CoachNet Campfire

 

 

Unabashedly I love Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland.

 

 

He may be one of the best and brightest examples of a truly missional leader: humble, fearless, compassionate and grace-filled.  Thus it is only fitting that, despite not knowing his story, he is the cause the for this one day each year when everyone wants to be Irish. 

 

Most people do not know that he wasn’t even Irish, he was English!  Captured by pirates as a young man and sold into slavery to a hard and sometimes cruel Irish Chieftain and made to herd cattle. During this time he crossed the line of faith and became a follower of Jesus. Led to escape by way of a dream and a superstitious ship’s crew he fled to Gaul and eventually to Rome. He became a priest. Fueled by a genuine love for his former captors and their culture he approached the Pope and was ordained the first ever, missionary bishop. With a small band of priests, nuns and seminarians he journeyed back to land of his captivity.  Their his band would establish camps just outside villages where they would serve and befriend the people thus earning their trust. Patrick and his band knew the “Wild” Irish loved stories, poetry, song and imagination. They also had deep reverence for life, nature and love. They were enchanted with the number three These along with a more or less unified language empowered Patrick to reach deep into the soul of the Irish people and eventually to the conversion of most of Ireland, Scotland, England and many parts of northern Eurpoe. 

In “A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus,” Patrick wrote: The Confession of Saint Patrick. 

I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop.

I am certain in my heart that “all that I am,” I have received from God.

So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger for the love of God.

He himself testifies that this is so.

I never would have wanted these harsh words to spill from my mouth; I am not in the  habit of speaking so sharply.

Yet now I am driven by the zeal of God, Christ’s truth has aroused me.

I speak out too for the love of my neighbors who are my only sons;

for them I gave up my home country, my parents and even pushing my own life to the brink of death.

If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples;

even though some of them still look down on me.

Patrick Patron Saint of All Missionaries.  The more I learn of him the more I want to be just like him.  Most people have no idea who he was or why we celebrate the anniversary of his death.  Suffice it to say he was while not even Irish he was and is the greatest of her men.  Do some research you will be astounded…truly.  I have now written two short biographies in an attempt to tell his story and deleted them both from my blog as I think you will be amazed at what you find if you dig for his story on your own.  George Hunter III’s excellent little book, THE CELTIC WAY OF EVANGELISM is a great place to start.

Patrick, it is said, once wrote:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me, 

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me, 

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

from The Lorica.

 

Tomorrow let us celebrate the life of this missional man. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

 

 

“We don’t need another program,” Mark said gloomily, his voice matching the grey slanting rain pelting the window of the conference room. Several others in the meeting shook their heads in agreement as they looked at Vivian. Anger and frustration rose in her throat as once again her passion for coaching was dismissed out of hand as merely a ‘program.’  With much effort she swallowed and replied, “Mark I whole heartedly agree, the last thing we need is another program. So you are simply misunderstanding, coaching is not a program it is a way for all of us to become more effective at what we are called to do,” her voice sounding more strained than she wanted. “How many times do we have to go over this?” she thought to herself.

“It sure has all the markings of a ‘program,’“ Carl interrupted. “After all, you are talking about training events, meetings, assessments, on-line gizmos and budget dollars. If that’s not a program then I don’t know what is!”  His voice seemed to get much louder than necessary.  

“Why is this upsetting to you?” Vivian asked with fleeting courage.

“It is upsetting, Vivian,” Carl retorted waving his hands his hands for effect, “because we are all already way over-budget, over-programmed and overwhelmed as it is! And now you are suggesting we make time to attend training, learn to change everything we are doing and to top it all off need to find money to do it!”   

“Carl and Mike I respect you both,” Vivian said calming herself before she went on, “am I hearing you say, even though coaching has been proven to increase ministry effectiveness, more quickly develop leaders and greatly increase fruitfulness. You would choose to not engage in developing coaching skills and a coaching system because you haven’t got the time, energy or resources to invest in that which can give us back time, energy and resources?”

“Not in those words no, of course not,” Carl intoned.  

“Well, what’s the real problem? Do you not understand what coaching is or do you not believe it actually works?”

“Look Vivian I appreciate your enthusiasm but we’re not going to argue about this or take up any more time from our meeting today.” Carl said as he pushed the topic aside. “Besides we’ve got real work to do today.”

