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Building Leadership with Thought-Provoking Questions

Today I read an article from Leadership That Creates the Future and want to share it with those of you who are engaging in Community Engagement, Revitalization or Restoration.  The environment you create as a leader is more important than the persona you want to project.  True leadership is about others, not yourself.  Enjoy reading:

 

Building Leadership with Thought-Provoking Questions

Posted on March 16, 2015

Leadership – there are likely few topics in the world about which more has been written. With so many resources and sometimes contradictory theories to consider (think “Servant Leadership” and “Machiavellian”), finding a personal leadership style that feels authentically “you” can sometimes seem like an unending quest. Establishing the leadership culture in an organization can be an equally challenging and continuously evolving process.

Leadership That Creates the Future reached out to experts in Creating the Future’s Facebook group for consultants to community benefit organizations and asked them –What compelling questions about leadership do you like to explore? Their questions provide a framework for discovering personal insights, values, and beliefs that can help anyone on a journey toward reaching their highest potential as a leader.

Consider the following:

• How do you approach conflict and confrontation?

• How do you identify what motivates your team – not just imposing what motivates you onto them – and how do you use that to inspire greatness?

• How do you identify and develop natural leaders in your community – those with no formal power but to whom people listen?

• How do you help develop everyone’s leadership abilities?

• How do you create an environment where others feel safe to fail?

• How do great system or network leaders differ, if at all, from great organizational leaders?

• How do we help our followers become great followers?

• What would be possible if we stopped talking about leaders and, instead, focused on leadership?

• What do we hope that leadership makes possible and how can everyone benefit as a result of it?

• How do we move away from “hero” leadership (focused on individual traits) to transformational leadership (focused on positive social change)?

• How do we make leadership more inclusive?

Through a thoughtful exploration of questions such as these, leaders, potential leaders, and followers can better identify the conditions through which leadership can make a positive difference in our organizations, communities, and the world.

What are some additional questions that are helping you to identify the principles and practices that shape you and your organization’s approach to leadership?

 

Thank you to Freya Bradford, Kimberly Diggs Lauth, Jane Garthson, Andrea John-Smith, Joyce Lee-Ibarra, Rhonda Lorch, Justin Pollock, and Kelly Trusty for contributing questions for this blog post.

Links:

Leadership That Creates the Future: http://blogs.creatingthefuture.org

Freya Bradford: LinkedIn

Kimberly Diggs Lauth: Kim Lauth Consulting

Jane Garthson: Garthson Leadership Centre

Andrea John-Smith: LinkedIn

Joyce Lee-Ibarra: JLI Consulting

Rhonda Lorch: Lorch and Associates

Justin Pollock: OrgForward

Kelly Trusty: LinkedIn

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Wilderness Journeys Perfect Your Faith To Move Forward

Thank you to those who have supported me during this time of silence and transition.  A good friend asked me “what did you do wrong to be silenced?”, to which I replied not that kind of silence.  It is the silence you experience when God is moving you to a new place and new assignment that causes you to stop, reflect on the past, review His promises for your life and recall the provisions He has provided when you were entering into other places that stretched you beyond your current situation.  When God instructs, prepare to move forward in a way that requires your faith to be strong.  I have been silent on this blog for the past four weeks out of obedience to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.  A preparation process for moving forward.  The New Urban is not about showing hopeless kids hope; it’s about changing attitudes of kingdom building among the adults and young adults charged with leading our youth through this transitional state to adulthood.  It’s about a collective vision of moving young people forward, not a siloed classification of young people.  The Bible teaches that all have sinned and come short of the glory.  All need him, not just the poor, not just those experiencing challenging circumstances but everyone.  I truly believe God is moving Youth Ministry to a new understanding of faith, vision and  equipping of young people.

Faith can be idle when circumstances are calm.  But, when adversity hits then our faith is exercised.  Like muscles, our faith grows stronger when exercised.  I have learned that faith states the dream, examines all options, uses all resources, removes all nonessentials and then moves forward.  I now understand what it means to say – “a man able to see in faith sees things that do not yet exist in the natural realm and sees the potential to bring to pass something marvelous.”

In the Bible, the Hebrew  word  forward is about taking a journey that has many stages to it.  In Exodus 14: 13 – 15 the people had to first stand still and then go forward.  This has been an incredible journey the Lord has me on to this point.  I walk in expectancy of all that He has for me going forward.

 

I invite you to also move forward in your relationship with Jesus Christ, in your ministry and in exalting God, engaging unbelievers and edifying the believers:

F – represents the future.  Things do not happen by chance, they happen according to His will.  Don’t be distracted by circumstances seen with the natural eye.   (Prov. 19:21)

O – signifies ordinary people. God uses ordinary people to accomplish His will.  Throughout history it wasn’t about titles, degrees or pedigree – just ordinary people.  In Romans 16 Paul mentions 24 people used,  Luke 10:1 speaks of 70 that went out 2 by 2.

