Acts 6 Leadership

Let's try and get this back by Wednesday...

You can just send me a message and I won't post it, just keep track of the results.

Some things aren't new...

'We should never be afraid of adventurous thought. If there is such a person as the Holy Spirit, God must ever be leading us into new truth. How would medicine fare if doctors were restricted to drugs and methods and techniques three hundred years old? And yet our standards of orthodoxy are far older than that. The ma with something new to say has always to fight. Galileo, the 7th century astronomer and physicist, was branded a heretic when he held that the earth moved around the sun. Lister, the surgeon, had to fight for antiseptic technique in surgical operations. Simpson, also a surgeon, had to battle against opposition in the merciful use of chloroform. Let us have a care that when we resent new ideas we are not simply demonstrating that our minds are grown old and inelastic; and let us never shirk the adventure of thought.

We should never be afraid of new methods. That a thing has always been done may very well be the best reason for stopping doing it. That a thing has never been done may very well be the best reason for trying it. No business could exist on outworn methods - and yet the Church tries to. Any business which had lost as many customers as the Church has would have tried new ways long ago - but the Church tends to resent all that is new.

There is a wise and an unwise conservatism. Let us have a care that in thought and in action we are not hidebound reactionaries when we ought, as Christians, to be gallant adventurers.'

-- William Barclay

Scrap

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins and so both are preserved. -- Matthew 9:16-17, ESV

William Barclay, the famous Anglican scholar had this commentary regarding that passage from the book of Matthew...

"Throughout all its history the Church has clung to the old. What Jesus is saying is that there comes a time when patching is folly, and when the only thing to do is scrap something entirely and to begin again. There are forms of church governance, there are forms of church service, there are forms of words expressing our beliefs, which we do often try to adjust and tinker with in order to bring them up to date; we try to patch them. No one would willingly, or recklessly or callously abandon what has stood the test of time and of the years in which former generations have found their comfort and put their trust; but the fact remains that this is a growing, expanding universe: and there comes a time when patches are useless, and when a man and a church have to accept the adventure of the new, or withdraw into the backwater, where they worship, not God, but the past." -- William Barclay, Daily Study Bible

Consider that the man who penned those words died long before the world wide web, or cell phones, or even personal computers. What an amazing statement this is, and how forward thinking from a man who had not even seen some of the most amazing ideas of his century come to pass! What do you and I need to stop tinkering with, and scrap completely -- not only as a community of faith, but in our own personal lives, as well?

Guide Us, Oh Lord

One of my dearest friends just texted me with terrible news. I was just fading out into sleepy oblivion when I saw the text, and it jolted me awake. Amy and I prayed and grieved and I went to retrieve the book of common prayer from my shelf, for words to pray seemed to fail me.

I opened to one of my favorite compline prayers...

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work or watch or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your Love's sake. Amen.

So, dear Friends, wherever you are, remember that you are loved...this night...

So guide us waking, O Lord, and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch with Christ, and asleep we may rest in peace. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Personalities

Well, as promised, here are the personality types of our group, according to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:

ESFP: Becky B, Bobby H, Greg F

ENFP: Corwin B, Ryan G

ENFJ: Amanda M

ESFJ: DeeDee E, Bill A, Donna A

ENTJ: Deanne

ESTJ: Corey, Betty

ISTJ: Earl B, Greg N, Jamie, Jeremy

INTJ: Randy C

ISTP: Kara E

ISFJ: Connie B, Amy F, Amy G, Jessica C, Taylor P

ISFP: Cheri W, Anne S, Holden F

INFP: Jonathan P, Daniel S, Cyndi N, Stacy B

Check out these links...

Hey, click here to access a great link about a group of 'villages' (house churches) in the Denver area. The author's of the book 'The Tangible Kingdom' are the leaders of this group. I think the book and the website would both prove interesting for you.

Secondly, especially for those of you who are interested in the ancient disciplines and monastic life, you may be interested in a faith community known as 'Small Boat, Big Sea' located in Sydney, Australia. They have weekly rhythms focused around 'blessing, eating, listening and learning.' Click here to access their site.

Next up: the breakdown of all the Myers Briggs data for our group!

Robert Fulghum Article

Here is that article I mentioned yesterday. If you weren't with us on the retreat or didn't have a chance to read it, I think it is especially pertinent to our discussions of the moment.

Click here to access that article.

Feedback

One of the dangers in having a group of folks who are so feelings focused (roughly 90% of our folks our feelers, not thinkers) is it makes it difficult to have a focused conversation. You only need to attend one of our house church gatherings to understand the implications of this. We chase rabbits endlessly and often you will end up with a statement about, "well, that is just something I don't need to understand."

