Whether we live as students, employees, or church leaders, we are often confronted with the question of how will we live and how we will decide how to live. Recently, I read the following suggestion: We need to be less concerned with the method (traditions) and more concerned with results. But is that really true? Our methods determine our results. As we know, ends do not justify the means, and our traditions guide us towards positive results & guard us from negative results. For example, our theological traditions, such as the creeds, guard us against false doctrine and false practice. The process…
“For the leader, creativity is essential. Life is constantly changing, but people always fear change. The leader is responsible to help them adapt and do something new. So, by increasing creativity, suffering or deprivation may feed the springs of leadership in a young soul.” Leighton Ford (Transforming Leadership, 42)
When leading congregations, Christian leaders must be aware of both explicit and implicit theologies. What people believe determines how they act, and because of that, church members will continue to act according to the theologies that they hold. Without an awareness of both explicit and implicit theologies, church leaders can waste time, “spinning their wheels” on technical fixes to problems, while ignoring the deeper issues that are involved. Though it can take years, but church leaders need to address the explicit and implicit theologies of their congregants. To begin with, explicit theology is what a church expressly believes. Explicit theology…
The family was designed by God to be a unique place, the most basic form of community, where much of our spiritual growth can occur. Because God designed families, churches should support families and minister to them. In this effort, churches need to encourage families to live out their faith outside of Sunday morning. It is during the week, within the natural context of our home, where we make our daily decision to follow Christ. At a formal level, midweek gatherings help parents, children, and youth to refocus on Christ. At the same time, there needs to be balance. Especially…
Partially due to the rise of the internet, our 3rd millennial lifestyles often lead us towards selfish, self-image spirituality. The emphasis isn’t on who we are on the inside, but who we present ourselves to be on the outside. We are judged by the content of blogs, MySpace and Facebook pages, personal websites, podcasts, and YouTube videos. Unfortunately, all of these can be edited. I say “unfortunately” because in the midst of editing photos, blogs, videos, and the like, we are leaving part of ourselves behind. The more we edit, the easier it is to overlook the ugly parts of…