Posts From The Field
Busy! So, my article this e-news is running posts from my Facebook and Twitter pages. Hope they help encourage the spirit and contribute to the mission. NOTE – You are invited to like and/or follow my and other Associates social media posts. Blessings to you!
Mark Tidsworth, President, PLA
That angst you and your congregation are experiencing as church- as-we-have-known-it goes the way of all things...those are birth pains. Trust God during labor. We will forget the pain on the other side.
Just experienced privilege: Gathered with others to sing, listen, meditate, celebrate...all focused on this positive, life-giving vision of the humanity we can become, the kind of society God's transformational power can create...heard a preacher describe a better world, calling it the realm or kingdom of God. Now hoping I can participate this week with those people in that kind of movement. Just experienced privilege.
The best news I know of from the Christian Movement is that there is a higher identity marker than politics available to we human beings...one that's life-giving and optimistic about this world's trajectory. It's about the kingdom of God coming on earth like it is in heaven. So many yearn for this and are caught up in the flow of partnering God toward this future reality, with political affiliation becoming a minor identity marker. God's movement is so much bigger than political affiliation...so again, to those who are unfamiliar with the Christian faith or turned off by the mixing of religion and power, don't mistake the angry voices grieving loss of cultural privilege as speaking for a God who has really good news for we human beings.
When we let Jesus speak to politics...nobody's safe.
Really effective leaders use the word "We" when referring to their work and progress for more often than using the word "I."
The music below the noise
God's presence, peace, power...it's like music only you can hear when in a crowded place...like high quality ear buds that adjust the volume depending on your need to hear this music. And the music helps you realize the cares and concerns of this world don't control you, steal your joy, or otherwise tear you down. Joy, even in this crowded place.That's the music below the noise.
Christians (including me), stop the gnat straining, competing and otherwise majoring on the minors. "What if all 224 million Christians in America were actually working together to shape a nation that looks like Jesus' vision of the kingdom of God, where poverty does not exist, where people practice justice, where love of neighbor is universally practiced?"
-Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray In A World Of Black And White
What's it look like when God lifts a person up out of racial prejudice?
"But God has just shown me that no race is better than any other."
Thanks Apostle Peter, Acts 10:28, Holy Bible, The Message Version.
All these experiences and examples highlight the issue of missional capacity. Pastors and laity alike yearn to participate in God’s world reclamation project (KOG), yet they experience the pinch of institutional maintenance and missional engagement. Many of us at this point in history want to channel the voice of Moses to Pharaoh, “Set Our People Free!” There are many church activities which are nice and maybe even helpful, but largely prevent clergy and laity alike from engaging the world around them. More activity in the church building does not equal faithfulness to our calling, or even “success” as a church. Instead it’s time to grow laser-focused on our mission – to participate with God’s transformation of this world. To do so, it’s time to bless this missional impulse rising in God’s people. It’s time to set God’s people free. May we relinquish control, following the Holy Spirit inspired missional impulse to renew planet earth.
Want to lead Adaptive Change in your church, organization, team, group, school, etc.? First, proactively cultivate trust, else your call toward change will be a noisy gong and a clanging symbol, leading to dissonance rather than resonant movement. Effective leaders are willing to do the work.
Mark Tidsworth, President, PLA
That angst you and your congregation are experiencing as church- as-we-have-known-it goes the way of all things...those are birth pains. Trust God during labor. We will forget the pain on the other side.
Just experienced privilege: Gathered with others to sing, listen, meditate, celebrate...all focused on this positive, life-giving vision of the humanity we can become, the kind of society God's transformational power can create...heard a preacher describe a better world, calling it the realm or kingdom of God. Now hoping I can participate this week with those people in that kind of movement. Just experienced privilege.
The best news I know of from the Christian Movement is that there is a higher identity marker than politics available to we human beings...one that's life-giving and optimistic about this world's trajectory. It's about the kingdom of God coming on earth like it is in heaven. So many yearn for this and are caught up in the flow of partnering God toward this future reality, with political affiliation becoming a minor identity marker. God's movement is so much bigger than political affiliation...so again, to those who are unfamiliar with the Christian faith or turned off by the mixing of religion and power, don't mistake the angry voices grieving loss of cultural privilege as speaking for a God who has really good news for we human beings.
When we let Jesus speak to politics...nobody's safe.
Really effective leaders use the word "We" when referring to their work and progress for more often than using the word "I."
The music below the noise
God's presence, peace, power...it's like music only you can hear when in a crowded place...like high quality ear buds that adjust the volume depending on your need to hear this music. And the music helps you realize the cares and concerns of this world don't control you, steal your joy, or otherwise tear you down. Joy, even in this crowded place.That's the music below the noise.
Christians (including me), stop the gnat straining, competing and otherwise majoring on the minors. "What if all 224 million Christians in America were actually working together to shape a nation that looks like Jesus' vision of the kingdom of God, where poverty does not exist, where people practice justice, where love of neighbor is universally practiced?"
-Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray In A World Of Black And White
What's it look like when God lifts a person up out of racial prejudice?
"But God has just shown me that no race is better than any other."
Thanks Apostle Peter, Acts 10:28, Holy Bible, The Message Version.
All these experiences and examples highlight the issue of missional capacity. Pastors and laity alike yearn to participate in God’s world reclamation project (KOG), yet they experience the pinch of institutional maintenance and missional engagement. Many of us at this point in history want to channel the voice of Moses to Pharaoh, “Set Our People Free!” There are many church activities which are nice and maybe even helpful, but largely prevent clergy and laity alike from engaging the world around them. More activity in the church building does not equal faithfulness to our calling, or even “success” as a church. Instead it’s time to grow laser-focused on our mission – to participate with God’s transformation of this world. To do so, it’s time to bless this missional impulse rising in God’s people. It’s time to set God’s people free. May we relinquish control, following the Holy Spirit inspired missional impulse to renew planet earth.
Want to lead Adaptive Change in your church, organization, team, group, school, etc.? First, proactively cultivate trust, else your call toward change will be a noisy gong and a clanging symbol, leading to dissonance rather than resonant movement. Effective leaders are willing to do the work.