Recently I've been reminded that I am not a self-made man. In fact, nobody is a self-made person. Women and men have come before us and made great sacrifices to help us have what we have. When I look at my life I can point to dozens of men and women who God has used to shape me. There is nothing I can do to adequately express how thankful I am for those who loved me, mentored me, sacrificed for me, listened to me, and took risks for me. The thing is, all of us are called to live this way towards others. This is particularly true for followers of Jesus. Every adult who has a church home is charged with the ministry of children and youth. Here is a video I recently made to help teach this principle. I got the concept from a book/movement called Sticky Faith.
Imagine what it would be like if every student who attends your church graduates high school knowing they have 5 adults from the church they can always rely on. How can you be 1 of the 5?
Showing posts with label ecclesiology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ecclesiology. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
On Community
I've been reading a book called The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace by Scott Peck. Here is some really helpful info I found regarding community.
There are four stages of community:
1. Pseudocommunity - People act like they have everything in common and avoid conflict
2. Chaos - Occurs when well intended "solutions" are not realized.
3. Emptiness - too complex to explain here
4. Community
In the chaos section Peck writes, "Since chaos is unpleasant, it is common for the members of a group in this stage to attack not only each other but also their leader. "We wouldn't be squabbling like this if we had effective leadership," they will say. "We deserve more direction than you've been giving us, Scotty." In some sense they are correct; their chaos is a natural respond to a relative lack of direction. The chaos could easily be circumvented by an authoritarian leader - a dictator - who assigned them specific tasks and goals. The only problem is that a group led by a dictator is not, and never can be, a community. Community and totalitarianism are incompatible" (p. 92).
1. Pseudocommunity - People act like they have everything in common and avoid conflict
2. Chaos - Occurs when well intended "solutions" are not realized.
3. Emptiness - too complex to explain here
4. Community
In the chaos section Peck writes, "Since chaos is unpleasant, it is common for the members of a group in this stage to attack not only each other but also their leader. "We wouldn't be squabbling like this if we had effective leadership," they will say. "We deserve more direction than you've been giving us, Scotty." In some sense they are correct; their chaos is a natural respond to a relative lack of direction. The chaos could easily be circumvented by an authoritarian leader - a dictator - who assigned them specific tasks and goals. The only problem is that a group led by a dictator is not, and never can be, a community. Community and totalitarianism are incompatible" (p. 92).
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