The Missional Leader E-Book

Alan Roxburgh

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: J-B Leadership Network Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 378

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

In The Missional Leader, consultants Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk give church and denominational leaders, pastors, and clergy a clear model for leading the change necessary to create and foster a missional church focused outward to spread the message of the Gospel into the surrounding community. The Missional Leader emphasizes principles rather than institutional forms, shows readers how to move away from "church as usual," and demonstrates what capacities, environments, and mindsets are required to lead a missional church.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Leadership Network Titles

About Leadership Network

Foreword

Introduction

PART 1 - The Context and Challenge of Missional Leadership

CHAPTER 1 - Six Critical Issues for Missional Leadership

ISSUE ONE: MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP IS the KEY—BUT HOW DO YOU DO IT?

ISSUE TWO: MOST MODELS REPACKAGE OLD PARADIGMS

ISSUE THREE: DISCONTINUOUS CHANGE IS the NEW NORM

ISSUE FOUR: CONGREGATIONS STILL MATTER

ISSUE FIVE: LEADERS NEED NEW CAPACITIES and FRAMEWORKS

ISSUE SIX: A CONGREGATION IS a UNIQUE ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER 2 - Cultivating the Imagination of the Missional Leader

CULTIVATING a BIBLICAL IMAGINATION

The INCARNATION

The SPIRIT of GOD Among the PEOPLE

GOD’S FUTURE Among GOD’S PEOPLE

GOD TURNS UP in the MOST GODFORSAKEN PLACES

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE and MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP

“WHY CAN’T THEY LEARN LIKE the REST of US HAD to?”

CHANGING CULTURE, CHANGING CONGREGATIONS

OLD and NEW MODELS of LEADERSHIP

THREE ELEMENTS of LEADERSHIP as CULTIVATION

SUMMARY

CHAPTER 3 - Change and Transition: Navigating the Challenges

CONGREGATIONS CAN CHANGE

A MAP: The THREE ZONE MODEL of MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP

SUMMARY: PRINCIPLES for LEADING MISSIONAL TRANSFORMATION

CHAPTER 4 - The Big Picture: Understanding the Context of the Missional Congregation

The WHOLE and ITS PARTS

SYSTEM CHANGE in CONGREGATIONS

The CULTURAL CONTEXT for CONGREGATIONS

MASSIVE TRANSITIONS in PUBLIC and PERSONAL LIFE

INSECURITY and THREAT

FURTHER RETREAT into the PRIVATE SPHERE

The IMPORTANCE of NARRATIVE for MISSIONAL CONGREGATIONS

WHY NARRATIVE MATTERS in INNOVATING a MISSIONAL CONGREGATION

CONGREGATIONAL LIVED EXPERIENCE and PARTICIPATION

SAFE SPACE for DISCOVERING TRUTH TOGETHER

CHAPTER 5 - The Missional Change Model

SOURCES of the MISSIONAL CHANGE MODEL

The MODEL

READINESS for MISSIONAL INNOVATION

SUMMARY

GETTING READY to LEAD MISSIONAL CHANGE

PART 2 - The Missional Leader

CHAPTER 6 - Missional Readiness Factors and the Nature of Leadership

MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP READINESS FACTORS

The INTERPLAY of PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES and MISSIONAL READINESS FACTORS

The END TOWARD WHICH WE MUST MOVE

The THEOLOGICAL ROOTS of CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP and the INCARNATION

The FORMATION of a PEOPLE

A RELATIONAL PEOPLE

CHAPTER 7 - The Character of a Missional Leader

The IDENTITY and CHARACTER of a LEADER

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER 8 - Cultivating the People of God for a Missional Future

FOSTERING a MISSIONAL IMAGINATION

CULTIVATING GROWTH

The PURPOSE of PRACTICES

ENABLING CHANGE

CREATING COALITION

CHAPTER 9 - Forming a Missional Environment and Culture

The EXAMPLE of SOUTHSIDE

ENGAGING the CONTEXT of the LOCAL CHURCH

CHAPTER 10 - Engaging Context with a Christian Imagination

INCREASED UNDERSTANDING of OUR SOCIETY

CHURCH MEMBER ENGAGEMENT

MISSIONAL FUTURE

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS for CHANGE

SUMMARY

CHAPTER 11 - Conclusion: Putting Together a Team for Leadership Development

The PASTOR/LEADER SURVEY

The 360 DEGREE FEEDBACK PROCESS

The PASTOR/LEADER TEAM

PREPARING for the FINAL PASTOR/LEADER TEAM MEETING

FINAL TEAM MEETING

CONCLUSION

Notes

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Index

Copyright © 2006 by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Roxburgh, Alan J.

