Steering Through Chaos: Mapping a Clear Direction for Your Church in the Midst of Transition and Change

One premise making this read unique from other change-management books is that the author recommends you, as the leader, be the initiator of, not the reactor to, change. While it may seem counterintuitive, the author provides some practical advice on how to create change yourself when your church is doing well—not when it starts to decline—so that your congregation may experience even greater growth.

Another area that makes this read different than other business or management books on change theory is the Pentecostal/theological perspective of the author. He offers practical advice, but does not sidestep the spiritual endeavors that need to take place when dealing with change and chaos. He balances the two very well.

The book includes another nice touch—10 vignettes from other pastors and leaders highlight the topic and give another vantage point for readers. The author also provides helpful questions and group discussion topics at the end of each chapter, which will assist pastors in analyzing and implementing the book’s principles in their own settings.

Scott Wilson does not negate the pain that occurs when a church goes through change. But he does give the reader hope, a plan, and numerous practical and spiritual nuggets to navigate through the stress. I, for one, have already implemented a couple of his concepts into my ministry.

(orginally posted at http://foursquare.org/articles/1242,1.html)

Easter is easy. Christmas is a snap. The Forth of July is also a no brainer when it comes to a greetings. But Good Friday, that is a hard one.

For starters why is it good? A guy dies in a not so ordinary way, what is good about that? A sleepless night of guys whipping and berating him…not good. He found himself carrying a heavy piece of timber through a mocking crowd and up a hill…not pleasant at all. Professional executors were called in to make sure his crucifixion was done properly as he was hung out for all to see…really not good. After he breathed his last breath a sword pierced his side as blood and water spilled out…that is just gross. Crown of thorns, punches to the face, spitting crowds, and three huge nails piercing his body…basically an all around bad day.

I asked Father Olson (the priest of the Catholic congregation by our church) this morning at Starbucks, “what do you say as a greeting for Good Friday?” “Holy Good Friday“, was his response. Ok that is an awkward way of saying hello to someone but it works.

We went on to talk about why it is good and what that means for our salvation. Even though this day was not very nice in the physical realm, it was really glorious in the spiritual realm. It is because of the cross and death of Christ that are debt of sin was paid. The other good thing about his death was that he had to die before He could be resurrected from the dead. (small detail…but some believe that Jesus never died). And is it because of His resurrection that we can have life. His empty grave equals us having a full life.

So I guess in a round about way this is a Holy Good Friday. Or is it ‘Wholly Good Friday’? Oh well back to square one.

See you Sunday.

.

They are let out and told to now share this ‘message of life’ back at the temple. This message of life is a message of freedom. A message of once being bound by chains and now you are set free. A message that you were once stuck in a stinky, damp, rodent filled, dark prison and now you are in the light.

Christ said He came to release the captives and set free those that were oppressed. (Luke 4:18) Christ comes just like that angel did and opens the prison gates and unlocks the chains. Now we are called as free people to share this message of life with others. The problem is (as I see it) that we might be outside of the prison but we still hold onto the chains.
Chains of anger
Chains of abuse
Chains of bad relationships
Chains of legalism
Chains of addiction

When Christ sets us free we need to leave the chains back in the prison. I know we are familiar with those chains and we don’t think we can do life without them.  But chains don’t look appealing to those that we are trying to share a message of life with. So many times Christ opens the door of freedom for us and just stay in our filthy prison embracing our chains. 

Those that are in Christ are free. I pray we not only leave the prison of sin and death but we drop the chains on the way out.

Wow this story about Ananias and Sapphira is a serious buzz killer.  Dr. Luke just got done telling us the stories of miraculous healings, rescues, sacrificial giving and how the church is at an all time spiritual high. Then like a slap to the face two well meaning nice followers that gave lots of money are dead. What is up with this?

Then I realized this wasn’t some simple misunderstanding of a couple.  This was a calculated effort of two people to experience the spiritual realm through natural means. They would have just encountered the great joy of Barnabas when he gave all the proceeds of the sale of his property. I would speculate that they wanted what he had and they thought they had the financial resources to make that happen.

But the fact is you can’t manufacturer the spiritual realm through natural means.  No matter how hard you work up a sweat or how hard you study or how much you give you can’t push God’s hand in your favor through your own efforts. This story didn’t have much to do with money or telling a lie and everything to do with how the spiritual world is real and is not a game to be played through human means. 

The foundation of our faith is happening here in chapter five.  Just like a cancer to the body this idea that you could buy spiritual rewards through human efforts needed to be removed.  If you try to have spiritual results by natural means you get problems… hopefully it isn’t death. (oh by the way it never says God killed them. I wonder what did?)

Acts 4:32 says “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had”  and later on in verse 37 we find that, “Barnabas sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

This is a great story of sacrificial giving and the body of Christ coming together to help those in need. There was of course no mandate from the leaders for everyone to sell there stuff and bring the proceeds to the church. From time to time some were prompted by the Spirit to give of what they had. This was a very spiritual undertaking.

