Bracketology

March Madness is one of my favorite times of year. I love the excitement of the tournament that ultimately crowns our national champion on April 7th.

Who are you picking to "win it all"?

Customizing Spiritual Formation

In Reggie McNeal's DVD Curriculum "The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church" our Leadership Board has been challenged to reconsider some of the questions we have asked ourselves in the past. Reggie strongly believes we have been asking the wrong questions, and that we need to ask the tough questions if we want to be effective in reaching people today with the Gospel of Jesus. For example:

Wrong Question: How do we do church better?

Tough Question: How do we deconvert from "churchianity" to Christianity?

Wrong Question: How do we grow our church (how do we get them to come to us)?

Tough Question: How do we transform our community (how do we hit the streets with the gospel)?

Wrong Question: How do we turn members into ministers?

Tough Question: How do we turn members into missionaries?

All of these tough questions, if diligently asked, have deep implications for us as the people of God.

Recently our Leadership Board wrestled with another "new reality" from "The Present Future" that we must face if the church is going to be relevant today. That reality is the return to spiritual formation.

Wrong Question: How can we develop better church members?

Tough Question: How can we develop followers of Jesus?

Ultimately spiritual formation is about developing people. Reggie calls for the church to develop a customized development path for the people we are reaching. He writes, "Spiritual formation will be concerned more and more with helping people debrief their lives. It will happen increasingly outside church classrooms and schedules, and it will be intergenerational."

I found it interesting to read Reggie's description of what it means to customize a development path. He says, "Spiritual formation in the emerging world will be much more customized to meet the needs of the person rather than an invitation for people to attend a class or participate in a seminar or follow whatever template the church has created for personal growth.... Perhaps we will begin with an interview that asks them to declare how they most experience God, how they would like to grow, how they would like to serve others, how they would like to be coached, and how they can be prayed for."

Maybe Reggie's got something! Perhaps a customized approach supported by a life coaching culture would yield greater fruit and greater individual ownership of spiritual formation.

One of the things that continues to be a source of frustration for me as a ministry leader is the lack of individual ownership that people have of their own journey with Jesus, and their comfortable dependency on others to deliver God's goods to them. With our approach toward spiritual formation have we inadvertently given people permission to not be self-feeders?

Much like a personal trainer at the local health club, should we not come along side of people where they are and ask them:

1) What would you like to see God do in your life over the next 6 months?

2) How can we help?

3) How often do we need to get together to talk about this?

So here's my question. How would you go about implementing this so that the culture of the church could become one of mass customization supported by a coaching culture? Please share your thoughts.

Aslan Is On The Move

In CS Lewis' great work, "The Lion , the Witch, and the Wardrobe" there is this profound, yet simple statement made to Peter and Susan. "Aslan is on the move." Even though they have not seen this Aslan, there is a certain encouragment that comes with that declaration. Of course later in CS Lewis' famous work we discover that Aslan is a lion that conquers the enemy and brings new life and freedom to the captives. We're told that "He is good, but not safe."

I love the way Lewis introduces us to the fact that "God is on the move." He is moving in our lives, moving in our world. He is not confined to the Church, not confined to our activities as Christians. It is becoming increasingly prominent in my thinking that we, as God's people, need to be aware of where "Aslan is moving" and join Him there.

So, I challenge you to open your eyes each day and ask yourself this question, "Where did I see God moving today?" Perhaps it would be helpful to get started by sharing what you've seen?

Where have you seen God moving recently?