Silos, Politics and Turf Wars

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars? 

You have an innovative outreach idea that has the potential to make a huge impact. You begin to try to implement this wonderful NEW outreach idea knowing it could help build a bridge between ministries to move seekers along on their spiritual journey's. As you move forward, you discover that established ministries within your church are not interested in your bridge? As a matter of fact you watch, as they dig a mote around their turf, call others into their castle and raise the drawbridge around their kingdoms.

Sound familiar? Disillusioning right? Sad? Kind of takes the wind out of your outreach sails aye?

You cast vision and try to build a bridge to the Christians (before you can begin building a bridge to the seekers) You try to dialog, but you get stiff armed, no one answers your e-mails or returns your phone calls. When you do finally connect, you hear comments like: That is not how we do things, we have always done it this way, if we promote this, won't people leave our ministry and attend yours, if we cooperate/partner with you, we'll be out of business, why are you competing with us?

Amazing how we can get so invested in our own kingdoms, that we can totally miss investing in God's kingdom and His mission.

I realize that I can be just as guilty as anyone else. If I am not careful , my focus can shift from God's agenda to my own agenda. It's very subtle, you answer God's call, you step up to lead, you raise up a team, you give sacrificially and spend hours investing in your mission, your ministry and your people. It's easy to start thinking it's yours, but it's not! It all belongs to God, and I need to remember to hold things with open hands offering it all back to Him. It's His kingdom not ours and hopefully change will drive us to our knees and force us to see the bigger picture.

We have the potential to powerfully impact lives with the Gospel if we call an end to turf wars, tear down the silos and let down our drawbridges. People experience God's kingdom when we tear down the walls and serve together, for His kingdom and glory, not our own. Let's remember who bought and paid for the castle, it all belongs to the King of Kings!

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

John 17:20-22 Jesus Prays for All Believers “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:

Would you like to learn more about how to combat Silos and Turf Wars? Patrick Lencioni is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, consultant, founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to helping organizations become healthy. Lencioni’s ideas around leadership, teamwork and employee engagement have impacted organizations around the globe. I heard Patrick give a great talk a few years ago at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, called Silos, Politics and Turf Wars and it gave me great insights into how to gather people around a common mission.  http://www.tablegroup.com/

Failure to Launch

I was talked into surrendering my Blackberry last year, and made the leap of faith, with much fear and trembling, to an IPhone. I still have my training wheels on for sure, but I am beginning to get over the trauma and learning curve and have begun to feel pretty pleased with myself.

A few months ago I discovered a new (free) game app for my IPhone called, Sheep Launcher. "Now here's something that will charge my batteries", I thought! The object is to launch a sheep as far into the sky as possible, without letting him fall to the earth and splatter. (I have successfully launched my sheep into outer-space and earned the rank space cowgirl) Silly game? You bet!

But It made me think, "Ohhhh if only mobilizing the church to share their faith could be this easy"! Why don't we sheep launch? Why do we prefer to stay in and get fat? How is it we so easily forget how precious the lost ones are to our Heavenly Father? Why is there a failure to launch?

Matthew 18: 12-14 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Jesus loves lost sheep.

Spiritual Questions?

Losing My Religion: If I'm So Done With Faith, Why Do I Still Feel Its loss?

That was the Huffington Post headline that met me head on when I opened my email yesterday morning. It got my attention because I think it's a question that many people ask themselves today. The article was written by Margaret Wheeler Johnson, the Women's Editor for Huffington Post. In it she chronicles her journey of faith, her departure from religion, her life without faith, and the aching loss she still feels despite her negative experiences with religion.

A few things struck me profoundly:

• It reminded me of my own faith story and my journey from religion to relationship.

• It gave me hope because she was still wresting with and questioning that loss.

• It drove home how few safe places there are in the world today, even within Christian community, to discuss questions about faith and life.

• The depth of the anger, pain and disillusionment expressed by those who left comments was overwhelming.

• Christians who commented tended to argue/pick fights, and in so doing, missed opportunities to extend compassion, to listen, and to step in the gap to apologize (acting as agents of healing)

•  It gave me a glimpse into the hearts and minds of those who live life apart from God and I began to grieve deeply and pray specifically for our communities, our nation, our faith communities and our world. (I was convicted that I don't pray for the lost enough)

I did leave a comment: “I believe there is a God sized hole in each human heart, that only He can fill. Religion and tradition will always disappoint and disillusion. A relationsh­ip with the living God is all that can satisfy and make us complete. He designed us with that yearning so we would seek after Him, though it seems, He is already seeking after and pursuing us...”

