The Lost Art of Mentoring

It's the weekend, and I've been buried all week in my research of primary sources into the Latter Rain movement of the 1940's and 1950's. Time to lighten up! The following is offered, tongue firmly planted in cheek. Comments from Performance Evaluations:

1. I would not allow this employee to breed.
2. Not all of her dogs are barking.
3. Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.
4. This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
5. Sharp as a marble.
6. Got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn't watching.
7. A room temperature IQ.
8. Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it together.
9. A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on.
10. One-celled organisms outscore him in IQ tests.
11. Gates are down, lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming.
12. He's so dense, light bends around him.
13. If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week.
14. One neuron short of a synapse.
15. Some drink from the fountain of knowledge, he only gargled.
16. Wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
17. Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
18. His staff would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.

Who's Responsible?

I met a guy, a few years ago, who made a comment that sounded like he thought that he was personally responsible for the spiritual conduct of each and every person under his leadership. I was so shocked at this, that I had to ask him again, just to be sure that I'd heard him correctly. Apparently he meant exactly what it sounded like, and he used this verse in Hebrews as his basis for it:

"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. ." (Hebrews 13:17 NASB)

Some key words to unpack here: obey, leaders, submit, keep watch, account.

1. Obey is the greek word Peitho, which can mean "to persuade, to be persuaded by, to co-operate with, to have confidence in, to trust, and to obey".
   
   
2. Hegeomai, from which we get the word "leader", can be translated as "to have authority over" or "to go before, to lead". When coupled with the word Peitho, it's a realistic interpretation to suggest that the writer of Hebrews (some think it must be St. Paul, but the letter itself doesn't tell us) was instructing the people to trust, or co-operate with those who "go before" them. Sounds less like a hierarchical chain of command, and more like giving respect to those who have been walking with Jesus a bit longer. Or it could mean what others have suggested: being under the authority of those God has placed above you. Perhaps digging through the rest of the key words can put this in a larger context.
   
   
3. Hupeiko -- submit -- can mean one of two things: to yield to authority, or to resist no longer as combatants. So far, we could interpret this verse to say "yield authority to the leaders above you", or "have confidence in those who have gone before, and stop fighting (being combative)".
   
   
4. "Keep watch" is a phrase that comes from the Greek Agrupneo, which can be translated "to be sleepless, to watch" or "to be circumspect, attentive". Either way you want to translate this one, it speaks of "leaders" as those who are genuinely committed to the spiritual health of those around them.
   
   
5. "Give an account" -- Apodidomi -- can mean "to deliver (sell)", but I don't think leaders sell us back to God; next possibility? It can also mean "to give back, restore", but I'd be on shaky ground if I suggested that anybody is going to "give back" people to God; last time I checked, Jesus is the only Mediator between God and humanity. It can also mean "to pay off a debt", hmmm.. that doesn't fit the context either. Finally, it can simply be tranlated as it usually has been: "render (give) an account".

So we could look at this verse and apply it like this: "Have confidence in those who have gone before, and stop fighting (being combative) with them, because they are there to be attentive to your spiritual growth, and they answer to God for how they lead. So don't make it tough on them, because then nobody wins."

Or, as this verse has been translated in "The Message":

"Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?"

The bottom line is that this verse cannot be translated to mean that leaders are accountable for how people think, believe, or behave. Leaders are accountable for the manner in which they lead, not for how people follow.

So, Leaders, relax. You're only responsible for how you lead -- oh, but let's not forget James 3:1 (NLT): "Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness...."

That's a post for another day.

A Higher Calling

I was reading through the updated bio of Brother Maynard this morning, and the following comment struck me as being especially significant:

" I still consider leadership of a small group to be among the highest possible callings in the local church."

Many times, I have thought that the church would be radically different if we had more people who felt called to lead small groups, instead of people who feel called to do big meetings.

As a worship leader and musician, I enjoy the big stage. There's something very powerful about being in a large gathering of worshippers, especially those times where it's a multi-church gathering. The first time I played in a "March For Jesus" band, in Victoria BC (1993), I was overwhelmed to see literally thousands of people marching onto the grounds at the Parliament buildings, worshipping God.

And when I've had the opportunity to play at youth conferences, I've always been moved by the sight of so many of the emerging generations who are hungry to meet with God.

But at the same time, I really, really love leading worship in a home group. Most of the home groups we've led have been with youth and young adults, and "small" was a relative term. We regularly crammed 40+ teenagers and university students into our living room in Winnipeg and still called it a small group -- mainly because the room was small and we had to move our chairs out every week so there was enough room on the floor (the couch was hotly coveted and may have contributed to people arriving early to hang out).

