I'm convinced that Reggie McNeal has a lot to say to us that is important. Of course, we have to put it into practice.
Here are three passages from his second eNews article. Good stuff:
Since our people are deployed in all domains (government, education, business, health care, etc.) a church scorecard that reflects some of what they encounter every day would be more congruent and meaningful to their lives than the current one which just measures their church participation and support.
Here are three passages from his second eNews article. Good stuff:
Since our people are deployed in all domains (government, education, business, health care, etc.) a church scorecard that reflects some of what they encounter every day would be more congruent and meaningful to their lives than the current one which just measures their church participation and support.
This is my greatest point of anger and despair over CGGC Talk-ism. Admittedly, this is personal for me. Reggie is talking about the reality that our people are in the world most of their lives. What wonderful things might happen if our people were equipped to live in the world as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God?! And, how effective might our ministry be if we were to take our direction from what our people encounter as they live in the world as ambassadors!
I have devoted more than six years to this way.
The holders of institutional authority in the CGGC believe this, and talk it, too. But there's no walk, much to my chagrin.
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I have devoted more than six years to this way.
The holders of institutional authority in the CGGC believe this, and talk it, too. But there's no walk, much to my chagrin.
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A kingdom scorecard honors the lives and efforts of our people, supports the Great Commandment, and creates the culture for a missional church.
I added this quote as a nod to Nick and Dan's Bible Study podcast which places central emphasis on the importance of disciples of Jesus living out the love demanded by the Great Command, especially the "love your neighbor" part.
Again, of course, on the level of talk, the holders of institutional authority in the CGGC at the General Conference share the talk...
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Again, of course, on the level of talk, the holders of institutional authority in the CGGC at the General Conference share the talk...
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Shifting to kingdom stewardship carries significant impact for church leadership. We currently recruit and train leaders to focus on skills that are demanded by a church-centric ministry agenda. By changing the scope of church stewardship, a different leadership paradigm is called for than the current one, which presumes that the church exists to enfold and care for the flock of believers, with shepherd as the predominant motif for pastoral leadership... (emphasis mine)
We would also build leadership teams with a different composition, driven by a different ministry agenda. After all, if you build an anteater it looks for ants. A church-centric stewardship calls for leaders who are drawn to support a church-centric agenda. Moving to a greater scope of stewardship for the community would probably result in an enhanced recruitment pool both in talent and quantity as leaders reflected a larger bandwidth of personal interests and community engagement on top of spiritual elements.
This is a revolutionary description of the absolute necessity of abandoning the pastor, parish priest as the provider of religious products and services to be consumed by the laity in favor of a Kingdom oriented APEST, uh, leadership team.
Of course, the holders of institutional authority in Findlay talk APEST, but Reggie's description of how it could work among people joining in the work of building the Kingdom makes it clear how the talk would be walked.
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It's my hope that, by inviting Reggie to cast vision in these two articles in the eNews, Lance is signaling that he is about to do.
We'll see.
Of course, the holders of institutional authority in Findlay talk APEST, but Reggie's description of how it could work among people joining in the work of building the Kingdom makes it clear how the talk would be walked.
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It's my hope that, by inviting Reggie to cast vision in these two articles in the eNews, Lance is signaling that he is about to do.
We'll see.
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