Now that is a feeler position, NOT a thinker position. A thinker will lie awake at night pondering these things, while the feeler, having shared his/her feelings on the subject will sleep like a baby. So, rather than throwing things open this past weekend, I decided to have a focused discussion, using the 'Creative Whack Pack.' This did two things. First, it gave a funnel to our discussion time, which as it was still required Saturday Night and Sunday Morning for everyone to share. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it encouraged everyone not to take the first right answer. Usually the first right answer is our teddy bear, that thing we reach for when we don't know what else to do. I wanted to avoid that and encourage everyone to listen and stretch farther.

In looking over the results of our brainstorming, it seemed to me that three categories were clearly invoked. I heard a sense of greater personal discipleship, which I am sure would manifest itself within the greater group in powerful ways.

Second, the challenge to be Christ in our own league, in our own backyard. Earl is scanning an article by Robert Fulghum that might help you understand the flavor of what we discussed at the retreat.

The third focus seems to be on the integration of rhythm of life wed together with ancient disciplines. The interweaving of a rhythm of spirituality into our ongoing life, as an individual and as a community.

Acts 7 says that they chose up from among them those filled with the Holy Spirit, and gave them the job of caring for the widows and the orphans. I would like to ask each of you to pray this week over these three areas and see if God might lead you to a name within our group that might be a good choice to help us be involved in these areas in a larger way.

Here are the statements that were brought up during our brainstorming time...

GREATER PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP:

* Our faith life needs to be a path of transformation to a person we are BEING -- to see our walk with God as a way of life.

* These changes are NOT A QUICK FIX

* To KNOW = CHANGE

* The Church has had an overemphasis on the conversion moment, and not enough emphasis on what type of person we are becoming!

* We need to slay the dragons of fear, especially regarding our own personal comfort zones

* Avoid the blind spots as we use our imagination

* Reduce our personal stuff

* We need to BE the metaphor and find the relatability

* What is out of whack? ME (Anne)

* We need to approach as a lifestyle as opposed to something we sign up for

* Ask ourselves the question - what are we doing personally in the kingdom? Not only $, but also time, and share with the group.

* Need to seek out unknown relationships, even within the group (Corwin)

* Need to consider the difference between want and need -- for ourselves as well as others.

* FOCUS: truth, acceptance and seek what the word really says, not what we want it to say

BE CHRIST IN OUR OWN LEAGUE:

* We need to give back (tithe - Donna), make a commitment to simple service

* Determine what we can do and DO IT

* Leave the house and leave a trail

* Cultivate an awareness of real life, and the struggles and blessings within our community and those around us

* Cultivate and talk about reality, even when it involves panties and boogers

* Develop an ear to listen and help those in need

* Be there for others and inspire confidence

* Relationship - find the metaphor that speaks to this person?

* Cultivate a different perspective as we ask what can we do for our neighborhood

* Take our common meal outside

* We need to combine our ideas (ex. nursing home) and bring together people of different strengths

* We need to fight for it...we may be small, but through God we can be mighty! We need to address needs in our community, like drops in the ocean.

* We need to help people find the aha - change venues, make our own videos, use creative talents of our group (Greg F)

* We need to stay and play in our league and neighborhood

* Can you sell it (Donna) - we are selling ourselves, and what God is doing among us. How does reaching out meet the needs of the group.

* We need to focus on one thing while allowing people to be who they are - where they are

* We need to decide how will we handle it when God brings us a black hole of neediness...and figure out what it means to truly love our neighbor. How will we handle it when the most loving response is to say no?

RHYTHM OF LIFE AND DISCIPLINES

* Develop a rhythm of disciplines

* Put ancient practices into our daily life

* Be attentive to the Holy Spirit and join God

* Look to nature to define systems that can help us: consider spiritual disciplines, mentoring and transparency. How can we create systems that nurture these.

* LOOK - LISTEN - RESPOND

* We need to conform to God’s rhythm

* We need to do the unexpected and live it, be in the moment.

* We need to let the word of God speak as we are involved in other folks lives

* We need to do something because God is calling us. To daily be aware and be Jesus.

MISCELLANEOUS:

* Think through the instincts of a child

* We need to dream, and not allow the fear of the unknown or our comfort zones

* Pig at an islamic funeral (bobby h) - no idea what the context was, but that was hilarious

* BEWARE - there are positive as well as negative results of implementing an idea.

HOMEWORK:

1. Check out http://www.adullamdenver.com/

2. Pray over these lists as we prepare to choose leaders

The Retreat

So, some of you may have looked for something from me after our retreat this past weekend...if so, I have sorely disappointed you. I am sorry if that is true for you.

