generational transference

defense set for February 15

The final dissertation submission is in the hands of the D.Min committee.  As of now, the defense date is set for February 15 at ACTS/Trinity Western University!!

first draft

Update: November 25, 2009

The first draft has been sent in... which is great news... but there is still editing and improving and reading to be done.  Appreciate your prayers and support through all this.  I think the process has been worthwhile both personally and for the potential it has to encourage intentionality among congregations. 

The future impact of the Gospel is as important as the impact today.  To deny this is to claim arrogance.  The next generations need to be taught the message of Jesus Christ as much as the generations today need to be taught.  Matthew 28:19-20 is immediate and timeless all at once. 

#1 obstacle to raising up younger leaders

One of the most interesting discoveries in my dissertation work is the emergence of obstacles that inhibit youth and young adults from being given leadership in a local church or ministry setting.  By far, the most prominent obstacle has to do with possessive leadership.  In other words, there are circumstances where people who currently hold positions of influence struggle to relinquish their control to others.

For my study, I interviewed 25 leaders from 15 different congregations throughout North America that have been successful in raising up next generation leaders.  When asked to identify what obstacles hinder the development of younger leaders, 13 of the 15 churches suggested that people in power who seize possession of leadership created the greatest obstacle.  Of the 583 transcribed lines from the interviews which focused on "Generational Transference Obstacles" 278 of those lines specified "possessive leadership."   In other words, 48% of the discussions about obstacles to raising up younger leaders was spent on this particular issue.  Some of the interview participants highlighted issues of distrust and control and fear in a top-down hierarchy while others highlighted the lack of opportunity for advancement of personal goals within an organization. 

One older leader expressed in his interview, "I think we do need to do that; raise up a whole new generation of leaders.  But it’s not going to happen if we’re holding on to the reigns."   Another older leader reflected on the experience of his own church, saying that "for a period of time there was that ceiling, there was such a strong group of leaders in place that to actually break into leadership was hard...  And we lost a generation that couldn’t break through at the time and now it’s hard."

Each of these thirteen churches suggested that there exists a temptation for current leaders to seize control of a sense of entitlement rather than help foster an environment that releases younger people to take ownership of leading.  Another older leader identified possessive leadership as the key issue that could derail the forward movement of their church in the years ahead.  He said, "That's a big challenge isn't it?  Not just to have an older generation relinquish ownership of ministry but to give it over and allow a younger generation to do it a little differently."  That same leader suggested that "there is a sense that when someone has been in a particular ministry for a long time, there is a real sense of ownership that can come there.  So it is difficult for them to accept help or to see the value in them passing that along." 

One leader suggested that the only true foundation for dealing with the struggle of possessive leadership is to remember who is actually the head of the Church.  "Our Western default in the church is to build fences," this leader stated, "and we build them generationally.  We want control."  Ultimately, however, leaders of churches are to remember that God is control of his church.  So, this leader continued, "we're going to trust that the Spirit is the one who leads," this leader stated.  "[We're going to trust] that Jesus builds His church and we don't have to control all of it, and there's a great freedom that comes from that." 

How does changing our mindset concerning "who is in control" change how we lead and raise up others to lead?

update - October 19, 2009

Almost there!!  I've compiled all of the data and have derived TWO major principles from the research: THE CHARACTER OF THE NEXT GENERATION LEADER and the CULTURE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE CHURCH. 

What's exciting at this point for me personally is how the principles truly work as principles.  EACH CHURCH, of the fifteen I was able to interview, emphasized these two key principles.  Each church, however, used different methods/programs and terminologies to pursue these two principles.  Not one church relied on a program.

Encouraging as well were the common sub-principles within these two categories that enhance and deepen their commitment to these two aspects.  I'm identifying these sub-principles with some academically charged titles such as Environmental Intentionality, and Generational Reciprocity.

And, there seems to be ONE major obstacle to generational transference of ministry leadership expressed by EACH CHURCH: POSSESSIVE LEADERSHIP.  This aspect of the paper will be fascinating, as it seems to pinpoint the key issue that hinders perpetuity of leadership across generations within a local church.

