Godgrown

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  Mark 8:05 am on June 1, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Moving In, Moving On 

  When do you know its the right time to move on?  In developing healthy communities centered on Jesus, a “community developer” or “church planter” has an interesting relationship to the church he (or she) is planting.  He is both a part of the new community, and yet at the same time, he is very much different.  He is meant to move on – to take the risk that the fragile and humble group that has gathered around Jesus is ready to withstand the harshest of times, and whats more, to charge forward against the gates of hell.

  Many times the best thing a church planter can do for a church is to leave it – not out of anger, spite, or revenge for some past misdeed, but out of an interest to remove a sort of scaffolding to truly let the building be what it is to become.

  At times I’ve felt a little like a grandma (I know, weird.)  By this I mean that after a new couple has a child, often a grandparent will stay with the couple to help out around the house, teach a little bit of technique to sooth an infant’s cries, and simply be a loving presence.  However, there comes a day – when Grandma returns home – and that’s when the real adventure begins.

  The apostle Paul found this an extremely useful strategy for developing a faith community – to get out of the way!  For Paul, he was in and out in as little as 9 days, and as long as 3 years.  Similarly, Neil Cole describes in Organic Leadership that mentors and church planters should MAWL their proteges – MAWL stands for:

  • M – model
  • A - assist
  • W – watch, and finally…
  • L – leave.

  It is that last one I have the hardest time with.  Leaving.  I never fully trust that the group can survive without me.

  But as I write those words, what kind of perspective is that?  Why do I think its up to me to keep some flywheel spinning, once its been spun?  I’ll get my hand cut off trying!

  Maybe a little humility and bravery is needed.  Maybe part of what it means to see a vibrant family of Jesus in close reach of every person is not thinking that the family has to get it all right for years on end before the scaffolding can come off.  Could it be that things actually work better through strategic absence of a leader rather than persistent, suffocating presence?

  

  Katrina is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Katrina 7:23 pm on June 1, 2011 Permalink

    Mark – nice post! When the human “leader” fades out, the true Leader appears…

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  Mark 9:33 am on May 12, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Table Questions 

  One of my favorite habits we have in our house church is “Table Questions.”

  It isn’t anything super formal.  We gather in the evening time each week, and begin by sharing a meal.  We share, laugh, pass the potatoes, and catch up on each other’s lives and missions.  It feels like a family reunion of sorts.

  And then, before finishing up our meal and moving on to a time of prayer and worship, someone shares a specific question at the table that helps guide the conversation into a time of discovery, worship and common reflection.

  Table Questions are something you can do in your missional communities, house churches, small groups, or simply your family’s dinner each evening.  It is reminiscent of Jewish practices, where a question is asked at table and there is dialogue and learning – both for the children and adults.  This is where family learning happens!

  The table is a place of safety, a place of unity, a place for partaking in food and each other.

  To be honest, Table Questions, not carefully thought through before asking them, can lead to disaster.  Allow the potentially divisive question to wait for another time - Table Questions draws people out, it doesn’t recoil them into hiding.  It offers a simple starting place for each person to contribute no matter their faith maturity or intelligence, which will help them find their voice later in the evening as you all share in a “worship potluck” (1 Cor 14:26).

  Pass around the responsibility of Table Questions to new leaders in your community.  Give lots of people the chance of fascilitating meaningful conversation.  Even non-believers in your gatherings can lead this!  It gives all a sense of ownership, and helps the group cultivate new leaders for new churches not-yet-planted around other kitchen tables!

  How to ask a Table Question that leads to life:

  • Understandable. Think about the specific words to use.  Say the question once, and say it succinctly.  Make it easy to understand, and folks will be happy to answer.
  • Perspectives. Ask questions that point not to hard truths, but to one’s experience.  For example, don’t ask a question starting with, “Is it right to…” but instead, try, “When have you ever experienced…”
  • Value-Driven. Draw on questions that might lead to values your community holds.  For instance, ask, “What does love look like in your life?”
  • Collaborative Questions. Avoid trial matters.  Avoid doctrinal matters.  Avoid political positions.  Again, these things can wait for another time, perhaps later in the evening, or at another gathering all-together.  The aim here is to cultivate collaboration, not competition.
  • Have Fun. Give people opportunities to tell their own story.  Ask them to share favorite memories, challenging circumstances, and more from their own life.  Keep a playful spirit about you.  And always give people the chance to ‘pass.’

  Great ways to start a Table Question:

  • “When have you ever…”
  • “How might we…”
  • “In your experience, what does ______ look like?”
  • “If you could say one thing to someone else in the room that would build them up, what would you say?”

  The table is a sacred space for humans.  It is where our LORD waits for us – a great banquet table.  I am sure there will be many questions asked at that table (mostly, us asking God all those BIG questions we have for him…), imagine your Table Questions as an echo to that banquet feast coming soon in Heaven!

  

  Sean Durbin is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Sean Durbin 4:05 pm on May 12, 2011 Permalink

    I LOVE table questions!

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  Mark 7:24 am on April 21, 2011 Permalink | Reply  

  Not Complex, Just Difficult 

  A friend of mine recently mentioned,

  “The solutions to the biggest problems in life will not be complex, only difficult.”

  This is SO true.

  When we look at the brokenness of our world, from the savage violence in Libya to a father abandoning his family to cling to his drink, you get the sense that things are very, very wicked – and turning this burning ship around will require more than well-crafted policies or enticing tax incentives.

  There is no law that will make me love my neighbor as myself.  There is no external motivation that brings me to my knees in prayer.

  We have been trying to end poverty, war, hunger, homelessness, spousal abuse, gang-violence…well, the list goes on and on.  The evening news shows begins each night with “Good evening…” then tells you all the reasons in the world why it isn’t!

  But that’s not the end of the story –

  The solutions to the world’s biggest problems…to the biggest problems in your own life… are not complex rules or well-managed institutions…no, they are quite simple…they are just difficult.

  It is not a matter of the head figuring out the solutions – it is now down to a matter of the heart.

  Can we trust our neighbor?

  Can we love them?

  Can we forgive them…and ourselves?

  Can we love our family as God loves them?

  Can we offer troubled youth a place in our family before they are sucked into the vortex of a gang?

  Can we rend ourselves of our wealth so that urban food deserts disappear?

  When Jesus quoted, “There will always be poor among you,”  he was hoping that his disciples would be convicted by what was obviously an ironic and tragic reference to Deuteronomy 15:4-11, The text begins: “There should be no poor among you…” Is Jesus misquoting Scripture?  Is he confused?  No – he’s making a point; that the end of poverty comes not with well-crafted laws of tithing, but by overcoming one’s self-centered selfishness.  ”There will always be poor among you,” was a rebuke of the disciples.

  “Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” (Deut. 15:11)

  Did a command do the job? Did that verse end poverty at the stroke of a pen (or chisel as it were)?  No – there were plenty of people in Jesus’ day that were poor – thousands of years after the Law of Moses was written.

  Jesus knew this problem, like so many others in his world, and in our world today – can only come from overcoming the most difficult hurdle in the world — the human heart.

  

  Jay is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Jay 5:14 am on April 22, 2011 Permalink

    Life would be easier if I could disagree with you.
    The comfortable interpretation that says — since they will always be there what’s the rush, why bother, nothing can really be done about it, Jesus said so — just doesn’t cut it. If he was rebuking his poor disciples, what would he say to us with our opulence?