Session Study of “Intuitive Leadership” by Tim Keel
Section 3: Embracing the Possibility
Study notes prepared by Rob Erickson
“I do not believe great organizations have ever been built by trying to emulate another, any more that individual greatness is achieved by trying to copy another “great person.” In this quote from Peter Senge (The Fifth Discpline), Tim Keel is encouraging us to be ourselves in ministry and not try to be someone else. Keel critiques the “cutting-edge ministry tour that began in the 1980s with the contemporary worship movement, went on to the small group movement, continued into the 1990s with the seeker targeted church movement, and later evolved into packaged ministry expressions such as Alpha evangelism ministry and Purpose Driven Life curriculums like the ’40 Days of Purpose’” (page 216) Whereas the original ministries grew out of individual churches and church leaders assessing there gifts and calling and applying those gifts to ministry, the copy cat ministries grow out of an expressed need to reach some target group that is not being reached.
Keel goes on to say “My experience tells me that when you try to reach someone or some group or something, you end up chasing not just a nonexistent caricature but he wrong thing altogether.” (page 215) Whereas we at Covenant are often suspicious of the latest ministry fad, we are also guilty of “targeting certain groups” and borrowing programs that “reach out” to those groups in the hope of establishing a ministry for and with that group. Our efforts at Contemporary Sunday night worship, Alpha outreach to Young Adults, “47 Days of Preparation (Lenten Study in 2005) are examples of our efforts to reach out to certain populations with programs similar to ones that other churches had pioneered.
Tim Keel sets a new challenge before churches: figure out what it means for our community to abide in Christ. He suggests that “the ability to reach people, is a natural by-product and sign of a healthy church ecosystem functioning as it should.” (page 220) “We have to “intuit what is going on and learn to respond in ways that have integrity to who we are, where we are, and who we have been.” 9page 222) What is unique about us? How is God using us? Where is God here?
Tim Keel offers a proposal to us and anyone who reads his book. “God is alive and at work in you, your community, and your context. Our world is filled with possibility because of who God is and what he is doing in creation. God longs for our participation with him, and at the same time God is on the move. Jesus said ‘Follow me’ and he meant it. He is going somewhere and if we are to keep pace, we must follow. That means we must move. I can’t give you any answers. All I can do is propose some posture- ways of positioning our selves that allow us a greater chance of catching God at work among us.” (page 223) At the Willow Creek Leadership Summit last week at Westlink, I was challenged to think of what ministry are we uniquely positioned to do, by our temperament, our passion, our position in the community and our relationships with God and each other. I would extend that same challenge to you in this study. What ministries are we being called to do and who are we being called to be by God? What is it that we do as part of the Kingdom of God, that if our church we not here would be terribly missed?
Tim Keel asks a series of questions in his last chapter about leadership posturing:
1) What if leaders refused to take the posture of expert and took the posture of humble and engaged learner? (page 230)
2) What is leaders assumed a posture of vulnerability that allowed them to access their heart and make them available to God and their people? (pg 232)
3) What if leaders began to invite their people with them into these kinds of spaces in order to engage with God on agenda free grounds and discern the still small voice of God? (pg 237)
4) What if leaders sought to stay present in the midst of chaos in order to discern the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit hovering in love and creativity over a new act of creation? (pg 240)
5) What if leaders assumed a posture of cultivation, of kneeling and digging in the earth, of planting and watering, of weeding and culling and ultimately harvesting? 9pg 242)
In each of these postures these is a basic assumption of trust in God, our faith and our communities. Keel suggests that the by product of trust is deep joy, knowing we are loved.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Study Notes for "The Shack" Chapters 2, 3, 4
Chapter 2 The Gathering Dark
Context of the story- Oregon’s Gorge and Multnoma Falls, Columbia River Gorge. What about the redemption story of the Indian princess? How do you think the exchange between Missy and Mack anticipates Mack’s conversations with Jesus? “Daddy, how come she had to die?...Honey, she didn’t have to die. She chose to die to save her people. They were very sick and she wanted them to be healed.” (page 30)
”Is the Great Spirit another name for God- you know Jesus’ papa?...Then how come he is so mean…making the princess jump off the cliff and Jesus die on the cross.” …”Sweetheart, Jesus didn’t think his daddy was mean. He thought his daddy was full of love and loved him very much. His daddy didn’t make him die. Jesus chose to die because he and his daddy loved you and me and everyone in the world. He saved us from our sickness, just like the princess.” Mack is offering an explanation for the atonement here. What do you think of this explanation? Does Mack really believe it?
“Will God ever ask me to jump off a cliff? No, Missy. He would never ask you to do anything like that.” Here Mack is talking about the reality of evil and the sovereignty of God.
Chapter 3 The Tipping Point
Mack describes Nan’s job “She helps people think through their relationship with God in the face of their own death…Nan’s a lot better than I am. I guess she thinks about God differently than most folks. She even calls him Papa because of the closeness of their relationship, if that makes sense….I’m not comfortable with it (referring to God as Papa). It’s just seems a little too familiar for me. Anyway, Nan has a wonderful father, so I think it’s easier for her”. This statement foreshadows Mack’s conversation with God later in the parable and his struggle with language for God and openness to God.
In the incident with the canoe tipping how many people felt guilty? Mack’s words to Emil “This wasn’t your fault and everyone’s ok”. What about Mack guilt when he discovers that everyone wasn’t ok?
