-
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.
