The Show Strategic Conversations about the Church from Leadership Network Live every Tuesday at 4pm Eastern. Coming up on The Show: Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition by Alan J. Roxburgh (Jossey-Bass, 1/25/2010) gives leaders the help they need to nurture their church environments to become truly God centered so that his spirit will guide the mission and the work of their congregations. Why did you write Missional Map- Making? In working with many church leaders in many different kinds of churches and denominations two things became clear to me. First, they all knew we had entered a different world, a new space where it was increasingly difficult to know how to be God's people in this crazy, unthinkable time of ours. Second, they kept defaulting to the kinds of strategies they've been using all along - such as strategic plans, vision and value statements, and church health programs. Their imagination for how to lead in this new space had not yet connected with their experience that the world had changed. I wrote the book to address this situation and to give people a new way of understanding how to lead in a world where we can no longer follow established maps but need to make new ones. Feb. 9 - Earl Creps Earl Creps is known for his work in connecting the younger generation of postmoderns... Dean Niewolny joins OneHundredX Team as Managing Director of Halftime OneHundredX is pleased to announce that Dean Niewolny has joined the team as Managing Director of Halftime. Dean grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin and graduated from... Who is the book for? I wrote the book for friends and conversation partners in church leadership. In other words I wrote for people I love very deeply and have a great passion to help. I want to enable them to get a new imagination for leadership right now... Online Donation Tools for Churches and Non-Profits 50 Days Until the Spring National Church IT Roundtable
Recovery Conference 2010 and THE NINES The Greenhouse Effect Seacoast Church and Leadership News from Leadership Network Publishing Picking the Best Graphic to Tell Your Story Well Sermons and "I'm new" are Most Visited Church Web Sections An analysis of church websites revealed that sermons were considered by far the single most important website feature, according to Monk Development's survey research involving over 1,200 church members (see http://www.churchwebsiteguide.com for more church... Religious Restrictions Affect Two-Thirds of Humanity Almost 70% of the globe's population has limits on their expressions of their faith, according to a 72-page analysis based on 16 sources of information, including reports from the U.S. State Department... You can peruse 100+ past issues of Leadership Network Advance and get valuable information on a variety of ministry topics in our Archives. Select VIEW FULL ARCHIVES LIST to see what's there. Here are a few topics of interest we covered recently: Baby Boomers Are Responsible for 50% of US Discretionary Spending One-third of the population in the U.S. is currently over 50, yet this generational cohort called the Baby Boomers is in charge of 50% of the discretionary spending. They will be outspending younger adults...
Missional Map-Making: Skills for Leading in Times of Transition by Alan J. Roxburgh (Jossey-Bass, 1/25/2010) gives leaders the help they need to nurture their church environments to become truly God centered so that his spirit will guide the mission and the work of their congregations. Why did you write Missional Map-Making? In working with many church leaders in many different kinds of churches and denominations two things became clear to me. First, they all knew we had entered a different world, a new space where it was increasingly difficult to know how to be God's people in this crazy, unthinkable time of ours. Second, they kept defaulting to the kinds of strategies they've been using all along - such as strategic plans, vision and value statements, and church health programs. Their imagination for how to lead in this new space had not yet connected with their experience that the world had changed. I wrote the book to address this situation and to give people a new way of understanding how to lead in a world where we can no longer follow established maps but need to make new ones. Who is the book for? I wrote the book for friends and conversation partners in church leadership. In other words I wrote for people I love very deeply and have a great passion to help. I want to enable them to get a new imagination for leadership right now. From the book: We are living in the midst of a communications revolution. The quantity of information coming at us from many quarters is already massive and increasing every day.... One can expect, for example, that while the Scripture is being read or a sermon given, people are receiving and sending twitter messages that are communicating levels of information and data outside what a leader might imagine is the primary information being given from the front of a church or in an information bulletin on a Sunday morning. The weekly church email is but a miniscule point of information within myriad emails and other information pieces a church attender receives in a week. Most of the time, this information-overloaded world of people is carrying multiple narratives, many of which are in direct competition with much of the Christian imagination. This is the information-rich world in which leaders must seek to form mission-shaped life.... inside the local church there exist multiple ways in which people are coming together (formally and informally) to wrestle with the many stories and narratives seeking to shape their lives. It is by attending to how these narratives are at play among people, and learning to cultivate a dialogue among people, and with the Biblical stories, that leaders find ways of cultivating a mission-shaped direction How do you define the word "missional"? I'm often asked this question --- people want a nice, short, succinct definition. This kind of question is an example of the old maps with which we've been working. The assumption is that if we can get a clear, concise definition of something then we'll be able to then develop clear strategies to make something happen. But that is not the kind of world we live in. Missional for me is about how we rediscover a radical engagement between Scripture and the strange, changing culture(s) in which we find ourselves. It's about God, not us or the church. When I work with church groups I try to use language that grounds missional in ways they understand. For me, then, it's discovering what God is up to in the neighborhoods and communities in which we live, and seeking to join with God in those places. That's were I start it's not everything but it connects and helps people get a handle on the idea. What is new in your book? It gives a way of creating new maps for mission that emerge from among the people rather than from top down vision/value statements and strategic plans. It provides a way of discovering what God is forming in the local and ordinary rather than being dependent on all the idealistic and romantic ideas of gurus. What do you hope readers take away from Missional Map-Making? My hope is that those who read this book will take away not only a new perspective on how to lead local churches through a time of massive transformation, but also a set of practical steps in the formation of missionshaped churches. One simple, practical idea in the book is how to help the people of a local