And I did receive many sad, angry and hate-filled responses from folks interacting on her page. I won't bother posting all of them but here are two in particular:

"Nice pretty words, there, but meaningless."

"It's kind of like missing the Parent that beat & abused you, and who you still hate even though they're now dead.... It's wishing things had been different, wishing you had, had a parent like the great parents one of your friends had. Even if you still miss your hateful parent, you still long for what could have been."

I believe that people are still searching hard to find purpose and meaning for their lives, they wish their experiences with church and religion had been different and they are still longing for what could have been. How will we, the church, respond to these kinds of opportunities? Will we get it right? Are we willing to listen as they tell their pain-filled stories? Can we listen without judging? Will we validate their pain or try to minimize it? Where will they go to ask spiritual questions? If they come to you, will you respond with love?

Lord help us, Your church, to be that safe and loving space for people to come, just as they are, with their spiritual questions. Help us to love them with your strength, mercy, wisdom and compassion, so that they might encounter You.


Link to view the full article
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-wheeler-johnson/atheism-religion-doubt-faith_b_1172849.html?ref=tw

Innovative Leaders and the Church

My home church, Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA. has a wonderfully gifted and creative team who work hard to put together our worship services each week.This year during our Christmas eve services, pastors and staff came up with some very innovative ideas that helped them connect with and engage culture. Follow the link to view their IBand performance http://vimeo.com/34207709  I brought several groups of unchurched visitors to services and they all immediately connected with their amazing use of technology. One of those visitor was a ten year old girl from China. It was the first time she had ever experienced Christmas and she speaks little to no English. When she watched the GC IBand, she came out of her seat and began to jump up and down, her tense little expression was replaced by a huge smile. Innovation helped a ten year old who was 1000s of miles away from home and all that was familiar to her, feel welcome, at ease and connected. 

Their work inspired me to reflect on innovation. Innovation helps the church contextualize and stay relevant to culture. The only thing consistent in life is change, someone said, and we must be willing to change to stay effective in meeting the needs of an ever changing world. I love that the leadership is willing to risk and to reinvent how we do things.

But we are not always willing to change how we do things, we see things that are not working well and we fear rocking the boat, we fear change. If you are an innovative leader within a business, church or ministry, you have probably experienced the tension of trying to live with the "We don't do it that way here" culture and mentality. That short sentence can effectively kill creativity and innovation within your leadership team and the result is that the organization will stay where it is and become irrelevant and ineffective. You may also hear, we have a model for doing ______, which is a polite way of saying the same thing. Do we really believe that one ministry model fits all people? Move on friends because organizations who are unwilling to change are looking for managers not leaders, they are in the process of dieing a slow and painful death. Innovators do not stay if they are not allowed the freedom to use their creativity, because they will suffocate.

So if you are an innovative leader or entrepreneur  (like me) wherever you serve, you will most likely live in tension with your current reality, and how we imagine  things could change for the better. Expect it, this is normal, we are never satisfied, because when we reach our destination, we immediately see a new horizon. This is what lights our wick, so to speak.

As you begin to cast vision for change, you will most likely feel like a fish trying to swim upstream.You will encounter countless individuals who will tell you it won't work, that you are being too emotional (often directed at us girls),  to stop making waves, and to know your place.(remember Martin Luther??)  You will try to go along with the status quo but the Holy Spirit will not let you sit still with the idea He has given you, so you step out in faith often feeling alone and isolated. Rejoice friends, this is a GREAT sign that you are exactly where you are suppose to be...You are being obedient, you must be willing to go it alone (just you and God). As you begin to dream, create and implement, you discover this is your sweet spot and exactly who God created you to be. The Lord begins to bring people and the resources around you that will be needed to accomplish His mission and you realize that you were born for such a time as this! It's all worth it friends, find leaders who will give you the ball and let you run with it, they are not threatened when you use your voice, or dream your God given dreams... pray, create, sing, dance, love, write, teach, organize. Our God is a creative God and I believe He is cheering us on!

Favorite quotes on entrepreneurs and innovation:

Len Schlesinger

“Large organizations don't generally want entrepreneurs, unless they fly in formation.”

"entrepreneurship has the power to provide the future we desire to have.”


Seth Godin

“If religion comprises rules you follow, faith is demonstrated by the actions you take.”

“Every revolution destroys what was before in order to bring in what is new."

“Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is.”

“Don’t try to please everyone. There are countless people who don’t want one, haven’t heard of one or actively hate it. So what?

“Go ahead, do something impossible. “

“Ideas in secret die. They need light and air or they starve to death."

“If you could do tomorrow over again, would you?”


Brenda McNeil

“It takes courage to be a catalytic leader in your own Jerusalem. we have to face our own bigotry and ethnocentricity -