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September 28, 2009

Organic Leadership - Chapter 4 Notes

I want to remind anybody that might be reading my notes, that these are just notes. I have not included my personal thoughts on the subjects being discussed. Maybe I'll do that at the very end.

Cole,Neil. Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009.

Chapter 4 - Still in the Dark Ages: Contributing to Ignorance in the Name of Scholarship

First, I will share a story that Cole uses to introduce this chapter. He talks about a time when he was talking with a veteran pastor and seminary professor (both are the same person) about the way the seminary students are evaluated for ordination as pastors. This man said that their needs to be a panel of professional pastors and seminary professors that will scrutinize each candidate. Cole suggested that the church appoint leaders to do this, rather than a committee that doesn't evan know the candidate. I will quote the rest of the story:

"He was not in favor of this because he felt that average churchgoers, without a theological education, would not have the astuteness to evaluate a candidate properly.

I asked the man how many years he had been pastor of the same church, and he answered proudly, 'Twenty years now.'

After a slight pause I said, "So you have been teaching the same people every week for twenty years (over a thousand sermons), and they do not know enough of the Bible to discern sound doctrine? What's wrong with your teaching?

There was stunned silence, and he looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

I asked, 'If twenty years is not enough, how many more years of your teaching do you think it would take before they would be abel to to tell the difference between good teaching and bad?'

More silence followed.

I continued, 'Would you call that good preaching if over twenty years your listeners are still unable to discern good teaching? Is that what qualifies you to scrutinize the ability of others to teach? Maybe we all need to reevaluate what good teaching truly is.'"

Six Ways Leaders Mistakenly Keep Christians in the Dark

1. It's All Greek to Me: Preaching from the Original Language - Cole is not opposed to using text in the original language in our study, or even occasionally in preaching. He is opposed to the practice of using it all the time, for the purpose of shedding new insights into the Bible that is not made cl ear in the English translations. "Often this practice hides what the pastors truly want: increased authority as a teacher" (pg. 78).
2. Heresy Hunters: Publicly Denouncing Other Bible Teachers - He is talking about leaders who publicly ridicule those with whom they disagree with. "The challenge is that the average Christian listening to these heresy hunters can easily feel intimidated and begin to believe he or she could also easily misinterpret Scripture and be susceptible to humiliation. Because of this, many stop thinking on their own and depend entirely on their pastor to tell them what to think" (pg. 79).
3. Gatekeepers for God: Protecting God's Word from His People - "While the heresy hunters feel they must protect God's people from false teaching, the gatekeepers believe their mission is to protect God's Word from abuse by his people" (pg. 79). The idea is that people will fall into heresy if they just read the Bible on their own without the educated teacher their to tell them how to properly interpret scripture. 
4. Truth Translators: Depending on Scholarly Notes - We live in a world where we have access to unlimited sources of Biblical scholarship. This is a good thing, but the problem is that many have become dependent upon using these extra-biblical sources that they cannot study the Bible without them. We need someone else to interpret scripture for us. 
5. Bottle-Fed Babies: Feeding the Flock - Many Christian rely upon someone else (usually the preacher on Sunday morning) to feed them spiritually. A common excuse people give when they decide to leave a particular congregation is that they never felt fed by the pastor's teaching. Shepherds lead the sheep to grass, but they don't stuff it into their mouths. The sheep are responsible for feeding themselves. If the sheep can't feed themselves, then the pastor gives them milk. We eat meat only when we consume God's Word for ourselves. "Solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Heb. 5:14).
"Could it be that in our desire to prevent false teaching, we have in reality dulled the senses of God's people and kept them immature? In this case they are more susceptible to bad teaching because they do not "have their senses trained to discern good and evil." The solution is not more teaching on deeper subjects but getting the saints habitually reading God's word! Of course, we risk that, as they read on their own, they may make some mistakes, but that indeed is how they learn to discern right from wrong, as opposed to simply taking their leader's word for it" (pg 82). 
6. The Junk Food Diet: Daily Devotional Readings -  Many Christians have a daily devotional time, but not in God's word. There is no substitute for God's word. 

"Jesus tells us plainly that the seed of God's kingdom is the Word of God (Mark 4:14). There is no substitute for God's Word planted in the good soil of an open heart. You cannot grow God's kingdom by planting a seed substitute" (pg. 84).

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September 27, 2009

Organic Leadership - Chapter 3

I'm not really going to outline this chapter since it was a bit longer. I'm just going to try and do a brief summary. 

Chapter 3 - Pharisaism Today: Protecting the Powerful 

The major point of this chapter is to expose ways in which Christian leadership has held the church hostage. This will actually be the main point of this and the next chapter. The one he discusses in this chapter is that Christian leadership has promoted spiritual practices with presumed biblical authority when in actuality they do not have any biblical support. 

Mark 7:6-9, 13 - He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 
   " 'These people honor me with their lips, 
      but their hearts are far from me. 
 7They worship me in vain; 
      their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

 9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!  
13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

Indulgences Today?

