we talk about who our top volunteers are. When are their birthdays and anniversaries and when should we send them flowers to commemorate the endless hours they put in on the play production or the mission trip?
What about conversations about the design of our ministry: How does this thing actually work? Are there new considerations we should think and talk about that might serve the needs of our volunteers?
What if we spent more time in discovery of the passions and desires of our volunteers?
Do you understand why I am involved with this ministry? Can I trust you enough say that I go to Costa Rica because I love the slow pace of life, the food, and because the church people we work with are so earnest about their faith? Can we have a cup of coffee and talk about why (really, really why) you are so crazy about handing out school supplies without ever mentioning what we need to do to get other people more interested in it?
Maybe if we did that, more people would become interested in it.
Trust is understanding.
Design is how it works.
Mission is why you do it.
Frustration, unless it motivates us toward trust, design, and mission will kill.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Is it missiony enough?
Do you consider that God's mission seems to be about reconciliation and seems to move from brokenness toward wholeness? If you do, you might find mission trips are becoming more about developing long term relationships that empower transformation of a community from within and through the vision and desire of community leadership.
This way of mission leads to lots of meetings with local church and community leaders and a lot of planning in support of projects designed and implemented by locals. Which doesn't leave much for "us" to "do".
So what does a mission trip look like in light of this?
It is a concern because there is value to people pursuing altruistic ideals of reaching the world and spreading the word and serving others.
So it might be OK to sprinkle in a few painting and building projects along with some bible school while working as a catalyst for change through community building partners.
We were painting a wall in a community (which really didn't seem to be too interested in having it's wall painted) recently when I asked one of our younger team members if he felt like this was "mission work" enough for him.
No, he said, look at all these people (the ones who didn't care about having the wall painted): we don't know any of them.
I'm guessing the future of missions is about spending enough time with a group of people to get to know them.
For the sake of getting to know them.
And then figuring out what it is you want to do together.
From what I can tell the future may thankfully already be here.
This way of mission leads to lots of meetings with local church and community leaders and a lot of planning in support of projects designed and implemented by locals. Which doesn't leave much for "us" to "do".
So what does a mission trip look like in light of this?
It is a concern because there is value to people pursuing altruistic ideals of reaching the world and spreading the word and serving others.
So it might be OK to sprinkle in a few painting and building projects along with some bible school while working as a catalyst for change through community building partners.
We were painting a wall in a community (which really didn't seem to be too interested in having it's wall painted) recently when I asked one of our younger team members if he felt like this was "mission work" enough for him.
No, he said, look at all these people (the ones who didn't care about having the wall painted): we don't know any of them.
I'm guessing the future of missions is about spending enough time with a group of people to get to know them.
For the sake of getting to know them.
And then figuring out what it is you want to do together.
From what I can tell the future may thankfully already be here.
Monday, July 26, 2010
You can't always want what you get
I always thought the body of Christ concept had to deal with being happy with your station. You might be a middle toe, but you should be the best middle toe possible and don't regret the fact that you aren't an eye.
I'm starting to think it has more to do with overcoming your doubts and fears so you you can be the middle toe. It has also helped to consider there might not be one calling that comes to you and when you discern that calling, that's what you do. In the same way what you want isn't always your deepest desire (or most likely isn't).
It's not once a middle toe always a middle toe. It's being open to discovering your part for now and being on the look out for the next part you'll play. It's finding the simplicity on the other side of complexity. But that isn't a one time process either.
Service comes in seasons and seasons change.
Considering what part we play in service to God's mission most likely hasn't come to us because it's not what we really want.
So just get and keep moving. And pretty soon a fresh wind will blow.
I'm starting to think it has more to do with overcoming your doubts and fears so you you can be the middle toe. It has also helped to consider there might not be one calling that comes to you and when you discern that calling, that's what you do. In the same way what you want isn't always your deepest desire (or most likely isn't).
It's not once a middle toe always a middle toe. It's being open to discovering your part for now and being on the look out for the next part you'll play. It's finding the simplicity on the other side of complexity. But that isn't a one time process either.
Service comes in seasons and seasons change.
Considering what part we play in service to God's mission most likely hasn't come to us because it's not what we really want.
So just get and keep moving. And pretty soon a fresh wind will blow.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Story and theory
In the sense that part of leading in ministry suggests one takes on some role as theologian, one of the great lessons of the creation story might be that we need a story. The fact that we need a story points to the possibility we were not created out of necessity. A theory would be what we crave if indeed we were created out of necessity or random act.
