Barnabas File

You never know what responses you will get when sharing your opinions on a blog.  On my blog—Barnabas File-- I write about things that interest me or get my attention.  Occasionally, they get someone else’s attention, too. In reviewing my posts for the past year, these received the greatest response.   1.   The Church is in Decline:  What a Great Opportunity for the Church!   In this blog, I encouraged churches to get back to the basics—to love God and to love one’s neighbor.  I noted the decline of disciple formation and spiritual practices in churches, but concluded in this way:   Even so, in these days, I see signs of hope for the people of God.  I talk with pastors who love engaging the Word of God and sharing it with their people.   I meet lay leaders who are bright, creative, and open to new ways of doing church.  I work with seminary students--many mid-career folks--who see new opportun...

I met with a group today that is providing consulting to several churches in different parts of the US.     Each coach provided examples of the challenges their individual churches are facing.      One church made up primarily of immigrants from Asia is negotiating how to deal with the progressive and traditionalist proponents in their congregation.  A church is working to support the unhoused and the working poor.  Another is seeking to support a member dealing with pressures related to gender identity.  Two are dealing with denominational disaffiliation.   This is where many of our churches are today.  The COVID-19 pandemic was considered a time of volatility and change, but we live in an era of continuous and disruptive change.  This is the “new normal” where churches struggle for clarity and to pursue what is important as they do Kingdom work.   This is the world in which we live and serve.

When I coach leaders, we talk a great deal about balance.     Sometimes this is work/life balance--giving proper emphasis both to work, family, and self-care.     Sometimes is balancing between relationship and task--caring for people while getting the job done.     Other times it is a balance between career stability and trying something new. In our volatile world, emerging and unexpected changes make it difficult for one to keep balanced.  Just when you think you have your work assignments, schedule, and personal commitments in some equilibrium, along comes change.  The change may be sickness of yourself or a family member, the departure of a colleague, or a pandemic that alters how you do everything. In his book, The New Leadership Literacies , Bob Johansen explains that in such volatile settings,   “Leadership skills will have to be wrapped in broader literacies that combine: “Discipline, to provide order—but no...

What does VUCA stand for?   This is an acronym introduced by the U. S. Army War College in the early 1990s to describe the world we entered when the Cold War ended--volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous.     The term has come to be used to describe the contemporary context in which we live and work.     For example, see Sunnie Giles, The New Science of Radical Innovation   or Bob Johansen,   The New Leadership Literacie s , for strategies to lead and innovate in this environment. Businesses are not the only enterprises affected by this way of perceiving our world.  Theological education, if it is to be effective in the 21 st century, must take volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity into account for this is the world in which ministry takes place. In an  uncertain  world, the most important resources a seminary provides are information and formation.  Theological schools are the custodians of i...