Cole discusses that he believes churches are still in the practice of selling indulgences today (see link if you are not familiar with this practice). Churches offer people a way of getting out of hell, and in return the church expects weekly meetings along with weekly contributions. If a church does not meet one week, then they will be missing money that they need to make the budget. This in turn leads the church to over-stress the importance of the Sunday gathering, making it a law that all faithful Christians must attend. He even gives an example of two people committing suicide in a church building before a Sunday morning service. While the police were investigating and the coroners office taking away the bodies, the leaders of the church were hanging a sign on the yellow crime scene tape that said, "Church Service Will Go On As Usual."

Along with this, he calls the trend to be consumeristic in our church meetings a form of selling indulgences. Examples are of churches paying people to attend, having a raffle drawing and the winner wins a new car, etc. He says that many leaders complain of the consumeristic mindset of the members, but the leaders are the ones who have trained them to be this way. "When we try and 'sell' our worship and programs to the largest crows possible, we will attract and reinforce a consumer mind-set" (pg. 61). Since so much focus is given to the Sunday assembly, church growth is no longer about how many people are saved because of the preaching of the gospel, but about how many people attend the Sunday assembly. 

The Most Important Thing

The main emphasis of this chapter is in this section. Why is the Sunday assembly so important? Cole encourages the readers to read through the New Testament again, with fresh eyes, and find where the New Testament commands us to gather on Sundays for a worship service like we have them today. "In the New Testament the pattern of church life was not a once-a-week worship service but it was a spiritual family, gathering regularly to live life together under the common headship of Jesus Christ with everyone fully participating" (pg. 62). Cole suggests that the one-another passages found in the NT are commands of how the church is supposed to live life together. These one-another passages are not fulfilled in our Sunday worship assemblies. 

Four Tough Questions

1. Does God need it? - Do we believe we must have a service every week because God needs it?
2. Do we need it? - Do we feel we must have services every week because if we do not, we Christians will start to fall away from God? He calls this "weak in faith and anemic."
3. Is this what the church is? - The power of Christ's kingdom is not found in buildings or religious ceremonies. It is found in a transformed heart. 
4. Do we need the money? - Do we feel the need to perpetuate worship services because if we do away with them, many pastors and worship leaders will be out of work? 

I will end with the warning Cole gave at the end of the chapter. Beware of being a Pharisee and making traditions equal (or more important) than biblical commands. Look at how  Paul handled the Galatian Christians and the Corinthian Christians. He was much harsher with the Galatians who were turning to legalism, than with the Corinthians who were putting up with a son sleeping with his fathers wife. Legalism is deadly.

There is a lot more to this chapter, but you will have to read it yourself to get the rest!

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September 23, 2009

Organic Leadership Notes - Chapter 1

Section One: "The Counterfeit Kingdom of Outside In" 
  • The first section looks at "weeds" in the Kingdom that hinder and prevent the growth of healthy leaders. 
  • "Because these weeds have been at home in the church for centuries (if not millennia in some cases), we are coaxed to believe they are natural and right. We have come to accept them as normal and have even endowed them with religious authority. As I address each one, you may even think I am trampling on holy stuff, but be patient with me. I am not anitchurch. If you read my words correctly, you will find that I am adamantly for the church. Be brave as you read and fix your focus on the Scriptures rather than on your traditions and experience" (pg. 31). 

Chapter One: "On Being Institutionalized: Depending on the Walls That Imprison You"
  • In this chapter Cole refers to the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption" to illustrate being institutionalized. The idea (if you haven't seen the movie) is that the longer you are in prison, the more you come to rely on the prison. Inside the prison walls you can be educated, influential, wise, etc., but on the outside of the prison walls you are just an ex-convict who probably can't even get a library card. Quote from the movie: "I'm telling you these walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes and you get so you depend on 'em. That's institutionalized." 
  • The comparison that Cole uses is that to leaders in the institutional church. Inside the church they are educated, wise, popular, etc., but on the outside of the institutional church they are unqualified to do any other type of job. The leader then gets his source of identity and purpose from the institution, which leads to the leader giving his life to maintain the institution. The leader has become a prisoner to the institution. 
  • A common question from leaders in the institutional church who want to follow a more organic form of faith (leave the institutional church) is, "How can I do this and support my family?" They can't leave the institution because they are not qualified to do anything else but work in the institution. 
  • Cole is not saying that we should get rid of the institution, but is challenging the church to see beyond the institution. He says that some are called to work in the institution and some people who are institutionalized, can't leave the institution. 
  • "Christ did not come to establish an institution. His kingdom and his church are meant to be relational and spontaneous movements, not organizations. It is his followers who created the "church institution" with layers of authority and solidified programs and practices that take on a sacred nature in and of themselves" (pg. 36).
  • Two lethal problems with being institutionalized:
  1. "First, the leader who has been institutionalized in the church, often unwittingly, places his or her faith in the institution rather than in the Lord" (pg. 37).
  2. "The second problem is we elevate the institution to the level of being God's main, if not his only, instrument on earth" (pg. 37). 
  • Co-Dependency 
    1. "While the rest of the church may need leaders for the ministry to carry on, the leaders may be just as needy, and some serve to satisfy this longing... Their identity is found in the neediness of others" (pg. 37). 
    2. Non church leaders don't want to take responsibility for kingdom growth, but rather leave that responsibility with the church leaders. 
    3. Church leaders continue to do all the work, which enables non church leaders (members) to continue to be irresponsible. 
    4. "Leaders need to be needed and admired, and often this is the result when they take all the responsibility for kingdom work. People place them on a pedestal because of the important things they do. Thus the cycle develops" (pg. 40). 
    5. The cycle of codependency and dysfunction must stop. 
    6. Cole talks about Acts 14 where Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra. Here are his points from this event:
    • The crowd began to treat Paul and Barnabas as gods. Paul and Barnabas refused to be treated this way and said that they were no different that the people of Lystra. He says that Christian leaders must do the same thing. Christian leaders are no different than the members and all of them must give an account to God, not just the leaders.
    • The second point is that it will cost you to break the cycle of disfunction. It wasn't too much later that the people of Lystra were stoning Paul and leaving him for dead. 