The missional leader: equipping your church to reach a changing world /

Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk; foreword by Eddie Gibbs.

p. cm.—(Leadership network series)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7879-8325-3 (cloth) ISBN-10: 0-7879-8325-X (cloth)

1. Mission of the church. 2. Church growth. 3. Church. 4. Missions.

I. Romanuk, Fred. II. Title. III. Series.

BV601.8.R69 2006

266—dc22

2006000723

Leadership Network Titles

Leading from the Second Chair: Serving Your Church, Fulfilling Your Role, and Realizing Your Dreams, by Mike Bonem and Roger Patterson

The Way of Jesus: A Journey of Freedom for Pilgrims and Wanderers, by Jonathan S. Campbell with Jennifer Campbell

Leading the Team-Based Church: How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders, by George Cladis

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens, by Neil Cole

Leading Congregational Change Workbook, by James H. Furr, Mike Bonem, and Jim Herrington

Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey, by Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr

The Leader’s Journey: Accepting the Call to Personal and Congregational Transformation, by Jim Herrington, Robert Creech, and Trisha Taylor

Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out, by Robert Lewis and Wayne Cordeiro, with Warren Bird

A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey, by Brian D. McLaren

The Story We Find Ourselves In: Further Adventures of a New Kind of Christian, by Brian D. McLaren

Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders, by Reggie McNeal

The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church, by Reggie McNeal

A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders, by Reggie McNeal

The Millennium Matrix: Reclaiming the Past, Reframing the Future of the Church, by M. Rex Miller

Shaped by God’s Heart: The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches, by Milfred Minatrea

The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence, by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath

The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World, by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk

The Elephant in the Boardroom: Speaking the Unspoken About Pastoral Transitions, by Carolyn Weese and J. Russell Crabtree

About Leadership Network

Since 1984, Leadership Network has fostered church innovation and growth by diligently pursuing its far-reaching mission statement: to identify, connect, and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.

Although Leadership Network’s techniques adapt and change as the church faces new opportunities and challenges, the organization’s work follows a consistent and proven pattern: Leadership Network brings together entrepreneurial leaders who are focused on similar ministry initiatives. The ensuing collaboration—often across denominational lines—creates a strong base from which individual leaders can better analyze and refine their own strategies. Peer-to-peer interaction, dialogue, and sharing inevitably accelerate participants’ innovation and ideas. Leadership Network further enhances this process through developing and distributing highly targeted ministry tools and resources, including audio and video programs, special reports, e-publications, and online downloads.

With Leadership Network’s assistance, today’s Christian leaders are energized, equipped, inspired, and better able to multiply their own dynamic Kingdom-building initiatives.

Launched in 1996 in conjunction with Jossey-Bass (a Wiley imprint), Leadership Network Publications present thoroughly researched and innovative concepts from leading thinkers, practitioners, and pioneering churches. The series collectively draws from a range of disciplines, with individual titles offering perspective on one or more of five primary areas:

1. Enabling effective leadership

2. Encouraging life-changing service

3. Building authentic community

4. Creating Kingdom-centered impact

5. Engaging cultural and demographic realities

For additional information on the mission or activities of Leadership Network, please contact:

Leadership Network 2501 Cedar Springs, Suite 200 Dallas, TX 75201 [phone] [email protected]

Foreword

by Eddie Gibbs

The past few years have witnessed a plethora of books addressing the challenges facing the church in the midst of profound cultural transition. These titles, addressing the situation of the churches in the West, are set against a backdrop of persistent church decline experienced by most, if not all, of the traditional denominations. Some of these books have focused on the cultural context, providing evidence that the changes taking place at least during the past four decades are deeprooted and comprehensive. They have an impact on every institution, including government, business and commerce, the military, education, and health care.

The church is not immune to the loss of confidence in our human ability to come up with solutions to fundamental problems relating to the environment, a growing world population, the purported clash of civilizations, and a technological revolution that has advantaged the privileged (who both contribute to and benefit from scientific advances) over those who are excluded from enjoying the benefits (through lack of education and work skills). All this is within a global context and amid fear of terrorism that has created a climate of uncertainty. Along with leaders in every other institution, church leaders are overwhelmed by the flood of facts, theories, and opinions let loose in this information age; they experience a loss of place amid increasing pluralism and the prevailing culture of relativism.

There were also, especially in the 1970s and through the 1990s, a spate of books from leaders of megachurches, whose growth has bucked the general trend. They trumpeted a message of success, inviting other leaders to adopt their methods in order to achieve similar results. Their expectations were seldom realized. It appears that the impressive growth of many megachurches was in fact mostly at the expense of other churches. This raises the question as to what their future will be once they have drained the pool dry. Yet they must not be so readily dismissed, because some of these large churches have made a significant contribution in reactivating lapsed church members by offering a worship experience and need-based ministries. These offerings established their relevance to a constituency that left out of boredom or frustration.