The home groups were great because we had the capacity to really connect with others, as the group would mingle and flow from the living room to the kitchen to the front porch, and because there weren't the usual church constraints that would force us to "finish on time" or keep things on a schedule. Praying for each other was an awesome time of seeing pastoral care and spiritual gifts being used by many people, some of whom discovered their gifts for the first time in these settings.

And I shouldn't forget the community that is developed through sharing meals together. We have always designated one meeting per month to be "party night", where everyone brought food to share with the rest of the group, and these times usually morphed into extended worship and prayer times as well. We usually didn't tell people what to bring, until that infamous night where over 40 people showed up bringing one of two items: buns or ice cream. It became one of our favourite home group legends -- "hey, remember that night..." These gatherings evolved into the "Worship Jam" style that we have pursued since the mid-90's.

I think Brother Maynard has it right -- home group leadership, and home group worship leadership, is the highest calling. It's also the place where I've seen the greatest blessing, the greatest spiritual growth, and the greatest community. Not to forget the greatest place for sharing stories, and writing new ones together.

Praying Like St. Paul

A fascinating pattern emerges if you spend some time studying the prayers of St. Paul throughout the epistles. Paul often refers to the fact that he regularly prays for the people he's writing to, but there are some specific instances where Paul also tells us what he's praying about.

Paul prayed:

in Ephesians 1:15-23: for a Spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Him better (1:17), eyes enlightened to see the hope He calls us to (1:18) and to know His power (1:19) (I recently blogged a longer post on this passage here) in Ephesians 3:14-21: that they would be strengthened by the Spirit (3:16), so that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith (3:17), and that they would have power to grasp the immensity of God's love for them (3:18)

• in Philippian 1:3-11: that their love would abound more and more (1:9), for discernment (1:10), so they would be filled with the fruit of righteousness (1:11)
  
• in Colossians 1:3-12: that they would be filled with God's wisdom to know His will (1:10), so that good fruit would be evident in their lives (1:11), joyfully giving thanks (1:12)
  
• in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-13: that God's power would cause His purposes for them to be fulfilled (1:11)
  
• and in every recorded prayer (including those not listed here), Paul gives thanks for the people God has given him relationship with.

What if leaders -- church, simple/home church, whatever -- prayed these kind of prayers for the people around them? Would it make a difference?

I dare you to try praying like this for a month, and then let's talk about what changes did or did not happen.

I dare you.

Membership Redux

Cool.

A card-carrying member of the conversation. This is almost as mind-blowing as the "Roll up the rim to win" thing at Tim Horton's!! (I won a donut two years ago)


What's next? Emerging conversation golf shirts?

Getting There...

No, I haven't forgotten or abandoned my promised writing on the post-charismatics. I've been actually doing a massive amount of historical and theological research, digging out primary sources while on a limited budget, and have actually started writing some of it.

Along the way, I've ended up reading, in it's entirety, George Warnock's "Feast of Tabernacles" (considered the "manual" for the Latter Rain movement), William Brahnam's "The Seven Church Ages" (another hefty primary source of Latter Rain teaching), John Wesley's "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection", almost all of The New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements (over 1300 pages!), and even dipped into Calvin's "Institutes on the Christian Religion".

There are other sources that I've been digging through as well, and it's been a fascincating journey of understanding, but it's very time-consuming. But I hope to be posting some of my thoughts on it very soon.

Really, I mean it!

UPDATE I've included a reading list of the materials that I'm pouring over as I dig into this topic. If you've got any great suggestions that are "must-reads" to make this list better, please let me know!

Cat's Outta The Bag

Brother Maynard has asked what I was specifically referring to in my recent "There Once Was A Time" post. He wrote in the comments:

"Awww, come on -- you gotta give us more than that! What does the first step of this "yes" mean? Or do you know yet?"

The truth is, Wendy and I had a very good idea what the "yes" might mean for us, but we wanted to pray a bit further, and share the news with family members first, before posting it on the blog.

Does anyone recognize this image? It's the logo for Youth With A Mission. Wendy and I have been on the fringes of YWAM since around 1990, and have always felt that -- someday -- YWAM would figure into our future.

It appears that now the time may have come.

Scot McKnight on D.A. Carson

D.A. Carson once participated in the writing of a book called "Power Religion: The Selling Out of the Evangelical Church?" which criticized, among other things, the Vineyard movement of which I was part. Not that Vineyard doesn't need the occasional critique or correction, but Carson's work was heavily biased and not grounded in reasonable research (apparently he's normally known for being a careful researcher, but this time was definitely an exception).

