Alignment Isn’t Just for Your Car: Gaining Alignment In Organizations

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  Awesome Alignment: Image via Wikipedia

  Ducklings swim behind momma duck. Human babies like to wander off.

• North Korean communists follow their leaders like ducklings behind a momma duck. Americans like to wander off.
• Muslims bow, read, and wear burkhas in obeisance to their leaders, but Christians tend to wander off.

• Ducklings have no choice. Biology determines their behavior.
• North Koreans have no choice. Violence determines their behavior.
• Muslims pay a price for rebellion in Muslim countries. Strict discipline and even punishment shapes their behavior.

I’m thinking about how a group of people self-selects to line up behind a leader, a purpose, or a set of beliefs. I’ve said a few times in the past two weeks that if a community of Christians decides to pay a pastor a salary, have communion “X” number of times a year, or meet in a certain style of worship then who are we to criticize? The group has decided. They’ve lined up and followed momma duck.

Yet, how does the group decide?

Who sets the variables before the group and how does the group select?

On Saturday, our core of committed Journeyites experimented with just such questions.

We started by reading a hundred verses from the Bible and writing a phrase on a post-it note if something in a verse stood out. We sorted these phrases by “Mission, Message, or Method.” We spent a half hour praying after this exercise.

Then, we discovered how God has worked in The Journey’s history. We wrote positive events on blue post-it notes and negative events on pink. We pasted those notes in chronological order on a timeline. We teamed up with a prayer partner to pray after this exercise.

In our third task, we sorted out the values we had worked under for the past seven years. We brainstormed about seventy relational values. Words like “big events,” “pastor-led,” and “contemporary/non-traditional” formed. We voted for five relational values to carry us into the next phase of our growth: Prayerful, proclaim Christ, Spirit-led, love, and Mission.

We began to see structural (institutional) values, so again, we brainstormed, discussed, then voted for four structural values: Spiritual Leadership, Community, Accountability, and Fiduciary Responsibility.

Finally, everyone gave at least five ideas of things we need to do this year to fulfill God’s purpose. Each project or task needed support from the values and the Biblical foundation. Instead of voting right then, we send in our votes this week and get the results this Sunday. We know our first priority is Organization: Delegation and Finances. Sometime this week we’ll get a good feel for what God wants us to do.

This process, though artificial, creates alignment. Everyone got to share. Everyone discussed. We saw the full range of thoughts and agreed to focus on just a few. Ahhhhh….alignment at last!

God really, really wants UNITY in the body. When we act like human babies or normal Americans we don’t bring glory to the Body of Christ. Alignment is difficult, but churches that have it GROW and produce amazing fruit. I’m trusting that God’s alignment is happening in The Journey.

Pastors Do >15% of All Counseling, But How?

For 26 years much of my Pastoral Counseling took place in uncontrolled situations. Rarely did I have a “clinical” relationship with a “client.” For almost two years, I have had a “controlled” or “clinical” relationship with clients who do not attend my church nor have any other relationship with me. I’m using the word “uncontrolled” because so many more variables impact an active pastor who also counsels people in his/her church. The pastor has more than one role in a member’s life such as, friend, teacher, community leader, or tithe recipient. Playing the role of counselor without understanding the interplay of these other roles makes for an “uncontrolled” situation.

Pastoral Counseling is tough to define. The best description is that the pastoral counselor is concerned with “ways to bring together behavioral sciences and theology, or psychotherapy and spirituality” (Townsend, Loren. Introduction to Pastoral Counseling. Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2009. p. xii) Pastoral counselors often use theological reflection, that is, the use of comparison to deeper stories and concepts in the Bible, and ethical, justice, reconciliation, and redemptive themes. Pastoral Counselors must have a theological degree as well as clinical experience and education in current counseling theories and methods.

Because of the spiritual qualities to pastoral counseling many pastoral counseling books avoid a formal intake interview for the Pastor. Possibly, the pastor may seem too formal when using an intake evaluation, as a clinician would. In a formal intake interview the pastor asks questions about mental health and trauma, yet I have found many members not wanting to disclose these personal details! Members often have difficulty disclosing significant contributing mental illnesses, addictions, past marriages, or abuse. So, how should a pastor in a continuing relationship with a church member proceed to insure a complete understanding of the person and the issue at hand? How does a Pastor gather pertinent information without offending?

