• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

What’s the next step in personal health?

Posted on March 9, 2015 by wtdavid

In last week’s post, I wrote: “One critical area of personal health is growth in emotional intelligence.  In other words, growth in understanding how others ‘receive’ us.  As our attitude should reflect our love and devotion to Jesus, we often miss the mark and do not even realize that our comments can appear cutting or hurtful to others.  The outside-in input of others in a community in which we are engaged can greatly help us to recognize blind spots and learn to grow in demonstrating love to others.”Next Steps Old Wooden Sign

How do I get that outside-in input?  You ask for it.  You ask God for the courage to ask others around you and then you approach others to ask the following questions:

  • Is there anything I do that irritates you?
  • Is there anything you wish I did differently?
  • Is there anything you would like to say to me but have been afraid to?

There are plenty of other questions you might ask, but these might serve as a way to get you started.  As people provide you with feedback, you will begin to see common threads which should help you identify areas for growth in your emotional intelligence.

This is not about a self-improvement plan where you try harder to please others.  This is a growth process where the Spirit makes us aware of our ‘hurtful ways’ (Psalm 139) and drives us back to the Gospel to find the wisdom and strength to respond to others in a more Christ-like manner.

Filed under: Community, Emotional intelligence, Personal health | 2 Comments »

Why personal health is important

Posted on March 5, 2015 by wtdavid

In talking about the inner life, Jesus said: “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”  (Mark 7:15)  His words created quite a stir among the religious leaders of the day (see Matthew 15) who based holiness on outward conformity to a set of sacrificial and ceremonial laws. personal health

If I were to try and put this in our language today, I would say that God yearns for each of us to have strong personal health or a deep inner life.  A deep inner life is the driver behind right and fruitful ministry activity.

Time, energy and effort must be given to cultivate our inner life.  It’s not something that happens by osmosis.  It’s not something that happens on our own.

Cultivating our personal health certainly includes meditation on the Word of God and honest dialogue with the Father.  However, the deepening of our own inner life also comes through our engagement and interaction with a community of believers.  In this context, we work out the truth of the Scriptural principles that “as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

One critical area of personal health is growth in emotional intelligence.  In other words, growth in understanding how others ‘receive’ us.  As our attitude should reflect our love and devotion to Jesus, we often miss the mark and do not even realize that our comments can appear cutting or hurtful to others.  The outside-in input of others in a community in which we are engaged can greatly help us to recognize blind spots and learn to grow in demonstrating love to others.

Personal health is certainly ‘personal’ when we talk about one’s individual inner life.  However, one’s personal health depends in so many ways on the work of the Spirit and the input of others around us.

Filed under: Community, Emotional intelligence, Personal health | 6 Comments »

Assess one another

Posted on February 13, 2015 by wtdavid

When we start talking about metrics or providing indicators that allow us to assess God given progress towards a vision or goal, many of us immediately assume some hidden motive behind the request.  For example, we might think:

  • Our work is going to be judged on insufficient criteria (just numerical indicators);
  • Our leaders are looking for a way to justify closing down our ministry; or
  • We as an agency are being overly influenced by business tactics

 

assessment-center1Rather than taking the perspective that others will be ‘judging us’, perhaps we could look at indicators as a healthy way to ‘assess one another’ and ‘help one another’; to work together as a global community to fulfill our purpose and vision in greater ways.

Indicators (quantity and quality) might show that there has been limited fruit in a particular ministry over the past few years.  A healthy assessment would engage dialogue over a number of questions.  The answers to those questions might reveal a limited prayer network for the ministry and a significant lack of people resources.

Do we fold the ministry?  No. We as a global community bring the resources that are lacking to this ministry, or we network the existing team to needed resources.  Any assessment reveals how a ministry is doing and what we might learn from them or how we might come alongside them with help.

Filed under: Assessment, Community, Resources | 4 Comments »

Mutually supporting and openness … again

Posted on January 30, 2015 by wtdavid

Ginny shared these thoughts after reading my last post.  They are part of a devotional she recently shared with a small group.

“Proverbs 12:25 speaks to us of one of the ways of encouraging others.

One way to encourage, build-up, or stimulate one another is through the written word.  A letter or email sent with the right words at the right time can be greatly used in the life of someone else. We can also encourage by actions, by what we do.  As we walk in close relationship with the Lord, He then can enable us to be an encouragement one to another.

