In my previous post I started a series of reflections on my church community, especially with regard to our evening service at Wellspring, called Resonate.
This is my second post in the series.
As a church body gets bigger, certain things are obviously going to change. It gets more difficult, at a leadership level, to enquire and address the needs of the individual churchgoer (be they Christian, or visiting), and at the other end of the spectrum, as that individual, it gets more difficult to get to know the church leaders and other members of the community that you call your local church.
Where your church used all go out and enjoy a meal together, at one or two different locations, instead there are groups that regularly meet and hang out after church together. Where feedback on the music style or choice of songs used to be simpler because everyone knew at least one of the musicians, now it's up to the leaders of music teams to be perceptive and seek out that feedback from the congregation.
The way we experience community shifts as a church grows.
I'm not saying that growth is bad, on the contrary, a growing church community can very often be a reflection of God's blessing during that season and the work that God is doing through those that are being faithful to the word and serving the church. But with that growth comes challenges. Pastoral, stylistic, financial and stewardship, preaching, training and leadership challenges. These and more are all things that Wellspring currently faces.
And we know that in order to function as a church community we need to do more than set out more seats...
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leadership. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Some thoughts on engaging my generation.
My generation is highly visual.
1. We use our eyes as our dominant sense, as our ears tend to be full of iPod.
2. For the same reason, our eyes are all the more important for communication, be it with Internet chat, or seeing a friend or acquaintance in the street.
My generation is also over stimulated.
1. Video games and Cinema experience are designed to engage many senses, and technology is growing in this area.
2. I read somewhere recently that young people tend to watch TV and use the internet at the same time. This is now the norm.
3. In order to catch our full attention, much entertainment or information must have that Cinema experience.
4. Making the effort to sit down and read a book has become much more difficult in my life time, as the internet has grown. This, I would argue, is because the internet provides the opportunity for a 'deeper' engagement through video/audio and graphical/text based information all at once.
Some questions:
1. What does this mean for the preacher? Does he adapt these growing mediums? Or does he provide an alternative to the trend?
2. What does this mean for the worker charged with Pastoral care? Must something change to allow proper relationships to develop?
3. What does this mean for leaders of praise and worship in our church? (recognising that this is broader than music, I in fact am intending to ask this more as a focus on singing praises to God)
4. What does this mean for the evangelist? What mediums should they be using to spread the good news?
5. How can we encourage our young people* to spend the time in the Bible, with full attention?
6. How can we encourage our young people* to spend time in prayer, with a proper focus on God?
*yes, I am 'young people', and I struggle with these.
1. We use our eyes as our dominant sense, as our ears tend to be full of iPod.
2. For the same reason, our eyes are all the more important for communication, be it with Internet chat, or seeing a friend or acquaintance in the street.
My generation is also over stimulated.
1. Video games and Cinema experience are designed to engage many senses, and technology is growing in this area.
2. I read somewhere recently that young people tend to watch TV and use the internet at the same time. This is now the norm.
3. In order to catch our full attention, much entertainment or information must have that Cinema experience.
4. Making the effort to sit down and read a book has become much more difficult in my life time, as the internet has grown. This, I would argue, is because the internet provides the opportunity for a 'deeper' engagement through video/audio and graphical/text based information all at once.
Some questions:
1. What does this mean for the preacher? Does he adapt these growing mediums? Or does he provide an alternative to the trend?
2. What does this mean for the worker charged with Pastoral care? Must something change to allow proper relationships to develop?
3. What does this mean for leaders of praise and worship in our church? (recognising that this is broader than music, I in fact am intending to ask this more as a focus on singing praises to God)
4. What does this mean for the evangelist? What mediums should they be using to spread the good news?
5. How can we encourage our young people* to spend the time in the Bible, with full attention?
6. How can we encourage our young people* to spend time in prayer, with a proper focus on God?
*yes, I am 'young people', and I struggle with these.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Completion?
Well I've blogged about my lists, and I've blogged about my need for direction, now I'm going to blog about getting things done.. or more accurately, not getting things done.
Tim from my church shared something with me when we were discussing leadership and leading groups, to help me lead a group in moving forward with goals. It's called 'The Experiential Learning Theory' and the basic idea is that we learn by Experiencing something, Reflecting on that experience, Theorising about the Experience, and then Applying that Theorising, which then becomes another experience.
I've just done a botch job of explaining it, there is better explanations here.