R – stands for resiliency.  The Bible tells us that “a man who holds his ground can become strong like the oak” (Prov 24:10).  As Christian leaders we are to cultivate our ability to endure under pressure, rise after failure and push ahead when others quit.  Spurgeon said, “by perseverance, the snail reached the ark”.

W –  represents wholehearted prayer. Prayer is an intense dialogue with diety. It is your decision to personally pursue and seek guidance from the Lord.  It is an intense, continual, wholehearted seeking of relationship and conversation.

A – indicates the attitude of faith and courage that fuels your moving forward to fulfill the vision God gave you.   Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the mastery of it.  You must be able to see your vision, say it and seize it.  You must have faith to see what God is doing.

R – stands for remember. Looking back over your life, recall what God has done for you.  Even as you look back over your test and trials, you will see where God has brought you through.  That which seemed like there was no way out, no solution or now path forward . . . look at you now.  And if you are in the midst of a storm now, look around and remember – “you have been here before.”

D – signifies decisions.  Decisions determine your DESTINY. Every decision in your life has a consequence; some positive and some negative.  When we take matters into our own hands, that is when God allows us to struggle in the darkness created by our decisions.  To move forward, learn from wise men’s (and women’s) lifestyles and decision making processes.  Don’t be afraid to seek wise counsel. (This is the biggest mistake most young leaders make – The I Know It All Syndrome).  Don’t take my word, read Prov. 1:5; 8:33; 9:8,9.

 

Your path forward belongs to the Lord .  Be confident and stay conscience . . .

 

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Is The Right To Vote A Racial Entitlement? Oh How Far Have We Moved From God

Scripture teaches us we are to view  government through the lens of scripture, attempting to persuade them to make laws consistent with biblical standards of morality.   I know I have readers who are Republican and who are Democrats and I don’t want to alienate any of you.  Preaching on politics is just too divisive.  But I like Paul will challenge you, as Christians, to faithfully discharge your responsibilities before God on issues of  justice.

 

             “I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for i did not shrink       

                                     from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26-27)

 

Scripture  point to believers who spoke out on behalf of government doing what was right.  Jesus taught, in Matthew 22:21, about the distinction between the things that belong to Caesar and the things that are God’s.  Daniel, in Daniel 4:27 called out Nebuchadnezzar to hear his council and break off his sin by practicing righteousness.  Verse 49 says he was regularly at the king’s court.  Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 29:7 told the Jewish exiles in Babylon to seek the welfare of the city because in it they would find their welfare, the laws and policies consistent with the Word of God.  Joseph oversaw Pharaoh’s great wealth.  Moses demanded freedom for the people of Israel – “let my people go” (Exodus 8:1).   Nehemiah orchestrated the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.  Queen Esther had influence on the king in changing the “policy” that were created.  Several of the prophets witnessed to the moral standards and requirements of treatment of people and how to conduct themselves.  John the Baptist rebuked Herod for the things he had done (Luke 3:19).  In Acts 24:25 Paul spoke to Felix about “righteousness and self control and the coming judgment”.

 

 

Today I am honored to bring to you a man who has been in the fight for justice for a long time.  A man who has stood on the front lines, the soup line, the unemployment lines and the prayer lines in an effort to bring justice to every man. I thank him for inviting me to be a guest on his TV program this Saturday night and for  joining the conversation today.

 

 

 

GUEST POST: REVEREND  JESSE JACKSON SR.

Weekly Commentary | Chicago Sun-Times

In oral arguments before the Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act, Justice Antonin Scalia slandered the act as a “racial entitlement,” arguing, “whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.” So, the right-wing justice intimated, the conservative “Gang of Five” on the Supreme Court had every right to step in and overrule the 98 senators who voted unanimously to reauthorize the act (including the senators of every state and jurisdiction required to seek pre-clearance of any changes in their voting laws).

The justice proved once more that he is not a neutral arbiter of the Constitution but a right-wing activist with an agenda to enforce. Deference to the popularly elected Congress and president is, apparently, only when they do what Scalia considers to be proper. When they choose to reauthorize a Voting Rights Act that has protected the rights of millions and transformed America’s democracy since its passage in 1965, Justice Scalia thinks the court should negate their act, since he somehow considers protection of the right to vote a “racial entitlement.”

Scalia’s racial taunt has received the scorn it deserves. It makes more sense to apply his reasoning to the real “racial entitlements” that still scar our nation.

For example, a recent study by Brandeis University revealed a stunning increase in the wealth gap between whites and blacks in America. The gap tripled between 1984 and 2009. In 2009, the median wealth (the difference between what you own and what you owe) of a white household was $113,149. The median wealth of a black household was $5,677.

Why the difference? The study found five contributing factors.

First, whites were more likely to be homeowners than blacks, often because their families are more able to help with down payments. Black families who worked for 200 years in slavery and 100 years in segregation had less ability to accumulate wealth.

Second, whites made more income than blacks, even for comparable work.

