Tag Archives: thriving

What is the fascination with dystopia?

18 Wednesday Oct 2017

Posted by in Humanity, Society

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Dystopia – “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.”  (This is the definition I got off of Google.)

What is fascination with dystopian societies?  Seriously?  Why do we seem so hell-bent on moving towards a dystopian society?

Who thinks this is a good idea?

Most of our “entertainment” is oriented towards dystopia and death and degrading.  It’s not entertaining.  It’s deadly.

But I’m not one to blame the entertainment industry.  They are just feeding us what we as humans want, and making a solid profit off of it.

A dystopian society is a society that has lost hope.  It has lost the will to live.  It sees death and destruction as a better alternative than life.  In a sense, it’s no different from suicide.  I don’t say that lightly either or in jest.  I’m being serious.

But the question is why?  Why is our society so fixated on moving towards death and destruction?

Is it a lack of vision?  We’ve have many times in the past where there was a lack of vision.

Is it lack of leadership?  We’ve certainly had many times in our nation’s short history in which we seriously lacked leadership.

Is it lack of purpose? Maybe?

Is it just a natural part of the cycle of civilization?  Who knows.

It seems right now that the best we are offered is maintenance and survival.  That’s not good.  Humans need to be oriented towards thriving and growth and forward progress, or else they wither and die.  Just go in to many nursing homes and see the effect of what it means to survive each day.  It’s not pretty.

But put these same people in an environment where there are children, animals, and plants to take care of and there is radical improvement in the lives of these people.

It’s the difference between waiting to die and striving to live to make life better for others.

Our society seems to be waiting to die.  It lacks vision.  It lacks competent leadership.  It lacks purpose.

Maybe part of the issue is that we have put too much faith, hope, and trust into something that can’t provided what we need most.

Maybe we are slouching towards dystopia because of a combination of many things.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Our future isn’t set in stone.  Our future isn’t fixed.  It can change in an instant.  And it starts with you.  Yes, you dear reader.

Will you accept that life is about survival or that life is more than just survival?

Will you accept crappy leadership that seems to go no where – whether in government, religion, education, etc.?  Or will you step up to the plate?

Will you accept “entertainment” that thrives on death and destruction and violence and call it normal?  Or will you engage in entertainment that is actually life-giving?

Will you paint a picture in your mind of a world that becomes darker and more violent?  Or will you be a light on a lamp stand that proclaims Good News?

If you wait for someone else to do these things, you are choosing dystopia.  You are waiting for someone else to take responsibility.  You are rejecting the call of God to respond to God’s Good News.

It’s time to put your money where your mouth is.  It’s time to put up or shut up.  It’s time to get moving.  Baby steps.  One step at a time.  The first step is the hardest.  It’s the decision to stop accepting the direction we are heading.  It’s the decision that says there is something more, something better.  It’s the decision that says that now is the time to get moving.  Life awaits.  It’s time to share that life with others.

Trust is…

25 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by in Organizational theory, Society

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What is trust?

It’s to see and identify when we see it.  But it’s not all that easy to define.

Here’s how I define trust.  Trust is a relationship with others and with institutions that is based on honesty, integrity, vulnerability, and knowing that someone has your back in case of an emergency.

Another way of putting it is that trust is when you are a part of some larger group, even if you don’t personally know the people, but you know that everyone has similar values and there is a sense of commonality.

Trust is the foundation of community.  Without trust, there really can’t be community.  Without trust, there is no sense of safety.  Without trust, people are busy looking behind their backs to ensure they don’t get stabbed in the back.  When that happens, no one is looking out for anyone else.  Without trust, it’s pretty lonely out there.

Trust is a foundation for a society to advance and thrive.  Without it, there is a great deal of anxiety and strife.

Trust is an expectation and a sense of predictability.  This brings stability and an openness to opportunity.  If trust is lacking, so is growth.  Without trust, the focus is on survival.

This is most certainly true for a society, a nation, a community, an organization, and a church.

Characteristics of a Thriving Church

01 Tuesday Dec 2015

Posted by in Church, Organizational theory

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Carey Nieuwhof, a pastor who writes some great articles, posted this article recently.

5 Surprising Characteristics of Churches That Are Actually Reaching the Next Generation

 

In the article he mentions these five characteristics. It’s a pretty good and quick read.  Here’s the summary version:

  1. Passion over polish – passion for the mission is more important than the way things look.
  2. Jesus over God – These churches talk about Jesus, who is more concrete, than some abstract version of God.
  3. Progress over Facilities – meaning that these churches are expanding, not in size, but in numbers and keep adding other sites, even if the facilities are less than desirable.
  4. Risk over Certainty – They don’t suffer from analysis paralysis.
  5. Mission over Money – When the mission is clear, the money will follow, as will the people and anything that that’s needed.

I agree with these characteristics.  In a way they are similar to some of the findings I observed from my time in Finland – although not exactly the same.  But when you get past the surface to a deeper level, these characteristics and my observations do relate.  And the best part is that this is true, not just for attracting Millenials, but anyone really.

Here’s my observations:

  1. A thriving church isn’t focused on the material over the people.  Relationships of the community of believers takes precedence.  That doesn’t mean you let the building go into disrepair.  That means that the building is a tool that serves a function to assist in building the relationship of the community and in spreading the Good News.  Thriving churches use this tool, add to it, take things away as needed.  They aren’t sitting around debating about whether something that is no longer useful should be kept just because it’s always been there.
  2. When you look at the list above, you essentially have the definition of what a thriving congregation is.  A thriving congregation is outward focused, with Jesus at the center, willing to take a risk for the Gospel because they are on a mission and they have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.  In contrast, I found that dying congregations are inward focused, focus on the numbers and the materials, create rules that exist to maintain the status quo, and feel as though they have everything to lose.  They are risk averse.

The above definition is true not just for churches, but really any organization.  Test it out for yourself.  Look at your church and see what group it fits into.  Go to your job and see.  Really, it works for any organization.  The mission will be different at each of these, but the important point is this – is the mission the focus or is it rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.