The secondary part of the theory that I found particularly helpful, was that people tend to excel in one of these four areas, as Activists, Reflectors, Pragmatists, and Theorisers. None of these groups are mutually exclusive, as the theory dictates we need all in order to learn.
Within a group working together, there tends to be a mix of these, and there is a tension between them. As the leader of the group, it would be my job to ensure we didn't get stuck in one area, but let the cycle continue.
I tend to gravitate toward the area of being a Theoriser. And will sometimes need the assistance of a Pragmatist or and Activist in order to achieve something, otherwise I tend to be happy to remain in my theory land. But sometimes the theory is just so exciting, you have to try it out, give it a whirl.
Tim from my church shared something with me when we were discussing leadership and leading groups, to help me lead a group in moving forward with goals. It's called 'The Experiential Learning Theory' and the basic idea is that we learn by Experiencing something, Reflecting on that experience, Theorising about the Experience, and then Applying that Theorising, which then becomes another experience.
I've just done a botch job of explaining it, there is better explanations here.
The secondary part of the theory that I found particularly helpful, was that people tend to excel in one of these four areas, as Activists, Reflectors, Pragmatists, and Theorisers. None of these groups are mutually exclusive, as the theory dictates we need all in order to learn.
Within a group working together, there tends to be a mix of these, and there is a tension between them. As the leader of the group, it would be my job to ensure we didn't get stuck in one area, but let the cycle continue.
I tend to gravitate toward the area of being a Theoriser. And will sometimes need the assistance of a Pragmatist or and Activist in order to achieve something, otherwise I tend to be happy to remain in my theory land. But sometimes the theory is just so exciting, you have to try it out, give it a whirl.
Small Groups II
Our system at Wellspring is not without flaws, and in its initial form, was difficult to operate in.
One casualty was the Live Music Missional Team.
This was my team.
Where the system failed was in community. The focus was very external, the object, to reach people with the Gospel. The method, to go out and be community. People were invited to join missional teams where they felt they shared a common interest, and engage with the team's general direction
The idea was sound, the execution, not so sound. We may have wanted to be community, but in fact had never fostered a growth of community before setting out. We lacked a lot of direction, and were not sure of the way forward.
This, at least in the Music team, is in large part my fault, and a difficult lesson to learn.
I am grateful for the recent refining of our small groups. It allowed for the pruning of some of our old ideas and the introduction of new ideas to include and encourage the natural desire of some of the quiet leaders of our service. The result is a healthy and growing interest in joining small groups, studying with one another in community, where we can invite others in. The live music team can still have life, but to be successful, it's basis needs to be in Christ, community with Christ, community with one another, and then the extension into the community large.
One casualty was the Live Music Missional Team.
This was my team.
Where the system failed was in community. The focus was very external, the object, to reach people with the Gospel. The method, to go out and be community. People were invited to join missional teams where they felt they shared a common interest, and engage with the team's general direction
The idea was sound, the execution, not so sound. We may have wanted to be community, but in fact had never fostered a growth of community before setting out. We lacked a lot of direction, and were not sure of the way forward.
This, at least in the Music team, is in large part my fault, and a difficult lesson to learn.
I am grateful for the recent refining of our small groups. It allowed for the pruning of some of our old ideas and the introduction of new ideas to include and encourage the natural desire of some of the quiet leaders of our service. The result is a healthy and growing interest in joining small groups, studying with one another in community, where we can invite others in. The live music team can still have life, but to be successful, it's basis needs to be in Christ, community with Christ, community with one another, and then the extension into the community large.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Direction
I have previously blogged on my love of Lists.
I have similar feelings about Direction.
I am definitely a directional man. I love taking directions, and I love giving directions. Often I won't embark on a project unless it is clear to me the aims of the project and often also its expected outcomes, in other words, I like whatever I am doing to be driven with a direction in mind.
This includes baking cakes.
When working with others, I have a tendency to demand some form of direction be set, and often roles to be designated. I guess it's a mannerism of mine. I like to be organised in this manner.
Sometimes I like to 'see how things go', but often, and to be honest, I struggle with this idea.
I have similar feelings about Direction.
I am definitely a directional man. I love taking directions, and I love giving directions. Often I won't embark on a project unless it is clear to me the aims of the project and often also its expected outcomes, in other words, I like whatever I am doing to be driven with a direction in mind.
This includes baking cakes.
When working with others, I have a tendency to demand some form of direction be set, and often roles to be designated. I guess it's a mannerism of mine. I like to be organised in this manner.
Sometimes I like to 'see how things go', but often, and to be honest, I struggle with this idea.
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