The Vineyard commissioned Wayne Grudem to write a definitive response to Carson's writings (PDF available here), which I always found ironic -- Grudem was a professor at the same seminary as Carson, and yet Carson didn't check the veracity of his opinions with Grudem before publishing them. There's also no record (that I've been able to find, unless someone can help me on this one) that Carson ever responded to Grudem's writings.

Anyway, D.A. Carson's much-anticipated book on the Emerging church, "Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church: Understanding a Movement and Its Implications" is due to be released on May 19, 2005 -- the same day that we finally get to see Anakin Skywalker become the evil Darth Vader in Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. I'm sure there's no prophetic significance to the convergence of release dates.

Many bloggers have been awaiting/dreading the release of this book, as earlier taped lectures of Carson on the Emerging church lacked solid research and made a lot of people feel misrepresented. A former teaching colleague of Carson's, Scot McKnight, who respects Carson as a theological thinker and colleague but doesn't necessarily always agree with him, has been blogging at his site about a pre-release copy of the book that Scot received. I've been reading various blogs regarding Carson's upcoming book for awhile now -- most notably Brother Maynard and Andrew Jones (the Tall Skinny Kiwi) -- but I thought I'd put in a plug for Scot's insightful interaction with Carson's writings. And because I've already seen that Scot interacts respectfully with people who comment on his blog, I'm happy to include him with the Journeymates here.

I only hope that, this time around, Carson is willing to dialogue, maybe learn a bit more about the emerging church, and join the conversation as a concerned friend and not a distant armchair critic (apparently he's never even attended a single emergent church or conference, so the term "armchair critic", while not flattering, may be the most appropriate).

Visit Scot McKnight at The Jesus Creed. He'll stretch your mind in good ways!

Prayers That Change Us

We've all heard teachings, read books, and spent time learning how to pray. I can remember discussions about whether or not our prayers actually change God's mind, or if we're just simply coming into line with what God had already willed -- I went to a predominantly Arminian Bible college and a hyper-Calvinist seminary, so I had plenty of exposure to both extremes.

But nearly everyone agrees that prayer changes us. As we cultivate a life of prayer -- a two-way communication between us and God -- we become different than we once were. Our sense of expectancy changes, as does our dawning realization that the line between the natural and the supernatural was only in our minds. Praying to forgive enemies (Matthew 6:12) and those who have despitefully used us (Luke 6:28), frees us from the tyranny of bitterness and anger.

What kind of prayers do leaders of churches regularly pray for their congregations? Or home groups? Or simple churches? What kind of difference would the content of those prayers cause in the hearts of the leaders themselves?

St. Paul says the following to the followers of Jesus in Ephesus (Ephesians 1:15-20):

"For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers."

Sounds like Paul was actually excited by what he was hearing about these Ephesians.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better."

The word "wisdom" is the Greek word sophia, which means "supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God". The word Apokalupsis, which is translated as "revelation", is equally audacious: "a disclosure of truth, instruction concerning things before unknown; manifestation, appearance". Paul is praying that the Ephesians would be given incredible wisdom and insight to know God better. Would the answer to this prayer put Paul out of a job?

"I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,"

That the "eyes of your heart" -- diavnoia, "the mind as a faculty of understanding, feeling, desiring" -- would be able to grasp the implications of the hope -- elpis; "joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation" -- that we have.

"and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead..."

Dunamis, the "inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature; power for performing miracles", available to us? What would we do with that kind of power? How can a leader of Paul's stature seriously want others to understand the implications of having such a hope, and that they have such power available to them?

What if those who have been gifted with leadership would pray this kind of a prayer for the people they are in community with (in whatever context)?

What kind of changes would happen in the people being prayed for?

What kind of heart attitude would be cultivated in the one praying these prayers?

Do Not Lead As The World Leads...

Wendy and I have been discussing leadership models a lot recently, as we read through the Gospels, and we came to the following conclusion:

If you locked a new believer in a room for a month, and told him/her to read the Gospels and learn all they could about Jesus' understanding of true spiritual leadership, there is no possible way that they would emerge a month later and suggest a CEO-style, management-based heirarchical model.

One of our favourite leadership passages is Matthew 20:25-28: "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (NASB)

Of particular notice are a few choice words: exercise authority, great, servant, first, and slave.

