Tim Keller on Church- Part 2

A few more thoughts from Keller's book on church:

• Because young adults are particularly sensitive to injustice, it is possible and necessary to show them that human rights and justice make far more sense in a world made by God than in a world that is not made by God.  My own thoughts- this completely makes sense.  Instead of Christians arguing for creation against evolution, we ought to instead be arguing for God's creation of the world (and that could include pieces from a creationist perspective and an evolutionary perspective) against perspectives that have no room for God.  Issues such as civil rights, care of the environment, sex trafficking, and so many more issues only make sense in a worldview with a Creator.  If our world is purely evolutionary and survival of the fittest without a Creator, then issues of justice are mute. 
• In the end, Christians live not to increase the prosperity of our own tribe and group through power plays and coercion but to serve the good of all the people of the city (regardless of what beliefs others hold).
• A missional church will be more deeply and practically committed to deeds of compassion and social justice than traditional fundamentalist churches and more deeply and practically committed to evangelism and conversion than traditional liberal churches.  This kind of church is profoundly counterintuitive to American observers, who are no longer able to categorize it as liberal or conservative.  Only this kind of church has any chance in the non-Christian West.
• Effective churches will be so involved in deeds of mercy and justice that outsiders will say “we cannot do without churches like this.  This church is channeling so much value into our community that it if were to leave the neighborhood, we would have to raise taxes”.

Tim Keller on Church- Part 1

One of the meatier books I've read in awhile was Tim Keller's Center Church.  It's meaty for a couple reasons:

• First, Keller is so smart and so well-read.  The footnotes section at the end of each chapter could  make up their own book, and a good book it would be!  
• Second, the idea of church and how we 'do' church continues to evolve and become much more allusive, especially as our culture develops and evolves.  As humans, we constantly want to categorize churches (and people for that matter) as liberal or conservative, progressive or fundamental, as focused on saving souls or feeding the hungry.  Keller's book moves away from these "either-or" distinctions and instead moves towards including the best of both perspectives.

It's a big book, and since I don't like long posts, I'm breaking the takeaways into smaller pieces.  Here's part 1:

• Contextualization is not ---  as is often argued --- “giving people what they want to hear”.  Rather it is giving people the Bible’s answers, which they may not at all want to hear, to questions about life that people in their particular time and place are asking, in language and forms they can comprehend, and through appeals and arguments with force they can feel, even if they reject them.
• Here is a beautiful paradox that is easy to miss: the fact that we must express universal truth in a particular cultural context does not mean that the truth itself is somehow lost or less universal.
• There is no universal presentation of the gospel for all people

Part 2 tomorrow  . . . 

Bob the Builder and the Free Will Debate

In Dan Pink's book To Sell is Human, he references the cartoon character Bob the Builder as a helpful resource when it comes to overcoming a problem.  Pink argues that instead of deflating talk ("I can't do this" or "This project is too hard") or inflating talk ("I am the best at this" or "I was made for this problem") to instead approach problems with Bob the Builder's approach- "can we fix it?".

My kids used to love Bob the Builder (and sadly are now too old for this kid's cartoon) and every episode Bob and the gang are confronted with a problem- a home to fix, a road to build- and they always ask "can we fix it?".  Pink argues that this interrogative approach is better than self defeat or self confidence because it allows you and I the opportunity to consider the problem and then go about mapping a plan.  In the cartoons, the question is always met with a "yes we can!", which would certainly fall into the inflating talk category, but Pink's point is that the asking of the question, the pausing and the considering, allow us the opportunity to devise a plan and go about solving the problem.

Beyond the obvious applications to a person's home or work environments, though, is the theological perspective beyond Bob the Builder.  When I teach ethics or talk with a Christian, it isn't long until we begin tackling the question of humanity and free will.  How free are we to make our choices?  How determined is my life?  How much does God control and how much room do we have to freely operate?

There's obviously lots of different and acceptable answers to these questions (which are beyond the scope of this blog!), but what always strikes me is how a free will perspective better aligns with Bob the Builder and the "yes we can" perspective.  If you believe you are free to make your own choices, you're more likely to emulate Bob the Builder.

