• 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!

Feedback needed

Posted on September 2, 2010 by wtdavid

Somehow that matrix didn’t copy real well to Tuesday’s post, so I’ve re-printed it below in a better format.

Comments by both Ed and David D got me thinking about another matrix which might help us in “re-ordering” our priorities.  This matrix is found in James Lawrence’s work, Growing Leaders, and underlines, for one, the need for feedback from others.

“Feedback,” as Lawrence writes, “helps open up the blind self.  In every context, inviting feedback from those who know us, love us and want the best for us helps combat delusion and develop character, but we’ll often need to invite it.”  Such feedback would be valuable in honestly assessing how to better “use” or prioritize our time.

Filed under: Community, Reflection | 5 Comments »

Finding the “time”

Posted on August 31, 2010 by wtdavid

It’s pretty easy to say that we need to take more time to think and reflect.  The struggle, however, is to find the “time” in our rather hectic schedules. If it’s more about “giving time” than the “amount of time”, then we are really asking the question of priorities. 

One author diagrammed our “time” priority situation as the following:

  Urgent Not Urgent
Important I

Activities:

Crises

Pressing problems

Deadline-driven projects

 II

Activities:

Relationship building

Recognizing  new opportunities

Planning
Not Important III

Activities:

Interruptions, some calls

Some e-mail, some meetings

Pressing matters

 IV

Activities:

Trivia, busy work

Some e-mail, some calls

Time wasters

 

Two key factors that drive our time priorities are “urgent” and “important”. Something that is urgent requires attention now.  Something that is important contributes to our mission, our values, our objectives.  Most people (myself included) do not work in quadrant II thinking, and yet it is by taking time to engage in quadrant II thinking that we actually reflect more deeply about questions/issues that we know we should take time to consider (important).  Yet, we don’t because those questions/issues do not appear to need immediate attention (urgent).

The question we might want to ask is: “What one thing could I do in my personal and ministry life that, if I did it on a regular basis, would make a significant difference in my life and ministry?”  This reflection question is not “urgent”, but it is “important”, and would ultimately impact who I am and what I do.  We just need to figure out how to “give time” to this kind of thinking.

Filed under: Reflection | 6 Comments »

Am I Really Thinking?

Posted on August 30, 2010 by wtdavid

We’ve asked the question in some recent posts: “Am I really listening?”  However, I think it’s also worth asking the question about our capacity to really think, and to think theologically about a host of issues.

It’s a standard line to say that things move at a much faster pace these days. And yet it is true.  We used to get upset standing in line for more than 15 minutes. Now we wonder where the problem is when the webpage we’re trying to access doesn’t open up within 2 seconds.  In that context, we may be tempted to settle for expediency rather than depth of thought; to immediately download and try a new concept or idea without asking some harder questions.

The biblical model that comes quickly to mind of those who thought well, who thought deeply is that of the Bereans (Acts 17:10-15).  They are described as those who “received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so.”  Now here’s the thing that struck me.  Nowhere in the text does it give us a time frame for that process of “thinking”.  Rather, the emphasis is on a “grid” or a “framework” through which the Bereans ran all new ideas or concepts daily.  And that framework was the Scriptures.

Could we say that it’s not the amount of time that is to key, but giving time to think more deeply more theologically about ideas, issues and concepts?

Filed under: Community, Reflection | 4 Comments »

Going more “contextual”

Posted on August 26, 2010 by wtdavid

Going “contextual” can’t just be limited to the words one uses or hears.  Meaning and transformation is also conveyed through one’s life, actions and the frameworks that one uses to serve others.  This came home to me in a prophetic or transformational way recently at the house church/Bible study we attend.  Though I was part of the team that was at the origin of the current group, I had deliberately taken a more facilitative role, encouraging the others to assume leadership direction.

On the last meeting night before the summer break, the main leader announced that we should be praying about creating a second group in the fall.  I almost fell out of my chair.  This is what so many of us hope and pray for, that is, that a group catches the multiplicational spirit and actually moves to create other communities. 

I approached the leader right after the meeting and shared with him that I was willing to help in any way that I could in the launch of this new community.  Without even hesitating, he reminded me that I was too busy and my offer was a little unrealistic. Besides, he said, “What more could you do?  I just appreciate the fact that you’re around and I can talk through situations with you that come up in the group.” 

My pride certainly took a hit.  Who wouldn’t want to jump back in to working such a neat initiative?  But, the facilitative stance I had sought to take far outweighed my words, and had liberated this leader not only to move the group forward, but also to speak transformationally to my heart.

Filed under: Contextualization, Mentoring | Leave a comment »

Going “contextual”

Posted on August 25, 2010 by wtdavid

The YouTube clip from yesterday by James Choung raises a number of issues for us, but one in particular is that of contextualization. It’s a word we insert into numerous conversations in our work.  Yet, a complete definition is somewhat difficult to come by.  Paul Hiebert, in his work, Anthropological Insights for Missionaries, writes: “The gospel calls not only individuals but societies and cultures to change.  Contextualization must mean the communication of the gospel in ways the people understand, but that also challenge them individually and corporately to turn from their evil ways.” 

Going “contextual” in our work would mean that our sharing of the Gospel story, for example, is done in such a way that people can grasp and understand the message in their context, and that the message has a prophetic, transformational character or thrust. 

I really like that second element: the prophetic or transformational thrust.  But as I reflected on the clip from yesterday, I realized that I am not as enamored by that second element when it is “directed” towards me and my heart.  As the light of the Gospel is shown on my heart, it should reveal areas where further change is needed.  Perhaps, this is where going “contextual” is hard for me (and others) as it means a work not only in the hearts of others, but in my heart as well.  Am I grasping and understanding God’s message to me today through His Word?  And am I open to the transformational thrust being called for by that message?

Filed under: Contextualization, Sharing the Gospel story | Leave a comment »

Applied “Out of Context” Thinking

Posted on August 24, 2010 by wtdavid

I’ve done a good deal of reading the past few weeks, and one author I read mentioned the following YouTube clip.  As a preliminary introduction to the clip, he wrote: “The church has an amazing opportunity to become what God is hoping it will become. It’ll take the resculpting of our organizations and corporate culture, the incubation of new art forms, new languages and expressions, new symbols, flexible ways of being organized and led, and even a fuller explanation of what we know as the gospel.” (Underline mine)  I was intrigued, and so I watched.

I was struck by the fact that here was someone trying to apply “out of context thinking” to the very message we seek to contextualize and share.  Now you may not wholeheartedly agree with how the clip presents the Gospel story, but I would suggest we consider one bigger question: What could we learn from such a presentation that would aid or influence our sharing of the Gospel story?

Filed under: Innovation, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

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