First, every pastor needs training in ethics and confidentiality. Current federal laws regulate all secular counselors to the strictest standards. Pastors are exempt from these standards professionally, but knowing the standards helps the pastor and the member understand the necessary boundaries to insure safety and honesty. All Pastoral Training should teach what these boundaries are and how to maintain strict confidentiality. Any staff, including custodial and administrative, should go through similar training and sign agreements of strict confidentiality. Some pastors may want to go so far as to explain the rules and ethics of confidentiality to members at the beginning of a first session.

Secondly, pastors need to know when to not counsel but refer members to professional counselors. Most of the pastors I know understand this guideline. Most seminaries teach pastors to refer, and to not have more than two to four sessions with any member. Several exceptions exist. First, pastors often engage in “informal counseling.” Talking on the phone, giving advice after a service, or hearing a problem as a “prayer request” describes some informal counseling settings. Secondly, pastors come in contact with people who have persistent problems and need friendly support. Though some see “support” as less than counseling, it is an exception to the guideline to stop counseling and refer, in my opinion.

(More thoughts coming on relevant intake methods for Pastors)

Imitate Me!

1 Corinthians11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

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Is Paul that exceptional? Is he a little puffed up? Isn’t he blasphemous? Can any of us say, “Imitate Me!”?

1 Corinthians 11:1 is preceded by these words: “For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” Paul is connectional. He’s asking others to think the same: to look out for others; to think how our actions affect others all the time; and specifically, he’s thinking of others in the church. 

It’s easy to pick on churches and church people, but I’m going to do it anyway. We attended a church function recently, a dinner, at another church. For thirty minutes we sat eating without anyone coming to sit with us. How odd! This is what I experience in restaurants and theaters. We avoid connection with others in those places. Were we seen as threats or stand-off-ish? One thing is sure: no one tried to get to know us, to invite us back, or to find out what good could be done in our lives that night.

One of my biggest frustrations is watching people do the opposite of Paul’s example: “For I am seeking my own good and not the good of many.” Parents often join a church like they enroll their children in soccer or other sports: for the encouragement of their child’s development. The attitude is: “We take from this coach, this sport, and these interactions.” No, the interactions must be “for the good of many.” An investment must be made in others to get the God-changes in us and our children.

The primary result of the good Paul wants is “that they may be saved. The “they” are those outside the church at Corinth. He wants the behavior of a group of Christians to reflect into the outside world. We look out for the good of each other within the community. We are active in creating solid relationships. We show faithfulness to each other. We think “lifetime” rather than “as-long-as.” Outsiders stand up and take notice!

We are not a restaurant or theater, Wal-Mart or Target. We are a community which demands faithfulness in order to prove to the world we are different from the world. All the moralistic campaigns to change bad behaviors or evil actions “out there” make far less impact than a faithful body of believers loving each other with faithful, stable relationships.

Paul, even though not present in Corinth, says he is a living example of faithfulness to people, an active demonstration of connected-ness to other believers. We have only thirteen of his letters from his short ministry. Every letter has loving references to people with whom he has never lost connection. He’s an example we need to follow! Read Romans 16 or other letters where he lists the people he loves and who bring him coats, books, prayer, and partnership in ministry.

Is your desire faithfulness or “as-long-as-ness”?

Related articles

• Imperfect Imitation: A Sermon (therevandtheboys.wordpress.com)
• Even with All this Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blogs): Do You Feel Disconnected? (carolhbates.com)

Chastity Sunday Continued: Robert Tells All

The turbulent events since Chastity Sunday kept Pastor Smith from many of his normal tasks. Since homosexuality and the church is such a hot topic, the town newspaper wanted an interview. Someone on Dateline and 20/20 called about filming. Vice President Biden or was it, Congressman Frank, sent a letter affirming his hug at the end of the sermon of the gay young man.

Mrs. Closett and Mrs. Jewett began to withhold their tithes. The Church Pastor Relations team met with concerned members. Four members of the 200 in Christ Church actually sought out Pastor Smith to talk.

