Let's keep it simple: Less management, more relationships

Here are some observations from the front lines of service:

There's a distinct difference between the ministry Christ had, and how he managed his disciples, and how churches conduct ministry and manage ministry.

Christ had clear, direct lines of communication between himself and the disciples. There was complete clarity on what needed to be done (even if there wasn't complete understanding of his teachings). He kept the counsel of his father, because his companions had some unusual or no understanding of what God's plan was.

Church communications today don't seem so clear, even with email and phones. Leadership by texting is not uncommon, and highly ineffective. As a business professional, I would never consider conducting business with clients by text, yet it seems to be an acceptable way to conduct relationships with ministry leaders.

All church leaders can't be completely aware of what's happening at the serving level, unless they are in continuous dialog with observers and participants in ministry. Too often valid observations are perceived as complaints; things that a professional organization would consider for continuous improvement are perceived as annoyances. There is little room for true innovation, because the model for innovation are the "best practices" of other churches or what is currently popular in church ministry circles (ie, copying what others have done) instead of solving a problem to create transformation.

Dave Browning at Neue states it very well: Less is more.

Less management, more relationships.  Focus on the relationships, and management will be easier.  Relationships are what create loyal followers and affinity for the cause.

Fewer distractions, more focus.  Embrace it!

Embracing your call to service

Do you find that there are times where God has called you to serve, but you haven't embraced it?

Aren't they the same thing? Not entirely.

It's easy, in the moment, or over time to accept God's calling to serve in a specific area (such as with youth or children or homeless or fill in the blank), but to embrace it means to live it.  To dive in fully, and to be completely engaged in it.  To fully surrender to serving in that area and to following the lead and call of God, even if the area of service isn't one that you entirely want to do, but it's one God wants you to fulfill.

It's not the obvious places of service that need embraced: it's the ones that are placed in our lives that we resist committing to.  Our churches emphasize service overseas or on the mission field or to our communities, but in our lives there are areas of service we overlook, we ignore, we resist – until one day we realize that our calling is right under our noses.

We need to learn to recognize the opportunities to serve in our families, our homes, or places of business, our schools.  The places where we spend the most time and with the people who surround us every day.

If we don't embrace those opportunities, why will God entrust us with bigger ones?  Perhaps these are the big ones, and every other opportunity we are hoping and praying for are deceptions or intended to blind us to what's been placed before us.  We're so easily distracted by the allure of "purpose" and "calling," that as we look beyond our current circumstances to where we think God is calling us to, that we fail to hear His voice where we are.

Serve well where you live, and other opportunities will follow.  To embrace is to love, to love is to serve.

Hello Christianity: Your message is losing relevance

Lacking any original ideas, popular culture Christian-themed media continues to render the message of the Bible irrelevant, unless it's in the context of other popular culture symbology and messaging.

For example: "The Light" shirt is a knockoff of the Twilight visual branding.  Blatant and embarrassing knockoff.

So why aren't more Christian-themed media or art copied?  It's not hard to figure out: we're slaves to the story.  Somehow we can't get away from the idea that we have to get the whole gospel message in every time we speak or say or create something.  In doing so, we lose focus, and in losing focus, others lose interest.  And if this is the best believers can do, then there's nothing compelling to inspire anybody else.

We don't have to include any message in our creativity.  Art needs no justification or reason to be.

Outside of the context of the movie, the shirt has little meaning. Little relevance.  Because without context, there is even more explaining to do about what it means.  Instead of starting a conversation, it just looks like a word that was misspelled.  That means its bad design too.

C'mon believers! You can do better than this!  Embrace the best.