...Of Scary Questions

I've commented before about +Seth Godin , the American entrepeneurial guru who is challenging so many of the accepted norms of today: in marketing, in education, in work. I believe his ideas have great relevance in those areas, but also in the world of the 21st century church. If you are a person wrestling with the place of church today, and how we might do it differently to take our eyes of people and put them back on Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith, as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews calls Him.

Here is a link to some Seth's recent work on schools. Seth asks the brave question, 'What is the modern school for?' I'd really urge you to take 17 minutes and watch the TEDx Talk. If that gets you thinking, then go on to read some of the material on the site below the #youtube link. Dont be afraid to ask the question, "how is the way my school works going to help my children make a difference in their world, and not merely find a place in it?"

But here's the thing - and this is the question I'm wrestling with as a Pastor. Why not then ask the same questions about how we do church? Why not ask "what is the modern church for?" In the 21st century, are we serving people well by having a once-a-week performance led by a 'professor' of the faith - who rarely does it as well as a Tom Wright (you can follow his twitter account by clicking here) or a +Tim Keller - or might we be better with another model? A model that encourages us to think, not simply agree/ comply? (See this youtube clip for a great parody of church life under the current model).

For example, how about taking up one of Seth's ideas in the TEDx Talk, giving people the link to a high quality sermon or talk on a subject they are interested in, for them to watch during the week, and then inviting them on a Sunday morning to come and worship, and then break into groups with coffee to discuss what they watched, and to ask the questions together of what the talk raised for them? Note: not pre-prepared questions! That's just another way of setting boundaries of compliance.

What would the role of the Pastor be in that situation? Because she could not help every discussion group, wouldn't her importance on a Sunday fade? And be replaced by how she coached the discussion facilitators during the week? Would she cope with that loss of apparent significance? Would the congregation value the coaching role? Heck, would a congregation even come to such an event?

Perhaps I should try this. Because I want people to fulfil the words of the prophet Joel and dream dreams, and see visions. I want to #stopstealingdreams.

Is anyone with me? (And as a side point for my own reflection, is that even relevant?)

... Of Failed Apps, and other missed opportunities

An open letter to a Service Company (with thanks to +Seth Godin for his insightful comments on creative thinking)

"Dear CEO of a major service company I deal with.

Your company sent me an excited email yesterday.Did I want to keep track of my usage of your service, so that I can keep on top of the costs of that service? If so, then I could download your brand new 'App' (for the uninitiated, that is short for 'Application for a mobile internet-connected device, like a smart-phone'. For those who don't understand that sentence, this entire post may effectively be in Swahili)

Always one to want to keep a lid on costs, I signed up for the service and downloaded this free app.

Then I opened the app on my phone. Here is the message I received, right off the bat:

"A ... server request has failed, our App development team will look into the issue. Please try again at a later time."

No, dear CEO of the service company, I wont be trying again at a later time. I have tried four times for three days now. You told me this is an excellent product that would enhance my appreciation of your service. You have done the worst thing imaginable in service terms: told me I will benefit from something you have made just for me - something I didn't know before-hand that I wanted, but now do - only to let me down at the very first hurdle.

Dear company: never create a market niche that you immediately and completely fail to fill. It makes me feel disappointed, and you look very foolish. Instead, test your product, at least a bit. I don't mind if there are some teething issues: I get that new ideas can sometimes take time to perfect. But if the entire thing is a 'fail' from the beginning, that, dear sir, is a fail of epic proportions."

Of Leadership

Leadership requires a servant-heart, vision, commitment, and sacrifice.

Leadership builds bridges, not walls - even where the wall could be justified.

Leadership looks to educate, not dominate.

Leadership looks to connect: people with the leader, and people with each other.

Leadership is not about a person's position, but her disposition.

Leadership looks to take people on a journey toward a common cause.

Leadership empowers and inspires.

Leadership focuses on solutions, not problems.

Leadership celebrates character more than giftedness.

Nothing radical or new: +Seth Godin has been putting these and similar lists out for some time. Yet how rarely do we see these qualities in those who call themselves leaders. Perhaps that's why "managers" are a dime a dozen, but "leaders" are one in a thousand.

A final thought: since leadership is so rare, why do so many organisations dismiss potential leaders because they are too young, or too old, or women, or too ethnically different?

...Of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll (who's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)  was a gifted author, who wrote "Jabberwocky", "The Hunting of the Snark", and - most famously - the two "Alice" books: "Adventures in Wonderland", and "Through the Looking Glass". These explore life through the 'nonsense' genre - so called, because the actual stories appear to make little sense.

I love the 'nonsense' genre, and extreme comedy for that reason: by making little literal sense, 'Alice' and works like them free us from the constraints of the Modernist mind. We are given permission to explore the great 'What If's' of life: what if I were a king? A princess? An astronaut? A pirate?

What if I could live forever?

What if anything I tried always succeeded?

What if there is a God who is truly interested in me?

What if...?  I love that question. I love to read thinkers who break the molds of constraint we put on ourselves: Lewis Carroll; Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/); Andy Stanley (http://yourmove.is/); Jesus of Nazareth.

So to the free thinkers who encourage us to become more than we ever thought possible: this blog is dedicated to you.