As you can see, I'm encouraged.  I'm aiming to have a finished draft of the paper by the end of November.  Thanks for your prayer and support!!

update - september 24, 2009

I'm half way through my data analysis.  Hoping to complete this stage of the process by the evening of September 30.  I'm really enjoying the findings, but am looking forward to some free time hopefully by December!!

Some common themes have certainly emerged.  And the good news is that I'm very encouraged personally by the discoveries.  The themes affirm a direction I've been pursing in terms of my own leadership development matrix.

I intend, if God keeps enabling me, to have the analysis done at the end of this month.  The writing of the findings and my literature review will be completed by the end of October.  The first draft of the paper should be done by the end of November.  December will hopefully be spent editing and submitting a final draft by January 15, 2010.  I suspect defense of the dissertation will occur sometime around mid-February.

Thanks for your prayers and support!!

A church led by leaders. Huh. Interesting idea.

I'm including another snippet from one of my research-interviews this summer that I will be unable to use fully in my thesis, but it's just too interesting to leave any bit of it on the cutting room floor.  This section of our conversation steered a bit from our focus (on handing over leadership to the next generation within a local church) and, for a moment at least, the topic moved to church governance.  Many churches, and certainly most Baptist churches, are supposed to be led by the congregation according to their constitutions.  The pastor of this interview suggests that a church should be instead led by the leaders.  He's got an interesting take on things that I thought some of you might find encouraging, enlightening or at least intriguing.  Let's jump in around the 25 minute mark of the interview:

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Me: How do the Elders fit into all this?

Pastor: They are key players.  That’s one of the key things for us is to try to take more of a…, you know, in the past the Elders carried a lot of the responsibilities around here.  But we’re trying to take more of the business side of the church.  So we’re trying to streamline what they’re role is and put the details in the hands of the staff so that they can be leading small groups and be a part of shepherding.  We need them shepherding small groups more than we need them making business decisions for the church.  That’s what we’re trying to do.  Right now we meet every other week with our Elders.  We’re hoping we can get it to where we meet once a month.  Because that’s what I want.  I want them… all of them but one right now are leading a small group.  That’s really crucial for us.   If they’re here all the time for Elder Board meetings then it’s hard for them to spend the time in ministry.  Another key phrase for us is “fewer and finer commitments.”  That’s key for us.  You know, are we making disciples?  Are we developing leaders?  Call it what you want, but leadership development is discipleship.  If our Elders are too busy with meetings that they can’t mentor and be involved in discipleship then what are we thinking.

Me: So it doesn’t sound like you can be attending here very long without having that permeate?

Pastor: Absolutely.  That’s all part of our DNA that’s a part of our membership process.  And, you know, some people have left our church because they don’t like that.  They just want a nice little country church that they can go to.  Well, I’m probably saying that a little bit more harshly than it needs to be said.  But when I came they asked me to lead; they needed someone to lead them.  They hadn’t been led effectively, so I’m doing what they asked me to do.

Me: You would say the call to commitment is high?

Pastor: Yeah, but I mean that its not like we have shut down a whole lot of ministries but for me it’s always the issue that if the leaders are burnt out then I will shut down a ministry.  Some people are like “well, we’re consumers and you have to provide this for us.”  And they don’t care if the leaders are burning out or not, they just want what they want.  But our leaders are going to determine what’s being run.  It’s like a football game, the people in the stands aren’t calling the plays.  And so if people want to have influence on decisions that are being made then you have to be part of the team.  Not just an audience out there.  So we’ve had some that have felt like they had an attitude and we said, “Hey, we want you to come here but don’t mess with our church, this is our church.”  And we’re going to be doing things our way.  And we’ve had a really lengthy discussion with our Elders, really healthy discussion asking if this is going to be a representative government and have us going to the people and doing surveys in order to make them happy or are we going to be a leadership government that says what is it that is on God’s heart for this church, what are we going to lead these people to do?  And that’s a big difference.  I would say in the past it was very much a representative government where we would let the people do what they wanted to do as long as they were happy.  But that’s not what God has put on my heart.  A lot of the churches... do it that way, but that’s not what I believe when I look at the Scriptures.  Jesus led, and people left!  You look at John five and six, you know, where they walked.  They didn’t want it.  He was talking about drinking blood and eating flesh and they didn’t want to be a part of that.  And Jesus looked to the twelve and said, Hey are you going to leave to?  And that’s when Peter stepped up and said, Hey where are we going to go, you’ve got the words of eternal life.  So you know, we’ve just tried to set an agenda saying that we believe God wants us to be a disciple making church.  So what I’m saying is that we invite everybody to come along, the door is wide open.  We have vision nights, we have leaders meetings.  I’ve got nothing hide and nothing to prove, but not everybody wants that.  And so for some people, they’ve just said, and it hurts, you don’t want anybody to leave.  But I’d say, you know, we’re pretty much through that process.  I mean anytime you come into  church you’re going to experience some of that.