Third, blacks are twice as likely to be unemployed as whites, and, with less of a family cushion to rely on, more likely to deplete their savings when unemployed.

Fourth, whites are five times more likely to inherit money, and their inheritance averages 10 times as much. Again, this surely is in part a legacy of our scarred history.

Finally, whites are more likely to have a college education than blacks. Blacks are more likely to find advanced training difficult to finance. They are more likely to graduate with debt, and their average debt on graduation is greater.

The wealth gap is, in Scalia’s words, a “racial entitlement.” Only this entitlement favors whites, not blacks. As Scalia wrote, “whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes.” That’s why it took a Civil War to end slavery, and to amend the Constitution to guarantee equal protection of the laws. It took the sacrifice of lives and limbs in a civil rights movement to end segregation, and to pass the Voting Rights Act to provide minorities with an equal right to vote. On economic inequality, the promise of 40 acres and a mule for freed slaves was broken. Dr. King marched on Washington to redeem a “canceled check” marked “insufficient funds.”

If Scalia is right, “the normal political processes” won’t solve this racial entitlement. Nor, for that matter, will the right-wing Gang of Five on the Supreme Court.

Keep up with Rev. Jackson and the work of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition at www.rainbowpush.org.
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Maybe The Unity In The Body Of Christ Is Not Important To Youth Workers

I was recently asked what is the Biblical basis for the concept of The New Urban and how do we know it when we see it and how do we live it out.  In framing my answer to this person the narrative of the conversation moves from games, gimmicks and entertainment of young people to authentic collective ministry focused on equipping young people for the pressures and challenges they are facing day to day.

First and foremost the Bible teaches us that we are no longer separated and are all in the same spirit.  Ministry to young people is not urban, suburban or rural; its Jesus Christ crucified.  And our unity is an integral part of that dialogue.

 

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.  For the body is not one member, but many.  

1 Corinthians 12:12-14

 

Second, the equipping of young people is also about our own walk with Christ, for how can we convince young people to live a life that we ourselves are not willing to live.  If we never engage with people unlike ourselves we plant an image of divisiveness in our young people that is not the reality of the world in which they exist.

I believe as the Body of Christ that we are “to present our bodies a living sacrifice” in honor and praise to God (Romans 12:1-2; Eph. 1:6), to reflect the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in our lives, to evangelize the world by the preaching and sharing of the Gospel (Acts 1:8) and to equip Believers with God’s Word to face the struggles of this world.

 

Third, people have differing skills; ministries have different talents and resources.  Working together enables our varying gifts to work together to advance the gospel to young people.   We must do ministry with young people together, not just conferences and meetings of youth workers.

Jesus Christ has given different ministerial gifts to the Church For the perfecting of the saints .  . . for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-16) and it’s through our unity not separation that we bring young people to the full understanding of the gospel. The ultimate mission of the Church is winning souls to Christ through the preaching of the Gospel.

 

The individual looked at me with a blank stare on their face.  He said, but I don’t get it, what events should we do first?  I replied, before you focus on events lets spend some time in prayer and ask God to make sure our hearts are pure.  That the life we live be pleasing to Him.  Ask Him to help us to view everyone as equal, to not think of ourselves as above others and open our hearts and minds to how we work together with people of all types.  That our walk be an example to those under our care and we point them to Christ not us.  Let’s pray for the issues our young people are facing.

He then said, now what? How about we go visit someone at a church outside your circle of influence and let’s spend some time with them in prayer about the issues their young people are facing.

He replied, ok let’s hurry up and get through this, I need to setup the dodgeball game for the kids tonight. I wondered how do you tie it to the Word of God?  “Oh we don’t really, the kids like it and it’s how we keep them engaged.  We’ll do a quick lesson at the end.”

Really

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Does The Burden You Have For The Young People You Serve Lead You To Your Knees Or In Search Of Another Curriculum Or Program

 

Today we begin looking at the details of Nehemiah’s four step process for dealing with the burden he had for the people in Jerusalem.  We as leaders should have a burden for the conditions our young people face and an action plan for supporting them.

 

Step 1 – Nehemiah heard the report of his city.  In response, he spent four months of fasting, praying, weeping and mourning.

 

Our communities are deeply broken by the conditions society, some self-imposed, others that have been created.  We face economic breakdown with parental loss of jobs or the inability to acquire employment.  Businesses are struggling or closing.  We face family breakdowns in two family homes, parental relationships and the relationships between parents and kids. Single family homes are overburdened by the responsibility of the one parent.  Our educational system now pits teacher union reps against administration looking to get control of massive budgets; while neither is really focused on the education of our young people.  The young people themselves don’t see the true value of education and the capable ones dummy down to fit in and avoid peer pressure, thus affecting their long-term prospects of economic self-sufficiency.  Our men are being broken by a system that has devalued them and targeted them in a way that makes high school to prison the norm for a large number of our men.  The political system is run by power brokers whose self-interest sacrifices any other efforts.  The little man with few financial resources has no voice.  Services and assistance are being cut or redirected to those who don’t have the greatest need.  People have lost hope and see no way out and are giving up.

