Podcast: The Inconvenient Kingdom

The Inconvenient Kingdom

Love Fox Valley

I haven’t experienced much church unity in my life. I don’t necessarily mean within a church, though that’s been bad at times too, but unity between local churches. The unity of the entire body of Christ in a given city or region. There are three main ways I’ve experienced the relationship between local churches:

1. 
   Uninterested: When the most you know about the church on the other corner is that the sign out front says, “Ch_ _ch, what’s missing?”
2. 
   Inferior: Whether it’s because of doctrine, size, building, or softball team, you know you’re better than they are. The best example of this I’ve heard is when one church asked the church across the field to play a softball game and they were asked for their docrinal statement. The other church looked at the statement and then decilined to play. (Both churches from Evangelical denominations!)
3. 
   Competition: I have sat around with people from MY church bemoaining the gains of other local churches. Talking about how they’re taking “our” people. No one likes to admit this one, most of the time people won’t, but it’s real.

It’s sad really. Jesus prayed that all those who followed him would be one in the way he was one with the Father. Paul yelled at the Corinthians on paper for creating distinctions between themselves rather than focusing on their unity in Christ. We are supposed to be unified with all those who are a part of the body of Christ.

In the last year and a half I’ve had the opportunity to see what this unity is supposed to look like. It’s come in the form of a person and an organization. The person is Randy Schoof, pastor of the Warehouse Church here in Aurora. You can’t talk to Randy for more than two minutes without hearing about the importance of unity, and he devotes himself to helping it happen. (More on that in a second, because that’s the organization.) Since we moved to Aurora Randy has been one of our greatest supporters. If y0u are about following Jesus and helping others do the same then he is with you. The first time I met him he offered to let us meet in their building, told me to let him know if there was anything we needed, and introduced me to a bunch of people from other churches. He is about Christ’s Church, all of it.

Which brings me to Love Fox Valley. This is the culmination of the efforts of a number of people, including Randy, to bring unity and action to the Aurora and Fox River Valley area by the church, the whole church. It is more of a network than an organization. The whole church in the area functioning together to show and proclaim the love of Jesus Christ. We had a meeting for it last week and there were at least 30 churches and ministries represented there, maybe more. There aren’t many places where this is happening, and I’m thankful I get to be a part of it.

WCLS: Efrem Smith

Disparity exists based on race, class, and place.
Find dwelling places where the hurting people are.
The high pressure of what God wants to do is hitting the low pressure of what we'd rather do and creating racial and socio-economic storms.
There's no institution that can make the case "we only cater to people who are like each other" except the church. (And that's not okay!)
The church should lead in being socially innovative.

And a great quote: "I'm tired of grown men havin' Lil' in front of their name. Lil' Wayne. Lil' Weezy. You grown men!"

WCLS: John Burke

Making and maintaining good soil is essential if people are to grow.
1 Cor. 3:6-9 God causes the growth, we're responsible for the soil.
Are you willing to get your hands dirty by meeting people where they are?

Messy Leadership

1. Grace-giving Acceptance. If you find a Rembrandt covered in mud you wouldn't throw it away or even try to wipe it off. You'd take it to an expert who could clean it and make it good as new. We need to view people through God's eyes, not our own.
2. Authentic Confessing Community. Leaders have to lead in being authentic. We have to actually care about each other.
3. Stay Connected to Christ. "Apart from me you can do nothing." Stay connected, fruit happens.

WCLS: Gary Haugen

What is leadership that matters to God? It is leading in issues that matter to God. In other words, are Jesus and I interested in the same things?

2 Passions of God

1. The World (Jn. 3:16) How can hurting people believe God is good? The Church is the plan to make people believe that God is good.
2. Justice Biblical injustice is about the abuse of power to take from them the good things God has for them (i.e. life, liberty, dignity).

Leadership matters most when the cause seems hopeless, scary, and difficult.

Leadership when it seems hopeless.

• Refocus on where hope comes from.
• If God is passionate about getting it done than he is responsible for getting it done.

Leadership when it seems scary.

• Jesus did not come to make us safe, he came to make us brave.
• Too many of us are on the journey with Jesus but we're missing the adventure. We won't experience God there.

4 Leadership Choices

1. Choosing not to be safe.
2. Choosing deep spiritual health. (Not needed when it's safe and easy.)
3. Choose to pursue excellence.
4. Choose to seize the joy. (It should make us laugh that God uses people like us!)

WCLS (Willow Creek Leadership Summit): Bill Hybles

Much of the task of leadership is making decisions.
Part of what leaders must do is make tough decisions--it is not for the faint of heart.

4 Common decision making questions for Christian Leaders
1. Does the Bible speak to it?
2. What would smart advisors say?
3. What does PGE teach you? (Past Pain, Past Gains, Experiences)
4. Is the Holy Spirit prompting me?

Make trial decisions and see if they lead to peace or turmoil within.
If a decision turns out well, thank everyone who played a part in it. If it turns out poorly, blame only yourself.

Leadership Axioms: Short sayings that guide decision making and come from a synthesis of learning from the four questions above.

Some Leadership Axioms

• The best way to get rid of an enemy is to turn him into a friend. (Abraham Lincoln)
• Create movement for movement's sake.
• Promote a clash of ideas. (Colin Powell)
• Vision leaks. (Hybles)
• Get the right people around the table. (Hybles)
• Facts are your friends. (Hybles)
• When something feels funky, engage. (Hybles)

Willow Creek Leadership Summit

Thanks to a new friend, Jon Peacock (pastor of Axis, the 20-something ministry of Willow), I'm at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit the next two days. I'll be posting some notes throughout these two days, much like I did when I went to Exponential. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have!