Barnabas File

On a Sunday before Christmas, our pastor was reflecting on the importance of Jesus as Immanuel—“God with us”—for humankind.   By becoming human, God entered into the messiness and beauty of this world.   In his incarnation, Jesus experienced the reality of life.   This means that he went through most of the experiences of the human life cycle just as we do. Jesus experienced childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.   He probably dealt with the death of the one who was his earthly father and cared for his mother as she grew older.   He found both a livelihood and a vocation, and then he embraced another calling at midlife. He was faced with and experienced the reality of death.   In doing all of these things, he affirmed the importance of the stages of the human life cycle, raising them above being mundane, ordinary experiences. By implication, we are encouraged to value these stages of human experience and learn more about them.   Althou...

One of the most significant things I have learned in recent years is a new way of looking at missions.  Some excellent mentors—Eliot Roberts, Pat Anderson, Rob Nash, Mart Gray, Steve Street, Mike Young and others--have shown me that we must respect the humanity of those with whom we minister.  I have too often seen ministry as something that I or my group “do for” someone else without any regard for whether they want “to be done unto.”  They are not recipients by partners. Dave Gibbons follows this perspective in The Monkey and The Fish:  Liquid Leadership for a Third- Culture Church.   If we are to mesh smoothly as ministry partners with others, we must observe certain principles.  Gibbons outlines them in this way. First, we must listen more than we speak.  This is a skill that is often difficult to learn! Second, we must believe that “the locals” know more than we do and learn from them.  They live there; they know the situation ...

Dave Gibbons, pastor of Newsong Church, has mined his own life and experiences in writing The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third Culture Church.     In embracing his Korean and Anglo background, he has learned the value of seeing needs with different eyes—those of the “outsider.” Gibbons writes, “Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort.”   He expands this definition by explaining that third culture is not simply a strategy but a way that believers are to live—loving God and loving neighbor. In order to do this, we must be like water.   As a liquid, water adapts to fit its environment.   Using the metaphor of water as the Good News for a thirsty world, Gibbons challenges the church “to be open to creatively designing or embracing new forms, languages, customs, and containers to deliver that water.” Doing this will require a radical change in the way mo...

Forty years ago, Alvin and Heidi Toffler wrote  Future Shock, a groundbreaking book about what we could expect in the future.   It was a challenging and, in many ways, accurate forecast.   Some of its projections are still coming to pass. Toffler Associates has released a special report called "40 FOR THE NEXT 40: A Sampling of the Drivers of Change That Will Shape Our World Between Now and 2050." The report identifies future trends in politics, technology, society, economics, and the environment. You can download it here  as a PDF file for free. I picked out several that seem to have specific implications for the church.   First, THE NUMBER AND VARIETY OF NON-STATE ACTORS WILL RISE DRAMATICALLY.   NGOs (non-governmental organizations) will be the fastest growing non-state actors and will be extremely influential in humanitarian and social concerns.   If churches and their mission organizations are to have an impact around the world, the...

Our family usually marks the holiday season by doing something in relation to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.   The property has good memories for us.   We always enjoyed the Opryland Theme Park (not closed) when our children were young.   We attended at least three student mission conferences held at the hotel during the Christmas/New Year’s holidays.   We have eaten Thanksgiving dinner there as a family and toured the Christmas lights and decorations some years.   Rita and I have attended Christmas programs or concerts there. Like many, we were saddened by the closing of the hotel due to the flooding last spring.   We have a close friend who works with guest services at the hotel and she was devastated by the damage.   One Sunday this summer, we talked at church and she was excited about the renovation work and the opportunity to bring back the personnel who had been laid off due to the closing.   Rita and I spent a night a...