One of the hurdles for me to overcome is my own institutional church learned behaviors. And the first of those is that as a leader, I act. I speak, I talk, I coach up. So this week, instead, Jonathan and I went to the monastery up at St. Meinrad (Indiana). And I refused to allow myself to make blog posts or in general work on house church stuff all week. Because that 'action' is my teddy bear. I want people to be happy, and feel fulfilled, and have a sense of purpose. So I challenged myself this week instead to read, pray and listen for God's voice.

I believe that God uses our strengths, but I also believe that God can use our areas of weakness. I had a polaroid camera when I was a kid. And even in the 1970's, I would stand there holding that photo, and practically shake it, willing it to turn out faster so I could see the finished product. Most of my faith life and church work has been the same way, with mixed results. Sometimes that drive has been a wonderful thing, and spurred myself and others on to greater things for God. Sometimes, however, it has caused me to be unwilling to listen and wait for God's timing. To rush ahead when it wasn't prudent, and spoil what God was trying to birth through me.

For the first time in my life, I think, I am truly listening and open to God. The past 18 months have brought many, many lessons home to me. But the greatest lesson has been a greater understanding of the kairos time, God's time, which is ALWAYS perfect.

In reality, I needed to get fired so God could do some things. It was hard, it was painful, and it was RIGHT. Some of those things God needed to do were within me, and some were within those around me. Our first retreat this past January was the first time that I thought, hmm...this house church is going to make it. And right then, I turned to my teddy bear of leadership and action. Almost immediately I sensed I had made the wrong move (again). Things started to go wrong in everyone's life, and I reluctantly switched on my listening ears again.

Things improved and we had a wonderful retreat this past weekend. I was so thankful to be with you, and to watch you share with one another and with God, and to hear all of the ideas that were rattling around inside your heads.

I think the polaroid is taking shape. The picture is forming, and I encourage you, as we build on this retreat over the next few weeks, to do everything you can to be a part of our weekly gatherings. Your input is vital, and I truly believe we are missing something when you aren't present! I love you all and missed you this week!

Rituals

"Religious rituals often develop out of mystical experimentation. Some brave scout goes looking for a new path to the divine, has a transcendent experience and returns home a prophet. He or she brings back to the community tales of heaven and maps of how to get there.

Then others repeat the words, the works, the prayers, or the acts of this prophet, in order to cross over, too. Sometimes this is successful--sometimes the same familiar combination of syllables and devotional practices repeated generation after generation might carry many people to the other side. Sometimes it doesn't work, though. Inevitable even the most original new ideas will eventually harden into dogma or stop working for everybody." -- Excerpt from 'Eat, Pray, Love'

The canvas is wide open. What rituals would God have us paint week in and week out...and how can we prevent these from becoming stale and without purpose?

Renewal

In preparation for our upcoming retreat, I have been working through a book entitled "Houses That Changed The World." Here is a quote that I found especially meaningful in recent days:

"Many churches which are desperate for renewal - or at least change - tend to overlook the fact that you cannot produce a new quality in the church by changing the structures...Changing a church by changing some outward forms is as futile as trying to change your mentality by changing your clothes or walking backwards...Adding a new mission statement or some other cosmetic alteration without a radical genetic reformation of the church will only lead to frustration - like sewing a patch of new cloth onto old cloth, which, Jesus says, is bad advice.

Revival and reformation truly start with a complete rediscovery and reconstruction of the core essence of the church, with New Testament DNA, the genetic code of God, supernaturally empowered with growth potential from within."

As we have grown closer to the retreat this weekend, all the excuses have started to trickle in...I have this Friday night or my brother has this deal or this other thing has come up. I can't tell you what a bummer that is as I try to prepare for an event. It has always been disappointing to work hard on something that you want to share with everyone and not see folks match that excitement, passion and discipline.

But that disappointment seems all the more acute now that I don't work for 'the Church'. My time is now much like yours. Peripetee business has had to slow to a near standstill this week (thanks, JP for giving me that time) in order for me to be ready for this retreat. And the reality is, this IS an important weekend for our little community. We only have 30 folks, so there is no guarantee someone is out there waiting to step into your shoes if you aren't present. The theme of the retreat is 'wide open' - which I think is what the future is for us -- wide open. But we need you to be there in order to hear from everyone in our community -- there is not a later date to 'catch everyone up'. There are no do-overs or spark notes.

So my encouragement to you is to not allow the things of this world to crowd out the things of God. Be open. Be receptive. Be willing to share. And come. Come ready...to listen, to worship and to share life together.

Colossians 3...

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.