No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry
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No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry
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Overview
What if I told you that you were only one step away from unlocking new levels of maturity and growth in your church?
The myth of the silver bullet still exists because we desperately want it to. We all prefer quick fixes and bandage solutions to the long, hard, slow work that produces real change. So the moment we learn about a new ministry or strategy and see its effect in another church, we run to implement it in our own. Unfortunately, this impulse is usually met by opposition, skepticism, and ultimately, rejection.
What if the solution isn't a new model or a complicated strategy, but a shift in perspective? What if you could keep your church's current vision, values, and model, and simply make a few micro-shifts...leading to macro-changes?
This book explores five micro-shifts that have the potential to produce macro-changes in your church. As you read, you will discover how to integrate these micro-shifts into the life of your church, starting with the way you disciple. You will finish by developing a plan to structure, communicate, and evaluate these changes to ensure that they take root and pave the way for lasting change and kingdom impact.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781433651557 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | B&H Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 09/01/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Sales rank: | 996,056 |
| File size: | 7 MB |
| Age Range: | 3 Months to 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
FROM DESTINATION TO DIRECTION
"You can create a stronger movement with twelve disciples than with 1,200 consumers."
— Alan Hirsch
We had made it. We had finally made it. I no longer had to make up excuses, bend the truth, or gripe when I would share what we did during summer vacation with my friends. Long gone were the days I would complain that my summer was filled with Kumon math problems, Korean language school, violin practice, and hanging out on dairy crates at the back of my parents' grocery store. My family was going to Disneyland.
You heard me right — Disneyland! And I was going to make sure all my friends knew about it when I came back from summer vacation. Me and Mickey — it would be glorious.
I had a simple childhood. My parents immigrated from South Korea to Canada in the 1970s and had nothing. They literally started with nothing. So in order to support my three older sisters and me, my parents had to work. And I'm not talking about a forty-hour desk job with nice perks. I'm talking about working all day and night, without any help, benefits, sick days, or vacation. In fact, the only time we ever took a vacation was when my parents decided that they were done with their business. So they sold it and we went on vacation. I'm guessing they were burned out.
As a kid, I didn't care. It didn't bother me that my parents sold their only means of making an income. Or that they didn't have plans on what was next — at least to my knowledge. I was just happy that we were going to go on a real vacation to a faraway land!
After a week in the van, we finally arrived at my long-awaited paradise — Disneylan. Now I understand that it shouldn't take a whole week to drive to Disneyland from Vancouver, Canada, but when there are four children in the van and one parent doing the majority of the driving, things often take longer than they should. I was so excited we were finally at Disneyland, that right after entering the park, I bee-lined to Autopia — the ride with a real-working gas pedal and a steering wheel. Sure, we had been in a car for a week, but now I could be the driver and I could be in control. I mean, come on; as a five-year-old boy, what else could you expect? It was a dream come true.
After a full day of lining up and relining up for Autopia, we hit the sack. The next morning, my dad announced ... that we were going back home. I couldn't believe it. After a week of driving, and only one day at Disneyland ... that was it?
What injustice! How could he? This felt like torture. No amount of griping, begging, crying, or negotiating worked. We couldn't change my parents' minds. So we left paradise and began our trek home. To be honest, I guess I was so depressed and upset that I don't even remember the trip back.
The Journey Matters Too
As an adult, I wish I knew then what I know now about vacations. The journey is as much a part of the vacation as is the destination. Instead of viewing that vacation as an epic failure — since we were only at Disneyland for a day — what do you think would have happened if I had shifted my perspective and viewed the entire journey as an equal part of it?
Perhaps I would have remembered the fun that we had on the way backstopping in San Francisco and spending way too much time in a gift shop buying T-shirts and snow globes — don't ask me why we bought snow globes in San Francisco.
Or maybe I would have remembered the beauty of the Grand Canyon-esque valleys we saw during one of our rest stops. And how during that rest stop, I was dressed up as a great safari explorer intent on wielding my plastic sword and killing all the imaginary bad guys!
I may have even remembered the special time my parents let us sleep at a Motel 6 because "cabin fever" can actually apply to long road trips in a van too. As cool as our maroon Ford Sidewinder was — with captain seats in the second row, and a third row that reclined into a bed — six people in a van all day and night can get a bit taxing at times.
If I had only shifted my perspective, the ride home might have been as enjoyable as our time at Disney.
In hindsight, it's a good thing this is how I see it now — the journey, or the direction, really is as much a part of the adventure as is the destination. In fact, those three memories are as vivid, if not more real to me, than the numerous times I went on Autopia.
How ironic.
