All good things must come to an end. Posterous and I have had a good run. After some careful thought and much discussion, I have decided to migrate this blog over to JoshuaRhone.com. 

The reasons for the move are many. What you need to know, however, is that I've moved. This is where I will now be blogging. And it is the feed from JoshuaRhone.com that you will want to bookmark so that you can stay tuned into the great content that is generated.

Earlier today, I stumbled across a post by Bo Sanders, over at the Homebrewed Christianity blog, entitled “Post-Contextuality.” What follows is a snippet of what he wrote on the subject:

Yet, never in the Bible do you see anyone intentionally learning another language in order to present the gospel. In the Bible, God repeatedly used dual-citizens and bi-lingual folks to get the message out. In the book of Acts we see three examples:

• a miraculous bridging of the language barrier at Pentecost
• the Ethiopian eunuch was a bi-lingual traveler who took something back to his ‘home’ in Africa
• Saul/Paul was a dual-citizen who took the message to the Roman Empire

That, it seems to me, is the Biblical model for missions. (This is true whether or not one translates the Great Commission as the imperative “Go” or the more passive Greek rendering of “as you are going”. The precedent of Acts is the same.) The Biblical model is very different than the Colonial model we are so familiar with.

The past 5 centuries have had their effect – but now that the whole world is ‘mapped’ and ‘spoken for’, maybe its time to move away from the colonial obsession with conversion and trust the bilingual and dual-citizens among us to translate to and for their cultures. We would need to repent of our compulsion to import ourselves into foreign peoples or countries and then impose our cultural expectations on them.

Whether you agree with Bo’s thesis or not, you should definitely take the time to head on over to Homebrewed Christianity to read the post in its entirety. (To do so, just click here.)

 

Motivational speakers love the starfish story: A man walking along a shore covered with washed-up, dying starfish notices a boy throwing them back into the ocean, one by one. The man says to the boy that there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish, and that he’ll never make a difference. As the boy throws a starfish back into the ocean, he says, “I just made a difference to that one.”

This story epitomizes the mindset of our social entrepreneur movement—the lone hero making a difference in the life of one person by not falling into the paralysis of cynicism. The power of one.

But the story also represents the great failure of the social entrepreneur movement. Too often we fail to recognize the complex nature of the problems we face. We engage in linear, simplistic solutions, when lasting change requires collaborative efforts.

Action is important, but we also need to ask the bigger, strategic questions to create real solutions. In the starfish story, that would mean asking questions like: “What caused all of these starfish to dry up on the beach? What systems are at work here? Where can we have the greatest impact?”

As it happens, in 2008, thousands of starfish actually did wash up on the shores of Kent, England. Agencies and environmentalists considered weather and the possibility of disease as the cause, but after asking more questions, they found the cause was likely man-made. Dredgers, a tool fisherman use to scrape the sea floor for mussels, were almost certainly to blame, and the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) concluded that the incident was an example of overfishing. The MCS began to lobby the government “to dramatically extend its protection of the seas.” One group member said about the lobby efforts, “It's about protecting the whole ecosystem.”

Real world problems usually result from a broken ecosystem, and solutions most often require some kind of change to the rules. Had the citizens of Kent organized a starfish-throwing campaign, they would have been perpetuating the problem. Without new fishing practices and policy, those same starfish surely would wash ashore again. Worse, the rescuers would have tricked themselves into believing they were actually solving the problem.

The same is true for much of what passes as social entrepreneurism today. Many of us throw a few lucky ones back into the ocean and pat ourselves on the back saying, “Well, it made it difference to that one.” We might even frame our heroics at our annual fundraising banquet, giving the impression that we’re solving the problem.

Starfish throwing, like charity, isn’t a bad thing, but it is not a solution. When we confuse charity and justice, we perpetuate injustice. True world change requires more of its leaders. We must have the courage to work within our complex systems to change the rules.

Foundations that fund nonprofits must take the lead. They must ask potential grantees what root causes, policies, rules, and systems their innovation will engage to bring lasting world change. These simple questions will force the social change agents to find ways to create lasting change—to do more than throw starfish.