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    September 22, 2009

    Reading "Organic Leadership" by Neil Cole

    A while back I ordered the book, "Organic Leadership" by Neil Cole. I really love to read, especially books about church planting and the Christian life. When discussing with our mission team a while back about roles that each of us play on the team, I decided that one of my roles would be to share the information that I gain from reading these types of books. Up to this point, I haven't done very well at this. My goal is to change that, and one way that will help me is to post my notes on this blog. 

    Since I am sharing my notes in a public fashion like this, I have to make a few disclaimers:
    1. I am just sharing my notes on the book, not my personal thoughts. Just because I write it does not mean that I agree with it. 
    2. My goal is not to write a paper for an English class. This means that I will not accurately make notations all the time. 
    3. I will not cover everything in each chapter for the sake of keeping it short. 

    My goal is to just post short bits as I read, so that some of you will actually read the notes. I know that if the notes are too long then people won't read them. I hope you enjoy. If it seems like nobody is reading, then I will probably stop posting my notes on the blog and just share them with our team through email.

    Cole,Neil. Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009.

    Introduction:

    • Pastors are often the bottleneck in the ministry of the church.  
    • Spiritually Plateaued Leadership
      1. A spiritually plateaued leader avoids relationships of personal accountability.
      2. A spiritually plateaued leader rarely applies the truths of God's Word to him- or herself personally.
      3. A spiritually plateaued leader has replaced his or her joy, peace, and love with envy and resentment.
      4. A spiritually plateaued leader frequently looks for greener pastures in other places. This is talking about the person who blames their situation for lack of fruitfulness in their ministry, rather than themselves. This person thinks that if they just go somewhere else, then they can be more fruitful. 
      5. A spiritually plateaued leader finds faults in others more often than in self. 
      6. A spiritually plateaued leader is burned-out from lots of busyness that has been substituted for simple intimacy with Christ.
      7. A spiritually plateaued leader compromises on ethical principles once held dear. This is talking about using grace and liberty as a license to sin.
      8. A spiritually plateaued leader stays within safe areas of expertise rather than branching out into new learning endeavors. 
      9. A spiritually plateaued leader is unable to acknowledge the wisdom of others. 
      10. A spiritually plateaued leader has reduced the Christian life to a routine. 
    • The Impact of Spiritually Plateaued Leadership
      1. Poor leadership needs to control all ministry.
      2. Poor leadership needs to filter God's voice. This is talking about the idea that people can't understand God's word without us telling them what God meant. 
      3. Poor leadership promotes upper-class Christianity. This is talking about the distinction between "normal" Christians and those in the ministry. Clergy & Laity 
      4. Poor leadership emphasizes knowledge at the expense of obedience .
      5. Poor leadership sees church as a worship service more than a service of worship. I'll just write what Cole wrote to explain what he meant.
        • For many people church has become nothing more than a Sunday morning religious event, and church growth means having more and more people attending the service. This is far removed from what the Bible teaches. The words church and pastor in the New Testament had completely different meanings than they do for us today, but we are unaware of this because we read the Bible with the understanding we have gained from our own experience. This has led us to some strange practices that we do not question because our baseline of truth about the church is so far removed from biblical truth. For example, we see church as a standard order of service. We stick to it so religiously that we assume it must be prescribed somewhere in the Bible, since we all adhere to it so firmly -- an upbeat song, followed by short announcements, followed by three more songs, an offering, and a skit. Then we have a sermon and a final song and closing benediction or prayer. 
        • You may be thinking, What's wrong with that? Well, nothing really, except that we have done it every single week for centuries, so that in the conscience of people this defines church. It is so common today that we do not even see the "strangeness" of our practices. We assume they are right, without questions, even though no such practice is found in the New Testament. Frankly, church services share more in common with The Tonight Show than they do with the New Testament. (pg. 26-27)
      6. Poor leadership is lured by fame and fortune. This is talking about the preacher who wants popularity, wants to speak at all the big conferences, write best selling books, etc. 

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