The Importance of Voting for Say Thanks Every Day
Posted on January 13, 2009
The other day Bill Kinnon wrote a kind post about the Johnny Bunko contest in which I am a finalist. The vote continues through this Thursday, January 15.
I writing to ask that you vote for Say Thanks Every Day at the http://www.johnnybunko.com/contestballot/.
Here’s the deal. This is a contest about ideas. There are three ideas.
Mine - Say Thanks Every Day
and two others, Do It Now and Stay Hungry.
These ideas matter in different ways. They communicate values that are important for different reasons. The question for us is what values do we want to endorse and see affirmed in the public sphere.
The winning idea won’t just get a press release and then go away. It will be promoted in ways that will influence others.
It is my conviction that gratitude is a value that our world needs.
People around the country have written me to say they voted. They represent a silent majority of people who don’t believe that Doing It Now or Staying Hungry represents the way they choose to live.
I asking for all you in the Missional Tribe to vote for Say Thanks Every Day. Idon’t ask this lightly. I’m not asking you to vote for me. I am just the messenger in this story. The message of living a life of gratitude is important in itself. I’ve come to understand that we have an opportunity to Create a Revolution of Thanks and Welcome by doing so.
You can cast your vote until Midnight EST Thursday January 15 at http://www.johnnybunko.com/contestballot/.
Please also ask your family and friends to do the same.
» Filed Under Thanks | Leave a Comment
Why Missional is the Future
Posted on January 10, 2009
The overwhelming success of the launch of the Missional Tribe social network this week points to a hidden truth about all social movements.
All movements whether they are in their birth stage or institutional one are inherently exclusionary. They have the unintended or intended consequence of dividing people into two groups, insiders and outsiders. As a result, social movements are also intentionally inwardly focused. They are intended to build commitment to a circle of people who share a common ideal.
In social network theory, we’d say that social movements inevitably evolve toward being a closed network where everyone knows or believes the same things. The result is resistance to outsiders, to new ideas and to change, and the ultimately, the possibility of expanded influence and impact.
Many of these social movement begin as a rejection of the closed social network that they are apart of, and yet, because they are trying to distinguish themselves from that group, these social movements have a tendency toward divisiveness. Over time they too become resistant to change and closed to outsiders.
If you are a Presbyterian, you know what I mean. We are the Split-Ps because we are constantly splitting over distinctive interpretations of scripture and our Book of Order. I’m not saying that the issues aren’t legitimate. I’m saying that as a social movement, my denomination like others, and like social movements in general, are reactionary and inherently closed to outsiders and their ideas.
Another example. I have no political affiliation. I find both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party in the US as closed, divisive social movements that are destructive of the common good in our society. I’m convinced that the global mess that we find ourselves is their responsibility. It is divisive because I find virtually impossible to affirm the best of the progressive and conservative views and criticize the worst without being treated as a outsider to the cause.
I find many of the reformed movements within the church equally so. I realize that I am not mincing words in my critique here, but it is for a purpose. It is make the point that what we see as progress in the church is rarely so, because the cycle of reaction, reform and institutionalization is a pattern that I’ve watched take place for decades. It has not brought progress, but reduced influence in society and a loss of credibility to the Gospel.
It is from this perspective that I concluded a long time ago that “missional” is not a social movement. It is not inherently different from other reform efforts. However, there is no real anti-missional movement. Missional is not a social movement that seeks to distinguish itself against other movements. It is a category wholly separate and distinct. I know some people will try to create a missional movement out of this effort, but what they create is not missional, but something else with the name missional.
Most social movements are inwardly focused. They are ways to self-consciously distinguish members from others. The labels or branding we apply to these movements is what convinces me of this reality. However. missional is not essentially a self-conscious identity statement. Rather it is an orientation toward all things we do in the church.
Missional really says nothing about me, and everything about the focus of my efforts. It is an outwardly focused idea. To be missional is to turn away from a concern about who I am or who we are, to who are they who need my help or who need to discover the love of God.
Missional verges on being a character based concept. Being missional says something about the character of the person, the church, or the movement, not their ideology.
Being missional says I am focused outwardly. I’m not primarily interested in what my identity is or who I am in relation to other people. I am missional because this is how God calls me to be. It is the attitude of the servant responsive to God’s call to go and serve.
Unfortunately, missional is becoming a label to define people who are and who are not. Once we adopt the label, the obligation to live missionally is over. Claim the name, and we are it.
Missional is a strategy that cuts across all aspects of the church. Every program can be missional. Every event can be missional. Every sermon, hymn, prayer and communion service. Every church, denomination and social movement can be missional. This is so because it is how we function as the church. It is not the church.