Pastor Smith began meeting with the young man. The elders thought it was a good idea since they trusted Pastor Smith’s convictions about chastity. They trusted his ability to love and affirm people who had questions of faith and pain. Most of them had met for lunch or coffee several times a year with Pastor Smith who wisely counseled and cajoled each of them to further discipleship.

In his office, Pastor Smith and his new young friend, Robert Hornbeck, began to talk. “So, Robert, how has your interviewing with the media gone?” Robert was now an internet and network sensation. His yelling at the worship service three weeks ago brought him hero status in the media.

“I’ve had an interview a day, and sometimes two. Next week I go on SNL and reenact the Sunday morning with you, except this time, Kenan Thompson plays you dressed up like a giant prune. (Robert laughs).”

“Robert, I’m surprised by all the attention, even at the level of SNL!”

“Christians have to be exposed as mean and heartless.”

“Have you met many mean and heartless Christians?”

“I’m going to the Community college. I overhear students who go to church talking about how disgusted they are about gays or lesbians. They don’t sound too nice. I’m afraid to be myself or I might get ridiculed.”

“Some Christians probably are mean to you. So, why did you agree to talk to me?”

“You seemed different. I didn’t expect a hug after ruining your church.”

“What did you expect?

“I expected you to call the police or someone would punch me.”

Pastor Smith chuckled. “I don’t expect our eighty-five year old deacons had a chance against you, Robert! You shocked and amazed us. Most of us felt sorry for you that you had to go so far to get that kind of attention. Tell me some more about your background.”

Robert began to talk about his abusive father, and his rough childhood. An uncle molested him when he was eleven. He wasn’t good at sports because his family didn’t have money to play. At seventeen a gay friend invited him to a gay bar where he felt accepted for the first time.

“Robert, why didn’t you think about coming to a church?”

“Nobody asked me.”

Pastor Smith said, “We need to talk about that problem!”

(To be continued)

John Maxwell and Peter Drucker versus Jesus

Leadership is so personal and so individual that learning from a “great leader” is like trying to copy Tiger Woods clothing choices

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to improve one’s golf game. We can’t clothe ourselves with someone else’s techniques. An author I once read thought that if he just practiced tennis a little harder each day he could get to the pro level. In a word, he said he was filled with arrogance. Leaders who think they can lead like John Maxwell to get recognition as a “pro” level leader can be summed up in one word: arrogant.
When trying to lead cats, aka leading church people, Maxwell seems to do well. On one face he’s all about the leader growing, getting organized, and discerning right times, actions, and influential people. On the other face, he proposes techniques to control who is in control, who is delegated the important tasks, and which charted course one should follow. I believe that he needs to be read, but others can flesh out his two faces with a complete body.
Michael Hyatt wrote last week in his blog that the single most important trait of a leader is the ability to make decisions. Unfortunately, Maxwell would modify that: people follow leaders who make the right decision 80% of the time.
Peter Drucker has taught management courses for sixty years. He says the best leaders don’t use techniques or control to get people to follow. The best leaders can see the future, can step outside of their organizations to see it objectively, and can cut off people, activities, and even entire divisions or companies because they have the most powerful trait of a leader: they always operate with the end in mind (which BTW, is one of Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People). Leaders have purpose and drive to get to their objective. Drucker says in business the objective is always easier to see. The objective is the bottom line. For non-profits, the objective is serving without the bottom line in mind first.
How successful was Jesus at leading? He chose the wrong followers. He set death as his objective not profits. He ostracized the people who had the greatest influence in society. He let the big fish get away (centurions, Nicodemus, Pilate, etc.). He spent way too much time with odd ducks, the powerless, and the diseased. He didn’t leave any great plans to change society, didn’t have planning meetings, and didn’t leave a prayer book behind.
However, he taught people to love God and others. He acted in love all the time. People saw raw, pure love. He let people be people. He let them enjoy their time with him at countless meals and banquets. Christian leaders ought to wake up and put love back at the top of their to-do lists instead of learning great techniques and making great plans. I think we’d make a more lasting impact since no other business model has that as their primary purpose!
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” ( John 13:34-35)
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “And a second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” ( Matthew 22:37-40)

Related articles

• Why Peter Drucker Distrusted Facts – Stephen Wunker – Harvard Business Review (amvaishnav.wordpress.com)
• Jesus’ Key Message from Jesus Central
• 100 Years of Drucker (prweb.com)
• The 360° Leader – John Maxwell Book Review (diakrinomusings.wordpress.com)

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• 100 Years of Drucker (prweb.com)
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Men With Benefits

Image by Dinur via Flickr

Real men don’t eat Quiche.

