toxicity of vision

One of the things which I think sucks the life out of individuals in the church is "Visionary thinking". It rife. It comes from a corporate culture which runs on goals and objectives. It acecpts 'collateral damage' for the sake of the cause. 

Its interesting how when you set yourself aside from this type of church driveness, you begin to see its toxicity. You can see it in yourself. Everything is evaluated by it. Should I have tea with this person. Mmmm Better to have tea with these people they have more of the skill mix the church needs. It starts to rot to the core.

Its interesting for me that when we dropped the 'vision' stuff at Ranges The place took on more of an organic feel and even more interesting people seemed to grow.  Peoples own vision where encouraged and the Churches place was just to blow air, to encourage the flame.

Naked pastor has written 'frustrate visionary thinking' on how to frustrate vision thinking in the church. Here is a snippet::

1.  It is one thing for individuals to have personal visions and dreams. It is the application of these to a community that is dangerous.

2. Don’t see the church group as an entity, but primarily a voluntary gathering of free individuals.

3. Similarly, the church as an entity cannot fix people’s problems or make their lives happy. It is their own responsibility that other individuals can assist in.

4. Embrace diversity of thought and expression. Do not set goals for the church.

5. Do not measure success in terms of numbers, money or reputation.

6. See that mission is expressed individually. Each person is salt and light.

7. Any corporate mission that is genuine will seem spontaneous and have an “of course” feeling to it.

8. Share the oversight of the church. Avoid autocratic rule that provides the richest culture for visionary thinking.

9. Don’t pretend to know the future of the church prophetically, statistically or otherwise. You don’t!

10. Respect the pressure the people are under to want a king, to desire favor, and to think in terms of marketing to promote success. Almost all the literature available is written by successful pastors of successful churches. But don’t bow to this pressure.

What's happening when what I believe is not what I used to believe...

This title was the name of the workshop conducted by Chris Brown, a psychologist and in pastoral care at Rusty Springs festivel.

Chris basically went though James Fowler's 'Stages of Faith', which Chris categorized as a part of developmental psychology.

The Wikipedia summarised these stages of faith as such::

• Stage 0 – "Primal or Undifferentiated" faith (birth to 2 years), is characterized by an early learning of the safety of their environment (i.e. warm, safe and secure vs. hurt, neglect and abuse). If consistent nurturance is experienced, one will develop a sense of trust and safety about the universe and the divine. Conversely, negative experiences will cause one to develop distrust with the universe and the divine. Transition to the next stage begins with integration of thought and languages which facilitates the use of symbols in speech and play.

• Stage 1 – "Intuitive-Projective" faith (ages of three to seven), is characterized by the psyche's unprotected exposure to the Unconscious.

• Stage 2 – "Mythic-Literal" faith (mostly in school children), stage two persons have a strong belief in the justice and reciprocity of the universe, and their deities are almost always anthropomorphic.

• Stage 3 – "Synthetic-Conventional" faith (arising in adolescence) characterized by conformity

• Stage 4 – "Individuative-Reflective" faith (usually mid-twenties to late thirties) a stage of angst and struggle. The individual takes personal responsibility for their beliefs and feelings.

• Stage 5 – "Conjunctive" faith (mid-life crisis) acknowledges paradox and transcendence relating reality behind the symbols of inherited systems

• Stage 6 – "Universalizing" faith, or what some might call "enlightenment".

Some insteresting points brought out on the workshop on these stages were::

:: Fowler belives that %20 of Americans are in Stage 2
:: Fowler belivied that only 1.6% ever get to Stage 6
:: Some examples of Stage 6 given are Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King.
::The stages of faith is cross cultural, so it could be for a Buddhist or some other faith.

For me all this made a lot of scene. It filled a lot of gaps. It is interesting that part of the conversation was regarding fundamentalism/evangelicalism. It was agreed that this aspect of Christianity is in the stages 2-3. This would be what I saw in the Vineyard denomination. Although at Ranges I would say I saw people enter the church who where Stage 4 and 5, that they had not much Church background.

Interestingly a 'Crisis' is often the catalyst for people moving though a Stage. In my opinion they either go to Stage 5 or go backward to where things are safe Stage 3 or 4.

So what about myself. Well I reckon I'm Stage 4-5. A 'Critical self-evalutation' is taking place without the crisis. As my friend Bob says over at View from a Room, "I've sacked Jesus and looking for the real one."

 

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Frank Viola, Re-imagining church, Chapter 9, Reimaging oversight

There was some interesting observations in this chapter....

Elders whose function was overseeing and shepherding the members of the church.

Very interesting was the claim that

"...The Bible unshakably demonstrates that a plurality of elders oversaw the activity of the early church. No church in the first century had a single leader
Consequently, the common accepted notion of sola pastora (single pastor) is at odds with the New Testament. The bible knows nothing of a person who stands at the helm of a local church, directs it in the world, officiates its Communion (or Lord's Supper), blesses civic event, marries the living, and buries the dead. No such person exists in the entire New Testament."

This paragraph certainly rocks who is seen as traditional 'Church' in regards to structure. I cannot help but think though it is a natural tendency for people to look for an individual for leadership. But maybe as suggested by Viola it should be a plurality of 'Eldership'
Interestingly Ranges is currently working in the manner at the moment, and as far as I'm aware not really interested in changing.

Also of interest, Viola claimed the only time when there was a single leader as such, was when it was getting started, the 'apostolic worker' such as Paul.

Moving on from Ranges

Well most people who know us, know that Christina myself and the girls have left the mountain. That we have moved on from Ranges Church which we have lead for 6 or so years.
It was always going to be a difficult move, leaving friends and a church which in many ways feels like a child which you have fathered. It is why I've avoided this post, yet I feel has to be written.

There are a number of reasons for the move.
:: I've always wanted to live in a regional. (Christina didn't but was willing to comprise if it was near the sea. Thus Phillip Island.)
:: We wanted to do this prior to the girls starting kinda and school.
:: The ways things at Ranges church was going, was positve. It was a healthy time to move on.
:: I also felt that until the girls both started School we would have had limited time to do anything new and innovative. While maintaining what we already have Again this was a good time for others to step up, and u to move on.

The future, with ministry...

:: At this stage we just want to hang for a year or so at Phillip Island. See what the Holy Spirit is up to. In the church, with the community, and with ourselves.
:: We are still on the board of Vineyard Cataylst Network and will probably head over to Nerium South and help with John and Chris V with their house type church, in the short term.
:: When the time is right we will probably plant again. This time a lot differn't. So stay tuned!