This way of thinking, courtesy of Stanley Hauerwas in Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir (p. 157) may compel us to work not out of a desire to teach people how to best live, but rather out of a desire to share about how things are. One way seems more about "my experiences and understandings are normative (and maybe in some cases they are me)- they should be yours to" and the other more about "me too" or even, "not for me."
One seems harder.
Both, I guess, are necessary.
This way of thinking, courtesy of Stanley Hauerwas in Hannah's Child: A Theologian's Memoir (p. 157) may compel us to work not out of a desire to teach people how to best live, but rather out of a desire to share about how things are. One way seems more about "my experiences and understandings are normative (and maybe in some cases they are me)- they should be yours to" and the other more about "me too" or even, "not for me."
One seems harder.
Both, I guess, are necessary.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Being currency
A friend shared with me on a recent mission trip of his desire to be currency more than bring currency.
If I can get past my desire to be relevant and to be impact-ful, I might come to realize that I don't do as much as what happens because of me.
Most of the good stuff I am hoping to achieve isn't going to happen within the walls of my ministry.
The most I can hope for is that things will happen because my ministry.
Most likely what we are trying to achieve will lead to something happening that we didn't expect.
As soon as we try to make that into a program, it loses it's potential to create the relationship or the transformation or the lump in the throat or the tingling.
So we have to plan and be strategic and move ahead so that what we aren't expecting to happen can happen.
And then we can take stock of all the things that happen because of our planning and strategy that we never planned for.
If I can get past my desire to be relevant and to be impact-ful, I might come to realize that I don't do as much as what happens because of me.
Most of the good stuff I am hoping to achieve isn't going to happen within the walls of my ministry.
The most I can hope for is that things will happen because my ministry.
Most likely what we are trying to achieve will lead to something happening that we didn't expect.
As soon as we try to make that into a program, it loses it's potential to create the relationship or the transformation or the lump in the throat or the tingling.
So we have to plan and be strategic and move ahead so that what we aren't expecting to happen can happen.
And then we can take stock of all the things that happen because of our planning and strategy that we never planned for.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Life and unplanned landings
It seems there is a toxic lake caused by open pit copper mining in Butte Montana. It is one of the largest lakes in the country, but for all intents and purposes: dead.
The water is red, green, brown and even black in many places.
One day a group of snow geese, aware of the lake's toxic nature, made an emergency landing in its poison water.
The next day, all the geese were dead.
It was sad, but had to be chalked up to the cost of doing open pit copper mining. Kind of an environmental version of living in a fallen world caused by our sinfulness.
Some time later an interesting discovery was made by scientists studying the lake.
Life.
A colony of microorganism was found living on a bit of organic matter in the lake.
And these microorganisms were feeding on the toxins in the lake. They were eliminating the deadly contaminants.
And even more interesting: The microorganisms are unique to one known environment.
The digestive system of geese.
The kind of geese that landed and died in the lake that day.
The first thing I thought of when I heard this story was:
Atonement.
Taking on the toxic nature of a system or of a person or group of people so that something in my nature can change it and bring life to it.
That's atonement I can understand. (The good news.)
That's atonement I am called to be a part of (The bad news- realistically for me) and to act out in the world as opposed to just watching from a distance as Jesus takes on the sins of the world in a cosmic act of sacrifice for all humanity. (The good news)
The water is red, green, brown and even black in many places.
One day a group of snow geese, aware of the lake's toxic nature, made an emergency landing in its poison water.
The next day, all the geese were dead.
It was sad, but had to be chalked up to the cost of doing open pit copper mining. Kind of an environmental version of living in a fallen world caused by our sinfulness.
Some time later an interesting discovery was made by scientists studying the lake.
Life.
A colony of microorganism was found living on a bit of organic matter in the lake.
And these microorganisms were feeding on the toxins in the lake. They were eliminating the deadly contaminants.
And even more interesting: The microorganisms are unique to one known environment.
The digestive system of geese.
The kind of geese that landed and died in the lake that day.
The first thing I thought of when I heard this story was:
Atonement.
Taking on the toxic nature of a system or of a person or group of people so that something in my nature can change it and bring life to it.
That's atonement I can understand. (The good news.)
That's atonement I am called to be a part of (The bad news- realistically for me) and to act out in the world as opposed to just watching from a distance as Jesus takes on the sins of the world in a cosmic act of sacrifice for all humanity. (The good news)
In relationship focused ministry, it seems the people skilled at relationships- the ones that have something within them that can change and even bring life are at relationship capacity. There's just no way to add any more authentic relationships.
