Archive for May, 2005
Thursday, May 26th, 2005
How to Herd Cats - Leading Generation X
In the third chapter of PostMission: World mission by a postmodern generation, Peter Stephenson picks up the learnings from the PostMission gathering at Holy Island in 2001. Peter cut his teeth in cross-cultural mission in Spain, and now is living in Exeter running a web site design service.
I wonder if there’s a reference here to Warren Bennis’ 1997 book, “Managing people is like herding cats: Warren Bennis on Leadership“. Or to the EDS television commercial, “Cat Herders“, 2000.
Stephenson explains that members of his generation do not have an automatic respect for their elders and betters. Foolish leaders become known as untrustworthy. Abusive leaders are regarded as ‘manipulative control freaks’. Leaders who use Scriptures to justify wrongful attitudes are seen as religious hypocrites. Agencies that expect young missionaries to submit unconditionally to such leaders are tarred with the same brushes.
Stephenson invites mission leaders to consider new ways of motivating Xers. They respond to influence rather than control, and become disillusioned when treated as idiots that have nothing to teach. Xers, Stephenson says, are fed up with being rubbished, sidelined and misunderstood, and as a result are leaving the mission field in droves.
The values and principles of effective leadership, as identified by the Holy Island Roundtable, are friendship (warmth and time commitment), respect shown in two-way learning, integrity, openness and vulnerability, team leadership (decisions made and followed through by team), boldness and faith.
What I find helpful here is Stephenson’s call for leadership with a learning posture. Emerging generations have experiences and perspectives that older generations can only read about. I’ve heard Leonard Sweet say, “If you are born before 1962, you are an immigrant. If you are born after 1962, you are a native.” Sweet explains that it is not necessarily linked to age. Postmodern natives can be 70 years old while ‘immigrants’ can be starting to explore postmodern perspectives at 20 years of age. However, it is obvious that our assumptions are shaped by the environment we have grown up in, particularly our education system.
Those trained in adult education know they need to start with the acknowledgment that participants have prior experience and quick access to information. What is needed is two-way, three-way, or four-way conversation in which wisdom is developed by teams rather than passed on by individuals.
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Wednesday, May 25th, 2005
Spent the day today with Alex Franco, our new chaplain for Pacific Pines State High School who starts in two weeks.
It was a good day - catching up for coffee with Graham Eastwell from Helensvale Presbyterian, Called in to see Derek Venske at Oxenford/Coomera Youth Centre. Lunch with Neil Johnson from Father’s Heart Apostolic, Rob Davey from Scripture Union Gold Coast. And then meeting Principal and Deputy Principal at Pacific Pines State High. Finished the afternoon off with the Local Chaplaincy Committee for Helensvale, Upper Coomera and Pacific Pines.
We’ll need to find $5000 a year in sponsorship for the position, from churches and corporate donors.
It’s a challenging time - building the friendships with the local community leaders. It takes time and effort. But at the end of the day I know we’ve built some trust and confidence.
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Wednesday, May 25th, 2005
The second contribution to PostMission starts with the U2 song title, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”. Peter Stephenson WEC Spain UK, Joanne Goode Africa Inland Mission UK and Carolyn Cole, YWAM UK, write on why Generation X struggle to find a place in mission agencies.
A point to note here - the mission agencies referred to in Postmission are Evangelical organisations with an emphasis on global mission. The concerns outlined here could be applied to other parachurch organisations as well as denominational agencies, whether Evangelical or not.
Another point - “Generation X” and “Postmodern” are used interchangeably throughout the book. It would be fair to say that the authors would now have moved on from that point to include ‘millennials’ in the mix, and to acknowledge that not all Gen Xers buy into postmodernist values.
Clue 1: Attitude to Authority
The Holy Island Roundtable remind us that ‘postmodern Christians’ do not have a natural respect for leaders, nor a willingness to turn a blind eye to faults. They are less likely to respond to those they see as strong, confident, aloof hero/parent figures. They are more likely to focus on the ‘fellow traveller’. and are prepared to learn from even the most junior co-worker. Xers are not impressed with leaders who are preoccupied with looking the part and holding their own. They would rather link with authentic leaders who are honest about their own failings and open to accountability.
Clue 2: Morality
The authors ask the hard questions:
Are the moral values of your church/mission determined by scripture or by evangelical subculture?”