Real men sleep around.

Real men love ___?____ (NASCAR, NFL, NBA, FISHING, HUNTING, FIXING CARS, BEER, All of the Above)

Real men wear the pants in the family.

Real men aren’t worth a horses patoot.

I’ve heard all these stereotypes. Some men fit these stereotypes. I’m growing concerned that higher percentages of men than ever fit only these categories! We’re losing more and more men to ash heap lifestyles (Lamentations 4:5). 

In Russia after WWII the Soviets had a solution to the death of 22 million men during the war. They gave the remaining men license to travel from house to house impregnating women. The state then provided and protected the women with children. Men got what they wanted, sex, but lost the honor and ability to be men. The divorce rate is about 60% in Russian. More than 50% of Russian men are alcoholics. A man’s life expectancy is about 55 years. Women vastly outnumber men in the workplace.

My impression is that the U. S. is not far behind. A host of articles lately articulates the decay of male competence. Men can’t make commitments, but they can make babies! More women are in the workforce than men! We just breached the 40% mark for single moms.  Almost every movie and TV show has men willingly submitting to a seductress in his manly “glory.”

I say all this to state the church needs to continue to delineate the traits of manliness. Unfortunately, women outnumber men in most churches. Men have great difficulties going to church.

Seven years ago I read, “Why Men Hate Going to Church.” Church is like sitting in a classroom looking out at the kids playing during recess. Church is so clean and prissy with candles, curtains, flower arrangements, and people in robes singing in choirs. Church has long-winded orations. Flashing screens and babes in bras and bikinis usually don’t appear in church. Men are told to refrain from sexual immorality. So, men think, “How boring?”

I think the real question isn’t about boring or sports, but about intensity and gusto! Men hear so often they have to settle down and quit acting like little boys have energy and get told to “Settle down!” “Iron John” by Robert Bly uses a German fable about a wild man subdued by townsfolk as a metaphor for boys growing into maturity. We think boys need caging, but really boys need gusto, games, and grand feats of strength. Church is all too often about sitting still and letting others do all the work.

Is there a way to combine gusto with Church, NASCAR and praise, energy with teaching? Can we show passion without prissiness? Can we let go of the idea that Sunday morning is the only place we get discipled. Can we get guys together to. fish, use hammers, or watch football, then, we can spend an hour or two in intense Bible study or listen to teaching because it makes sense! In the context of padded pews and sitting still, Gruffy the Bear-man, drifts off to the mind-wilderness awfully quickly! It’s time to make church more manly or we’ll lose more of our men.

Check out the latest initiative from “Man in the Mirror,” here, and try their questionnaire below:

Related articles

• Russian men: an endangered species? (rt.com)
• Villages of women (bbc.co.uk)
• Why men hate going to church (deaconjohn1987.wordpress.com)
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I Keep Thinking Church Is About Koinonia not Donutkoffeeonia

Do you know what tires me out the most? Running in the same spot for days on end. I run on a Nordic Trac ski machine. It’s boring. It’s tiring, but it’s making me stronger and healthier.

     Sunday mornings feel like running in place sometimes. I know that many of you know of worship teams and sanctuaries where people flock by the thousands, and buzz about how great it is. Those churches must be ten times better!

I’ve visited some of them, in fact, two of the hottest church worship services in the area got my family for eight Sundays each! You know what? It didn’t take long before I felt like I was running in place.

• The pastor had the same pattern to his sermons.
• The worship songs started sounding alike.
• The people around me began to irritate me with their funky clothes or annoying noises.
• I saw the same people run to the altar.
• The children’s program had its problems.
• Each church had a giant appeal for money.