The challenges described above are not just in the urban communities; I am describing all communities.  Unfortunately, we don’t always want to face up to the reality of trouble existing in our own community.  By not addressing these head on we leave our young people exposed to deal with what they see, in their own way.  I conducted a workshop, last week, at a suburban youth ministry and after the workshop the adults were amazed at the attitudes of their young people and the experiences they were having.  The youth workers assumed the issues were in the other communities, not theirs.   They said they have “the good kids” but learned they were not equipping the young people to effectively make Godly decisions.   The young people began to discuss not only their issues but also how they felt the youth workers didn’t understood them, were not equipping them or living as an example for them.  This was incredibly eye opening to these youth workers.  This upper middle class, suburban, curriculum rich ministry learned they had not spent much time in collective prayer seeking God’s guidance in equipping their young people to deal with the issues they face.  Now don’t confuse my point; curricula is necessary but not the end all be all to helping our young people grow.

As youth workers and leaders, we have to engage more in the lives of our young people to understand what they are dealing with day-to-day and not assume everything is ok.  Issues may not be the same in every neighborhood, but every neighborhood has issues.  Your burden for the young people should lead you to find your neighborhoods issues.   That search starts with prayer and fasting on their behalf.  Engaging them in conversation about their challenges and taking those issue to the Lord for guidance.

 

The Bible says when Nehemiah heard about the challenges of his people he was grieved –

3And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

 4And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

 5And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

 

Nehemiah was a middle class person who had a seat at the table with those in control.  He was considered successful and set.  Even though, he was concerned about his people and felt he needed to take action. He knew that phrase the old folks us to say and we must understand today that – “but for the grace of God, go I”.  People have to care and we are the people who have to lead the caring.  Our young people are depending on us to step up and equip them to be able to discern and make Godly decisions.  Stay encouraged. Stay engaged. Stay upon the Wall.  Our young peoples DESTINY demand our diligence.

 

Next week we will look at Nehemiah’s next step after praying and fasting.

 

What is the burden you have for the young people?  How is your team collectively getting it’s understanding?  How are you engaging them?  Join the conversation and be a blessing to someone else.

 

 

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Your Diligence Determines Our Young Peoples Destiny

I would be remiss if I started into this blog without first recognizing the birthday of Reverend Martin L. King who would be 84 today.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience.

Now to the ministry . . .

Today I am writing to encourage those of you in the trenches of the new urban ministry.  As I explained last week, the new urban is a life style that permeates all segments of life.  It’s non-geographical; it’s multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-generational.  It’s looking through a prism with each layer being non-parallel.

I want to start today’s focus with a statement that is extremely relevant for those serving on behalf of young people – Behind every social problem; there is a spiritual solution!  Our young people are facing incredible moral challenges.  Whether they are watching the Game on BET or Whitney on NBC; the media makes casual sex, living together and all other forms of sin seem exciting and ok.  Gay marriage has become a cornerstone of network television. NBC calls its new comedy about a homosexual couple adopting a baby “The New Normal,” and that kind of understates it. This season they are not only normal they seem de rigueur.   Actors and entertainers, in Hollywood, are changing relationships like we change underwear.  Kim Kardashian makes out of wedlock pregnancy “in fashion”.  The music industry, of which everyone is listening, still glorifies sex, violence, money power and respect. We must be the counter to all of this for our young people.  Violent shootings are in every community.  In reality, this kind of violence is in many ways a part of our violent history and culture, and we have to start recognizing that there is no “typical” face of violence — it is not just the black kid killing people in gang shootings, the Mexican cartel member, or the “Muslim terrorist.” It can be, and often is, the white, suburban kid next door.  Over 917 deaths from shootings have happened since the Sandy Hook shooting.

 

Lives that are void of spiritual commitment are more willing to accept social response to spiritual problems.  We have to break the cycles, educating our young people on the structural roots of their suffering; historically rooted in structures of apathy and dependence.  J.F. Kennedy once said – Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.  We must help our young people lift themselves out of a self-centered; mentality that says they are victims rather than as the Bible says – we are more than conquers.  Our vision of the community must be God’s vision.  Our mission is to reach our cities and make them places where God’s presence, God’s way and God’s Word flourish and is understood to be the only way to solve problems.  Yes, young people in our cities face numerous challenges.   But WE are called to minister and serve in these environments because this is where God had placed us.

 

We must see our cities as it really is today before we can reach what we hope it to be.  God has a vision for our cities to become places of shelter, communion, purity and hope.  We must understand God’s sovereign purpose for our lives and the communities in which we live.  We must speak positive words and cease denouncing the city and being negative about its problems by beginning to addressing them through prayerful strategic action.

 

The Book of Nehemiah, and the burden he had for his city, lays out a model for us to address this deep spiritual burden for our community, neighborhood and city.  The purpose of your ministry is to bring healing and wholeness to a broken people and a broken generation.  God takes the broken pieces of humanity and transforms them into building blocks for His creation. The opportunity to become builders and arise up out of the ashes of brokenness is upon you the youth worker, a part of God’s church.