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preliminary bibliography

 The following links contain the full, current, working bibliography for my thesis.  For now I've broken it into categories to make it a bit easier to read... since it's over 6 pages long!  Some more will certainly be added and several of these will likely be omitted as the final work takes shape.  Are there any others related to this topic that should be included?

Leadership Theory & Praxis:

Environmental Architecture:

Generational Transference

Missional Theology & Praxis:

Religious Data:

Spiritual Formation & Pastoral Ministry:

Paradigmatic Church & Culture:

Interviews are done!

I've completed the interviews!  Data collection is over!  Over 30 leaders of churches from BC, Alberta, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, Texas and Pennsylvania all participated in direct on-site interviews with me.  I can not express my gratitude enough for their time and enthusiasm for the project.  What a blessing it was for me personally to sit down with them and, for a moment at least, enter into their passion and experience in ministry.  And I expect I'll be a better pastor because of it.

I'm looking forward now to compiling all this data.  I've got about 25 hours of recordings to transcribe.  Next comes the data collation.  Meanwhile, the literature review section is beckoning... though I think I have all the materials necessary for that in my brain at the moment.  Sounds like the baristas at Starbucks are going to be seeing a lot of me and my computer in the next two months.

update

Well, I've interviewed leaders representing 14 churches all across North America, and have two more interviews to accomplish by the middle of July.  I'm beginning to transcribe the interviews and organize the data.  Looking forward to punching through this information stage and getting on to writing the rest of the dissertation.

Thanks to all of you who have been encouraging and praying for me.  It's been a lot, but extremely rewarding as a pastor. 

in between flights 2

Just back from a great, extremely exhausting trip to California.  In less than three days, Jeremy and I met with five churches in LA and Sacramento, attended baseball games in LA and San Francisco, and somehow included a fantastic excursion to a good friends' town in central CA.  Jeremy is an up-and-coming leader in hub who also participated in our Northern Ireland mission last summer. 

The church interviews affirmed what I've been discovering about character and culture.  To accomplish their priority for godly character in their leaders has not been easy for these churches.  Godly character doesn't pursue the same methods and trends that attractive charisma pursues.  Godly character does not always "look" like the impressive leadership styles for which we so often stammer.

Likewise, creating a culture/climate/environment whereby people are raised up as leaders from within an organization is an enduring process.  There is no quick fix to a rift in this kind of situation.  When there is a need to "fill a position" the grass often seems greener on the outside of the church - and the temptation is to hire from a pile of impressive candidates - because the potential leaders in the church are so well known (including especially their flaws).  The tendency for us is to look elsewhere for talent... to order the fast food pre-made leader without putting in the preparation work in our own kitchen...

Anyways, as you can see I'm still trying to let these ideals permeate my skin and bones.  I desire to be the best quality leader God can make me... and to raise up the best quality leaders God can make... so I pray this thesis work helps enable that.

On May 18 I'm off on another whirlwind trip to Portland with Adam Monkman, our raised-up-from-within youth pastor.  Can't wait to spend time with Adam processing leadership and Ephesians 4:11-12.  We plan to be crashing the NAB Church Planting Summit, hanging out with a great Regent College friend, interviewing a really interesting downtown Portland church, flying a red-eye to Philadelphia to interview a couple other significant church movements, and then heading home all energized (I hope!!).