To what extent can morality be contextualized or enculturated?
With an increased number of potential postmodern recruits with a blotted moral history and outlook, how will we assimilate them without marginalization?
They examine the modernist Evangelical focus on individual morality, with its preoccupation with sexual sin. Holiness, they say, has been reduced to personal individual sins linked with sexual behaviour, dress codes, divorce, alcohol taboos, tithing, abortion, swearing, and dirty jokes. Postmoderns are more concerned with moral issues such as weapons of mass destruction, environmental destruction, womens rights, Third World debt, racism, exploitation of child labour.
Clue 3: Spirituality
Postmodern spirituality can appear threatening or lax to modernist Christians. Traditional evangelicalism is focused on a personal walk with the Lord, expressed in a daily quiet time (ideally in the morning), self discipline, church attendance, and learning from teaching. Postmoderns seek to involve God in every aspect and moment of life at least in principle. They express a longing for an intimate experience of God, privately and in gatherings of the church. They express a distrust of ability of selves and others to faultlessly interpret Scripture.
Clue 4: Truth and Honesty
The Roundtable authors once again pose challenges to mission organisations:
Do we put at risk the integrity of our agencys ministries by not telling the whole story?
To what extent are agencies driven by the need to appear successful in order to please their donors?
The authors express their concern for integrity in Evangelical mission organisations. Mission agencies, they say, often exaggerate the results of their work. Does this reveal an idol of success? Some agencies have been changing their image without changing the reality.
Clue 5: Reducing Struggle Unity in Diversity
Is there room for people working from a postmodernist perspective in mission organisations? Could Galatians 3:26-28 be expanded to say that in Christ there is neither modern or postmodern? The authors say that we face a situation similar to the Galatian context. A Jewish majority was imposing their cultural norms on the nascent Gentile churches. In Rome the situation was in the reverse, with Jews returning to Rome being required to fit in with a Gentile church with little respect for Jewish customs. Just like the New Testament church, we need to listen to one another, respecting one another. At times, however, postmoderns and moderns will need to challenge one another about syncretism with the dominant culture.
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Tuesday, May 24th, 2005
I am that bread from heaven! Everyone who eats it will live forever. My flesh is the life-giving bread that I give to the people of this world.”
They started arguing with each other and asked, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?”
“Jesus answered: I tell you for certain that you won’t live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you. The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. The bread that comes down from heaven isn’t like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:51-58 (CEV)
If ever there was a time when Scripture should be interpreted figuratively, this is it! I would not be keen on recreating the imagery of flesh-eating Jesus followers. The Robby Williams “Rock DJ” music video showed us how revolting this is.
Bread, meat, wine - these are all the basics of a Mediterranean/Galillean lunch. And Jesus places himself right in the middle of the lunch. “I am the true food and my blood is the true drink”. Obviously we make connections with the communion meal - the celebration of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. But the people who heard this public address wouldn’t have had the benefit of that insight. It’s not much wonder so many people dropped out. Far too radical, too weird.
So if Jesus is speaking figuratively here, how do we eat his flesh and drink his blood? Is he just talking about the eucharist? Or is there a deeper sense of identifying with him? I’m wondering if we’re being reminded that this is no disembodied spirit we’re connecting with. It’s a flesh and blood human being presenting us with “God with skin on”. A truly human expression of God with all six senses working, vulnerable and fragile like us.
I asked a group of colleagues what they thought of this challenge from Jesus. Chris, the Catholic in the group gave us the phrase “Corpus Christi” as a way of connecting with this focus on the “Body of Christ” in all its fullness. David, one of the Baptists, reminded us that after the crowd had taken off, Jesus asked the remaining disciples if they were going to leave as well after his ‘disastrous sermon’. These guys probably didn’t really get what Jesus said. But Peter says “To whom else would we go. Only you have the words of eternal life”. There’s a sense of mystery here. Uncertainty. Ambiguity. We can live with that.
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Tuesday, May 24th, 2005
In January 2004 I wrote a brief review of PostMission: World mission by a postmodern generation, published by Paternoster Press, 2002. The book is the result of a roundtable conference of seventeen Gen X mission leaders at ‘Holy Island Roundtable’, Lindisfarne Island in March 2001. They’ve published the book and continue a web presence.