Jesus warned His disciples (followers, apprentices) not to emulate the leadership style of the Gentiles (the world). The word translated as "authority" (or "exercise authority) in this verse, is the Greek word katexousiazo, which means "to wield power" and comes from the root word exousiazo, which means "to be brought under the power of". In his book "When The Vision Has Vanished", Bob Girard says of the phrase "exercise authority":

"The original Greek word is a nearly unpronouceable verb meaning to get in one's power, to bring under, to master or control, to overcome, to dominate... Jesus says that such leadership has no place in the church."

Jesus contrasts this by saying that if the disciples wanted to "become great" -- the Greek word is megas, which means "things esteemed highly for their importance: of great moment, of great weight, importance" -- they must instead adopt the attitude and actions of a servant.

The word "servant" comes from the Greek word diakonos, which means literally "a waiter, one who serves food and drink" -- it is the Greek root from which we get the word "deacon" in 1 Timothy 3:8-13, hardly a pattern that would lead to "exercising authority" as Jesus warned the disciples against.

Similarly, Jesus tells the disciples that to be "first" in the Kingdom meant being a "slave". The word translated "first" is the Greek word protos, which translates as "first in time or place in any succession of things or persons; first in rank, influence, honour". In order to be given this honour in the Kingdom, Jesus clearly says, disciples must adopt the attitude and actions of a slave.

In Greek, the word slave is doulos, which means "a slave, bondman, man of servile condition... devoted to another to the disregard of one's own interests", which again could never encourage someone to adopt a CEO/management-based heirarchical approach to leadership in the Body of Christ.

There is no doubt that the Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit has gifted some people with leadership (Romans 12:8) -- it has never been our contention that leadership should be done away with in order for the Body to function as Jesus intended -- but what "leadership" looks like, how it is defined, and especially how it is functionally practiced, needs to go far beyond paying lip service to passages like Matthew 20:25-28. We need to actually lead as Jesus both instructed and modelled for us.

The passage ends with the familiar words "just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve..." -- diakoneo is the word used both times in this short phrase, and it means "to be a servant, attendant... to serve, wait upon", and in giving His life as a ransom for many, Jesus clearly demonstrated just how other-centred, sacrificial, and servant-hearted leaders are called to be.

Spiritual Leadership

During high school, I got to know some of the elders at our church really well. We were building a new church in the middle of a subdivision that was also under construction at the time -- moving from a downtown church surrounded by businesses, and becoming part of a brand-new neighbourhood.

We all pitched in to help keep the costs down, which meant that young teenagers like me got the experience of doing some construction work alongside many of the adults in the church. Because I was 16, I was allowed on the roof (the coveted workplace for those of us with little enough common sense to realize how precarious our lives were up there!), and I got to know several of the elders, particularly Tom, really well. You can't call an elder by a formal title when (for example) a brick is falling, you just yell "LOOKOUT TOM".

Near the end of high school, I remember Tom driving me home from somewhere, and the two of us talking about the book of James in my parents' driveway, and Tom praying for me before I got out of the car.

A few months after Wendy & I were married, I worked in a factory where Tom was in the head office. We were all required to have proper workboots, and the company offered to pay half for any employees who couldn't afford them. We were newly-weds with very little money to our names, after we paid for the regular repairs to our dilapidated '68 VW Bug and the rent on our cockroach-infested apartment in downtown Hamilton. We really couldn't even afford paying just half, but we didn't have any other choice.

The day that I bought the workboots, Tom called me into his office, handed me a wad of cash, and said, "I know things are tight for you and Wendy. Don't protest; God wants me to do this." The cash was equivalent to what I had just paid for the workboots.

The last time I was at Tom's church was in 1989, just after Jo was born. He came by the hospital to congratulate us, meet our infant daughter, and -- in similar fashion to many of the youth who had visited us -- place a stuffed teddy bear on the shelf next to Jo's crib. That poor shelf was struggling under quite a load of stuffed animals -- it was great to be part of a church body that cared about us.

Then, just a few months later, our journey took us to Western Canada until August of 2004.

Today, I got a phone call from Tom. He offered to buy me coffee, so we met at local Tim Horton's (Canadian cultural tradition). He'd just heard this morning about my recent resignation, and he wanted to get together and see how I was doing. No agenda other than that. We talked for about an hour, and then he prayed for me before we parted.

It reminded me a great deal of my meeting with Bob Roxburgh back in late 1992 -- an elder of the faith taking time out of a busy schedule to encourage another member of the Body, with no agenda other than encouragement and prayer. Tom & Bob have both modelled true spiritual leadership.

I hope someday that I can do the same for somebody.