The thought that was most intriguing to me was that Barnabas just gave the money to the apostles. We would think that he would give it to those that were in direct need of his assistance.  This made me think, ‘you haven’t really given until you have given up the control’. So many times in our American culture we give with strings attached. But is it giving if we tell the recipient what we want them to do with the money?

Some times people have given me $100 and said, “Now go have some fun with this, don’t spend it on your bills”. I received something, but has that person truly given it away? Maybe the most fun thing would be to have my bills paid! Or if you give your kids an allowance and then proceed to tell them all the things they need to spend that money on.

This is why special offerings or when specific disaster strikes we awaken and start giving generously, because we want to know specifially where those funds are going. General giving is not as glamorous to us.

How about we just give and give liberally to organizations or people that have proven themselves to be good stewards of resources and then step away.  Don’t tell them what you want them to do with it. Don’t have strings attached to your giving. 

Because, have you really given if you still want to have control?

The essence of the story as you remember is that you have a super hero, ‘Mr. Incredible’, who has been asked along with the rest of the ‘Supers’ to integrate back into society and not do there superhero work anymore. So we find Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible) relinquished to the cubicle world of an insurance agency. He dreamed of being back out on the street helping people and was hating his new job and living in a cookie cutter neighborhood. Why would someone not care for a stable family, job and house in the middle of the suburbs?

Because he had been ruined for the ordinary. He used to be a crime fighter, lifesaver, and front page news. Once you have experienced something really great you do not want to go back to just everyday living.

Ever had really good sushi? You have no desire to buy that party platter at Costco ever again.
Have you have ever been to a really great water park? The kiddy pool seems so anti-climatic after that.
Been to Powell’s bookstore? There doesn’t even seem to be a need for a Borders anymore.
Have you swam the water in Hawaii or the Caribbean? Nothing else compares.

You get ruined for the ordinary once you have experience some the of the finer things of life.

This reminded me of the story in Acts chapter 4 and 5. Peter and John just healed a guy that had been paralyzed for several decades. Because of that, they get in a bit of a pickle with the religious establishment. They are imprisoned and told not talk about Jesus or heal anymore. They are told to just be normal, like the rest of the loyal citizens. They were faced with being excommunicated from the church, being imprisoned and possible being put to death.

But on their day of freedom they prayed for more boldness, more healings, more miracles. They pray for the same things that got them in trouble. (or better said) They pray for the finer things of life. They had been ruined for the ordinary way of going about their day to day life. They just saw a man get healed and you can not go back once you have seen that. They had been ruined for the ordinary.

As I was watching Bob Parr transform back into Mr. Incredible I wondered why he would want to put the work in to getting in shape. Why would he forfeit making an actual salary? Why would he want to put his life and families life back into danger? Oh that is right, he was ruined for the ordinary.

What things have you experienced that make you not want to go back to the ordinary?

I have also been feeling really much better about myself while doing it. (after I got through the caffeine headaches.)  I came across these states about water that would seem to back up how I have been feeling.

Always remember that 23% of stats are made up on the spot…or was that %34?

#1.   75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population)

#2.     In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is mistaken for hunger

#3.    Even MILD dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism as much as  3%.

#4.   One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study.

#5.     Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.

#6.    Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.

#7.    A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page 

#8.   Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%., and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer.

Are you drinking the amount of water you should drink every day?

.

Unless you are procrastinating your worry.  Worry is a perfect thing to put off until tomorrow and if you do today well it just might not be there when tomorrow rolls around.

Gail Hyatt wrote a great piece recently. In it she says,  “You may have very good reason to worry. The worst-case may indeed come to pass. But … not today. Just wait to worry”  Coming from a women with great motherly advice this is a great article for you to check out.

As I have said many times, do today well and tomorrow will take care of itself.  We only have the time we are in currently and if we do that well the rest will be better. Worry is a thing that hinders us from doing the now well. I would encourage you to wait to worry.

Sayer takes great pain to move us from our horizontal self that is being formed from our surroundings to being a part of a greater reality, our vertical self. He takes a new and updated approach on the classic literature we have on holiness and purity. Through a tremendous amount of stories, studies and personal experiences the author brings you right into the book. A chapter does not go by where you do not see yourself or someone you are in close relations with in the words he writes.

He hits hard our concept of cool, sexy and life being about “me”. Because of these pursuits for horizontal experiences we have lost the vertical experience with God. We have become consumers of Christianity and have not allowed it to change us.

This is a great read. Not to heavy, not to light. I have personally started to change some of my life habits as I detox a bit from my horizontal self.

 

“I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.”

.

I came across this great video which highlights what it means to help a little one.  This comes from Donald Miller at The Mentoring Project down in Portland.  It is just two minutes, so check it out. 

Why don’t you think about how you can impact the life of a child today!