The people so desperate for relationships seem incapable of engaging in them.
Most often it seems it's in the random, unplanned landings on the lakes of brokenness and emptiness that life and change come.
It's hard to build a program around that.
Maybe it starts with a couple of people willing to care for each other and to find ways to create life and change toxic situations a little at a time.
And then proceed to die together.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Old ways new again
5 Ways the book Hope for the World, edited by Walter Bruggemann, gave me permission to think about things the way I've always kind of thought they were. But didn't seem to be able to express.
1. That God is at least as interested in what happens in this life that we already have as he is in a future life yet to come. Christianity, when considered as a religion, often seems to be more about what happens in some other life, not this one.
Our mission as Christ's disciple community, wherever we are located, is nothing more or less than to participate actively in this divine labor of faithful love. That is to say…
Christian Mission Is Not First Christian Mission but God's Mission (Missio Dei)
p. 17
We share a certain criticism of a missionary endeavor in this world that is essentially an expression of otherworldliness. Otherworldly mission cannot but deny the biblical connection between the Creator and creation, because it sequentially divorces the future of creation from the future of its Creator. In the "otherworldly" way, "hope," the necessary precondition to any yearning for "future," is destroyed already in the here and now.
p. 69
2. We need to spend more time sharing with one another in our own faith community about our faith. We should talk more and more honestly about why we do the things we do and think the ways and feel the ways we do about our faith, calling, understanding of God. This might inspire or motivate us then to go out into the world and live out our faith rather than just trying to tell them our story.
Perhaps for the foreseeable future, therefore, the rule, especially in the once-mainline churches of former Christendom, ought to be: In the church tell the story, in the world live the story.
p. 19
3. Frustration: In order to qualify as mission, the event or outcome of the event has to rise to some threshold or a good seal of mission approval that someone or group establishes somewhat arbitrarily, but generally involves conversion more so than transformation.
When the scientist works with conscience to find a cure for cancer, we see God's mission as hope in action. When people call for the forgiveness of debt of 'third world countries', we see God's mission as hope in action…When an investor in North America conducts business as if the children in Africa are his or her own, we see God's mission as hope in action…When communities opt for reconciliation instead of civil war, we see God's mission as hope in action…When Walter Brueggemann writes about the painful issues of the land, Africans see God's mission as hope in action…I know you want to stop me here, saying, "But these things are already happening." I answer, "Precisely my argument as well!"
p.80
4. There has got to be more to the Gospel than we hear about. "What the Gospel says" seems to be used as justification for me getting my way about how to do things and why.
Whatever has the prospect of becoming "gospel" must address the reality of the negating condition lying at the heart of the situation concerned. Gospel is good news because as it engages, challenges, resolves, or ameliorates the bad news actually present in the sphere of missiological concern. A gospel spoke to the human anxiety of "guilt and condemnation" when the dominant anxiety of its context is more nearly "meaninglessness and despair" (Tillich) would not be gospel; indeed, it would probably function repressively to distract the attention of its hearers away from their existential anxiety.
p. 83
5. Often on mission trips we visit poor communities and diverse belief systems and are impressed by how much alike we are in the songs we sing or in how we all have our trials and tribulations, etc. or we say how different we are and how much better "their faith is because they don't have anything, but they are so much happier than we are." Our differences are differences and there are of course similarities among us. I'm not sure we honor either of them as we might.
When dealing with plurality, it is important to avoid two pitfalls. One is an overemphasis on similarity; the other is an overemphasis on difference. The discovery of similarity forges points of connectedness, but it can also do harm if it fails to recognize the uniqueness of each individual subject. Historian of religion Wendy Doniger calls it the problem of "all cats being gray in the night."
p.109
1. That God is at least as interested in what happens in this life that we already have as he is in a future life yet to come. Christianity, when considered as a religion, often seems to be more about what happens in some other life, not this one.
Our mission as Christ's disciple community, wherever we are located, is nothing more or less than to participate actively in this divine labor of faithful love. That is to say…
Christian Mission Is Not First Christian Mission but God's Mission (Missio Dei)
p. 17
We share a certain criticism of a missionary endeavor in this world that is essentially an expression of otherworldliness. Otherworldly mission cannot but deny the biblical connection between the Creator and creation, because it sequentially divorces the future of creation from the future of its Creator. In the "otherworldly" way, "hope," the necessary precondition to any yearning for "future," is destroyed already in the here and now.
p. 69
2. We need to spend more time sharing with one another in our own faith community about our faith. We should talk more and more honestly about why we do the things we do and think the ways and feel the ways we do about our faith, calling, understanding of God. This might inspire or motivate us then to go out into the world and live out our faith rather than just trying to tell them our story.