The last words stung. Vivian’s jaw dropped. Carl’s careless words had hurt her unnecessarily. None the less she persisted. ”Ok Carl, answer this I will let the matter rest for now, what will it take to help you to at least become open to the idea of coaching?”

 

Carl looked up blinked and said, “results.”

One of the more difficult obstacles coaches for those who serve inside organizations, i.e. churches, denominational structures and mission agencies, etc. view coaching merely as another program to be layered upon an already burdensome day-planner.

 

So put yourself in Vivian’s shoes, what would you do?

 

I’m sitting in Starbuck’s having just concluded a powerful coaching session with a leader who is beginning to successfully navigate the ministry journey from traditional to missional. While it is certainly true that this journey is one that never ends there are many things to be learned and experienced along the way. Today I asked this leader to share with me some things he’s learning about himself and his journey.  In no particular order they were:

 

Missional leaders care for their own souls. Too often this is an add-on at the end of any list of leadership characteristics but missional leaders put it number one. We all have so much to do that often we forget the restoration and reflection process for our own souls.

 

Missional leaders acknowledge Christ’s influence over the leadership process itself and submit all to God. They simply carry out their responsibilities with humility, submitting all their actions to the review of a holy God.

 

Missional leaders keep asking the right questions. It all boils down to “why do I get up in the morning?” What are my goals? My mission? Often we live truly bifurcated lives…we can learn from the Old Testament teachings that everything we do is an act of worship.

 

Missional leaders embrace diversity. They do not look for clones of themselves. It is so important for us to recognize that people who are different from us will strengthen the leadership team. “I have purposely sought people who have strengths that I do not have…my task is to get them all going in the right direction.”

 

Missional leaders submit to the “mirror” test. We have to make sure that the person we see in the mirror in the morning is the kind of person we want to see all through the day. Good leaders must be fortified against the greatest temptation and that is to do the things that are popular though not necessarily right. The quickest way to erode the core of our souls is to not have consistency in our lives…the word of God poured in our lives through the spiritual disciplines.

 

Missional leaders look far to the future. Leaders need to be thinking about themselves and where their organizations are going at least ten years out. I am not talking about a detailed ten year plan but where will the vision, the church be in ten years? It is not so much planning as anticipation. If the only kind of leadership you provide is the reactive kind, not the anticipatory, not the creative kind, then your church is going nowhere.

 

What discoveries are you making as you journey toward becoming more missional?

 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go!…” Luke 10-2-3

In two sentences Jesus Christ identified the barrier and the solution for His church to “bring in the harvest.” It is all about numbers of people willing to work, to serve…to lead. 

The ever increasing number of leaders is critical to the health of a church and it’s capacity to minister to people.  

The above ground church in western culture suffers from a number of maladies: irrelevance, distraction and decline just to name a few.  None of these could not be solved with a rapid increase of the numbers of leaders.

For the church to grow and to continue to serve more people through its various ministries we must increase our numbers of leaders.  Only a few people doing almost everything is not sustainable over the long haul. More people doing a fewer things is what can make the difference. It is not money, not talent, not even spiritual maturity…it is numbers of leaders that determines everything. 

This is why I make it a point to intentionally invest in lives of those God is calling to serve and lead in a monthly meeting of the Ministry Team of our church. In these monthly gatherings we learn from each other about what it is to be a disciple and a discipler of others.  We talk about things related to what goes on in the heart of a leader as Jesus shapes and molds him or her. We also deal with what goes on in a leaders head as we learn to think more strategically about  ministry. We also deal with the very practical things we can do with our hands as we earnestly look to serve our community and each other just like Jesus would. We invest in building leaders because we want to keep making a difference in our community for a long, long time. Long after I’m dead and gone.

The Ministry Team is not the hot shots or the most talented elite leaders it is for everyone who will simply say yes. That means it sometimes get messy and sometimes isn’t easy to deal with since, in the end, I believe church should be like little league and everyone gets to play. We can’t afford to invest in only the elite if we want the message of the kingdom to make much of a difference in our world.  

So who are you investing in for the sake of increasing the numbers of those who are serving others in Jesus’ name? How are you going about increasing their harvest capacity?  I’d like to hear what’s working in your world?