Inherent in the missional ideal is openness. Openness to one another, regardless of background or tradition. More importantly, openness to God’s Spirit leading us out of our closed institutional ecclesiological systems, into a less self-conscious, Spirit responsive life as the church.
Every person and church, every social movement, can be missional, and remain who they identify themselves to be. Missional is the common ground upon which the future of the church will be established. This is the future that is ours.
» Filed Under Missional, Presbyterian, social movement | 5 Comments
Social Networking in the Missional World
Posted on January 7, 2009
I’ve very excited about Missional Tribe. Already I’m finding it providing me ways for meeting and interacting with people who are interested in missional stuff that I didn’t have before. Blake Huggins asked a question about Triiibes, a social network that Seth Godin, marketing guru created to accompany his fantastic book Tribes. I’d like to broaden my response to my experience of exploring online social network tools. Understand, this is my perspective that has bascially been developed just over the past few weeks.
I’m connected in Missional Tribe, Triiibes, altMBA, Facebook, Plaxo, LinkedIn, SwampFox and Twitter. And I have a blog - Leading Questions and 149 feeds in my blog reader. Here’s the truth. None of those receive adequate attention except my blog. I’ve been in Facebook the longest. I do virtually nothing in LinkedIn and Plaxo. I joined Triiibes two weeks ago, and Missional Tribe and altMBA yesterday. I signed up with Twitter a year ago, tried it, stopped and restarted it a month ago.
Here’s my take on all this. Think of there being a spectrum of online involvement beginning with the traditional static display website that functions as fancy information brochures. Then you have weblogs and web portals that act as gateways to other information sources online. Facebook is in the middle of this spectrum. It brings groups together, with a combination of information feed and group gathering. The social networks like Missional Tribe, that uses WordPress, and those that use Ning as a platform, are more communally interactive. These social networks while similar to Facebook are topical. Facebook is relationship network based. In other words, the experience is built around the person and their multiple interests, rather that an interest that brings people together. And there is Twitter, a different animal all together.
How should we understand all these online vehicles for human interaction?
First, I’d say they are works in progress. None of these programs do everything, nor are they completely satisfying.
Second, we should understand that they are just tools. The experience we have with them is not a complete social experience. The best of them are focused what they do best. The WordPress/Ning type platform is the best I’ve found for providing a diverse level of interaction.
Third, none of these platforms are a replacement for real face-t0-face human contact. There are real limitations on the social interaction of each of these approaches. So, it is best to approach them with a bit of skepticism.
Twitter is the most unique of the bunch. I use TweetDeck as my Twitter application. It sort of floats on the screen with Tweets refreshed every minute. The purpose of Twitter is different the the rest. Think of most of these sites as online third places where you go and visit. You go to hang out with your Facebook friends. Twitter instead is much more like a text message or phone. It is more conversational. You are limited to 140 characters of space per message. You have to be sucinct. You can respond, respond directly or retweet. Each is a way to carry the conversation forward. Guy Kawasaki in his new book Reality Check says that the purpose of Twitter is to build trust. In other words, it isn’t to tell the world that you are brushing your teeth, though you could. Instead it is to demonstrate how you think, what you value, what you do and what information you are interested in. Over time, a perception of who people are develops. Either people trust you or they don’t.
Another platform I’m on is SwampFox/Jute which is a regional business network here in the SouthEast. As described to me, SwampFox is also built on trust. I was told this example. A medical doctor who is also an inventor created a medical device. He wanted to make contact with the CEO of a medical equipment manufacturer in his state. Through SwampFox he sent the CEO a request for a meeting. No phone call or email was exchanged. Instead, the CEO went to the physician inventor’s profile and found him to be trustworthy. He contacted him and set up a meeting with the R&D department, and within six months, the device was prototyped and ready to be produced for the market. SwampFox is
So, what does all this have to do with the missional tribal world?
There is a brief Seth Godin video on a post I made yesterday where he in essence says that if you are just looking to score then these social network tools are a waste of time. They are useless. However, if you are looking to help, to contribute and to elevate the life of the tribe, then there are real benefits to participating.
I’ve decided that I will participate in those social network sites where I feel I can make a difference through my contributions. Missional Tribe is one of those places. As for the others, I’ll have to see over time.
Let me end with two questions that I asked on Twitter the other day. My point is to do a simple survey of activity.
1. How many social networks, like Missional Tribe, are you a member of?
2. How many social network tools do you use, whether regularly or on occasion?
Thanks very much.
