From some readings this morning:

“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Mt.13:52

“Woe to you teachers of the Law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who are entering.” Lk.11:52

Two verses, two different contexts, one person speaking: JESUS. I find myself at the fulcrum of these two statements this morning. Here I am, training myself at an institution that prepares “Christians for service and leadership throughout the world” (thank you, yes, the purpose statement has been ingrained into my skull these last 5 years) and soon I will be sent out from this institution to tell others about the Good News of God.

But look at the teachers of the law - at one point they too were trained (for the kingdom?). At one point in their lives they had a mission of good motive - to see people rediscover who they were as God’s people through Torah. Is that such a bad goal? I can’t condemn the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees for being improperly motivated.

But what does Jesus say about them here? “They have taken away the key of knowledge…” This reminds me of “eduction” and “coaching”, because these teachers, though they had the key of knowledge, have kept it from the people who needed it most - the people who were entering. Where were they entering into? My guess from context is…the Kingdom of Heaven.

So scribes who are trained in the Kingdom do something different with this key. My guess is that in their hopeful aspirations of training for the Kingdom, they actually begin to live as citizens in the Kingdom. That means, they give the key away, they allow others to find what they have been trained to find. Even when they may know the answer to the question, they allow others to “seek” and “knock”, knowing that others are also being trained as scribes.

Why take the key of knowledge away from the people who are most desperate for it? For our own egos? Are we afriad of what people might do with it? Which one am I? A scribe, or a teacher? Which one are you?

My guess is that most peachers, ministers and pastors in our world today are teachers of the law, not scribes of the Kingdom. What’s the difference? One gives it all away, knowing he wasn’t the resevoir of truth to begin with, the other holds back the keys of the Kingdom, the blessings of living a life as a citizen under God’s reign.

Do you want to be a “master of a household” as he refers to the eager, learning, sharing scribes, or an “unmarked grave” as Jesus calls the reluctant, elitist teachers? The difference between the two is - giving it away.

I was convicted.

I am not the storehouse of knowledge - I want to be a spring spelunker. I want to find the springs in the hearts of others, and then simply find a way to bring the inner waters to the surface.

Thinking about leadership in this new paradigm of life in the Kingdom has got me thinking about ways to describe it. Most words in the English language regarding leaders and the communities they lead only reinforce the old way of thinking about leadership models. Teaching, lecturing…even the word leading connotates a heirarchical structure which places one person closer to the truth than another. While this might be needed in some instances, especially when working with marginal members of the community, I believe many of these words represent a paradigm that can become destructive when leaders deal with other leaders. So how to describe this new paradigm? I had a good conversation with a friend and mentor the other day who brought up the perfect word: eduction.
e‧duce  /ɪˈdus, ɪˈdyus/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[i-doos, i-dyoos]
–verb (used with object), e‧duced, e‧duc‧ing.

To educe an insight, solution to a problem, or a gifting from the Lord out of another person is to step out of the way and watch them bloom. Eduction happens when a committed believer comes alongside another committed believer and begins to draw out from within the other what the Holy Spirit has already put there. From personal experience I have learned this can be an amazing switch from traditional styles of learning and teaching. Thinking of people as acorns, rather than buckets, we allow the DNA that God put in them naturally develop.

But the question comes: do we REALLY believe that the followers of Christ that we are working with actually have something latent or potential within them…even before we show up? God is already at work within them, we may be there to ask the right questions, or probe certain issues, but true eduction takes place when we see lives changing on their own, and continue to do so even after we are long gone.

Last Thursday I took a nice drive down to Austin, TX with some old friends and some new faces to gather for a Texas-wide organic church planter’s conference on coaching.

In terms of moving people deeper into realizing their potential in God’s Kingdom, I think coaching offers a healthy alternative.  Rather than top-down training programs that command and control the blossoming church leader, the coach simply learns to ask questions to the coachee in hopes of raising their awareness and responsibility towards a certain topic that the coachee is interested in growing in.  The “leader” is the one being coached, not the coach himself.  This is a big paradigm shift for me, because it means that I must have faith that God can be trusted with the other person’s life; it is not all up to me to see discipleship happen in others.
As the weekend went on, we Abilenians built closer relationships with each other, and shared stories about the particular communities and house churches we were involved in.  It was inspiring to hear about the diversity found in the Jesus Family Network, and at the same time to hear about the common dream to see Christ formed among natural relationships in our city!  Over lunch, just before our return to Abilene, the 6 of us sat around the table and challenged each other to take new steps in creating a more cohesive church network in our city.  We talked about the need to raise awareness in our individual house churches - sharing what God is doing around the city.  We encouraged each other to begin coaching relationships with people of similar giftings.  It is simply amazing to see what can happen when you put two pastors in the same room and give them opportunity to learn from one another.  I’m hoping and praying that as the network of simple churches in Abilene develops, more and more people of similar gifting will find each other and began to rely on each other for resources, encouragement and coaching.

In a lot of ways, it all revolves around stories.  I get so encouraged hearing about the ways God is working in parts all over Abilene, outside of my little world.  I came back from Austin so excited that I mapped out all of the house churches in the city, as well as the families that are interested in starting one soon.

I think one of the biggest potential dangers in house churches is the tendency to isolate ourselves from the larger family of Christ.  The more my wife and I begin to move into this way of living, the more we are hearing of others who are doing the same.  Wouldn’t it be foolish to avoid each other?

At the very end of the conference, Kent Smith gave the “invitation”.  No, not for someone to come forward and be baptized, (although I DO wish we had ended the afternoon with “Just as I am,”)  but rather the DAWN invitation.  Basically, it is a broad overview of what DAWN (Disciple a Whole Nation) is all about (a flat-structured organization that promotes church planting awareness and training all over the world, including North America), as well as an invitation to join the emerging coaching network in the United States.  DAWN realizes how many people are out there truly working at planting a healthy church in their living room, but also is realistic about the fact that many of these Christians are going to need some encouragement and coaching.  Kent asked us as church planters from all over Texas to consider joining this network of coaches, and to invite others as well.  While I don’t want to be overwhelmed with “another responsibility”, it really sounds like this coaching network is there mainly for each other’s general encouragement and provides great opportunities to remain connected to others who are doing the same things you care about.  Very cool.

Recently read “Coaching for Performance” by John Whitmore. Its a facinating book about setting free the potential in others, not by becoming a control freak in their lives, but by working as a coach who steps back and helps them discover what is already inside their hearts.

How do we view people we are working with? Do we see them as empty buckets that we must pour all of our time, energy, and information into - pouring and pouring until its spilling all over the ground? What have you got after all that hard work? One full bucket. OR do we see them as acorns, which already have all the ingredients necessary to become a great oak tree, and simply must be allowed to become what is was made to be?

If we believe the latter, that has huge implications for ministry. Theologically, we remember that within each of us is imprinted the image of God, and within each man and woman who has called on Christ as Lord, they also hold the transforming Holy Spirit! What are we really saying to fellow brothers and sisters when we stifle them into passively receiving sermons and bible lectures? When is pedagogy appropriate?