Perhaps for the foreseeable future, therefore, the rule, especially in the once-mainline churches of former Christendom, ought to be: In the church tell the story, in the world live the story.
p. 19
3. Frustration: In order to qualify as mission, the event or outcome of the event has to rise to some threshold or a good seal of mission approval that someone or group establishes somewhat arbitrarily, but generally involves conversion more so than transformation.
When the scientist works with conscience to find a cure for cancer, we see God's mission as hope in action. When people call for the forgiveness of debt of 'third world countries', we see God's mission as hope in action…When an investor in North America conducts business as if the children in Africa are his or her own, we see God's mission as hope in action…When communities opt for reconciliation instead of civil war, we see God's mission as hope in action…When Walter Brueggemann writes about the painful issues of the land, Africans see God's mission as hope in action…I know you want to stop me here, saying, "But these things are already happening." I answer, "Precisely my argument as well!"
p.80
4. There has got to be more to the Gospel than we hear about. "What the Gospel says" seems to be used as justification for me getting my way about how to do things and why.
Whatever has the prospect of becoming "gospel" must address the reality of the negating condition lying at the heart of the situation concerned. Gospel is good news because as it engages, challenges, resolves, or ameliorates the bad news actually present in the sphere of missiological concern. A gospel spoke to the human anxiety of "guilt and condemnation" when the dominant anxiety of its context is more nearly "meaninglessness and despair" (Tillich) would not be gospel; indeed, it would probably function repressively to distract the attention of its hearers away from their existential anxiety.
p. 83
5. Often on mission trips we visit poor communities and diverse belief systems and are impressed by how much alike we are in the songs we sing or in how we all have our trials and tribulations, etc. or we say how different we are and how much better "their faith is because they don't have anything, but they are so much happier than we are." Our differences are differences and there are of course similarities among us. I'm not sure we honor either of them as we might.
When dealing with plurality, it is important to avoid two pitfalls. One is an overemphasis on similarity; the other is an overemphasis on difference. The discovery of similarity forges points of connectedness, but it can also do harm if it fails to recognize the uniqueness of each individual subject. Historian of religion Wendy Doniger calls it the problem of "all cats being gray in the night."
p.109
How to save a life
A recent segment of the radio show Radio Lab explored a story from Michigan about efforts there to help recover population of a type of bird called a warbler. Part of the plan was to create stands of young trees which is the preferred habit for the birds. One of the methods employed was to selectively burn woodland areas creating space for young saplings to grow. It seems that one of these selective burns was conducted during a windy day. The I'll advised decision led to the fire burning beyond it's prescribed limits. A wildlife specialist working on the project was killed.
In interviews with individuals close to the story, one thing that came up more than others was how bringing back the birds or the lives of the birds wasn't worth the life of the man killed. People had turned the story into a matter of was it worth the cost.
It didn't seem to make sense to me: this line of reasoning. There wasn't anyone playing cosmic chess that resulted in the life of the worker being sacrificed for the lives of the birds. The young man was doing what he (i assume loved doing). He may of even been willing to offer his live to the cause he cared so much about it.
But there was such anger in the voices of the people interviewed for the radio show.
I somehow got some clarity into atonement that I hadn't had before:
Christ came into our midst out of love. That love made him vulnerable to forces in the world that ultimately cost him his life.
Out of that come theological ideas that I can't really understand and that do little to draw me closer to God.
But I understand the venturing into something you love and believe in and care about so much that before you realize it, it's cost you your life.
I not sure at what point I would find my life endangered because of my desire to take on the shortcomings of others so they may better understand God's love for us.
I spend most of my time trying to avoid them.
In interviews with individuals close to the story, one thing that came up more than others was how bringing back the birds or the lives of the birds wasn't worth the life of the man killed. People had turned the story into a matter of was it worth the cost.
It didn't seem to make sense to me: this line of reasoning. There wasn't anyone playing cosmic chess that resulted in the life of the worker being sacrificed for the lives of the birds. The young man was doing what he (i assume loved doing). He may of even been willing to offer his live to the cause he cared so much about it.
But there was such anger in the voices of the people interviewed for the radio show.
I somehow got some clarity into atonement that I hadn't had before:
Christ came into our midst out of love. That love made him vulnerable to forces in the world that ultimately cost him his life.
Out of that come theological ideas that I can't really understand and that do little to draw me closer to God.
