Nehemiah, Leadership, Teamwork

I've been reading recently in the Old Testament about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. That was a massive project that took some extreme efforts to accomplish. Obviously, everyone had to work cooperatively to make it happen. Nehemiah kept everyone focused in spite of hardship, opposition, and discouragement. The leaders (managers) at the various sections of the wall kept everyone working diligently. In chapter 3 of Nehemiah's book there are numerous expressions of how every group worked side-by-side with the neighboring group, all the way around the city wall, until the work was completed.

There are some obvious lessons for us today. Significant work requires teamwork. Groups of workers focusing on a common purpose, a goal. Businesses thrive on this idea. Politicians live or die by the dedication and support of their team. Suffice it to say, churches are no exception. The problem, however, is that far too often we (the church) become fractured, distracted, cross-purposed, and alienated from our fellow teammates. I'm afraid we'll never get anywhere without becoming a culture of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and mutual support. Jesus said as much. "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one another."

For my way of thinking, Nehemiah was pretty harsh. But the wall probably wouldn't have been built without him. God puts the kind of leaders in place when and where he needs them. Whatever the case, however, we all need to pitch in and contribute according to our abilities.

The Flat Church Society

There is a great article on the December 27, 2007 issue of the Adventist Review by Richard Osborn, President of Pacific Union College. "Is the Church Flat?" In this piece Dr. Osborn cites a best-selling book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman, in which Friedman shows how recent developments in the world of technology have "flattened" the world as we know it, making instant communication possible with just about anyone at any time, and Internet access to information available to anyone anywhere with a computer connection.

What struck me about Osborn's article is the inevitable and obvious "flattening" of effective church organizational relationships. As society moves ever more towards empowering every common man and woman with vast resources of information available at their fingertips, the church also must move away from the heirarchical, top-down command and control structure to structures that foster effective communication and ministry in every dusty corner. Teamnet Ministries is an attempt to move in that direction. It is not without problems, but the fundamental principles are sound. Teamnet Ministries (or something like it) is the future of effective church life.

Relational Evangelism

For far too long the emphasis of Christian evangelism has been on proclamation and little else. We preach from pulpits or rostrums, even via satalites, television, radio, and now the Internet. Once we've delivered the message we "make an invitation" that basically translates to, "Now that you know this, what are you going to do about it?" We assume that the mere delivery of information, i.e. Bible doctrines, prophetic interpretations, original language nuances, etc., will somehow result in people changing their lives for the good. Unfortunately, the reality is that most don't. Here is a profound truth: Information does not change lives. Experience does. In other words, you really don't learn something until you personally experience it. So the question is, Why do we spend thousands and thousands of $$$ on proclamation and little or nothing on building healthy relational bridges? Maybe because proclamation is easier and cleaner. Relational evangelism is a lot messier.

But here is another inconvenient (?) truth. About 95% of Christian conversions happen because of personal relationships and tangible experiences. It seems to me then that the primary goal of evangelism must no longer be to convince people of what we believe to be the truth, but rather to establish bonds of friendship and godly love across the great gulfs of separation. If we are to faithfully pattern our life after God's way of doing things, relationships MUST be at the forefront of our thinking. After all, the heart of existence is the Trinity -- a bond of holy relationships between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Of course, a growing understanding of biblical truth is essential to discipleship. I'm not throwing that out at all. But first things first! God's way is to first establish the relationship, then to encourage growth in grace.

New Year's Party

OK, so we jumped the gun a couple of days. At Canyonville Adventist Church we did our annual New Year's party last night. We didn't stay up 'til midnight, but as always, we had tons of fun with food, active games for the kids, and table games for others. I saw some pretty enthusiastic Rook players and turkeyfoot dominoes enthusiasts having a great time, and the suitcase race for the kids was hilarious. It was a wonderful, positive time of sharing and fellowship for the church family, including all ages from babies to the elderly.

The reason I'm sharing this on the blog is that all of this is organized by our Fellowship Team. They put it together every year without any input from the pastor, the church board, or anyone else. It is part of their ministry, as expressed in their mission statement: "To allow God to create through us, a safe, united community. To nurture genuine relationships with acceptance, respect, love and bonding as a caring family." The Fellowship Team organizes and leads out in several similar events throughout the year. They give us an annual church campout, a community-wide corn feed and country gospel music jamboree, and other special times for fellowship and bonding for the church family. The point is, the team does this. They plan it, organize it, and make it happen.

Teamnet Ministries is about teamwork. Other teams within the system also carry out their purposes, and the entire system works together in a network of cooperation and mutual support. For each team to effectively do its work it must be given the A.R.K. of Empowerment: Authority to make decisions for the team; Resources needed for the task; and Knowledge of both the "what-to" and the "how-to" of thier responsibilities. When all three of those elements are in place, people are empowered for excellence in whatever field they serve. They add their talents. God multiplies the increase.

Leadership Coaching

A book I recently finished reading -- Leadership Coaching: The Disciplines, Skills and Heart of a Christian Coach, by Tony Stoltzful -- has to be one of the best I've read in a long time. Teamnet Ministries lives or dies with leadership -- but not just any kind or style of leadership. Teamnet Ministries is about empowering leadership, in which leaders are focused on guiding their people into success through the A-R-K (Authority, Resources, Knowledge) of empowerment. The new discipline of coaching is tailor-made as a model for leadership and leader development in the Teamnet Ministries system. For more about Tony Stoltzful and Transformational Coaching you can visit http://www.coach22.com/ or http://www.transformationalcoaching.com/. The book is also available at http://www.amazon.com/. Kewords: Leadership Coaching.

I'll be talking more about the coaching model in future posts. I'd welcome your thoughts.

Staying Flexible

It is terribly important to stay flexible if you ever want to get anything done in any organization, especially a church. Sometimes the battle over protocol or policy is just not worth the heartburn. You have to ask, Is this a mountain I am willing to die on? If not, there's nothing wrong with some compromise. Give and take is the name of effective efficiency. If you're too inflexible you become a stick-in-the-mud that stops all progress. How much more important to bend a little here or there for the sake of working together for a common goal. No, of course I'm not talking about great moral issues here. Methods rarely equate to morality. In other words, who cares how a job gets done just so long as it actually gets done! Team members and networking teams have to bend and flex in order to keep from breaking.

Well, maybe I need to modify that next-to-last sentence above just a bit. It really doesn't matter how a job gets done, just so long as it actually gets done -- and the way it gets done isn't illegal, immoral, or doesn't hurt someone. The real question is: Do we equate methods with morality. Think about it.

Eleven Months!!

Ok, so it's been eleven months since I posted anything here! I've probably long since lost two-thirds of the three readers I had back then (myself plus two family members!) but my guess is that I can pick them back up without too much trouble. Dare I fantasize that someone else might actually still have the Teamnet Ministries blog on an RSS feed? If that's you, and you are reading this, blessings on you! May your tribe increase!

Now, there are some things I really want to share with you that I've experienced during these intervening months, some to do with Teamnet Ministries directly, and some things about organization health, leadership, coaching, and the like. I do want to do that in a separate post, however. So, watch for some more feeds from Teamnet Ministries blog coming soon. And, as always, your comments are coveted.

Loren