intersections

Missional Church class at La Sierra University

I'm teaching a Masters level Professional Studies course at La Sierra this quarter entitled Missional Church. If you're curious about what we're doing, here's the syllabus.

I'm thinking of offering a version of this class by webinar in the Spring through the re-church network, so stay tuned for that.

Depression in pastoral ministry

Yesterday’s USA Today carried the disturbing story of a 42-year old pastor in North Carolina who committed suicide. I was deeply moved as I read about this young man who had apparently come to the end of his hope and, in complete despair, took his own life. Suicide is rare among pastors, the article reports, but many live with depression. Loneliness, isolation and the resistance of congregations to cultural change are cited as primary causes of depression.

The day before, the New York Times ran a piece entitled “Kierkegaard on the Couch,” by Gordon Marino. After reading the piece twice I began to discern the important distinction he makes between depression and despair and Kierkegaard’s concern for the spiritual dimensions of despair.

Then, while chatting online with my friend, Alburn, he pointed me to this interesting Money.com article entitled “Stressful jobs that pay badly," which describes “15 of the most overworked and underpaid professions out there.” Number 10: Minister. According to this piece, 71% of ministers report that their job is stressful.

This was like a perfect storm for me. But the picture is not yet complete. My own personal story is that I serve a congregation that is creative, flexible, open-minded and open-hearted, loving, supportive and fun. They are a group of spiritual pilgrims that genuinely enjoy being on this journey together. And, they love me. How do I know? They tell me. Frequently. It may have escaped your notice that October was Pastor Appreciate Month. For the past five years I have been appreciated by my church family in a way I never imagined possible. This is due primarily to the ministry of one of my dear friends and church elders, Kirsten Salvador. She has the gift of remembering important moments in people’s lives and making them understand that they are treasured.

Jean Vanier: The lonely task of leadership

I'm quickly reading through Becoming Human, by Jean Vanier's founder of the L'Arche communities around the world. In the first chapter entitled "Loneliness." I ran across this amazing statement. He is talking about the movement of our lives from order to chaos and back to order again as a necessary and inevitably movement of human evolution or maturity. He is describing the unhealthy tendency to resist this movement and preserve order because we don't want to go to that uncertain place. This change always engenders loneliness but we try to stop this process at our peril.
This statement contains vital lessons for anyone who leads or aspires to be a leader.

To be human is to create sufficient order so that we can move on into insecurity and seeming disorder. In this way, we discover the new.

Those who have the eyes to see this new order, as it arises, will often be considered too revolutionary, too modern, too liberal. Dictators everywhere have clamped down on movements for liberation; those who lead are always so certain that anarchy will arise if they do not govern with a firm hand. In reality, leaders are frightened of sharing or losing power. They too are frightened of change. They want to control everything. Those who see the coming of a new order will frequently be alone, persecuted (13-14).

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For more about Jean Vanier and the L'Arche communities check out these resources:

L'Arche: A Community of Brokenness and Beauty (Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett, August 2, 2007)
The Wisdom of Tenderness (Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett, December 20, 2007)
Adam, by Henri Nouwen

Stained Glass: Hollywood Blvd. (Episode 1)

I just realized that the first episode of the four-part documentary that the North America Division is doing about the Hollywood Adventist Church is now online at the Vervent website.

I'd love for you to have a look at it and tell me what you think. This was written and directed by one of our members, Melody George. (As an aside, you will be hearing a LOT more about Melody in the coming months...just sayin').

There are three churches that are a part of this project and each church will have four episodes. Stay tuned for the rest of these in the very near future.

Now, have a look at Episode one...click here and look under Featured Resources for "Stained Glass: Hollywood Blvd - Episode 1."

Hollywood Church like Google?

Our senior lay leader at the Hollywood Church, Neville Salvador, sent our staff a link to this video today, along with the following comment.

"I believe we kind of have a Google-like environment going on at Hollywood--just not the budget!"

I found this to be an incredible compliment. Those of you who know the Hollywood Church from the inside, check out the video and let me know what you think of Neville's assessment. I'll share some of my thoughts, too, but you go first!

A different kind of leadership

A pastor friend of mine in Moscow reminded me a great quote today and I think it's the perfect way to begin a new year of blogging. This quote comes from Alan Roxburgh's excellent book, The Missional Leader. I read this book when it first came out in 2006, so this quote is a great reminder.

It also comes at a good time because I was having coffee and catching up with a friend who remains fairly active in the Hollywood Church in spite of moving out of the area recently. We were discussing the relative merits of the numerical growth (or lack thereof) of the church. The pressure to "grow" the church is almost irresistible sometimes. We both agreed that if we wanted to pack out the Hollywood Church (it seats approx 300, I think) we could do that. Our group is smart enough and talented enough, and our leadership capacity has grown to the place that we could probably pack the place in a matter of a year or so. We weren't being arrogant. We were just being realistic. But we agreed that this was not the point. And, in fact, the whole character of the Hollywood Church would change such that many who have found the life-giving experience with a life with God would be devastated. Those who are unfamiliar with the missional church and still drinking from the fountain of "church growth" and attractional methods of church development will probably misunderstand what I'm saying here.