 

Over the next few weeks I will break down Nehemiah’s four-step action plan and how it perfectly ties into your responsibility to the young people in your communities:

Nehemiah heard the report of his city.  In response,

1.  Nehemiah spent four months of fasting, praying, weeping and mourning

2.  Nehemiah developed a vision of restoration that symbolically connects to those hurting young people today

3.  Nehemiah witnessed firsthand the terrible conditions of the city

4. Nehemiah purposed to arise, restore and rebuild.

 

Our young people are depending on us to step up and equip them to be able to discern and make Godly decisions.  Stay encouraged. Stay engaged. Stay upon the Wall.  Your diligence determines our young peoples destiny.

Join the conversation, share some of your challenges in the new urban that it may strengthen other youth workers . . .

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Learning And Relearning The “Truth About Reality”, Or The Truth About Urban Ministry

Some make it a habit of reading the experiences of Urban Ministry through the lens of stereotypes, symbols and beliefs and its difficult if not impossible to attach other meanings because there are no other interpretations beyond the “knowledge” they carried with them.  That knowledge would be “shadows cast on the wall” that prevent them from knowing the truth about urban ministry.  They take the shadows as objective representations of reality.  It’s time for us to help them confront their shadows so that they may know the truth about urban ministries.

Most times this is not an intentional act against another group but a lack of deep scriptural knowledge.   I am not referring to memorization or reading of scripture, but an exegetical study to understand the linkages and meaning of treatment to and of others in relationship to treatment of self.  The power behind Jesus commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself should flip the script on our day-to-day thinking.  This goes beyond the idea of just helping someone in need. This view does not allow you to look at them as less than, separate, inferior or not deserving of all that you would do for yourself or your family.

It is antithetical to think that we would do more for others than we would for ourselves.  We each see the world from our own self-interest first and then in service to others.  But this view contradicts scripture.  Let’s look at one of the most well intentioned concepts of service – mission trips.  On the surface they seems totally the right, the Christian thing to do and a learning opportunity for young people.  But from the side of those you choose to serve, it is as disrespectful as any action that one could engage.

 

I will use the word of two greatly respected figures, Martin L. King and Bishop Arthur M. Brazier, to unpack this concept in an attempt as was taught in Ephesians, to tear down the walls of separation in the church that worship the same God and has the hopes of a future in the same heaven.

King said – True altruism is more than the capacity to pity; it is the capacity to sympathize.  Pity may represent little more that the impersonal concern which prompts the mailing of a check, but true sympathy is the personal concern, which demands the giving of one’s soul.  Pity may arise from interest in an abstraction called humanity, but sympathy grows out of a concern for particular needy human being who lies at life’s roadside.  Sympathy is fellow feeling for the person in need – his pain, agony, and burdens.   Missionary efforts fail when they are based on pity, rather than true compassion.  Instead of seeking to do something with people, we have too often sought only to do something for them.  An express of pity, devoid of genuine sympathy, leads to a new form of paternalism, which no self-respecting person can accept.

 

Bishop Brazier said – Some in the church contribute money to support missionary hospitals and schools in foreign countries.  They take trips to involve themselves in the total life of people with whom they are working for the sake of Christ.  Why is it that some, while supporting total involvement abroad oppose total involvement at home?  The New Testament sets out clearly a position of equality when it unequivocally states that none of the biological, ethical, social or psychological distinctions by which we compartmentalize men and make some inferior and some superior has any validity as far as their standing before God in Christ is concerned (cf. Col.3: 11).  If this is the case then surely there can be no artificial distinction and barrier in our relationship with each other.  

 

I write this out of love for my brothers and sisters so all races, creeds and religions.  Those I serve with, beside and those yet to be in relationship.   Truth is never uncalled for.  There is no polish without friction and it is with men as someone has said about tea: if you wish to get its strength you must put it in hot water.  So the real opportunity for those outside the urban community is that there is no meaning in a given situation until you relate your own experiences to it, regardless of what you might have been taught about it.  Obtaining personal experience in meaningful relationship with other leaders in the urban communities plays a critical role in this process.  It is through a lived experience of being with others that stereotypical perceptions can be transformed.

 

A general implication of the arguments presented is that, like any diversity related discourse, the choice, conceptualization and the practice in the diverging context not remain essentially a contextual matter.

 

Let’s talk about it.  Hit me back with your comments, thoughts and questions.

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There is no one person that can speak on behalf of the entire urban community

 

GUEST POST: DANIEL WHITE HODGES

 

Today our guest blogger, Daniel White Hodges, is the North Park University Director of the Center for Youth Ministry Studies (CYMS).  Dan brings us his perspective of Urban Youth Ministry; continuing our 7 point series – Debunking the Misperceptions, Misunderstanding and  Misrepresentation of Urban Youth Ministry.

