Marginal Christianity

(I have shamelessly stolen this approach and some of its main ideas for this piece from Chris Crass,” Expecto Patronum: Lessons From Harry Potter for Social Justice Organizing,” Sunday, December 15, 2013, Truthout ) J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is far more than a work of young adult fiction. Like Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles and Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , her Potter stories encode a way of being she promotes. It’s not the Christian vision underwriting the Lewis and Tolkien tales. But neither is it antithetical to it. Rowling’s vision seems to reflect the kind of secularized Christianism that used to order life in the West. I say “used to” because of late He Who Must Not be Named and his Dementor and Death Eater minions are shaking the already rickety foundations of that secularized Christianism. They are the antagonists that threaten Rowling’s similar world in the Potter stories. And that attack is focused on Hogwarts, the wizarding academy ...

Seth Godin's pithy insight. Is your church a lab or a factory? You work at one, or the other. At the lab, the pressure is to keep searching for a breakthrough, a new way to do things. And it's accepted that the cost of this insight is failure, finding out what doesn't work on your way to figuring out what does. The lab doesn't worry so much about exploiting all the value of what it produces--they're too busy working on the next thing. Read more at http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/06/the-lab-or-the-factory.html

Insight from The Chronicles of Narnia:                                                                                      The Character of Leadership in Prince Caspian           There much talk today about leadership in the church. Too much talk in my opinion. Emphasis on leadership skills and competencies obscures what is truly crucial and underemphasized about “leadership.” Leonard Sweet [1] hits the nail on the head:                ...

(The “rejections” of the Barmen Declaration of 1934 updated for today) 8.10 - 1. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." (John 14.6). "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. . . . I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved." (John 10:1, 9.) 8.11 Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death. 8.12 We reject the false doctrine, as though the church could and would have to acknowledge as a source of its proclamation, apart from and besides this one Word of God, still other events and powers, figures and truths, as God's revelation. No nation, leader, ideology, other force or power, or personal interest or preference other than Jesus Christ gives us our marching orders as God’s peopl...

There’s a South Indian proverb that says, “Nothing grows under a banyan tree.” And it’s a proverb about leadership, actually. Here’s what I mean. Banyan leadership or banana leadership? The banyan is a great tree . It spreads its branches, drops air-roots, develops secondary trunks and covers the land. A full grown banyan may cover more than an acre of land! A banyan tree in Bangladesh (yes that’s ONE tree!)Birds, animals and humans find shelter under its shade. But nothing grows under its dense foliage.  When it dies, the ground beneath lies barren and scorched. The banana tree is the opposite. Six months after it sprouts, small shoots appear around it. The beginnings of new banana trees, a second generation. Banana tree from KeralaAt twelve months another circle of shoots appear beside the first ones, which are now six months old. Third generation banana trees are sprouting! At eighteen months the main trunk bears fruit: Banan...

http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/5237/7-examples-of-lazy-leadership-practices By Ron Edmondson Posted on July 22nd, 2014     Laziness is a sin. “Whoever is lazy regarding his work is also a brother to the master of destruction.” (Proverbs 18:9) It’s also annoying. And ineffective in leadership. The fact is, however, that many of us have some lazy tendencies when it comes to leadership. I do at times. This is as much an inward reflecting post as an outward teaching. Please understand, I’m not calling a leader lazy who defaults to any of these leadership practices listed. The leader may be extremely hard working, but the practice itself — I’m contending — is lazy leadership. Here are a seven examples of lazy leadership practices.  See if any of them apply to your leadership. Assuming the answer without asking hard questions. Or, not asking enough questions. It’s easier just to move forward sometimes — and sometimes it’s even necessary to ...

http://timgombis.com/2014/06/18/cross-shaped-leadership-pt-5/ By timgombis    I’ve been contrasting Jesus-shaped, cruciform leadership with worldly leadership.  Key texts that shape my reflections are Phil. 2:5-11 and Mark 10:37-45. Worldly leaders are captivated by a craving for more and more influence.  Cruciform leaders, on the other hand, are content with current responsibilities given by God and seek to grow in faithfulness. I had defined cruciform, Jesus-shaped leadership as an unrelenting commitment to the delivery of the love and grace of God into the lives of others (or, the life of another), and taking the initiative to see to it that this happens. Cruciform leaders sense a compelling call to the delivery of God’s transforming grace and redeeming love to others.  The scope of ministry may involve one’s own family.  It may extend beyond that to a one-to-one discipleship relationship.  Or, it may involve leadership in larger grou...