among their people. Adapted from Missional Map-Making by Alan J. Roxburgh. Copyright 2010 by Alan J. Roxburgh. Reprinted with permission of the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. church develop spiritual practices of discerning what God is doing "next door" in their own neighborhoods. This is about empowering the imagination of our own people rather than making them dependent on a leader's big plans. What is your background? I have been a pastor for 25 years in urban and suburban churches; taught seminary and served as a consultant with church systems in many parts of the world. People can connect with me and what I do at my website roxburghmissionalnet.com and at allelon.org. Missional Map-Making An Interview with Author Alan Roxburgh Post a Comment View Comments Rate this Article: Average Rating: 0
The Show Strategic Conversations about the Church from Leadership Network Live every Tuesday at 4pm Eastern. Coming up on The Show: Feb. 9 - Earl Creps Earl Creps is known for his work in connecting the younger generation of postmoderns with their Boomer predecessors. In his book Reverse Mentoring he takes up the topic of how older church leaders can learn from younger leaders who are more conversant with culture, technology, and social context. In addition to making the benefits of what he calls "reverse mentoring" apparent, he also makes it accessible by offering practical steps to implement this discipline at both personal and organizational levels, particularly in communication, evangelism, and leadership. Feb. 16 - The Unthinkables On Feb 16th Leadership Network will be holding a special one day event to discuss potential shocks that would dramatically change U.S. society and culture with direct bearing on our churches. Following this gathering a few participants will join Dave Travis, Managing Director of Leadership Network, on The Show to talk about the day's discussion. Feb. 23 - Mike Bonem Mike Bonem is the author of Leading from the Second Chair. His book offers an invaluable resource to leaders who serve in second (and third and fourth) chair roles, enabling them to become more productive, proactive, and fulfilled. The book reveals the paradoxes of second chair leadership. These leaders must be subordinate to the top leader yet lead in their own right. They should be deep in their expertise but wide in perspective. And they must be content in their jobs yet remain enthusiastic about their dreams for the future. Dean Niewolny joins OneHundredX Team as Managing Director of Halftime OneHundredX is pleased to announce that Dean Niewolny has joined the team as Managing Director of Halftime. Dean grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business. Dean's professional life has centered around the financial arena, most recently serving as the Market Manager of the Chicago Central Market, Wells Fargo Advisors (formerly Wachovia Securities LLC). Dean began his own Halftime journey several years ago, as he felt God calling him out of the marketplace into ministry. Little did he know it would be as Managing Director of Halftime! Dean is a private pilot, so naturally his favorite hobby is flying. Dean is married to Lisa and they have two children, Kennedy and Caden. They currently live in S. Barrington, IL and are very active at Willow Creek Community Church where Dean has served in South Africa with Willow Creek partners, the Special Friends Ministry, Finance and Building Committee for the satellite churches and as Lay Pastor. The Niewolny family will be moving to the Dallas area in the near future and will be searching for a new church home.
Sermons and "I'm new" are Most Visited Church Web Sections An analysis of church websites revealed that sermons were considered by far the single most important website feature, according to Monk Development's survey research involving over 1,200 church members (see http://www.churchwebsiteguide.com for more church website research). Both sermons and the I'm New section had the highest level of indicated importance, at about 25% of all members surveyed, but the difference is that the I'm New content involves a diverse grouping of web pages about church staff, contact information, service times and directions, leadership information, mission, beliefs, values, and history, whereas the sermons section typically has just two types of pages attributed to it, sermon videos and sermon texts. Religious Restrictions Affect Two-Thirds of Humanity Almost 70% of the globe's population has limits on their expressions of their faith, according to a 72- page analysis based on 16 sources of information, including reports from the U.S. State Department and human rights groups as well as national constitutions (released by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life). Limits on expression of faith are found in roughly one-third of the world's countries which evidence high or very high restrictions on religion as a result of either government rules or hostile acts by individuals and groups. Religious minorities often feel the brunt of hostilities because they are perceived as a threat to the culture, politics or economy of a country's majority population. "The highest overall levels of restrictions are found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran, where both the government and society at large impose numerous limits on religious beliefs and practices," the report concluded. In some countries, such as China and Vietnam, government restrictions on religion were high, compared to moderate or low social hostilities. In contrast, nations such as Bangladesh and Nigeria had moderate level of government restrictions but ranked high in social hostilities. The findings were based on an investigation of 198 countries and territories, which represent 99.5% of the world's population, from 2006 to 2008. Baby Boomers Are Responsible for 50% of US Discretionary Spending One-third of the population in the U.S. is currently over 50, yet this generational cohort called the Baby Boomers is in charge of 50% of the discretionary spending. They will be outspending younger adults by $1 trillion in 2010, according to a recent report on Boomers & Technology by Microsoft and AARP. It notes: 1. Boomers are becoming fast adopters of technology, influenced by their children (millennials) at home and often also
taking care of aging parents. This gives them a special vantage point that combines the "brash enthusiasm of youth" with the "deliberate caution of older adults." 2. Boomers are concerned that their children will let technology shape their lives rather than using it to shape the lives they want. Boomers experienced the dawn of the technology era with the advent of the IBM PCs and Apples in the early 1980s, yet came of age without any of the social networking tools that exist for today's teens. Their values included human rights and individual freedoms and they have concerns about these in the wake of technology abuses. 3. Boomers benefit from "reverse mentoring" as many of them are learning about technology from their children.