Methodist Gathering Resource Links
This morning I am working with Methodist pastors in my area at Gateway Community Church. Here are the links from the training:
- Church Unique Visual Summary
- Common Church Unique Tools (Vision Frame, Clarity Quiz, Thinkholes, Vision Casting Spider Diagram)
- Ken Werlein Video on Mission Measures (Faithbridge UMC)
- Outreach Article Referencing 3 Houston Methodist Churches
- Branding Examples
- How to Create Gospel Centered Tagline
- Strategy Design Questions
- Strategy Icon Examples
The Time and Place for The Authentic Church
- When I attended VBS at a small Lutheran church in 1st grade, I was thrilled to get the little silver Bible sticker in my pocket Bible.; the kind with Jesus pictures. I always wanted to go back to that church, but we never did.
- When I attended catechism at a Presbyterian church in Augusta, GA. I memorized lot’s of God statements. It felt like the right thing to do.
- When I attended Young Life meetings in high school. It was cool. It was spiritual.
- When I attended a EFCA church at Penn State and carried around Desiring God (by John Piper) like a sacred text.
- When I church hopped in Midland, TX working in the oil field. While exploring the black gold of the Permian Basin, I searched for the true expression of God’s church.
- At seminary I found a church in the black and hispanic area in which I lived. It wasn’t what I was used to so it was better.
- And still I combed the spiritual classics of centuries gone-by, searching for the hidden keys to walking with God.
- Finally, I found the best model of all. I joined the staff of a church that started south of Houston. We reached unchurched people like that big Chicago seeker church that had all of the answers. I got to be a part of a team that grew one of America’s finest megachurches. This had to be the model, the authentic church.
Churches are not franchises to be reproduced as exactly as possible wherever and whenever—in Rome and Moscow and London and Baltimore—the only thing changed being the translation of the menu. But if we don’t acquire a narrative sense, a story sense, with the expectation that we are each one of us uniquely ourselves—participants in the unique place and time and weather of where we live and worship—we will always be looking somewhere else or to a different century for a model by which we can be an authentic and biblical church. The usefulness of Acts as a story, and not a prescription or admonition, is that it keeps us faithful to the plot, Jesus, and at the same time free to respond out of our own circumstances and obedience.Peterson, Eugene H. (2011). The Pastor: A Memoir (p. 119). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
In light of Peterson’s words, I ask again, “How is it going?” Or maybe the better question to ask is “Where have you been looking?”
It’s my dream that each pastor find the time and place for the authentic church. And the amazing answer is “It’s right now, right where you are.”
If you are new to my blog, thanks for stopping by. You may want to consider a book I wrote about discovering the authentic church for your time and place. I called the book Church Unique to highlight what Eugene Peterson is talking about here. It’s really about entering more deeply into the context that God has placed you to develop your own model of ministry. It’s about faithfulness to The Plot rather than mimicking another person’s story.
“I’ve been looking for something like this for years” Now it’s FREE through July
The title of this post came from one of our Church Unique Visual Summary readers. He was able to boil down his review to four words. “Amazing design, profound content.”
Yesterday Auxano sent an announcement that the Visual Summary will be FREE through July.
Do You Have a Mental Base Camp as a Ministry Leader?
Today I talked with 5 different ministries in pursuit of clarity. At one point, Tim with the E4 Project, started sharing the benefit of the process as we were refining their Vision Frame. I love the image he used:
“It’s giving me a mental base camp as a leader”
Bam! That’s it. Another brilliant picture of the power of clarity.
What is a “base camp?”
- A center of operations, organization, or supply
- A camp from which expeditions or other activities set out or from which they can be carried out.
- A main encampment providing supplies, shelter, and communications for persons engaged in wide-ranging activities, as exploring, reconnaissance, hunting, or mountain climbing.
These definitions highlight three different aspects the power of clarity. The Vision Frame is like a mental base camp because:
- It creates a center of operations of how we think.
- It defines the place from which every idea, conversation, decision and action initiates. Everything sets out from a prior understanding of our “base” identity and baseline mission.
- It supplies, protects and communicates essentials so that people can be involved in a very broad range of activities and pursuits.
In the end, where there is no base camp there is no common gathering point and no great summit experience.
Do you have a mental base camp as a leader?
28 Vision-based Competencies for Church Staff and Leader Development
How are you helping your best leaders grow in the area of applying strategy and visionary thinking?
- What about every person on staff?
- What about the elders or deacons or administrative council?
- What about every person leading a small group or bible study?
These questions got me thinking more specifically about the developmental process of visionary leadership. What came from the reflection is 28 “competencies.” I use this word loosely because these simple statements need more refinement before they could be used for a serious assessment tool. Yet I think they are useful at illustrating a range of development.
The matrix from which the 28 ideas came, started with a two simple assumptions. First there are five areas of clarity that a visionary leader needs to know. The five areas are the components of the Vision Frame. (Learn more about the frame.) The second, is that each area of the frame requires a movement from understanding to appreciation to application. The head, heart and hands must all play their part!
UNDERSTANDING > > > APPRECIATION > > > APPLICATION
If we have people who are growing on this simple continuum, with all aspects of clarity, then your leaders and including your core team will be an unstoppable force.
What else would you add?