An Additional Thought:
The real value of this social network is in participating in conversations on various topics. Blogging is great, but it is really secondary to the interaction we can be having here. Start a discussion at the Campfire. Take a thought you have and turn it into a question that others can answer. That’s what I’m looking for.
» Filed Under Missional, Social Network | 3 Comments
Creating a Revolution of Thanks and Welcome
Posted on January 7, 2009
Part of the missional ideal for me is the expression of thanks and welcome. We give thanks to God and one another for the good things given to us. We extend welcome as an expression of gratitude in the same way. We share out of hearts of gratitude rather than from obligation, and our giving makes a difference beyond the act itself.
I’ve learned a lot about this over the past month as a result of reading Daniel Pink’s fine book on career’s The Adventures of Johnny Bunko. It is a very wise book about how to think about careers. Pink describes well the arch of my own career path. During the summer, he offered to provide a few books to those who would host a discussion of the book. I arranged with him to provide books for the 15 Roan Scholars at East Tennessee State University . We had a great time talking about the six lessons that he offers in the book.
1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses
3. It’s not about you.
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.
Next Dan Pink was moved by his readers to establish a contest to write the 7th Johnny Bunko lesson. My first reaction became Say Thanks Every Day. I know in my own faith experience, this certainly holds true. I’m grateful for all the people and experiences that I’ve had.
In mid-December, I received word that my 7th lesson had been selected as one of the three finalists. With that began a whirlwind experience of asking people to vote, and reflecting on what I had found myself in. During the first week of the voting I began to realize that there is something greater here than this vote. I began to see a vision for what would happen if we “created a revolution of thanks and welcome.”
Consider this.Imagine your church or business or family becomes know as a place of gratefulness or as a place of welcome to all. Imagine what this means for the reception of God’s love in the experience of people if there is a shared experience of thanks and welcome.
I’ve had some push back on my 7th lesson thinking that it is simply a nice, sweet idea. Sappy was one way it was characterized. The other two 7th lessons - Do It Now and Stay Hungry - seem to be stronger ideas. I disagree. Both seem to be much easier because they are self-serving and not self-giving. I’ve gotten to know one of the other finalists, and I understand her reasoning, and accept it, though I don’t think that is the general way her lesson is taken.
I may be out of bounds in asking, but I’d like ask each of you to vote for Say Thanks Every Day. As far as winning the contest, I’d be happy if my new finalist friend was to win. However, I do think the message of gratitude is important one for our time.
Everyday I’m encountering people who are wrapped up in fear and dispair over their personal and professional situations. The recession is hitting a lot of people, organizations, even churches very hard. I believe that having an grateful attitude is an important way to see the opportunities that are present even in hard times. It is a way that we connect with people in a personally meaningful and socially fulfilling way.
In addition, if Say Thanks Every Day wins the contest, then a platform for promoting this idea globally emerges. It gives us all a reason to speak about why we should be grateful. It opens up ways for us to welcome people into our homes and churches, to our communities and businesses so that we create communities of thankfulness.
I believe this is far more important than the contest. The contest goes through Thursday, January 15.
Please vote and tell your friends and colleagues to vote. I’ve been writing about the contest at my Leading Questions blog and I’ve set up a Facebook group to encourage engagement with the idea of Saying Thanks Every Day. Sign up, comment, and most importantly, make a point of Saying Thanks to someone every day.
» Filed Under Thanks | 4 Comments
The Missional Shift
Posted on January 7, 2009
THE MISSIONAL SHIFT
We are all in transition. We are moving from where we are today to where we will be tomorrow. We’ve put many different words on this transition. Chaos. Change. Journey. Exile. The reality is that none of these words captures precisely what is happening. Chaos seems to lack order or purpose. Change seems too random. Journey is too linear. Exile seems too lost.
I see and experience these shifts as a minister who lives in the world of organizations as a leadership and planning consultant. In my estimation, we are presently at the beginning of a transition of monumental proportions. This transition affects us personally. It affects us spiritually. It affects us organizationally. Ultimately, this will be an experience of total transformation. I am convinced that God is in the midst of this transition. We need to ask for his guidance as we seek to understand what is happening in our world
As a consultant who works with churches in a planning context, I am seeing how the transitions we are experiencing are manifested in specific shifts. I believe that the most significant shift taking place in the church is a missional one. Let me outline a few of these congregational shifts.