The 'Powerful' Non-profit

It is interesting to witness power in places where you'd never expect to find it.

Sioux Falls has so many great non-profits- places with people doing so much good work in the effort care for the folks Jesus referred to as the least of these.  There's places that serve meals, places that provide shelter, places that provide clothing, places that provide counseling, places that provide job training, and the list goes on.  Our community, from my perspective, does a great job in resourcing these non-profits, whether it's financial contributions (that come through United Way efforts, church support, or individual donations) or volunteer commitments (serving meals, mentoring children, sorting through thrift stores, delivering furniture).

And as great as these places are- and as great as the people who make up these places are- none of us can ever escape the reality of our human condition and from time to time that condition includes the susceptibility each of us has to being seduced by power.  To being seduced by the idea that because we are successful (or were successful) or that we are making a difference (or were making a difference).  To being seduced to the belief that because we serving some of humanity's most vulnerable citizens, those who partner with them ought to be grateful for the experience of partnering with them, even if the non-profit comes across as smug or arrogant.

Those of us who work in organizations where either the revenue (i.e. donations) or the workforce (i.e. volunteers) are largely voluntary need to remember that people's donations and time are fixed resources and in today's day and age, there's way more opportunities with which to spend those fixed resources then there used to be.

Playing the power card isn't a useful long term strategy.  

Are You an Ambivert?

For years we've been told people are either introverts or extroverts.  Turns out there is a third category- an ambivert- a hybrid if you will between an introvert and extrovert.  Find out if you fit this new hybrid label by taking a very quick assessment here.

The Icarus Deception

Seth Godin's latest book certainly has an interesting title yet continues Godin's proven tradition of providing inspirational and thought-provoking writing for people in a wide variety of endeavors.  If you've read Godin before or follow his blog, some of the book feels like a review of previous work, but even if that's the case, this book will still fire you up!

One of the more interesting takeaways:

No one ever gets talker’s block.  No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say, and sits quietly, for days or weeks, until the muse hits, until the moment is right, until all the craziness in life has died down.  Why, then, is writer’s block endemic?

The application is for more than just writers.  Few of us ever have a problem with knowing what to say, what to talk about, or explaining ourselves.  Many of us, though, do have a problem when it comes to creating something.
  

The 3:1 Ratio

On a quick up and back trip to North Dakota for a funeral, I was able to listen to several chapters of this book.  I'm not through with it, but it is fascinating read (or in my case, listen!).  Don't let the title fool ya- more of us are in 'sales' then we think and there's applications for programmers, teachers, ministers, parents, coaches, administrators, and sales people too.

One of the things that struck me was what the author called the 3:1 ratio.  Pink draws on extensive social science research demonstrating the proper ratio between positive and negative feedback is 3:1.  So if you're a parent or a coach or a manager or a leader, for every piece of negative feedback you give, you should strive to give three pieces of positive feedback.

Simple enough, right?!

Unfortunately, I think sometimes we err on the extremes by either giving all negative feedback with no positive feedback or giving all positive feedback with no negative feedback.  Pink writes on the latter, saying that if we go too extreme with the ratio (say 10 or 11 pieces of positive feedback for every negative feedback), then you come off as well, cheesy or syrupy (and we all know someone like that, right?!).

Don't be surprised if there's more from this book in future posts . . .

The Difference Between Wrong and Annoying

I'll be the first to admit it- too often I discipline my kids for behavior that if I am honest is annoying but not wrong.  I'll treat it as if it is wrong and I'll hand out consequences as if the action was wrong, but in reality, nothing wrong took place.  No physical harm to a sibling.  No lie told.  No toy stolen.  No words meant to cut down.  The behavior- at the time- simply annoyed me and so I reacted with discipline.

These are never my finest moments.  And while I am sure people who work with kids more closely than I- teachers, counselors, youth workers, etc- have already learned this lesson, I am a slow learned as I continue to muddy the two.