From Mourning to Intentional Celebration
When I pastored in Korea, I named our ministry Nine37 after Matthew 9:37: "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few." The leadership team and I did this because we knew that we would only have our church members for a few years before they would leave us. After all, as globe-trotting expats, they were only ever going to be with us temporarily before moving onto their next big thing. So we would regularly give them a guilt trip and tell them that they had to stay with us, because the harvest was abundant in Korea and the workers were few.
Okay, not really. But we did have to intentionally shift our perspective in order to deal with this reality. So instead of trying to keep them from leaving, we decided to send them out instead. Instead of mourning, we decided to rejoice and celebrate.
As a result, every week during our pre-service Sunday morning prayer time, we would literally pray Matthew 9:35–38 over our church. Our leadership team would intentionally ask God to transform our church members into Kingdom-focused harvest workers. We prayed that wherever they went, they would be a greater blessing there as a result of their time in our ministry here. So when the time came for people to leave, instead of giving them the cold shoulder, we commissioned them. This could not have happened without shifting our perspective.
The Same Is True for Your Church
Think about your church. What do you long to see for them? What do you regularly pray over them? If God were to answer your deepest prayers for your church, what would happen? What would change?
Would your church be filled with a movement of disciple-making disciples that infiltrated all areas of your region (Matt. 28:18–20)?
Or maybe your worship service would be filled with "a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language" worshipping beside one another (Rev. 7:9)?
Perhaps your church would be meeting daily, living life together, meeting one another's needs, praising God, receiving favor from all people, and being used by God to save people on a daily basis (Acts 2:42–47)?
Whatever dream God has given you for your church, I want to be the first one to tell you that it's possible. After all, the fact that you're even reading this book and praying for your church means that you're on the right track.
But I also want to be the first one to tell you that achieving those dreams does not require a radical change; you don't have to blow everything up and start over. All it requires is a series of micro-shifts, taken one step a time. After all, let's be honest with ourselves — there's no silver bullet in life, so why would we assume that there's one in ministry?
But ...
I love the following quote — often attributed to Harriet Tubman — about dreams: "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." And this one by Walt Disney: "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
The problem though, is that a dream is precisely that — a dream. Dreams are not reality. They are the hidden potential for the future that lies dormant within each and every one of us. Dreams are like the statue that's imprisoned in the walls of marble, awaiting the sculptor to set it free — as the iconic Italian artist Michelangelo once said. So while I like inspirational quotes as much as the next person, inspiration can only get us so far.
Dreams require courage and strength. They cannot be achieved on a whim, since they require a strategy and a plan. I mean, do you really think the Underground Railroad was built without a strategy or a plan? And what about the Disney Empire?
The Three Influences on Your Church
If you're like me, one of your dreams is maturity — to see the people in your church grow in their walk with Christ. While I also want my church to grow numerically, I actually care more about spiritual growth than numerical growth. Just imagine what a hundred sold-out followers of Christ can do compared to five hundred seat warmers? Or as Alan Hirsch once said to me, "You can create a stronger movement with twelve disciples than with 1,200 consumers."
In order to help individuals mature and grow, which we'll address at depth in chapter 2, you first need to understand the orientation or posture that your church has toward growth. There are several factors that affect this, most significantly the church's leadership, culture, and history (see Figure 1.1).
So take a moment and work through the following two assessments to discover your church's posture to growth. Upon completing them, I'll introduce you to the Influences Matrix, which will help set your church on the right trajectory to both spiritual and numerical growth.
Self-Assessment: The Leader's Influence
1. Who do you look up to as a pastor and church leader? Who has shaped your view of church practice and practical theology? Is it Eugene Peterson? J. I. Packer? Tim Keller? It could be someone you know personally, or someone you've admired from a distance. The people you look up to hold the greatest power to shape you. In other words, the ones you follow are the ones you model.
Write down the names of the pastors, missionaries, theologians, leaders, and thinkers that have shaped you most:
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2. How have others shaped you? How have the individuals above shaped the way you approach church practice and practical theology? Is it the way you preach? Or the way you approach discipleship? Perhaps it's the way you cast vision, or your view of church planting, multisite, and multiplication?
Write down the ways that your church practice and practical theology have been shaped by the previous list of individuals:
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3. What type of leader are you? Let me paraphrase one of my favorite quotes from the Chinese general, military strategist, and author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu: "If you know your enemy, you'll win half of the battles. But if you know yourself, you'll win the other half." Following up from the previous points, we too often model our ministries after the ones we follow — sometimes intentionally and other times unintentionally. As a result, their influence on us inevitably leaves a mark on the way we view and do ministry. This is not a bad thing per se, but it has the potential to turn into a bad habit if left unchecked.