It was running in place, and I felt totally disconnected. Not everyone feels this way. I’m speaking for me now.

I go to our church as the Pastor not to make people happy, to cheerlead people into heaven, or to help people become less bored. I go because I feel connected to God and to people there, and not necessarily both at the same time or in that order. 

Here is what I mean by feeling connected this past week. A good friend and elder took me out to lunch so we could talk. That was an answer to prayer. Another member called with an outreach opportunity. I got an email from my wife asking people to connect in a small group. I got a long voicemail from one of our members apologizing for ignoring me (I didn’t think so, but it was wonderful to hear humility…and connection.) I saw the daughter of a member all dressed up from her induction ceremony into a professional sorority. One of our members stepped into worship leading with no coercion!

Now, I have friends on the outside, too, but it’s much harder to connect. We don’t see each other often enough. I don’t work in a big office where office friendships form, or where I can enjoy all the office politics.

     I work at staying connected to Christians in our community. Why? God inhabits those connections. God wants those connections. He calls them KOINONIA, the Greek word for “fellowship” and “partnership.” It isn’t DONUTKOFFEEONIA where we sit around a cup of coffee and talk about the weather or politics. God wants people to connect at the deepest levels to know about problems, dreams, and plans. Why? So we can pray. So we can catch the falling stars and lift up the weighted hearts of brothers and sisters. So we can see Him at work.

I don’t get this anywhere else! Period. I want this for our “Journey” people. KOINONIA is possible, but you’ve got to get on the Nordic Trac to experience it.

Pastor Smith Chews a Few Butts: NOT!

Mrs. Bewley saw Pastor Smith talking to himself after Sunday night’s “Love Feast.” He didn’t look like he was praying out loud! Mrs. Bewley approached him from the side hall near his office and knocked on his office door. Pastor Smith turned to Mrs. Bewley and put on his best face for her. A little twitch at the corner of his mouth showed an inner conflict. Mrs. Bewley knew he worried that only 8 of the possible 223 people affiliated with Christ’s Chapel came for the “Love Feast.”

“That was a great worship tonight,” Mrs Bewley said.

“Yes, thank you for your inspiring words and prayer. I wish more people could have heard it.“

“Pastor Smith, God doesn’t care how many can hear it.”

“But they could have had the same blessing we had tonight.” As soon as he said it he knew God had ordained only eight to gather. His gut wrenched right then! A small voice in his head said, “Is church about numbers or wanting more people to grow through having freedom to worship and pray?”

“Joe Wisely gave a great message tonight,” Mrs. Bewley said immediately. “I think some people miss hearing you speak, but we are all growing so much now that we can pray and speak freely. Listening to just another sermon on Sunday night makes too many of us educated way beyond our level of obedience.”

“Ha! That’s funny. Where did you hear that?”

“Oh, it’s a phrase Joyce Meyer always says.”

“I didn’t know you listened to Joyce Meyer?”

“She’s quite encouraging. I wish more people watched her.”

Pastor Smith’s gut wrenched again. He thought, “I wonder how many people watch her or that Joel guy instead of me?” But he said, “She has that stadium really full on Sunday nights?”

Mrs. Bewley gave Pastor Smith an affirming “Don’t worry. She’s not you. You’re exactly what we need here!”

“Thanks, Mrs. Bewley. I know God is working.” But he thought, “Joyce Meyer has people who’d come out to hear her in a blizzard in Acapulco!”

Running on the treadmill the next morning, Pastor Smith listened to a Joyce Meyer podcast. Sure enough, he felt better after listening. She hit another positive-message-home run. He said out loud, “How does she get all that out of one verse? Maybe we ought to listen to her on Sunday nights? Nah, Frank Viola says to let people take responsibility for their spiritual worship of Christ and more growth will happen than any other method.”

As Pastor Smith wrote out the bulletin for that Sunday he included this announcement:

Better than Joyce Meyer. More growth than a St. Patrick convert. Bring an appetite, a dish to pass, and a heart-felt urge to worship the Risen Christ on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. at our own “Love Feast.”