Faith Improvised June 17, 2014 http://timgombis.com/2014/06/17/cross-shaped-leadership-pt-4/ b y timgombis     Cruciform leaders do not view people as the means to achieve other goals.  The people to whom we minister  are  the goal.  The whole point of Jesus-shaped leadership is to take the initiative to see that God’s grace and love arrive into the lives of others. Christian leaders are servants of others on behalf of God, so people are the point—not my goals, plans, vision, or ambitions. This may be obvious, but there is a vocabulary set used among ministry leaders that very subtly perverts and corrupts our vision for cruciform ministry. We talk about “results,” or we want our ministries to be “effective.”  We look for ministry strategies that “work.” When we talk like this, we reveal that we are envisioning something  bigger than  or  beyond  the people to whom we minister.  We subtly become ...

Faith Improvised June 16, 2014   By timgombis http://timgombis.com/2014/06/16/cross-shaped-leadership-pt-3/    Cross-shaped leadership constantly adjusts to God’s agenda.  This is significantly different from worldly forms of leadership, which are oriented by the leader’s agenda. Worldly leadership is leader-determined.  It’s all about “my dream,” or “my vision for this church.”  Churches with charismatic leaders are often compelling communities for a time, but they seldom manifest cruciformity. I remember talking with a pastor about his church.  He was looking for people who would “buy into” his vision. We spoke some time later about his struggle with one person who didn’t fit the profile of his ministry target audience.  He was struggling to figure out how to gently move this person on to “where she belonged.”  He was caught between genuinely caring for people and his training in a corrupted style of ministry. ...

by Brad Brisco                                                                                      Email Share On Facebook Twitter 30 years of ministry experience—9 critical leadership lessons. I don’t pretend to be an expert on leadership. In some ways, I don’t even like the use of leadership language. However, over the past few weeks I have been asked several times about my own leadership development. What did my personal rhythms of study look like? What patter...

http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/9-unconventional-leadership-lessons/ April 25, 2014, by Brad Brisco 3 comments I don’t pretend to be an expert on leadership. In some ways I don’t even like the use of leadership language. However, over the past few weeks I have been asked several times about my own leadership development. What did my personal rhythms of study look like? What patterns of spiritual discipline did I follow? What leadership lessons have I learned over the years? And what advice would I give to a young “leader” today? The following list is the result of my own reflection on each of these questions. I have thought about the activities and practices that have shaped me the most over the past three decades. These lessons are simply descriptive of my own journey. While some of them may not fit who you are, I wish someone had shared each of these with me many years ago. 1.  Focus less attention on being a great “leader...

http://jrwoodward.net/2010/02/leadership-on-the-line-by-heifetz-and-linsky-a-proactive-report/ FEBRUARY 3, 2010   The nature of a proactive report is that you go into the book with a few questions that you hope to answer.  It starts with an overview of the book, then a set of questions and finishes with a summary and synthesis.  So here are my thoughts on Leadership on the Line. Overview   Heifetz and Linsky in  Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading , not only encourage us to put our life and ideas on the line, but they remind us of the dangers of leadership and how to respond to the risks in healthy ways. They don’t just answer the question of how to lead; they call us to think about why we should lead. They help us to see that while leading has its demands and costs, leading has the potential to enrich many lives, including the life of those who choose to lead. Because Heifetz and Linsky are fully aware of th...