 

 

 

The days of singularized leadership are far gone. Unifying leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, and Bobby Seal were great for their context, setting, time and era. However, we have had some major shifts in our Western American society over the last forty years which have affected how, in particular, young people see what the meta-culture defines as a leader. Shifts such as:

 

  • Industrial to post-industrial to information age
  • Technology & media
  • Narratives of life, theology, & God are plural
  • Trust is eroded with those in leadership positions
  • Trust & reliance is gnarled with systems & institutions among youth
  • A loss of generational connectivity & solace with younger generations
  • Titles are typically suspect

 

These are just a few of the many shifts that young people, especially those born after 1988, have had to contend with and live in. We are not even considering the chasm which exists between church leaders and youth. Young people today are more critical of their leaders and, as well so, hold them to a higher standard. Further, as it was seared into my worldview when I was on Young Life staff: you have to earn the right to be heard. And, quite honestly, many leaders do not want to put in that time to actually “earn” that right to be heard. Many urban leaders want to preach, lecture, and tell rather than listen, engage, and live with the young person.

 

Hence, no, there is no singularized leader, authority, and/ or person who can speak for the entire urban community—or even urban youth for that matter.

 

The closest person that spoke for many in the urban context was Tupac Amaru Shakur. Now, some of you might wrinkly your nose and squint your eyes at that persona. After all, wasn’t he a whoremonger, adulterer, drunk, and profane rhetorician? And the answer would be: yes. Yes he was. But, within that whoremongering, adultering, drunkenness, and profane discourse something deeper was at work; a fundamental attempt to make God more accessible to himself and to the people he considered to be the urban community. We as youth leaders cannot overlook that aspect. We cannot merely see the outward behavior and judge the heart. And we must begin to deconstruct such a figure to, dare I say, embody some of his characteristics. More on this later.

 

Leadership and having a voice is powerful. It is, in fact, power. The power to affect someone elses behavior to implement your ideas and thoughts. Power. Power to affect change with the inception of worldivews into the psyche. This does not come easy and many in this generation, as stated prior, are very critical of whom they give those psyche “keys” to. Moreover, the urban community is far too complex, intricate, multifaceted, and multifarious to have a singular voice on that narrative and life experience. Thus, when engaging the urban context we must consider the narratives of all; yes, even those we do not agree with; those who are nefarious in deed; those who are foul in personality; those who have dreadful historical pasts; those who are fastidious in everything called life. Yes, those are the ones God has called us to. Those are the ones whose narrative does not fit nicely in five step processes, alter calls, and one time conversions. This is the population that Christ called us to make disciples in the Great Commission.

 

So, no. There is no singular voice and narrative for the urban context. Why would there be? Can God be explained in one concept? I hope not. The ‘hood represents the complexities of human life that is articulated in outward expressions and aesthetics. Let us continue to embrace the diversity and mystery that is meta-narrative and life!

Let me hear your thoughts, questions, rebuttals, and narrative. Join in on the conversation!

To continue the conversation and go deeper please comment below, also check out:

www.whitehodge.com

Twitter: @danwhitehodge

Facebook: Daniel White Hodge

 

The Soul Of Hip Hop: Rimbs, Timbs, & A Cultural Theology (IVP 2010)

Heaven Has A Ghetto: The Missiological Gospel & Theology of Tupac Amaru Shakur (VDM Academic 2009)

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Thanksgiving in the Hood

This week we pause to celebrate my most favorite holiday.  I love Thanksgiving because it is a holiday focused on thinking about how thankful we are, or should be, for all that we have.  It is less commercialized than any other of the holidays we celebrate.  Personally I am thankful first for my relationship with Jesus Christ.  When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He’s done for me, my soul cries out Hallelujah! I praise God for saving me.  Second, I am thankful God provided me my best friend and wife.  The Bible says when a man finds an wife, he finds a good thing and obtains favor.  She more than competes me, she brings out the rest of me.  I could go on and on but today is not  focused on me but on Thanksgiving in Urban neighborhoods.  I will be brief today so you have time to read everyones holiday post that will come tomorrow and Thursday.  Prepare for your thanksgiving sermons and  spend time with your loved ones.

 

In the hood, families gather at big mama’s house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Food, fellowship, family, friends and football.  Family members come from all over the city.  Some who have moved away, come home to join the celebration.  Students that have gone off to college come home, trying to show how much they have matured.  In some families, brothers and sisters have grown up and have families of their own.  Big mama may not be present anymore, and the kids rotate hosting the family dinner.   The one common thing in most urban families are that anyone is welcome to stop by to “visit”.  It’s amazing how open we become to sharing a meal with others during the holiday season.

 

But there are young people (and our volunteers) who don’t have the opportunity to experience these family get togethers.  for various reasons, the family dynamics don’t exist or have been broken.  Are you checking on your young people and co-labors to see what their plans are for the holiday?  How about inviting them into your homes.  Give them a peek into your world.  It’s easy to have them come to youth group and meet you on neutral turf.  But this year, let’s step out and take relationship building to a new level.  Extend yourself to help someone else feel wanted, cared for, loved and included.

