Dan Kimball Responds to Session 5
As a leading voice in the emerging church discussions, Dan Kimball's writings are often focused on designing worship services that include creative and artistic forms of worship. His latest release, a must-read, is They Like Jesus, But Not the Church, which explores six of the most common objections and misunderstandings emerging generations have about the church and Christianity. Earlier this summer, Dan shared these findings at the Arts Conference here at Willow and was tremendously well received. Dan is the primary teaching pastor and oversees the missional aspects of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, Cali. In a Leadership Blog interview, Dan recently stated his biggest pet peeve as well as his greatest joy:
"My biggest pet peeve is leaders who are afraid of change ... When there is need for change and evidence for it, yet leaders still cling on to what they find as familiar to them, this is damaging. Or to only cling to things that worked in the past, so it must still be good for today ... This is a huge downfall in allowing effective mission to happen. It will discourage listening to new ideas and understanding values from emerging leaders."
"Without a doubt, my greatest joy is seeing people understanding the mission God has called us to, and as a community, being on the mission together--each person using their unique gifts and everyone seeing the importance of being in this together and the need for all gifts, personalities and dreams functioning as one."
We know that you will enjoy reflecting on Dan's thoughts on Michael Porter's session below:
“Yikes. I find it hard to simply write about what Michael Porter said, because first there was the extremely mesmerizing Erik Mongrain, who I could have watched for another hour. And then when Bill began speaking about REVEAL and the survey results they found about what causes people to grow spiritually, and talking about most effectively and correctly stewarding finances, energy, and time towards the mission of the church … I could have listened to him continue that discussion for another three hours. As soon as the session was over, I went and purchased the book, because, to me, that topic seems like one of the most important things we can be taking an honest look at. It could really shape the church's future if we aren't afraid to listen to people and to be brutally honest with ourselves.
As for Michael, he truthfully shared that his talk would feel like a business classroom lecture. So, I framed listening to him through that grid, as I do when I personally read all types of non-church leadership books. I am screening them through a biblical lens and also screening them by asking the questions of what it means for our church and in that context. But, as a pastor, I love learning from sources of all types where truth can be used to further the mission we are on.
I loved his opening questions of "How do we do well at doing good?" and "How do we serve our communities effectively?"
I love being asked hard questions like this. He then probed into some sensitive issues that I personally believe need probing. I understand how it isn't easy to stop and really explore what we are doing in our churches as being effective. But it is so incredibly necessary if we really care about people, because unlike a business which is for profit, we are in this for the gospel and people. So, it takes asking ourselves very hard questions about whether or not we are defining clearly what our goals are. What set of community services are we going to try to address? What is our strategy of delivering values? How do we align people in our church towards this?
If we take what he says seriously (and I think we should), it may mean radical decisions being made and some new things started, and some things we may need to be bold and stop doing.
I found some of his examples so intriguing, as a pastor who has been on about ten Mexico trips where we built homes for needy families and served their children, but so many who went were professionals and not manual laborers. I understood what Michael was saying that their value in using their gifts can go far beyond just the manual labor. But, at the same time, I do know that a lawyer or finance person also experiences by getting their hands dirty, and the experience of spending prolonged time hammering nails in very hot weather can build intense community on these trips. So, I don't want to just fully agree with Michael (if this is what he meant) that any professional should use their time and efforts otherwise. Part of the strategy and goals just may be having them bond with others on a trip like that, sleeping on broken down bunk beds, and spending prolonged time with people they normally wouldn't. But, I fully agree that we need to totally, totally rethink how people spend time to solve community needs.
Michael's message for the church seems timely, as we are now awakened to looking outward to the needs of the community and compassion. And I know I get overwhelmed thinking of the myriad of possibilities as a pastor to be helping decide what our church should get involved with. We have a young 25-year-old woman on staff who is leading this charge for us, and I feel what Michael said is critical for us as we sift through what strategy and goals we will be moving toward. I have had a fear that all the amazing and rising interest the church now has in compassion globally and locally will lose steam after an initial burst of interest we are now all having realizing this is God's heart. So Michael's strategic thinking is what I sense we need to be about, and praying through this as we move ahead or stop doing things we are currently doing.
Those are some thoughts ... and my mind is now going back to what Bill shared about REVEAL and how I want to read that book cover to cover as soon as possible.”
So, how does your church do at doing good? What questions about your current "doing good" do you have after hearing from Prof. Porter?