But I understand the venturing into something you love and believe in and care about so much that before you realize it, it's cost you your life.
I not sure at what point I would find my life endangered because of my desire to take on the shortcomings of others so they may better understand God's love for us.
I spend most of my time trying to avoid them.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Don't just trust- be trust
The frog and the scorpion (or words to this effect) wanted to get across the river.
The scorpion asked the frog for a ride across.
No way, said the frog. We'll get half way across and you'll sting me and I'll drown.
Why would I do that? Asked the scorpion. I would die too.
The frog relents and takes out across the river with the scorpion on board.
Halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog which causes the frog to become paralyzed.
Just before the frog sinks below the water to his death, he asks the scorpion: Why? Now we're both going to die.
It's just my nature says the scorpion, according to the tale.
I always thought the frogs error was that he trusted the scorpion.
But after rethinking my definition of trust, I think now maybe his mistake was that he didn't trust the scorpion.
He didn't trust the scorpion to do what scorpions do.
He knew the scorpions nature, but disregarded it.
Thinking someone will do something differently just because it is convenient to my hoped for outcome isn't noble I don't supposed.
It's a waste of social capital.
To trust a scorpion is to not put them in a position to fail.
There is a time to think positive and give someone a chance to prove you wrong about them.
Just not when they are on your back in the middle of the river.
That's when I have to trust them.
(To know what they are most likely to do and plan accordingly).
NOTE: I am grateful to Keith Jennings in that I don't think I am saying exactly what I am trying to say here, but- it doesn't really matter.
The scorpion asked the frog for a ride across.
No way, said the frog. We'll get half way across and you'll sting me and I'll drown.
Why would I do that? Asked the scorpion. I would die too.
The frog relents and takes out across the river with the scorpion on board.
Halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog which causes the frog to become paralyzed.
Just before the frog sinks below the water to his death, he asks the scorpion: Why? Now we're both going to die.
It's just my nature says the scorpion, according to the tale.
I always thought the frogs error was that he trusted the scorpion.
But after rethinking my definition of trust, I think now maybe his mistake was that he didn't trust the scorpion.
He didn't trust the scorpion to do what scorpions do.
He knew the scorpions nature, but disregarded it.
Thinking someone will do something differently just because it is convenient to my hoped for outcome isn't noble I don't supposed.
It's a waste of social capital.
To trust a scorpion is to not put them in a position to fail.
There is a time to think positive and give someone a chance to prove you wrong about them.
Just not when they are on your back in the middle of the river.
That's when I have to trust them.
(To know what they are most likely to do and plan accordingly).
NOTE: I am grateful to Keith Jennings in that I don't think I am saying exactly what I am trying to say here, but- it doesn't really matter.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
I mean, after all, I'm me
I was trying to figure out how (if it was possible) to use google documents on an ipad. It seems a little shaky. You can read some documents, but it doesn't seem possible to edit or maybe even download them on an ipad.
I was looking over some forums and discussion groups about it. I gleaned that some animosity between apple and google was growing out of a few differences the two companies have been happening lately.
There was concern expressed by some commentators that due to the growing feud, ipad might not be supporting google document functions.
One of the comments came from someone who expressed confidence that sooner or later the google docs would be on ipad, because, after all, they're google.
For me the implication was that in spite of corporate saber rattling and posturing, google would find a way to serve its people.
The core value, this commentator seemed to think, for google was to do whatever it takes to make its products available to the people who use them.
I got to thinking about all the difficulties associated with making ministry possible. Lots of times it's petty, it's political, it's theological, or it's just a matter of who likes who.
How many times do I work through and around all that to make ministry possible for the people who want to be in ministry?
How often does who I am allay fears and worries of people passionate about taking part in God's mission?
After all...
I was looking over some forums and discussion groups about it. I gleaned that some animosity between apple and google was growing out of a few differences the two companies have been happening lately.
There was concern expressed by some commentators that due to the growing feud, ipad might not be supporting google document functions.
One of the comments came from someone who expressed confidence that sooner or later the google docs would be on ipad, because, after all, they're google.
For me the implication was that in spite of corporate saber rattling and posturing, google would find a way to serve its people.
The core value, this commentator seemed to think, for google was to do whatever it takes to make its products available to the people who use them.
I got to thinking about all the difficulties associated with making ministry possible. Lots of times it's petty, it's political, it's theological, or it's just a matter of who likes who.
How many times do I work through and around all that to make ministry possible for the people who want to be in ministry?
How often does who I am allay fears and worries of people passionate about taking part in God's mission?
After all...
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