Chapter 4 The Great Sadness
“It is so easy to get sucked into the if-only game and playing it is a short slippery slide into despair. If only he had decided not to take the kids on that trip; if only he had said no when they asked to use the canoe; if only he had left the day before; , if only, if only, if only.” And then to have it all end with nothing. The fact that he was unable to bury Missy’s body magnified his failure as her daddy.” (page 65) Have you ever played the “if only game”? What are other options?
Context of the story- Oregon’s Gorge and Multnoma Falls, Columbia River Gorge. What about the redemption story of the Indian princess? How do you think the exchange between Missy and Mack anticipates Mack’s conversations with Jesus? “Daddy, how come she had to die?...Honey, she didn’t have to die. She chose to die to save her people. They were very sick and she wanted them to be healed.” (page 30)
”Is the Great Spirit another name for God- you know Jesus’ papa?...Then how come he is so mean…making the princess jump off the cliff and Jesus die on the cross.” …”Sweetheart, Jesus didn’t think his daddy was mean. He thought his daddy was full of love and loved him very much. His daddy didn’t make him die. Jesus chose to die because he and his daddy loved you and me and everyone in the world. He saved us from our sickness, just like the princess.” Mack is offering an explanation for the atonement here. What do you think of this explanation? Does Mack really believe it?
“Will God ever ask me to jump off a cliff? No, Missy. He would never ask you to do anything like that.” Here Mack is talking about the reality of evil and the sovereignty of God.
Chapter 3 The Tipping Point
Mack describes Nan’s job “She helps people think through their relationship with God in the face of their own death…Nan’s a lot better than I am. I guess she thinks about God differently than most folks. She even calls him Papa because of the closeness of their relationship, if that makes sense….I’m not comfortable with it (referring to God as Papa). It’s just seems a little too familiar for me. Anyway, Nan has a wonderful father, so I think it’s easier for her”. This statement foreshadows Mack’s conversation with God later in the parable and his struggle with language for God and openness to God.
In the incident with the canoe tipping how many people felt guilty? Mack’s words to Emil “This wasn’t your fault and everyone’s ok”. What about Mack guilt when he discovers that everyone wasn’t ok?
Chapter 4 The Great Sadness
“It is so easy to get sucked into the if-only game and playing it is a short slippery slide into despair. If only he had decided not to take the kids on that trip; if only he had said no when they asked to use the canoe; if only he had left the day before; , if only, if only, if only.” And then to have it all end with nothing. The fact that he was unable to bury Missy’s body magnified his failure as her daddy.” (page 65) Have you ever played the “if only game”? What are other options?
Study Notes for the Shack
About a month ago a couple people from Covenant suggested that I read the Shack. As I mentioned on an earlier blog, I happened to read "The Shack" while I was on vacation in Oregon, which just happens to be the setting for the story. I was struck by the story as a way to start to discuss the mystery of the Trinity and the value of understanding the Triune God at work in our lives. After I got back from Vacation several people asked that we have a conversation around this book. We started the conversation on August 3rd and would like to invite you into the conversation as well. The following are study notes from our class that provide the conversation starters. We would love for you to be internet partners in the conversation around this parable of faith.
Conversation around the book “The Shack”August 3, 2008 Read pages 1-66 “The Great Sadness”
Forward: Type of story- Parable written for his children.
“Mack is not very religious. He seems to have a love/hate relationship with Religion, and maybe even with the God that he suspects is brooding distant, and aloof” (page 10) What words would you use to describe God?
“He wanted a narrative to help him express to them (his wife and children) understand what has been going on in his inside world. You know that place: where there is just you alone- and maybe God, if you believe in him. Of course, God might be there even if you don’t believe in him. That would be just like him. He hasn’t been called the Grand Interferer for nothing.” (page 12) What are names that you use to describe God? What are names or images that are comfortable for you in expressing who God is? Have you ever heard of or thought of God as the “Grand Interferer”? What are the implications of that name for God?
Chapter 1 A Confluence of Paths
“There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules.” (page 15) What about interruptions in your life? Mack receives a note signed Papa (God) but he doesn’t tell anyone. Why not? Have you ever received a message that you suspected might be from God and not told anyone?
Conversation around the book “The Shack”August 3, 2008 Read pages 1-66 “The Great Sadness”
Forward: Type of story- Parable written for his children.
“Mack is not very religious. He seems to have a love/hate relationship with Religion, and maybe even with the God that he suspects is brooding distant, and aloof” (page 10) What words would you use to describe God?
“He wanted a narrative to help him express to them (his wife and children) understand what has been going on in his inside world. You know that place: where there is just you alone- and maybe God, if you believe in him. Of course, God might be there even if you don’t believe in him. That would be just like him. He hasn’t been called the Grand Interferer for nothing.” (page 12) What are names that you use to describe God? What are names or images that are comfortable for you in expressing who God is? Have you ever heard of or thought of God as the “Grand Interferer”? What are the implications of that name for God?
Chapter 1 A Confluence of Paths
“There is something joyful about storms that interrupt routine. Snow or freezing rain suddenly releases you from expectations, performance demands, and the tyranny of appointments and schedules.” (page 15) What about interruptions in your life? Mack receives a note signed Papa (God) but he doesn’t tell anyone. Why not? Have you ever received a message that you suspected might be from God and not told anyone?
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