 

And to those who go into the hood to serve food or deliver care packages. . .

While this is a good thing, I challenge you to invite a young person from the neighborhood to share Thanksgiving dinner with your family in your home.  Pick them up and take them back to your home.  While you love to “go and do to people”, how about this year “doing with people”.   A real test of our faith is are we humble enough to really be in relationship with those outside our homogeneous circles.

 

There’s great focus on Urban ministry these days.  Friends, now you have a perfect opportunity to really do urban ministry.  It’s not a program, it’s not a mission trip to serve dinners, it’s doing as God instructed us in Luke & Deuteronomy – to love the Lord . . . and your neighbor.  And who is our neighbor is our neighbor?  Anyone in need.

 

Great things happen when God’s people share a meal together.  In Acts 2, we see the church in its infancy. Here we find the early disciples of Jesus being both physically and spiritually nourished.  While they spent plenty of time eating the bread of life, they made sure to be caring and hospitable to one another, by opening their homes for a shared meal.  To describe the real intimacy that comes from eating with your brothers and sisters in Christ, let us take note of what happens when one is found to be unfaithful to the will of God. The Bible teaches that those who are true and loyal followers of the Lord are not to have fellowship with those who violate the commands of God and will not repent (I Cor. 5; II Thess. 3:6-15).  The common meal was a mark of fellowship.  As Christians shared in the one faith and had the common hope of heaven, they would also, as the family of God, gather together for the purpose of sharing a meal.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours

 

I’d love to hear your stories of how you will be spending your holiday and involving your neighbor.  Hit me back

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What is so urban about a city that makes it different from the Suburbs? – At their root are the same sin issue man has dealt with since the fall.

 

GUEST WRITER: Rob Townsend

 

I promised you I would be bringing perspectives from all across the country.  I am honored to provide you the prospective of a Youth Pastor, friend and co-labor in the vineyard.  Rob is the Pastor of Student and Family Ministries at Calvary Bible Church (CBC) in Rutland, Vermont.  Today Rob provides us a view from the suburbs looking in.

 

 

 

As a small city minister from central Vermont I am often asked why I spend so much time studying urban issues. I can totally understand this question because I must admit that I do spend an inordinate amount of time reading urban ministry books, blogs, and studies. This is a practice that started for me while at Moody Graduate School in Chicago and it is a direct result of my time studying theology, practice, and principles of urban ministry with my friend and mentor Dr. John Fuder.

 

Doc helped me to rethink my views on ministry. He challenged me through books by great men such as Dr. John Perkins and Dr. Roger Greenway, along with others to seriously consider the implications of applying urban ministry practices in smaller cities, and even rural areas.  In essence, Doc changed my worldview significantly which has enabled our student ministry to remain effective in our ever more “urbanized” small rural city.

 

What is so urban about a city with a population of 17,000 in a state of 600,000? That is a fair question and I one that had to ask myself when this journey began 8 years ago. The answer is simple: we have a sin problem out here too. Yes I think that the issue that binds the big city, small city, rural towns, and suburbia together is, at its root the same sin issue man has dealt with since the fall.

 

To be certain, the manifestations of this issue have some distinctions from place to place, but we must realize that at the core, they are all identical. Recognizing this reality, I became determined to help our students see the reality of this fact. This desire was the catalyst for building a cross-cultural student training program in our student ministry that has led to strong partnerships with ministries in the south side of Chicago as well as other urban centers. The goal is simply to help our students see that the city has many of the same issues they have and to help those in city see they are not struggling alone. Along the way I have been blessed to see that the other commonality between these groups is the ability to overcome obstacles to experience the victory available in Christ!

 

As I began to study the trends in Rutland, Vermont along with my studies of the urban culture in Chicago, I noted three key areas of struggle that exist across socio-economic, racial, and geographic lines.

 

  1. In every setting students desire to be accepted. Across the board from city kids to farm kids, this need to fit in pervades the human condition. We are wired for fellowship, and when this need isn’t met through Christ and Christ centered relationships it leads to destructive attempts to fill those holes. The result of these empty attempts to find fellowship is the formation of gangs, the troubling increase in bullying, and substance abuse issues. In my little city alone we are seeing gangs forming (Gangster Disciples, and Los Solidos to name two), the poor being taken advantage of by slumlords, and as our ethnic diversity changes we are seeing a marked increase in violence and drug related crime. I once asked a young man in south Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood why he joined a gang and his answer was immediate and succinct: “How else am I going to be accepted around here? And man, being accepted means being alive.”  We have to rethink our approach to reach all the young people in every location who see being accepted at all costs as the only means of survival.

