Barnabas File

You can always count on your students to bring you back down to earth!     In the seminary class I teach on Missional Imagination, we challenge students “to think, imagine, innovate, and lead in ways that foster ministry startups and nurture established ministries that are missional in nature.”     At least that is what the course description says.     Another way of describing our goal is helping students to reimagine Christian ministry as part of the   missio Dei --the mission God given to the people of God and empowered by the Holy Spirit.     Of course, it takes a whole semester to unpack this concept, but eventually someone will ask a question or write a paper that includes a statement like this:  “Although missional ministry is often slow and may not have quantifiable results, the truth of the matter is those who are funding the ministry will always want to have a visible and measurable outcome as proof that their dollars...

When I talk with church people about innovation, there is a natural resistance or push-back, but I try to point out that the reason that the Christian movement has not only survived but prospered over the years is the willingness of believers to learn, grow, and innovate.  Sometimes our sources for innovation are found not in the church but in our culture. In her new book, The New Science of Radical Innovation , Sunnie Giles identifies principles that Silicon Valley companies (such as Google) and Artificial Intelligence software programs use to succeed or win.  Here is each of the principles she identified at Google. First, employ self-organizing agents.  The goal is to “hire the best people and get out of their way.”   At Google, managers are urged to delegate as much as possible to the point of feeling some level of discomfort.  The company even encourages employees to spend 20 percent of their time working on what they think will benefit Goo...

When you plan a vacation, your tendency is to start thinking about what it will be like.   You think about the places you will visit, the food you will eat, the experiences you will have with family and friends.   Although reality may differ from what you imagine, your vision of the vacation gives you purpose and enthusiasm as you plan. Churches need a vision to have direction and purpose.  The terms “mission’ and “vision” are often used interchangeably, but I differentiate between the two.  Mission is the reason for your existence as a congregation.  If you embrace a missional theology, your mission is the missio Dei, the mission of God in this world.  God is a sending God who sends God’s people into the world to do God’s work.  On the other hand, vision is what you hope to become.  Throughout their struggles, the priests and prophets held out several visions to the Hebrew people--to dwell in the Promised land, to be res...

Questions are keys to growth.  A coach always thinks about whether he or she is asking good questions.  Good questions energize and encourage; poor questions lead to lack of focus and uncertainty. As you begin the New Year, what questions are you asking?  We ask questions of ourselves as individuals, setting priorities and goals for the coming year and planning how we will reach them.  We do this because we want to be better than we are now. Churches often ask questions about the future as well.  Especially at the end of the calendar year, church leaders—both clergy and laity—stop the think about what is happening or failing to happen in the life of congregation. In my experience, however, churches are often asking the wrong questions, questions based on survival rather than mission. In committee meetings and leadership groups, churches will commonly ask questions like: Will we subscribe the budget for next year?...