The seventeen were: Mark Bedford & Emma Hayes, Open Doors UK, Carolyn Cole, YWAM UK, Andy Crouch, The Regeneration Forum USA, Matt Gibbins and Paul Harris IVCF/Urbana, Joanne Goode Africa Inland Mission UK, Robin and Sarah Hay International Nepal Fellowship UK, Bevan and Marissa Herangi Open Doors New Zealand, Vaughn le Moss Open Doors USA, Mark Orr International Teams Canada, Peter Stephenson WEC Spain UK, Henrik Sturve Nybygget/InterAct Sweden, Irene and Richard Tiplady Global Connections UK. The two older mentors for the roundtable were Bill and Yvonne Taylor WEF Missions Commission USA.
Bevan Herangi, from Open Doors New Zealand, opens the book up with an exploration of Generation X values and their implications for mission organisations.
Flexibility and Freedom
Bevan writes about the desire to see work as a means to an end. We work to live. He sees a growing trend of paying others to do housework and gardening to free up time for other activity. Play and work tied together. Gen Xers are not tied to traditional expectations regarding gender, work and income. I choose to preserve the things I love in life at the expense of not becoming rich.
New experiences and positive change
Bevan points to the growing extreme sports industry and reality television as an indication of Gen Xers’ seach for new experiences. Gen Xers, he says, are keen to see things happen.
Doubt and Humility
Gen Xers, Herangi explains, are reluctant to show too much certainty about their abilities or the abilities of others. They are reluctant to receive up-front credit and prefer to work in teams. In cross-cultural situations they are reluctant to promote their own lifestyle to others.
Authenticity
Herangi says that Gen Xers must know the truth, even if it is painful. They listen for real-life stories of normal people from normal families. Many leave the church disillusioned because of the behaviour of fallen Christian leaders. Bevan cites the inspiring example of William Wallace at the end of Braveheart refusing mercy and choosing to stay with vision of freedom despite the cost.
Mentoring
Xers, Herangi says, are open to caring, one-on-one personal mentoring by stable secure people. They are open to receiving input, directions, accountability, in a transparent truth-telling environment. They are willing to receive advice from people who will share from their own experiences both success & failures.
Distrust
Herangi picks up on the scepticism and cynicism of Gen Xers. Because of disappointment many Gen Xers are suspicious about promises about future, and consequently will not fully commit themselves to the schemes or vision of other people. They are cynical about ideologically driven agenda such as the continuation of the Cold War.
Tolerance and Diversity
Gen Xers, Herangi writes, tend to be more accepting of the views of others. The are open for suggestion on their own views. They see the need for many colours, not just black & white. They are not afraid to mix as equals with people of different cultures. They value the opportunity to share faith in two- way conversations that respect the opinions of the other person. Herangi concedes that Gen Xers can become indifferent to the impact of “un-Christian practices”.
Real leadership, not controlling authority
Gen Xers, Herangi writes, respond best to leaders who inspire through courage. He gives the examples of Peter Blake (NZ yachtsman) & Brother Andrew (Open Doors). They are cynical about leaders who sacrifice families and friends for the sake of their cause, or leaders who act as though their authority means ultimate lordship. Once again Herangi quotes from Braveheart: “Men dont follow titles, they follow courage”.
Community and Sense of Belonging
Herangi writes about an awareness of the boundaries between neighbours in suburbs. Gen Xers choose small communities where people can be themselves rather than large communities where conformity is expected.
Implications
This list of values takes us to the heart of many points of contention between generations. Time and time again I’ve seen older leaders discount the contribution of emerging leaders, because of their lack of a driven work ethic. Likewise I’ve seen Gen Xers leaving churches in disgust as they see older leaders attempting to cover cracks in organisation or character.
No doubt churches or mission organisations started by these emerging leaders will exhibit characteristics that seem strange to older leaders with more traditional values.
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Monday, May 23rd, 2005
A Generation Alone, a primer on Generation X, by Bill Mahedy and Janet Lea Bernardi, was published in 1994 by InterVarsity Press. This was one of the first books to address generational change from a Christian perspective.
In 1994 William P. Mahedy was a college chaplain and young adult pastor for the Episcopal Church in San Diego. He had a background working as a chaplain with Vietnam Veterans. Janet Lea Bernardi was coordinator of campus & young adult ministries for Episcopal Church in San Diego, with a background in biochemistry and continuing medical research at the University of California. If anybody knows what they’re doing now, let me know! All I know is that Bill is a retired military chaplain living in San Diego.