MEMBERSHIP Shift
From Membership to Personal Call
From Institution to Community
From Consumer to Contributor
The most significant shift is from a Membership identity to a Personal Call to faith and service. As members participate more, their interaction becomes more personal, less formal, and the church becomes less an Institution representing certain historic spiritual and cultural values, and more a place where I find people with whom I can share my life. Faith experience becomes a genuine experience of learning and exploration. As a result, the church becomes a place that is more personally meaningful and socially fulfilling. While there is plenty evidence that consumerist membership remains the prevailing model, I see evidence that being a member of a church is becoming more contributor focused. A shift is taking place where church membership is being experienced as a personal call to faith and service, as participation in a faith community through contributions that are personally meaningful and socially fulfilling.
WORSHIP Shift
The current debate places the dividing line in worship between Contemporary and Traditional forms. The way we worship is the way we do church. Everything follows from how we understand what takes place in worship. More than anything else we do in the church, how we worship establishes our self-identity as the church. From my vantage point, I see a complex picture of the church’s worship in transition.
I see a shift away from a Sermon-centric, Music-centric, Sunday-centric & Performance-centric types of Worship. I’ve seen each of those types emphasized in churches where I’ve been involved over the past thirty plus years. I don’t believe any of these forms fully represent the way we worship in the church.
I see a shift toward to a more integrated worship where the liturgy of music, arts, prayer, scripture, sermon and congregational response all fit together into a unified experience. The traditional parts of a worship service are now integrated and reformatted for fostering an experience of God’s presence and communal unity. The worship service represented in this shift isn’t about self-consciously creating an experience for an audience. Rather, the experience is a by-product of the integration of the elements of worship where Jesus Christ is lifted up, the Holy Spirit called upon, and God the Father honored. The service provides an experience of God’s presence that fulfills the desire for worship to be personally meaningful, and as a shared experience of communal unity that is socially fulfilling.
COMMUNICATION Shift
Most of my interaction with churches has come through planning processes. If we understand these processes as a means of the congregation communicating with itself, then we can identify another important shift taking place. In the past, planning was done by an elite committee of leaders, typically all male, who wrote a long range plan that was adopted and thrust upon the congregation with very little prior input. Today, planning processes are much more conversational. The significance of this shift is as much spiritual as it is organizational.
The shift is from a One-Way, Formal Distribution of Information to a Multi-directional, more informal Conversation as a Community. From this perspective, communication happens within the church’s social context through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. I have learned through these projects the importance of recognizing the relationship between members of the church and those ordained to leadership. More specifically, when a congregation wide conversation is conducted, we are affirming our belief and a spiritual truth that Christ’s Spirit lives in each believer. No one person speaks for the whole church. Rather those ordained to leadership roles function as listeners and discerners of the Holy Spirit’s leading. The shift is an elevation of the member as a participant and contributor to the whole life of the church with a more focused role of leaders as servants of the Holy Spirit.
From the mundane notion of communication through conversation, I see congregations experiencing for the first time what it means to live a shared community experience. It is important enough to say that all change begins in conversation.
MISSIONAL Shift
The most significant transition in the church is a missional one. It is simple. It is a shift from the church as a place for spectators to a place of participants. I saw this coming twenty years ago where the church I served simply wanted me to be the curator for their museum of memories. They worshiped the past, and that past wasn’t worth celebrating. As with many churches, they are backing into future wondering how to preserve their comfort and security as believers.
The Missional impulse is outward, out the door, into the streets, homes, businesses and playgrounds of communities near and far. It is a shift marked by greater integration of all aspects of the life of the church. It is a shift toward a greater experience of God’s love and grace in the context of communal unity and service. It is a shared experience of personal meaning and social fulfillment. At its heart, it is the church giving itself away.
This Missional Shift is not an organizational movement like so many. It is rather a way to represent the internal change happening in churches by God’s spirit that is expressed in action.
As I have sought to understand what I am seeing and experiencing as a professional consultant, a minister and a Christian believer, I come to understand that there are three actions that we must take for this missional impulse to take root in our individual churches.
First, accept the responsibility to take personal initiative to live one’s life for Christ in acts of worship and service.
Second, to enter into conversation with one another that opens up our perceptions of who we are, and what God is doing through us.
Third, respond daily, with discernment and passion, to the needs of the world that God places in our path.
Too much of our lives are caught up in debating non-essential questions about whether the church is a business or not, or whether one denomination is more righteous or damned than another.
At the end of the day, all that matters is how has my life reflected in action the love of God that I have received in form of the grace of Christ’s forgiveness. From this attitude of the servant, a missional ideal will grow and achieve its impact in our churches and our world. It cannot simply be another campaign or movement. Rather, it must be a transition that marks the transformation of our hearts. This is the missional shift that I see growing in our world today.
» Filed Under Missional, Transition | Leave a Comment
