• 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!

The ‘why’ behind what we are doing

Posted on March 27, 2014 by wtdavid

core_values_written_in_chalk_on_blackboar_450Every organization has a culture. In other words, every group of people teamed up to fulfill a common purpose creates a context within which they work. That context is shaped by the values or working principles which the group accepts as foundational to how they will live and work together.

World Team has a culture. World Team has a clear set of working principles or values.

Where problems arise is when the values we espouse are not the values by which we actually live. This can happen because past history exercises an undue influence. Or this can happen because we enjoy theological word jousting more than soul exercising discussion. Or this can happen because we’re just tired of trying.

To overcome these problems, it is important to rehearse often with one another what we hold as ‘self-evident truths’ that guide how we minister together.

So, here goes. As a World Team community, we centre our entire lives and work around one foundational value: the Gospel. The Gospel is so simple a child can understand it, but so rich and deep that we as adults can never plum its depths. The Gospel is first of all the message that we can do nothing to either merit or earn our salvation. It has all been done for us in Christ. From there, the Gospel ripples out to ‘touch’ every aspect and area of who we are as His child.

Let’s just look at one element which should characterize the WT community if the Gospel is truly our central and foundational value. As we work together, we should be thinking more about our co-worker, our teammate than ourselves. TJ Addington put it this way: our relationships, our work environment should be “life giving rather than life taking”. Rather than pulling out of others what can serve oneself, one will look for ways to build into the other person.

Wasn’t this Christ’s model, His value?  “For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

 

 

 

Filed under: Core Values, Gospel | 2 Comments »

Raising and releasing for me

Posted on July 17, 2013 by wtdavid

Recently, I asked a number of WT workers if they could share in less than three minutes how our core values are being worked out in their personal, team and ministry lives.  Last time you heard from Dan about Interdependence.

This week, Bryan, one of our workers in Asia, shares how he sees the core value of raising and releasing leaders worked out in his context.

 

Filed under: Core Values, Development, Leadership | Leave a comment »

Raising and releasing

Posted on July 15, 2013 by wtdavid

In a post last week, I described “developing” as providing opportunities and situations for others to grow and develop in their gifts and abilities; and that through those opportunities people would learn to grow themselves and help others do the same.leadership_kids_460x314

A working group I created to look at core values put it this way: “Christ was the first to develop and release leaders into the work of proclaiming His salvation to the ends of the earth, and the exhortation of Christ was that we would imitate His work in walking alongside people, developing them to release them to do the same, for the sake of His name and salvation to all people. WT seeks to honor God by doing this both through church planting among the nations as well as among our own community (Matthew 28:19-20).”

Two insights caught my attention. First, we are called to imitate His work, but it is ultimately Jesus who carries out the development process in the life of a disciple and of a leader. Our role is more of “raising” a disciple or leader by consistently pointing them back to Jesus, to learn from Him.

Second, in everything we do, in our ministry and in our life in the community, God desires that we create a context whereby others can grow in their commitment to Christ as a disciple or as a leader. We honor God by turning over, by releasing His ministry into the hands of others who we pray will do the same.

Filed under: Core Values, Development, Leadership | 4 Comments »

Developing and releasing

Posted on July 10, 2013 by wtdavid

Our current final core value is developing and releasing leaders.leaders bis

I think most of us end up focusing on the final part of this phrase: leaders. What about disciples? What about other workers? What about national partners? Aren’t we concerned about developing and releasing these people as well?

Perhaps the core value should be written: developing and releasing. If our core values are: “those values we hold which form the foundation on which we perform work and conduct ourselves,” then focusing on the action verbs of this core value might help us to understand the practical outworking of this value and the focus group(s).

“Developing” seems somewhat intuitively clear. It’s about providing opportunities and situations for others to grow and develop in their gifts and abilities. It’s about walking with them in this process and serving as an encourager, a mentor and a coach. It’s about time and face to face interaction. Our ultimate desire is that this person would learn to grow themselves and ultimately help others do the same.

“Releasing” is another story. If we were at all honest, we would say that we enjoy the developing part, but are not that enthralled by the releasing part. It signals a change to a current working relationship. It means we will give over responsibility to this person and no longer hold a role of authority in their life and development. Those of you who have children know the difficulty of this transition when your child leaves home to go to university or begin work on their own.