Then, his secretary, Julia Whiteout, overheard him talking to himself…

“What I should really say is ‘Get your butts out here. God wants more than eight of us to grow closer to him!’”

You Can’t Go Back There

Going back to somewhere I’ve lived or worked in the past feels like entering the twilight zone.

I just got back from visiting my two internships. It was great to see everyone, but life has moved on. If each place was a moving walkway, a “travelator,” like those found in an airport, everyone else had moved forward. I tried to get on where I got off, but no one was there.

I tried to go back to see old teachers in High School once. I didn’t fit. The teachers were busy, and I was an interruption. It’s disruptive to their schedule.

I’ve been back to churches where I was on staff. Same feeling. Great people. Great welcomes. Totally different feel. Twilight Zone?

Is this like a cross cultural feeling? When I go to Belarus I am out-of-place, but with friends. The daily “every-day-ness” is unfamiliar. People try to fit me into a friend, foe, or foreigner, but I’m fighting that feeling I just don’t belong.

I’ve walked into churches and felt welcomed but out-of-place. It’s that “cross-cultural feeling.”

What is this feeling? Is it just me? Can we ever go “back there”?

I’ve gone back to my alma mater for visits and football games, but I don’t feel out-of-place there. I’m not intruding. I’m not getting on a treadmill. Why is it different?

I go back to Rhonda’s home church in Muskegon once a year. Though, some of her childhood acquaintances have moved or died, before and after worship feels like a homecoming. The travelator may have moved, but people’s welcome us and give us a space where they are on the travelator.

Spiritual lessons are all in this feeling.

God lives in the present. He never moves down the “travelator” without us.

Our support group, the church, really needs to work hard at giving people a spot on the “travelator”. How?

• Turning toward people.
• Using names.
• Showing great cheer when we see someone come in.
• Asking questions.
• Listening.
• Inviting to “break bread” together.

I am praying for more of this to happen in every church.  We’re going to need each other more and more as the political stew heats up around us, and we find ourselves pushed further to the margins. Hospitality, I think, is the word I’ve been looking for!

Romans 12:13

Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 16:23

Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings.

1 Timothy 5:10

and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

Hebrews 13:2

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

1 Peter 4:9

Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

3 John 1:8

We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

Rating Churches Like We Rate Cars

How many times do church systems need repairs? Does it get good prayer mileage? How much love does it share? Does it have a ton of bells and whistles, but the character is no where near the high standard of Christ himself? Does the drivetrain, that is small groups, get out of first gear or does it break down frequently? Is it a good fit for a wide variety? Is it noisy or does it have a smooth ride? How much does it cost?

Yes, church can be rated just like cars! The Natural Church Development people have performed the study on 45,000 churches and 17 million people with positive results. After a quick survey of the congregation, the leaders get results in eight categories called “biotic factors.” Because church life is organic, like plants or animals, these eight biotic factors influence positively or negatively. God is ultimately the cause of numerical growth. To have spiritual growth and numerical growth these biotic factors need to be in place.

1. Loving relationships
2. Inspiring worship
3. Empowering Leadership
4. Gift Based Ministry
5. Passionate Spirituality
6. Effective Structures
7. Holistic Small Groups
8. Need oriented evangelism

Every group of Christians, big or small, has issues. Christians want

• a place to grow spiritually,
• to transform into Christ’s image
• learn about God’s available power,
• understand the way God speaks to us today.
• impact the world around them for Christ.

So often, something in the group of Christians gets in the way. Just like we need a car to get us from Point A to Point B without too much trouble, so the group of Christians needs to help people grow personally and spiritually. If the car is constantly having its wheels fall off, it can’t get to Point B. So, too with church. 

The Natural Church Development folks have a simple plan. Work on the lowest factor first! Figure out what is needed in that one area, create some conversation about it, and the other seven factors will gain momentum, too.

My personal take on this is very good. Rather than formulaic (call every visitor who comes to the church or get a guitar led team in worship), the NCD process involves people talking to each other, taking ownership for each other, and seeing the community of Christians as more than just a bunch of nuts and bolts in the bulletin. They begin to see it as a God ordained entity with purpose and possibility.

You can see the NCD website for more info.