“How can we help our church members grow?” is a common question among church leaders.   Undergirding that question may be others such as “How can we reach people for our church?” or “How can we get our members more involved in ministry?” or (if we are honest)     “How can we get our people to support the church financially?” These are all valid questions that express the concern to help believers grow in their spiritual commitment.   Albert L. Winseman, a Methodist minister and an associate with The Gallup Organization , suggests that we take a step back and first ask, “How can we help people to be more engaged in our church?”   In Growing an Engaged Church , Winseman draws on extensive research to show that once a person is engaged in the life of the church, he or she will show growth in life satisfaction, serving, inviting and giving. Winseman observes that conservative churches have done a better job of connecting with people at the emotional level t...

This posting is something of a milestone for Barnabas File.  This is my 400th post!  For a number of years, I used the title "Barnabas File" on articles I wrote for the newsletters of various organizations I served.  The title, of course, honors one of the "nobodies of the New Testament" (as one writer called him) whose love, integrity, encouragement, and innovation are characteristics that I would hope to reflect in my own life.  When I decided to launch a blog  in June 2006, it seemed appropriate to continue to use that title. The subtitle I chose still seems to apply:  "Comments of a  progressive Baptist Christian about things that matter to him."   I have written about everything from my personal response to the death of Titans quarterback Steve McNair to my commitment to women pursuing their calling in ministry.  Although this blog has served as something of a personal journal for me, I have tried to avoid making it a place for me ...

One morning recently I was scanning the obituaries in the local paper (a daily ritual) when I noted the comment in one posting:   “He lived his life with no regrets.”   I also noted this man had also requested no memorial service. I did not know this individual, but I started wondering, “What does it mean to live one’s life with no regrets?”   I cannot identify with the statement.   Perhaps I am either too introspective or too guilt-ridden, but I can think of a number of things that I regret in the sense that I wish that I had handled them differently. There are people that I knew in high school and college to whom I could have paid more attention.   As a young person, I was too concerned about me (I guess it goes with the territory) and less concerned about how my remarks and attitudes might affect others.   There were times that I treated others in inappropriate and disrespectful ways.   I should have known better, but I didn’t or chose no...

Because of the responsibility entrusted to them, top military leaders tend to be controversial figures.  In fact, Agostino von Hassell and Ed Breslin begin their overview of the life of General George S. Patton, Jr., with a critique of the Academy Award-winning 1970 film that bears the general’s name. They seem to think that their subject was frequently depicted unfairly in this production.  This book attempts to correct those misconceptions.  Von Hassell and Breslin’s brief biography of one of the greatest general officers of World War Two is readable and comprehensive without drowning the reader in detail.  One will come away with a much better understanding of a gifted and flawed leader. Von Hassell and Breslin provide a good account of the legacy inherited by George Patton, one that was both a blessing and a burden. Although Patton was often a thorn in his side, Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower valued Patton and acknowledged that he was “born to be a so...

Organizations often state, “Our people are our most important asset.”  If this is true, the corollary should be “People skills are essential in our daily work.”  People skills are the way that individuals relate to their supervisors, those they supervise, clients, and other team members.   At Peoplemap training recently, Mike Lillibridge pointed out that the longer a person stays with an organization, the more important their people skills become.  An entry level employee is usually hired for his or her technical skills not their people skills.  After some time with the organization, three years or more, employees are evaluated almost equally on their technical skills and their people skills.  When the person becomes a “valued” employee, their technical skills may be only 30 percent of their “value” and their highly developed people skills represent 70 percent of their value.  When a person becomes a leader, manager, or supervisor, their “advanced” ...

The Christian faith has been marked by conflicts between reform movements and the establishment from the very beginning (consider Paul and the Judaizers).    Without a doubt, the Spirit of God tends to move in unusual and often chaotic ways.     For the most part, reform movements through the centuries have started outside of the established church.   These include the monastic orders, Protestantism, mission societies, and even theological education. They don’t stay outside the church for very long, however.   The church always attempts to institutionalize these movements and bring them under the wing of the establishment.   The church needs the enthusiasm and fresh insights of these movements to provide both vitality and new direction.   Of course, when this happens, the reform movements tend to become organized, controlled, and domesticated. The trend continues today and has actually accelerated due to the social and technological res...