I guess this is why these words of Christ are having new meaning for me in these days: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” (John 17:18) Jesus actively “sends” us, or releases us, into the world. He certainly knows the struggle we face to “release”, but He abundantly provides the grace and the courage for us to be able to “send” others out.

Filed under: Core Values, Development | Leave a comment »

Silence as worship: a practical idea.

Posted on July 9, 2013 by wtdavid

Day aloneWhen I wrote about prayer and worship in one of my recent posts, Linda shared the following thoughts. I found them so helpful; I thought it would be worth passing them along to the larger community:

“I have resonated with your recent “Thoughts Along The Journey.” Your short writings have stimulated some of the very issues that have been tumbling around in my mind and heart lately as I seek to deepen my relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s. To think that we have complete access into the very throne room where our Lord resides; what an immense honor and privilege! I wanted to send along some ideas that have helped me personally as I come and “still” myself before the Lord. Most of the ideas come from the book, Alone With The Lord.

“A day alone with the Lord enables us to live with integrity in community.” Dietrich Bonheoffer

Silence and Solitude will become the anchor and central feature of your time alone with the Lord. In time you will learn that silence bears fruit; and in silence you will meet and hear Christ, and will attend to the inner witness of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God.

  • You need to find a quiet place to meet God where you will not be distracted or interrupted.
  • You need to avoid the temptation to interact with external interruptions, check your phone, text, or to read other materials.
  • You need to learn to be still even when it does not seem, at least immediately, to be worthwhile.
  • God is in the silence and He speaks in the silence. As you learn to be still you will cultivate the capacity to know and hear the One who loves you.
  • You need to intentionally quiet your heart and mind by gently turning from the noises around you, and the inner voices or “noises” in your heart; and to make a conscious and deliberate choice to be still before the Lord, your Maker and Redeemer.
  • You will need your Bible and a notebook to journal your thoughts as God speaks to you. For some it may be helpful to journal some of your prayers, so that you keep your mind from distraction.

Quite often when we intentionally set aside time to spend before the Lord, the enemy will barrage our mind with things we need to do or other disruptive thoughts. Keep a section in your journal in which you write these thoughts down. Do not engage them. After you have written them down, simply return to your time of quiet before the Lord.”

Filed under: Core Values, Prayer, Worship | 2 Comments »

Crossing over silos

Posted on July 8, 2013 by wtdavid

I shared earlier this week that interdependence is about a “desire to live out God’s design for the Church from within our organization by working together with fellow believers from all nations, within World Team, as well as with other like-minded organizations; so that we might glorify God in unity, grow in the likeness of Christ as individuals, as well as maximize efforts to bring the Gospel to all peoples. It’s about all believers everywhere being united together and needing each other.”silos

Several of you commented about the notion of how far interdependence can extend.  Could small steps be taken to encourage us to move towards that kind of extending interdependence by crossing over our existing silos (teams, fields, areas and Support Centres)?

Let’s try a few examples:

  • Workers in a creative access country have a need for professional business expertise. Their current oversight is provided by a good leader with extensive experience in CP.  However, he does not have business insight.  Another worker/leader from another region or another volunteer has the needed expertise.  What creative ways could provide the needed counsel and help for these workers?
  • An emerging CP team is struggling to further local ministry.  Their need is for someone to facilitate and direct their team towards greater synergy and fruit.  Such a person is working in another team, in another country.  How could such a person be challenged to serve this team and demonstrate interdependence?
  • One of our Support Centres has a unique opportunity to participate in several seminars over a weekend.  Two gifted field mobilizers would be on HA at that time.  How could these field workers help their Support Centre?

Now, I know there are lots of reasons why some of these situations might not work.  We need to continue to challenge one another to consider ways to demonstrate this interdependence beyond our natural silos or boundaries.

If the truth be told, one of those scenarios actually came to fruition and was a blessing to all involved.  Interdependence trumped independence and its extent went beyond just team and field: “It’s about all believers everywhere being united together and needing each other.”

 

Filed under: Core Values, Interdependence | 2 Comments »

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