Second Journey Down the Intuitive Leadership Path

Study Notes for Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Narrative, Metaphor & Chaos Section 2: Engaging Context pages 103-213

The first part of Tim Keels Book invited us to look at our own story or narrative and to start to understand how our story and narrative relate to God’s story and narrative. The second section of Intuitive Leadership looks at the context of our ministry and how we engage the context. Keel describes the “Postmodern” culture as “living in a time that is simply past modernity” (pg. 104). He goes on to say “Postmodern culture is a culture with porous boundaries and loose definitions. Postmodernity is about the collapse of the rigidly defined categories of modernity and of the blending of previously untainted essences…it is the culture of the remix…mixing of ideas, images, values, and words”. (pg. 113) How do you describe this post modern time? What are some of the challenges and some of the opportunities offered by such a context for ministry?

Keel talks about the “Graphic Revolution that begins to move communication increasingly away from mere word conveyed through text into the world of images..” (pg. 127) Keel says that “If we want to be transformed to live, serve, and love in the way of Jesus, we must creatively and faithfully cultivate space (physical, emotional, intellectual, relational, artistic) where the whole person (body, soul, mind and spirit) can encounter God, others and themselves in the context of creation.” (pg. 130) This sounds in harmony with our VBS curriculum and the Shema “Love the Lord your God with all you heart and soul and might” (Deuteronomy 6 :4,5) How do we at Covenant cultivate space for the whole person to encounter God? Do we provide opportunities for left AND right brained people in worship, education and mission?

Keel offers some suggestions to help us rekindle our imagination. “We need to begin to engage the Scripture to fire our imagination…We need every kind of intelligence fully engaged and playfully and creatively leveraged for the kingdom of God. We need women and men who have previously been on the margins…we need mystics… poets…prophets… apostles… artists. We need all these types of people to reclaim or discover faith in new ways.” Would this really be a good thing? What might this look like in our church?

“Former congressional chaplain, Dr. Richard Halverson once said, ‘Christianity was birthed in Galilee as a relationship. It spread to Greece and became a philosophy. It spread to Rome and became an empire. It spread to Britain and became a culture. It spread to America and became an enterprise.” (pg. 142) What do you think of Halverson’s characterization of Christianity and its evolution? What are the implications for us today in our “postmodern world.” Keel observes that “Willow Creek represents the final creative response of the modern church in America grasping for identity, impact, and influence as Christendom gasps and breathes its last breath in the West.” (pg. 151)

Keel finally argues that the church must become missional. “In a culture that has moved out of Christendom and into a marginal identity, the whole context of the life of the community becomes mission… The church is that community of people gathered around Jesus Christ in order to participate in his life and incarnate it into the context where he has placed them. The invitation from God is for us to start right here, not just the exotic out there.” (pg. 155) Keel is arguing that every local church is in fact a mission in the culture in which we find ourselves. HE argues that “the work of Jesus was not a new set of ideals or principles for reforming or even revolutionizing society, but he establishment of a new community, a people that embodied forgiveness, sharing and self-sacrificing love in its rituals and disciplines…it is an alternate reality based on the person of Jesus Christ.” What do you think about this? This sounds like the radical Jesus Bill Brewer used to talk about. What are the implications for this type of understanding in the church?

Keel says “we cannot approach God acontextually. We always experience and know God provisionally within a context.” In other words our understanding of God is always influenced by our context. Keel also says that “Communities engaging with the missional context of our age must be aware of the fact that they are theology-generating communities….Theology is always the by-product of an implicit or explicit dialogue that churches (personally and communally) are having with the tradition from which they arise and the living culture in which they reside.” What is the embedded theology of Covenant? “The missional context of our culture is one that increasingly demands creativity…It requires a different kind of organization that empowers and unleashes creativity.” (pg. 200)