16 Years of Blessing

Sixteen years ago today, a beautiful gift was given to us. Ever since I first held her, moments after her birth, I have been totally, completely in love with this girl. Her dancing, her artistry, her devotion to her friends, and her desire to follow Jesus -- all these things just make Wendy & I even more proud of her than we already were.

Jo, you have always brought such joy to our lives! You are truly a gift from God. Happy Birthday!!

P.S. Here's a short audio clip of Jo, in an excerpt from a short talk she gave recently.

Why Discuss "Post-Charismatic" Anyway?

The work I'm putting into writing on what it means to be "post-charismatic" is taking more and more of my time, not only in research, but in the actual writing, as well. There's two main reasons why I want to devote a solid chunk of my thinking and writing time on this subject:

1. There are so many people in the emergent conversation that are ex-Vineyard, ex-Pentecostal, ex-you-name-the-charismatic-grouping, and many of them are wounded by their experiences, particularly those who were attempting to be voices of change. A friend of mine recently commented to me that he was planning to attend a more mainline denominational church, not because he intended to join it, but because it was "the church where wounded ex-charismatics tend to go".
   
   As someone who is also ex-Vineyard, I share the same journey to greater or lesser degree, and I believe there needs to be -- to use the emerging phrase so popular these days -- "conversation" on what it means to be post-charismatic, but not necessarily non-charismatic or anti-charismatic.
   
   
2. The second reason is that I firmly believe that if emerging expressions of the Body are going to be healthy and missional, there needs to be an understanding of how spiritual gifts can function within the Body, whether in a larger group setting or even in a simple/home church gathering. I posted my thoughts on making room for giftedness earlier this year, and I'm becoming more convinced than ever that it's vitally important that we grapple with these questions.
   
   Part of re-capturing a balanced Trinitarian theology must include developing a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit's work in us and through us, both as individuals and as communities of faith.

Someone once said that the antidote for bad theology was not "no theology", but rather refined theology. I submit that the same is true for those of us who self-identify as "post-charismatic" -- the answer to the abuses and errors within the charismatic movement should not lead us to abandon all things Spirit-led, whether by conscious choice or by passive neglect, but to invest time in separating the chaff from the wheat, so that we can function as people of the Spirit in a healthy, vigorous, gifted, compassionate and Spirit-led way.

Theology Pub

I KNEW I liked Brother Maynard for a reason! He imbibes the True Brew! Reminds me of the many pints o' Guinness we enjoyed at our many "theology pub nights" at the King's Head Pub in downtown Winnipeg. We'd sit near the windows at the front, waxing eloquent on all things ecclesiological, and when we'd pause for sips of our preferred beer, we'd often overhear the conversations at the surrounding tables.

It seems that the other tables were often filled with people -- mostly unknown to us -- who were also discussing theology and ecclesiology! Even the bartender was working on her Master's Degree in Religious Studies! What's with this pub, anyway? Good times. Good memories. I'll have to get back there some day!

There Once Was A Time...

...when a 15-year-old lost a wrestling match with God, and found himself standing at the front of a high school auditorium, surrendering his life to Jesus.

...when a 17-year-old stood up at a church service in a tiny church on Brant Street, across from the sounds and smells of the train station, and said "yes" to following Jesus in fulltime service, if that was His leading.

There once was a time...

...when a 19-year-old heard "the call" in a dingy basement of a Presbyterian church during a party with friends from "Agape" (a wierd mix of mainline Christianity, self-help psychology, and New Age mysticism), and he responded in obedience by quitting the college where he was pursuing a career in television and journalism, and moving 1500 miles west to attend Bible college.

...when a 22-year-old stood up with his beautiful girlfriend at a Keith Green Memorial Concert, and said "yes" to being available to serve on the mission field, if that was where He might lead them.

...when a 25-year-old looked around the mega-church on the Canadian Prairies where he was interning, and chose a different path and model of leadership.

There once was a time...

...when a 27-year-old prayed, "Oh God, whatever You do -- don't let me get comfortable", and was determined to live a life characterized by faith, and to never give in to the status quo.

...when a 32-year-old and his beautiful wife said "yes" to a pastoral position with no guarantee of a salary, and lived perched precariously on the speeding, twisting rollercoaster called "give us this day our daily bread", because they believed it was the design of God as He inspired the writing of that chapter of their lives.

Now is the time...

...when a 43-year-old and his beautiful wife once again say "yes" to Jesus, and like Abraham of old, enter a new chapter of faith and obedience to whatever He might call them to.