 

via Stanford Social Innovation Review 

written by Rich Tafel

• It Matters to This One (weforgotyounot.wordpress.com)
• Starfish Story (learnyourselffirst.wordpress.com)
• Starfish Story (adoptionharmonyblog.wordpress.com)
• Starfish Story (indydocs.wordpress.com)
• "Every Starfish Matters" (faithconquersfear.wordpress.com)
• The Starfish (thekindnesskronicles.wordpress.com)
• be the change... (literaryitinerary.wordpress.com)
• One Starfish at a Time (itsabigworld15.wordpress.com)

Pastoral ministry is where relationships go to die. 

Your friends who aren't in ministry often don't understand ministry and the demands that are put not only on the pastor but upon the pastoral family. Only so many meals can be cancelled, postponed, or left early before the invitations to get together become fewer and eventually disappear.

Colleagues in ministry, while sympathetic to and knowledgeable regarding the various demands of ministry, tend not to make the best friends either. Issues of time and schedule aside, friendships amongst colleagues in ministry prove difficult for a number of reasons. Two of the most common: competition [1] and fear. [2]

The result, unfortunately, is that the pastorate becomes a VERY lonely place. 

What if we as pastors set aside our egos and instead of asking and caring about the size of one another's congregations, budgets, and buildings we actually took the time to get to know and care about (and for) one another? What if the first question we asked wasn't, "How's your church?" but instead, "How are you and your family?" What if we enjoyed a meal with one another with the understanding that WHATEVER is said stays at the table, between friends.

[1] Colleagues from the same community often feel as if they are competing for the same (potential) sheep. Too much transparency may result in sheep stealing. (This has never really been a concern that I have experienced, but it is one that colleagues have often mentioned.) Even amongst pastors from the same denomination, who do not pastor in the same town, this becomes an issue. Conversations tend to be about church size, health, etc. and inevitably these sort of conversations make some feel successful and others feel like failures. 

[2] Pastors are human beings who have issues. Some deal with insecurity. Others deal with pride. Some harbor addictions. When friendships deepen new levels of transparency occur. Previously undisclosed secrets are voiced. Fear of how the other will respond; fear of whether a comment will be passed along to denominational superiors; fear of being perceived to be a failure; fear of whether something disclosed in confidence will be used as leverage to gain more parishioners, etc. - these are just a few of the things that keep pastors from cultivating relationships with one another.

• What if our current models of pastoral leadership are actually detrimental to the health and vitality of the Church? (joshrhone.posterous.com)
• A New Series: Re-Imagining Pastoral Ministry (joshrhone.posterous.com)
• The Numbers Game (pjcockrell.wordpress.com)
• 7 Truths a Pastor Wishes They Could Say (frasermurdoch.wordpress.com)
• Pooped Pastors (therecoveringlegalist.com)

Exposing the Hazards of Ministry for All to See

If you are a pastor (are on a church board or attend a church in which there is a pastor), here's some food for thought:

80% of pastors believe that pastoral ministry affects their families negatively.

30% of pastors say that being in ministry is an outright hazard to their family.

75% of pastors report they’ve had a significant stress-related crisis once in their ministry.

50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job.

90% feel they’re inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands.

25% of pastoral spouses see their spouse’s ministry schedule as a source of conflict.

Those in ministry are equally likely to have their marriage end in divorce as general church members.

Clergy have the second highest divorce rate among all professions.

80% of pastors say they have insufficient time with their spouse.

45% of spouses whose partner is in ministry say that the greatest danger to them and their family is physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual burnout.

56% of spouses whose partner is in ministry say that they have no close friends.

52% of pastors say they and their spouses believe that being in pastoral ministry is hazardous to their family’s well-being and health.

45.5% of pastors say that they’ve experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence from ministry.

70% of pastors do not have someone they consider a close friend. [1]

If you're in ministry (or are married to someone in ministry): What would you add to the list? What are some of the other landmines/pitfalls? (Please feel free to post your responses anonymously.)

[1] Statistics from Pastors at Greater Risk by H.B. London, Jr., and Neil Wise (Regal Press, 2003).

• What if our current models of pastoral leadership are actually detrimental to the health and vitality of the Church? (joshrhone.posterous.com)
• A New Series: Re-Imagining Pastoral Ministry (joshrhone.posterous.com)