Recently I received a note from a friend who shared with me lessons of encouragement learned from a goose!  Geese as you know fly in a “V” geese in formationformation. As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in a “V” formation the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range then if each bird flew on its own.   This is quite similar to being part of a team, sharing a common direction to get where they are going.  The journey is quicker and easier if they are traveling on the trust of one another and lift each other up along the way. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go through it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock. As a team member, we need to work together and share information and encouragement with those who are headed in the same way that we are going.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed.  Words of support and encouragement help energize those on the front line helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue.  It is important that our honking be encouraging.

Finally when a goose gets sick or is wounded and falls out, two geese fall out of the formation and follow the injured one down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is able to fly again.  Then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group.  When one of us is down, it’s up to the others to stand by us in our time of trouble. We need to stand by each other and be that source of encouragement.”

Filed under: Community, Encouragement | 2 Comments »

Mutually supporting and openess

Posted on January 28, 2015 by wtdavid

Like most workers, I feel like I have a good read on life and ministry.  The reality is that I can easily be blinded to faults that bring pain and conflict into conversations, relationships and teams. We each see the ‘evident’ needs of others, but lack a larger perspective that shows us our own spiritual growth needs.  I, we, for the most part lack self awareness.encourage-one-another-hands

Being interdependent, being mutually supportive of one another is also a call to get involved in one another’s lives.

The TC4u document (found on the Hub under the Gospel Conversation Café) is one attempt to grapple with how such mutual dependence works itself out in our communities as workers in World Team.  I can talk about community and tell others of the importance of being part of one, but do I personally feel the need and model the need for such mutual support through community?

If you don’t see the need for community, for this need of open and honest sharing, you won’t go seeking it out.

However, if like me, you recognize your lack of self awareness and need of Christ, you will go looking for a group of like minded believers with whom to gather and offer that mutual support to one another; to work at living out community as described in the Scriptures:

  • Encourage one another: 1 Thessalonians 5:11
  • Build up one another: 1 Thessalonians 5:11
  • Pray for another: James 5:16
  • Speak truth (in love) to one another: Ephesians 4:15

Filed under: Community, Core Values, Interdependence | 2 Comments »

Laying it down

Posted on January 9, 2015 by wtdavid

Many of you may have heard about the tragic events which occurred this past Wednesday here in Paris.  As I listened to an online talk show while driving to the office, the interviewer asked two religious leaders why we should continue to talk about the need to address the evil intentions of peoples’ hearts when that message, up to this point, has brought about little or no change.  The response was truly insightful: ‘Saying something once does not mean that the problem has been dealt with and will go away.  We need to repeat, repeat and continue to repeat the message for it to take root and bring about change.’

change in the skyWe all know the ‘right’ answer or response to the questions of ongoing Christian growth and maturity.  However, those truths are not sufficiently repeated so as to ‘take root’ in our hearts and cause real and visible change to occur.

“You have given us your most cherished treasure, yet we prize many other things more highly than Christ.  Forgive us for trusting in our own strength more than in his power to save us completely.  We live each day with hearts full of our own desires, minds full of our own agendas and plans for our own self-promotion.  Forgive us, Lord.” (Prone to Wander)

We know that we prize many other things more highly than Christ: the approval of others, our ministry strategy and vision, being ‘right’, and our comfort or lifestyle, for example.  We know that we prize these things and tell ourselves we need to prize Christ more, yet our actions (and our words) demonstrate that we continue to value these above Christ.

We need to ‘lay all these things down’ and that comes through a daily effort of crying out to God for His work to turn our eyes back to Him.  It comes as well through turning to others to help us take this Gospel ‘downtown’ to our hearts.

“Holy Spirit, fill us with everlasting wonder that the gospel is true.  You kept your promise to send a Savior; help us to stop trying to rescue others and ourselves.  When we are tempted as [Adam and] Eve did, remind us of Christ, who kept all your laws for us, and fix our eyes on him.” (Prone to Wander)

Slowly we will see changes occur in the way we as a WT community talk with one another and listen well to one another.  We will actually lay down our ‘right-ness’ in how we see and do things and begin to work together in community to bring the Gospel to ourselves and to the unreached.

Filed under: Change & transition, Community, Repentance & faith | Leave a comment »

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