Post Traumatic Generational Stress
In A Generation Alone, Bill draws on his experience as a veteran of the Vietnam war to examine the effects of generational trauma, including spiritual numbness and distorted images of God. One comment caught my attention. Many, because of shattered self-esteem, understand sin and guilt not in their classical Biblical sense but as a personal judgment on them by others.
Post traumatic stress disorder is an enduring condition resulting from stressful incidents beyond the normal range of human experiences. These could include combat, terrorism, genocide, torture, rape, violence, and devastating natural disasters. Generational cohorts coming of age in the middle of war experiences would be marked by brittleness, a survivor mentality, with serious moral and religious questions. During crisis, Mahedy tells us, the only priority is survival. Dealing with emotional responses � sorrow, grief, guilt, anger � is buried or repressed. In the wake of the crisis survivors may experience disturbing dreams, flashbacks, sleep disorders, violent behaviour, depression and emotional numbing. They may have feelings of detachment from others find themselves unable to feel loving towards others.
Trauma survivors are forced to engage with questions of meaning that others may never even consider. �Why did God allow this?� �What did I do to deserve this?� Evil becomes real and personal. Youthful illusions of omnipotence are shattered. Vulnerability becomes a permanent feature of consciousness.
Mahedy makes the connection between his work with Vietnam veterans and the members of Generation X he encounters on campus. He sees widespread problems with students struggling to develop a sense of stability and self-image. Young adults content with constant feelings of emptiness, depression, suicidal thinking, fear of the future, and lack of hope.
A key to the generational angst, Bernardi observes, is the experience of �aloneness�, resulting from abandonment and alienation. The alienated may seem fully engaged with others, but somehow portray a flatness of spirit in their relationships. This generation, the authors say, has grown up without their parents� moral guidance and concern for spiritual wellbeing. The parental divorce rate is double that faced by the Boomers at the same age.
Generation X and its place in history, its destiny
Mahedy and Bernardi observe that Generation X in the United States was raised on the rubble of a “New Jerusalem” � the American dream of prosperity as ‘divine right’. This was the first wave to reach adulthood in the post-industrial or information age.
The authors provide a critique of Strauss and Howe’s theory of generational cycles in which Gen X (or 13th Gen) has developed as a reactive cohort responding to idealist Boomers. The Millennials, according to Strauss and Howe, are the new civic generation. The theory is that the Millennials will benefit from both the Xers desire to give better parenting than they received, and from Boomers conversion from narcissists into concerned midlife parents.
The authors point out that the Strauss and Howe theories have not taken into account the unprecedented rapidly accelerating pace of global, multicultural, interdependent technological civilisation. There is no evidence that the Boomers have undergone conversion from narcissism, immorality, self interest or greed. The social and moral pathology inflicted on Gen X is progressive � worse in younger cohorts. Mahedy and Bernardi wonder if Gen Xers will have enough emotional capacity to spend energy on parenting?
Another major factor changing the generational cycle is the monumental move from modernism to postmodernism. Science has been altered by twentieth century quantum physics. Political, economic and social systems are becoming more complex. The �global village� is now a reality.
Gen Xers cannot expect to achieve the economic success attained by parents, largely because of the broad changes in economy. Both parents need to work to support their family. There is a widening gap between rich and poor. The industrial system is downsizing and decentralising. Moral decay, linked with selfishness, is being revealed in the dominant American preoccupation with wealth and image.
Xers had the capacity to be prophets of hope to a struggling society. They were strengthened by both their embrace of suffering and their sense of humility and aloneness. Young Christians have the opportunity to �go beyond Constantine� � to find ways of being church without the Christendom position of privilege. They would need to find alternatives to privatised atheist secularism on one hand and enforced fundamentalism on the other.
Mahedy and Bernardi provide sweeping generalisations on Generation X, largely based on their observations of young adults they are encountering on University campus. In addition, Mahedy’s lenses are clearly affected by his work with the survivors of Vietnam. Their observations have been backed up by my colleagues in youth ministry who have remarked on how difficult it is to find psychologically healthy volunteers. Discipleship of young adults has needed to focus on recovery before moving towards mobilisation.
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Monday, May 23rd, 2005
“Never underestimate the power of the dark side”. So says Yoda to Luke in the second Star Wars trilogy. Words learnt from bitter experience.
