like a fire

Pseudo discipleship

Another great blog about discipleship. This one is very challenging to the insitutional church of America. By the fruit of the people in the church, Seth calls out the practices of the modern church and asks how are we effectively discipling in our churches. The fruit he sees is a church that is unaffected by the gospel and is addicted to the status quo. I certainly see elements of this in the churches of America, but how do we help those people (me) to live a life that is constantly want comfort over truth and status over change? That reminds me, there is actually a ministry here in O-town called status. I can’t believe it. I’m sure that it is well intended, but I can’t think of very many names that make me cringe more.

My discipleship definitions (part 1)

I just read several definitions from Seth Barnes that are really a great reminder of what discipleship is all about. I especially like the idea that discipleship is waking people to the identity in the kingdom. Check it out.

churchrelevance.com » Five Questions that Kill a Big Vision

I just read this short article from Church Relevance about how people kill vision. I have always thought that vision is essential to continual growth especially in a group. We all look for vision and yet we all have ways of killing vision. The biggest of course is how will we do it? The rest of the list comes back into that question as if they were sub headings.

Why would anyone want to kill vision? There is a long list, I think. I was reading another blog that had a great quote that speaks to this though.

The level of your audacity is tied to your view of GOD. Yup, I think that’s it.

I have been writing often about the idea that process is king over outcome based programs. Not many people have seen what I mean by it and many just scratch their heads and give me the big W. So here is more fodder for everyone to react to.

One of the reasons focusing on the process is preferable to going for the outcome is the leap factor. This is where the outcome is a good one but is so far removed from where the person actually is that it makes it impossible for them to achieve the outcome without significant frustration. This works in reverse as well. If someone is asked to achieve an outcome that is too easy for them, they will in all likelihood become bored before they achieve it. Imagine (or just look at my diagram) a chart where one axis is hard and one is easy in difficulty.

Outcome driven programs look to a specific measuring point in the future that strive for that point. This point doesn’t recognize the origin of the user and disregards the path it takes to get to the measurable outcome. In this scenario, the user is left to evaluate where they are and decide on a plan of action that will be required to get to the outcome.

The most likely scenario is that the user will not be close the the outcome and have no ability to create a path to achieve the outcome. This usually starts with a very focused effort leading to frustration and then a tapering off into a more easy path leading to apathy. The outcome is never achieved and the user eventually just gives up. If the outcome is the model and there is no clear direction for getting there (process), then the user is left to their own resources for getting to the outcome. Only the extraordinary achieve the outcome this way.

The process focuses on the steps the user will need to take to get to the outcome. This insures short-term, measurable goals that can be tailored to the user and help them remain satisfied with their progress. In this way they are more likely to stay the course and actually make it to the overall outcome. It is obvious that goals and outcomes are necessary in this process, but they are a minimal focus of the overall purpose of the user. The user is more satisfied in the process while recognizing short-term goals that are achieved than in long-term failure of the overall outcomes.

For more on this idea, read Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

OK, a while back I wrote about several youth zines and I was especially discouraged by the first run of the Journal of Student Ministries. Actually this is an old magazine that has just undergone a buyout by Zondervan, so it isn’t really a startup. My big issue with it was it’s look. It was very hard to read and just looked less professional than I thought a publication of this caliber ought to be.

Today in my in box was the new issue and I was very pleasantly surprised. Though I wouldn’t say that the look is what pleases my eye (I am a minimalist), but it looks tons better and is very readable. I haven’t had a chance yet to actually read it for content but it looks like they are really improving their look and trying to make this a quality resource for youth guys. Way to go Journal.