Anyway, enough commentary...now the quote.

Today, we give up on congregations that we declare are out of touch with the culture. We run to big, successful places with marquee-name leaders to find out how to be successful. In so doing we are going in exactly the opposite direction from everything we see in the Biblical narratives. We have forgotten that God’s future often emerges in the most inauspicious places. If we let our imagination be informed by this realization, it will be obvious that we need to lead in ways that are different from those of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation’s life. Instead, we need leaders with the capacity to cultivate an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God (21).

If you are a church leader, how do you hear this statement? In what ways do you sense God's Spirit calling you to a different kind of leadership - different than a CEO or "super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation's life?"

Introduction to Missional Leadership

Many of you who read my blog have asked me, either by email, phone or in person, about missional church. What is it? How can we sort through the fluff and get down to the issues that really matter? Like any new word or concept, it quickly gets co-opted to mean, "the new name for whatever we're doing that we're really excited about."

So, if you're wondering about missional theology and leadership, you have an amazing opportunity to learn from one of the best teachers I know in this field. Allelon is hosting a new webinar with Alan Roxburgh called "Introduction to Missional Leadership." The first of this 5-part series will happen on Monday, January 5 at 9:00 AM PT or January 6 at 12:00 PM PT (you chose one). Best of all, this webinar is free. You can learn more and register for this Allelon Webinar here.

If you are a pastor or lay church leader and you've been reading my blog off and on for a while and wondering how you can better understand what it would mean for you to be a misisonal leader, you really shouldn't miss this. I will be attending this webinar myself. I am finishing my final project for my D.Min. in Missional Leadership (Fuller Theological Seminary) and Alan Roxburgh has been one of two primary mentors (along with Mark Lau Branson) so I know Alan well and I know this material. But, I also know that I can learn from the interaction with others as we grapple with what it means to lead local communities of faith into authentic missionary encounters with our neighbors where God has placed us.

So, please join me on January 5 at 9 AM or on Jan 6 at NOON for this first of five webinars on Missional Leadership.

"From the Margins: Engaging Missional Life in the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Over a year ago Ryan Bolger (Fuller Seminary) asked me if I wanted to contribute an article to a series of articles being published in Fuller Seminary's theological journal call, Theology News & Notes. Each contributor was asked to reflect on how the emerging church conversation was taking shape in their respective denomination. My article, one of nine, is entitled "From the Margins: Engaging Missional Life in the Seventh-day Adventist Church," and begins like this:

“It sounds to me like this church wants to have a conversation without an agenda with its community. Am I hearing you right or . . .”

He never finished that sentence, but several of us knew exactly what he was thinking. This comment was spoken on a recent January afternoon at a gathering of our congregation to discuss progress and next steps for creating a public art mural on the wall of our church property that faces the Hollywood Freeway—one of the busiest freeways in Los Angeles. The comment came from a first-time visitor, a gifted musician, and a Seventh-day Adventist deeply disillusioned with church as he has experienced it for his 30 or so years of life.

What several of us felt, and later confirmed, was that this man (who I’ll call Jason) was sensing something hopeful, but he could barely believe his ears.

You can read the rest here, along with the other eight articles.

There has already been a considerable conversation started over on my Facebook page, but I'd love to hear your comments and reflections after you read it. Please leave a comment below.

The contributors are...

My Forum Presentation

UPDATE: The audio of my talk, as well as the Q & A session that followed, is now online, thanks to my friend and fellow Hollywood member, Melody George. Click here to read Melody's reflections and listen.

On Sabbath afternoon I gave a presentation at the L.A. Adventist Forum entitled, "Missional Church: Recovering Evangelism as Authentic, Credible Witness." It went pretty well, I think. I so appreciated having the eight or so members of the Hollywood Church who went with me, ranging in age from 23 to 97.

If you're interested in reading my comments you can download the PDF. Rumor has it that a MP3 of my talk will be available soon. Stay tuned here for an update.

Contributing to a new blog

I was recently invited to be one of fourteen bloggers for a new Allelon blog called, The Missional Journey: Thoughts Along the Way.

This blog focuses on:

» mission-shaped leadership;
» re-connecting and engaging the “worlds” in which we live;
» stories of engaging and listening to our context(s);
» the gospel and our modern Western culture; and
» Allelon initiatives.

I wrote a post just today called, "We Don't Really Have Bible Study." Let me know what you think.

And if you haven't heard of Allelon or visited their website recently you should definitely check it out. It is the premier place for all things missional!