Then we have seen still other books that perceive the missionary challenge and gospel opportunity of the present state of uncertainty. They call for a new kind of church, envisioning one that is far less hierarchical, much more mobile, and outwardly focused. They emphasize the need to move from a church shaped over many centuries by the dubious assumptions of Christendom. Such churches operated on a come-to-us basis, in which the surrounding community is invited into the worshiping community on its terms.

This model too has now passed its “sell-by” date in most locations. It needs to be replaced by a missional model of church, one that is outgoing and expressed in countless local initiatives. This is the church of the first two and a half centuries of its existence, as recorded in the New Testament and by the Apostolic Fathers, before the conversion of Emperor Constantine. It is also the kind of church that is experiencing such phenomenal growth in Africa south of the Sahara, in Latin America, and parts of Asia. These churches, which are the fruit of missionary initiatives from the West, are in turn reaching out to the West and contributing increasingly to revitalizing the old Churches of Europe and North America, and to evangelizing those who have abandoned the church—or never ventured through its door.

A growing number of church leaders are beginning to catch the vision of another kind of church. Some of these leaders are to be found within traditional denominations, which is where the authors of this volume work, primarily as consultants. Others are arising within independent initiatives, which either stand alone or establish links with wider networks. These networks themselves birth new faith communities. But these emerging churches are not clones of existing ones, a process that characterized so much of the church planting endeavors of past decades. Rather, they are based on a missional understanding of church that emphasizes an incarnational, servant approach and sees church not as a once-a-week gathering but as a community to which one belongs that relates to the whole of life. It is a community in which each person makes an active contribution, during gathered worship as well as dispersed service. These churches emphasize hospitality and are therefore small. They are small not because of their limited appeal but because they are committed to maintaining their values of community, accountability, and service, and to being reproducible on an exponential scale. This is indeed an inspiring vision.

The challenge for so many church leaders, whether or not they have received formal training, is that they are not equipped to lead such a church. They were trained to pastor and teach in an existing church context to the satisfaction of its members. Our training models are conditioned by a Christendom mind-set and the agendas of the academy. As a consequence, we neglect the three other areas of ministry listed first in Ephesians 4, all of which are of crucial importance in the missional church: the gifts of apostle, prophet, and evangelist. (As one Australian denominational executive lamented, “We are suffering from a dire shortage of APEs!”)

To break out of such a shrinking, we need the entrepreneurial leader who can birth new faith communities. We need the prophet who has learned the discipline of listening to God and is able to impart a clear vision and discerning counsel. We need the evangelist who can commend Christ with grace and authority and equip local churches to communicate the good news as a choral statement.

The frequently heard cry of church leaders who have captured the vision is, “How do we transition from a consumer model of church to one that is essentially missional in nature?” Or, “How do we birth such a church, when we have never had the opportunity to be involved in one?”

This is where the present volume makes a unique contribution. It is the first book I have come across that addresses, in a very practical way, how to make the transition. It identifies the critical issues that every leader must consider before beginning the process and then offers wise counsel on how to navigate the process, giving frank recognition to the fact that the passage will almost certainly be stormy, disruptive, and disorienting. This is not a book of quick fixes and slick slogans, but one that sets out a comprehensive and in-depth treatment. Some books can be mastered in one read. This is the kind of volume that leaders will want to return to again and again as they face fresh challenges. The insights contained in these pages are a timely guide not only for the paid staffs of churches but for their entire leadership team, to afford mutual understanding and a common vision. Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk draw on years of experience as church consultants, and their insights are now made available to a much wider audience. I am convinced they will make many more grateful friends as a consequence.

Eddie Gibbs Donald A. McGavran Professor of Church Growth School of Intercultural Studies Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena, California

Introduction

The question is familiar: “What do you mean by missional church?” Even though the term is now used everywhere, there is still confusion about it. As we begin this book, here is a brief description of what we mean by the phrase.

God is about a big purpose in and for the whole of creation. The church has been called into life to be both the means of this mission and a foretaste of where God is inviting all creation to go. Just as its Lord is a mission-shaped God, so the community of God’s people exists, not for themselves but for the sake of the work. Mission is therefore not a program or project some people in the church do from time to time (as in “mission trip,” “mission budget,” and so on); the church’s very nature is to be God’s missionary people. We use the word missional to mark this big difference. Mission is not about a project or a budget, or a one-off event somewhere; it’s not even about sending missionaries. A missional church is a community of God’s people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God’s missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ.

PART 1

The Context and Challenge of Missional Leadership

CHAPTER 1

Six Critical Issues for Missional Leadership

ALAN WAS LEADING A WORKSHOP AT A YOUTH Specialties/Emergent conference in San Diego. The group comprised some one hundred church leaders from all kinds of churches—experimental, long-standing, mainline, and congregational. But from all the groups the common question was, “How do we lead and form these missional/emergent congregations you keep talking about? How do we form missional congregations without blowing up the churches we’re serving, or losing our job?”