So going back to Sun Tzu's wisdom on war — are you only winning half of your battles? Do you know what type of leader you are? Are you more task-oriented or people-oriented? Do you like solving problems or finding solutions? Do you like starting things, improving them, or maintaining them? Do you know your strengths? Are you managing your weaknesses? Do you like to do everything, or do you develop, delegate, or dump?
Take a few personality profiles and write your results here (I recommend StrengthsFinder, Kolbe, and any of the numerous versions of DISC, just to name a few):
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4. How do you view accountability? Is it your direct responsibility to grow those in your church as disciples? Or rather, is it your responsibility to create an environment in which they can grow? Do you have someone that holds you accountable as a leader? These questions are important because your view of accountability from a systems perspective directly influences the way your church measures growth, as we'll discover later in this chapter.
Write down your view of accountability here:
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This self-assessment on your leadership is the first step to understanding your church's existing orientation and posture toward spiritual and numerical growth. However, that's only a third of it, since culture and history also have a deep impact on the way your church views growth. So take some time now to assess the other two influences that affect your church in this next combined assessment. If you are a ministry leader and not a part of the senior leadership of your church, then answer these questions for your ministry area. Otherwise, answer them for your church.
Completing this next assessment will pave the way to the heart of this chapter, where you will discover a new paradigm that will help you make a micro-shift that will lead to macro-change — setting your church on the trajectory to both spiritual and numerical growth.
Church Assessment: The Historical and Cultural Influences
1. Who are the celebrated pastors/leaders in your church and in your region? While your church may never hand you a pastor-of-the-year award, many in your church are trying to shape you into their image. Okay, maybe not into their image, but they are definitely trying to shape you into an image of some pastor they knew from yesteryear. This was the pastor who preached the best sermons, cared for them, and did ministry in just the right way. This is what I like to call pastoral nostalgia. The problem with nostalgia is that it's simply not accurate, since we tend to overemphasize the good characteristics and experiences, while underemphasizing the bad. This is why it's important to know who those nostalgic leaders are for your church because they are subtly influencing your church's posture to growth.
If you did not plant the church, ask people to describe their experience with the previous pastor(s) in your church. If there are a large group of individuals who came from another church in your region, ask them the same question. Carefully watch their body language while you're listening to them. What are they verbally and nonverbally saying? How do they view spiritual and numerical growth?
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2. What kind of leaders do you have in your church? Assess the way that your staff, key ministry leaders, and volunteers lead. Do they function like surgeons, calling all the shots while others follow? Or are they more like lieutenants who receive their instructions from their commanders and faithfully lead those under them accordingly? Perhaps they're more like union workers who always seem to refer back to the policy manual anytime a change is made. Are leaders the same across ministry areas? Or are they unique to each ministry area? The types of leaders you have in your church will affect your ability to implement the Influences Matrix.
Write down all the different types of leaders that you observe in your church:
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3. What happens when the church is challenged or asked to do something? In a typical church, you'll have a portion that will respond with a resounding, "Yes!," others who will require a bit of convincing, some who will wait to see how the majority responds, and a few who will resist with their arms folded. When you look at your church, do you have more on the yes side or no side?
Alongside writing your observations here, can you identify the names of your greatest supporters and your most challenging resisters? How about the "swing voters"? This will help in chapter 6 of this book as you learn how to introduce change.
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4. What gets celebrated in your church? While this may seem similar to the first question in this assessment, this question actually focuses more on the types of activities, accomplishments, and stories that get celebrated than the individuals who are celebrated. This is not an idealistic question either. While your church may have its past accomplishments on banners, the names of significant donors engraved somewhere, and its vision on the wall, what you really need to identify are the things that get celebrated down the hall — since these are the very things that often shape culture.
Write down what your church truly celebrates, from the pulpit and down the hall:
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Two Spectrums, One Matrix, and a Micro-Shift
Before you could buy an overpriced, ethically sourced, organic, fair trade coffee that was poured for you by a hipster barista at an indie coffee shop, there was Starbucks. Before you could mail order hand-selected, single origin, small batch, whole coffee beans within forty-eight hours of being roasted, there was Starbucks. Starbucks was doing both of those things way before anyone else.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "No Silver Bullets"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Daniel Im.
Excerpted by permission of B&H Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword,
Introduction,
SECTION I — THE SHIFTS,
Chapter 1: From Destination to Direction,
Chapter 2: From Output to Input,
Chapter 3: From Sage to Guide,
Chapter 4: From Form to Function,
Chapter 5: From Maturity to Missionary,
SECTION II — THE PATH,
Chapter 6: Introducing Change,
Chapter 7: Your Vision, Strategy, and Values,
Chapter 8: Your Discipleship Pathway,
Epilogue,
Acknowledgments,
About the Author,
Notes,