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Archive for the ‘church revitalization’ Category

Beginning today I’m stealing a cue from Ed Stetzer and starting a new feature on Mondays that focuses  on missional resources.

Over the weekend CMAResources posted the audio from a Missional Movements Conference featuring Michael Frost & Neil Cole.  The 7-session resource is available free from the CMA website! Check it out!

SIMPLFY!

That’s what the sign hanging over the door to my office at the church boldly reads.  It’s our “word for the year” at Cradock. Things have gotten way too complex through the years, and it’s time to simplify things.

Things also get complex in the church. Systems, programs, plans, buildings, denominations all add layers of complexity to something that was remarkably simple in its inception.

Since Verge 2010,  I’ve been doing a bit of reading and a lot of reflecting on what it would mean if we simplified things and recovered the rhythms of the Early Church. One of the resources which I’m currently reading is Simple/House Church Revolution by Roger Thoman. I’ll warn you: Thoman will stretch your paradigms and challenge your thinking! His book is available as a free download by clicking on the picture below.

I dare you!

Due to the weather we didn’t have services today. So, in lieu of a Sunday Summary, here’s a really cool video on the missional church.

Everybody’s seen the news reports recently about piracy in the commercial shipping industry.  It’s an all-too-familiar pattern: A band of rogues waits for an opportune moment,  seizes valuable cargo and takes the crew hostage. They demand ransom and threaten the safety of the vessel and well-being of the crew if they don’t get it.

Have you ever seen pirates take a church hostage?

They come on board (or sometimes are already on board–or are on the Board!). They seize valuable cargo–leadership positions, programs, resources.  The captain (usually the past0r) kills the engines and stops the church dead in the water.

Church pirates demand ransom, and their demands are unreasonable and outlandish.  If the owners (congregation/board/leadership) don’t capitulate to their demands, they threaten the well-being of their hostages (usually church staff members).

Negotiating with church pirates is a waste of time and it diverts resources away from the real issues.

If we give in to a pirate’s demands, we grant him legitimacy.  And he will strike again.

So how do you deal with pirates in your church?

Rogue leaders pose one of the greatest dangers when trying to lead systemic change in a church.

Several years ago we were implementing a small group strategy at a church where I served as Discipleship Pastor. As we were talking about training the first generation of group leaders, Ted,  our trainer, said,  Tolerate no rogue leaders.

We all looked puzzled, so he elaborated: When we require that all group leaders be trained to a certain standard, wannabe-leaders will emerge and challenge the standard. If we allow them to lead, then we undermine the integrity of the training process.  Hence, we should not tolerate rogue leaders.

It didn’t take long for Ted’s wisdom to be tested. The first rogue dropped out half-way through the group leader training.  We were very clear when we explained that she would not be allowed to lead until she completed the training or had been apprenticed to a trained leader for a specified time. She said she understood the requirement. Yet once she was out of the loop, she decided she wanted to lead anyway, and she tried every trick in the book to do an end-run around the system.

Other rogues emerged, and I was amazed at how they pushed boundaries, tried to pull strings, hatched conspiracies, brokered alliances, pitched temper tantrums, bullied staff, and behaved like outright-heathens when we wouldn’t let them lead small groups because they hadn’t completed the required leadership training!

In these cases, rogues were easier to disarm, because we had identified the requirements for group leaders, defined the training processes, and established systems for training.

I can think of two other rogues who thought that because of their position or proximity to core leaders they would be exempt, and could do as they pleased. Rules applied to everyone else.  But when crunch time came, both were asked to step out of leadership because they were unwilling to comply with the system.

Unfortunately, we did not have clearly defined requirements, processes and systems in place in the case of these two leaders, and the situation grew messy. But we were able to view the challenge as an opportunity, and establish a Philosophy of Ministry which defines roles and requirements and spells out how key leadership is selected.

Rogues are opportunists–they see a proposed change as an opportunity for them to achieve a position.  Once they are in that position, they think  they can use the attendant power to force their agenda on the group or organization.

Rogues are sometimes hard to spot. At first, they may come across as our greatest supoorter or biggest ally. They think that because they are in a particular position or have a title, we’ll give them a pass when they don’t meet the requirements or when their actions don’t measure up.

I’ve learned from experience that the best way to deal with rogues is to have processes and systems in place that clearly define the requirement and expectations for leaders,  then stick to them.

This is hard to do in an established church. You have people who have been members for many years.  They are often ingratiated into existing systems, and have done things a certain way for countless years. You better watch out when you challenge them. They often come out fighting!

You learn a lot about people during times of change. Undiscipled people act like undiscipled people!

Over time, I am happy to say that one of the rogues I’ve known has come around.  They now understand why we did what we did.  They got with the system and later went on to lead several small groups. The other two have not.

What’s unusual about this is not the two who haven’t come around–it’s the one who did. Because rogues rarely realize they are rogues. They are are LWI–Leading While Impaired--drunk on the wine of their own fermented egos.

Any time you attempt to lead systemic change, there will be rogues. And they can make your life miserable. But bluster and threaten as much as they may, rogue leaders cannot be tolerated.

How do you deal with rogue leaders?