 

  1. In every setting students need to find their identity. One of the greatest tragedies of the Fall is our loss of true identity. Our students struggle to see themselves as valuable creations of the King. Whether this is a product of fatherless homes, unbearable economic circumstances, or some other sin issue the end result is the same. We have seen an increase in teen suicides, more teen on teen violence, an epidemic of sexual dysfunction manifest in pre-marital sexual escapades, sexual identity issues, and a porn addiction of epidemic proportions. I was recently counseling with a student who was compromising in the area of relationships who stated, “If he makes me feel complete how can what we are doing possibly be wrong.” Young people need to be re-focused on the beauty of their identity in Christ by being introduced to his truth and then challenged to live without compromise.

 

  1. In every setting students are barraged by media. No one will argue that our culture is more media driven or influenced than ever before. In fact I would argue that many urban influences are finding greater traction in rural areas because of the increased exposure of all students to media.  Students are being hand fed their morals from stars like Jay-z, Ric Ross, Snooki, and other less than admirable figures. As they bury themselves in social media and online gaming, they are creating alternate realities where anything goes. Even though they are “more connected” then ever before they are becoming completely disconnected from any sense of right and wrong. They are watching depravity play out in their music, TV, and other venues of entertainment. We need to attempt to counterbalance this moral slide by making positive investments in students while offering positive alternatives to the moral filth available. Students need alternatives but most importantly they need to have their own moral compass tweaked to line up with the Creator of the universe. In short, we need to model and proclaim Christ within our context to show them the reality of His love, justice, and grace!

 

Each of these issues brings to light the hopelessness of our world when Christ isn’t in the center. We must begin to rethink our approaches to these issues so that He can transform lives.

 

To my Urban friends, I start by saying that on behalf of white rural America, I am deeply sorry that we have judged you, tried to “fix you”, and shoved our brand of churchy Christianity down your throats. I pray that you can forgive us as we seek true partnership centered on the Lord we all serve!

 

To my fellow suburban/rural counterparts, we must seek to learn from our brothers and sisters in the city. They are innovators, “over comers”, and people who have learned to shine Christ in some difficult situations. What they have done we need to do! Sin is universal and the urban issues are also rural/Suburban issues.

 

The Church needs to stop being the church in the city and a separate church in the country. We must take Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:2-4 to heart:  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—” When we focus on Christ as the great equalizer, we see young people from the city, suburbs, and countryside overcoming the sin that so easily pulls them down. When we the church invests in students they begin to have hope. In my years investing in Chicago and Rutland I have seen many break free of their circumstances and start to shine.  We must recognize that there are many success stories, whether it be the young lady in Rutland who became a leader in a church after her father was sent to jail, or the young man in Englewood who in his junior year of High school serves as a role model for the young children or “shorties” in his neighborhood by excelling in school while making positive lifestyle choices or countless others.

 

The longer I remain in ministry the more I believe that every student can be a success story if we simply invest in him or her with the heart of Christ. It is my absolute contention that regardless of where a student lives we must focus on four simple philosophies of ministry. As long as their implementation is properly contextualized, these are practices that I have seen work wherever they are tried from the south side of Chicago to the small towns in Vermont.

 

  1. We need to introduce them to Christ. We must use scripture as the basis of our efforts to reach the lost and to help grow the redeemed!
  2. We need to give them a cause to serve. When young people are serving in a church or for the betterment of their community it becomes increasingly possible to help them see their worth and avoid some of the pitfalls mentioned above. In the Christian context that we so passionately hope they will seek to live within we need them to be active in their churches.
  3. As they grow beyond their circumstances, hopefully as a result of Christ at work with them, we need to encourage them to share their victory stories with their peers. One thing I know to be true is that students will listen to students.
  4. We need to encourage them to expect more of themselves! Let’s stop allowing them to expect so little from themselves (Romans 12:1-2). Challenge them to defy the odds. Challenge them to set lofty goals as they set high expectations for themselves and their peers. Allow them the freedom to fail while attempting the seemingly impossible plans they dream up for His glory. Encourage them to stop settling for compromise in their academic lives, their home lives, and their spiritual lives. Hold them accountable to His standards of excellence and watch them grow deeper and more committed to Christ than those around them.

 

I envision a day when student ministers across our nation link arms and commit to serving each other. Our students and our ministry have built lasting partnerships and friendships in the city because we have come to the table seeking true partnership. We have come alongside our brothers and sisters without an agenda.  Our only goal is to serve alongside them as ministry equals. This investment has allowed us to learn the valuable lesson that the city and the country are at war with the same “demons’ and sin nature. I want to ask each of you to join us in battle for the souls of our young people wherever they live. Let’s learn together by admitting that we both have something to teach and that we are united in battle for one cause!

 

I invitation you to check out my blog or the Christian Endeavor open source page.  My Blog is http://itbelongstothem.wordpress.com/ and the Christian Endeavor page is http://endeavormovement.com/.

 

 

How are you working with ministries different from yours to bring the Gospel to young people?  If you aren’t, what are your challenges with connecting?  Join the conversation and let’s discuss in hopes of reaching unity in the Spirit.  We look forward to your comments.