I took time out to see Episode III this morning.
At this point I’m thinking about the connection between the force and love in Star Wars. There’s a lot in this episode about the fear of loss and its connection with evil. Loving freedom enough to fight as its advocate can become twisted if one becomes addicted to being the advocate. Compassion for a loved one can become an evil passion if one does not let go of entitlement. I’m reminded of CS Lewis’ story, “The Great Divorce”, in which a mother’s selfish love for her child consumes her in a way that prevents her from truly loving.
I thought the scenes between Anakin and Padme seemed stilted and over sentimentalised. And maybe they were meant to be that way. Padme wonders if they really have connected as real people truly seeing each other. Or are they still in love with their perception of each other. Dishonesty can enter loving relationships when one is afraid of being rejected. Likewise, self deceit can raise its head when one is afraid of being disappointed. Knowing and expressing the truth are pivotal in the resistance of fatal addiction.
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Sunday, May 22nd, 2005
This morning I explored earthy spirituality with Laidley Uniting at their church camp. We looked at an approach to faith that is characterised by affirmation of the body, acknowledgement of fragility and vulnerability, and healthy life-affirming relationships. We looked at being intensely spiritual and thoroughly practical.
Our resource for the morning was “Practicing Our Faith“, a resource edited by Dorothy Bass and published by Jossey Bass in 1997/1998. The twelve practices in the book are honouring the body, hospitality, household economics, saying yes and saying no, keeping Sabbath, testimony, discernment, shaping communities, forgiveness, healing, dying well, and singing our lives. This morning we focused mostly on honouring the body. Stephanie Paulsell helps us explore the vulnerability of living in fragile bodies and suggests three disciplines of faith linked with everyday life: washing, adornment and touch.
People were excited to explore a life-affirming spirituality that didn’t require more programming. If anything, we were looking at lightening up.
The content and questions is online at www.practicingourfaith.com
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Sunday, May 22nd, 2005
Spent the last two mornings speaking at Laidley Uniting’s camp in Mount Tamborine. We were staying in the Presbyterian Lodge at the Keswick Convention Centre.
Being there is like going back into Evangelical history in Queensland. The Keswick holiness movement started in the Lakes District of the UK, in 1875. It spread all over the world, including Australia and New Zealand. I’ve been to the convention sites in Pounawea and Rotorua. The Belgrave Heights Conference Centre in Melbourne was deeply influenced by the movment.
Walking around the site you see all the lodges started by various movments: WEC, Baptist, Presbyterian, Triumphant Life (Wesleyan), Church Missionary Society (CMS), OMF (now Pioneers), and SIM. I haven’t heard of any conventions being held at Mt Tamborine recently but most of the camp sites are in use.
I’m wondering if anyone ever wrote a history of the Keswick movement in Australia.
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Saturday, May 21st, 2005
After speaking at a church camp this morning, I popped over to the Willow Creek Association conference featuring Erwin Raphael McManus. Erwin’s lead pastor and cultural architect of Mosaic, a ‘uniquely creative and intergenerational congregation’ in Los Angeles. It’s known for its ethnic diversity, radical innovation and conviction that creativity is the natural result of spirituality.
First impression: This guy talks fast for an American. Later in the conference he talked about being asked if he had Attention Deficit Disorder. He didn’t deny it but pointed out that having a short attention span fitted well with an innovative approach to leadership.
One of the questions at the end of the day related to the high percentage (70%) of single young adults in Mosaic. Erwin explained that the radical nature of the church tended to suit people with flexible lifestyles. Once people had children they were likely to consider moving to the suburbs. Another factor was the pace of change at Mosaic - which would attract and hold catalytic innovators and early adopters. One fascinating observation related to what happens when people marry.
Here in Australia we’ve been considering the work of Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch, expressed in their book, The Shaping of Things to Come. Michael and Alan challenge churches to move away from their addiction to attractional programming, and move towards incarnational relational approaches to mission.
Erwin pointed out that incarnational and attractional need not be in opposition to each other. In Los Angeles, he said, people live very isolated lives. It is difficult to reach a community when it does not really exist. People assembled in public places such as malls and clubs to alleviate something of the loneliness, even if they never had a meaningful conversation with anyone. The challenge for Christians is to create community, learning alongside pagans how to build friendships.
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