Strategic and Prophetic Leadership

In my experience we often default to one or the other. Some of us love to have a well thought through plan (strategic), others of us love to catch the wind of the Spirit for the moment and ‘go with the flow’ (prophetic). Both on their own are inadequate.

If we only think through an organisational and strategic grid we may end up with something that looks great on paper but is devoid of life. We can end up creating a bit of an Ichabod moment (the glory of the Lord has departed – 1 Sam 4:21-22). We can build what looks and feels more like a business plan than a heaven sent kingdom building plan.

If we only see life and leadership through the prophetic and intuitive lens, we will be at risk of being bounced around by the latest fad, fashion or fantasy. The prophetic lens is crucial for ensuring we are listening clearly to the voice of God at every stage of our leadership and planning processes. But those who only lead through the prophetic lens are in danger of never seeing through anything they start as they are constantly distracted by a new idea or fresh ‘vision’. We need a plan, but we also must have the voice of God.

The ideal of course is to have a leadership team with both perspectives strongly represented. It can be a source of conflict, but will also be security for the whole church. In Eph 2:20 Paul says that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles (strategic bias) and prophets. Let’s do all we can to make sure that all the gifts we need are present in the leadership teams we build.

It can be tempting to recruit ‘people like us’ who think like we do and see things the way we see them. But we will miss the rich diversity of gifts that Paul says are needed ‘so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.’ (Eph 4:11-13)

That seems to me something worth fighting for!

Senior Leaders... Have you registered for the Retreat?

If you have not registered for the Kairos Connexion Senior Leaders' Retreat there is still time... don't miss out!!

When: 13th June 5pm - 15th June 12:30pm

Where: The House of Bread, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, CV36 5AF

For more details see your email invitation or email jennietaylor@kairosconnexion.org

Discipleship in the Workplace

'Save the Date'
Our next online Senior Leaders' Day will be with Mark Greene, Mission Champion at LICC (was exec. director for 20 years), author of ’Thank God it’s Monday', and ‘Fruitfulness on the Frontline'.
We will be looking at Discipleship in the Workplace.

Mark your calendars!
Kx Leaders' Morning online Wednesday Nov 9th 9.30 - 12.30.
For Senior Leaders, Staff, and any other Missional Leaders with day-time availability.

Responding to God's Voice - Josh Cutting, in Sheffield

A year ago we heard God say he was going to connect us to the poor in spirit. We have been running FORM (www.formnetwork.org) which has been a discipleship training year based in churches, but for many years we have wanted to do this in the marketplace, for more vulnerable people groups and demographics. When the government announced the employability scheme called 'Kickstart' (16-24 year olds job opportunities) we knew this was the opportunity. We partnered with Together For Sheffield (Together For Sheffield – For the wellbeing of our city) who have a wide network and are connected to most of the churches in the city.

We created 6 month job placements, all with christian businesses, for 18-24 year olds who had previously been on universal credit. We created a mentoring scheme where followers of Jesus meet with a Kickstarter and de-christianized our discipleship content, making it relevant for those looking to be more employable. They are placed in a job that pays them 25 hours a week, and every 2 weeks they meet with christian mentors and come to employability training. The training always refers to Jesus, for example when talking about how to be a good leader in the workplace and we say and that the best example we know of leadership is Jesus and this is why..
We have found this sparks conversation and allows us to see who might be people of peace.

We have seen 6 make professions of faith, 4 of these are in ongoing discipling relationships. We have seen 6 more connect to reading the bible or more intentional faith steps. We have multiple stories of breakthroughs and God answering their prayers. One young adult had not left his room for 9 months during the pandemic, having his food left at his door. He now has a full time job, has led groups for us and is exploring faith. Currently we have 15 people who come to regular coffee times or meals with members of our church. We are soon starting a church around them meeting in the week and more intentional space on a Sunday. They are hungry and searching and we are making spaces to facilitate this. Some of the challenges have been that their lives are still quite chaotic, so they might not turn up on time, or even at all. Many of them have post covid social anxiety to overcome which has meant that the pastoral care needs are quite high.
The government funding has stopped now so we are looking for new models to fund this as we'd love to continue. But we have seen 80 young adults through this year, 75% are now in full time employment.
This is the Kingdom of God!

“Starfish and the Spirit” - Book Review by Giles Holloway

Cut off a spider's head, and it dies; cut off a starfish's leg and it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish.
During the first lockdown I re-read ‘The Starfish and the Spider’ by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstro. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world.
Lance Ford, Rob Wegner and Alan Hirsch have teamed up together to reinterpret ‘Starfish and the Spider’ for the context of church leadership, mission and discipleship. ‘Starfish and the Spirit’ was a timely read for me.
The network age has transformed us in ways none of us would have imagined possible and the outcomes are profound, especially following the pandemic. Personally, I am still to meet some of my “lockdown buddies” in the flesh but I have been working with some of them for years now and the new links are beyond denominational, cultural, and geographical borders. The world is quite simply at our feet wherever a Wi-Fi signal will allow. The sociologists will take years to measure and analyze all this, but it is clear to me this has been a seismic event which we must respond to swiftly and wisely. I believe the book The Starfish and The Spirit points to some of those things we need to reexamine.

The main strengths of this book, I believe, are the chapters that outwork the effect of starfish thinking on leadership. Reflecting on many examples of large mega-churches crashing and burning in the wake of leaders faltering to perform under the tremendous burdens of spider-like leadership structures, the authors present the contrasting, lightweight, servant-natured form of leadership which Jesus invites us into (Matt 11:28-30 and Mark 10:42-43). They do a lot of good groundwork by going into detail how starfish, as opposed to spider-style top-down pyramid power dynamic based leadership, is the way to go. They provide good first-hand examples of both styles in practice. Knowing the similar pressures that many of us face, we would do well to take note of this way of leading and adopting it appropriately at our earliest convenience!

I have recently been involved in the coming together of a network of intercessors with the aim to encourage, equip, and empower like-minded leaders to see every town and city across the UK prayer-walked by 2025. There will be no one leader, rather a network of collaborators working together to achieve that end, organizing organically around hubs and growing naturally through transparent relationships. As Ford and Wegner admit every form of leadership has its difficulties and starfish structures are no exception. The challenge is letting go of control and focusing on equipping those around you, rather than micro-managing them and reverting to well-worn habits. Collaborating rather than competing seems a challenge to many church leaders. I am beginning to see some of the benefits of this transition in Sheffield as the default of the boomer generation of leaders have given way to a wave of Gen Xers who seem to find partnership a more natural way of working.
The rest of the book deals with other key elements needed for releasing a disciple making movement – re-imagining church, multiplying disciples, leaders, micro-churches, hubs and networks and measuring it. The re-imagining of church and multiplying of disciples and leaders are covered in depth and provide healthy food for thought.
This is a significant book. Read it, enjoy it and in my estimation apply it!

Gilles Holloway: Kings Centre Sheffield.

How to Grow into an Emotionally Mature Adult

During our last November Kairos Connexion Leaders' Day we looked at Emotionally Health Leadership and this is more food for thought..
Here's a scary truth.... you may be chronologically 35 or 55 or 75 years old, but still be an emotional and spiritual child.
Or as one person put it..."I had been following Jesus for 22 years. But in reality, I was a one-year-old Christian 22 times."

This was Pete Scazzero's story for too many years. He was an emotional infant who was stuck. He was leading a church while his marriage and family were suffering. By God's grace, he realized that something needed to change.

The truth is – emotional health and spiritual maturity are inseparable. It is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.

What about you? Are you an emotional infant, child, adolescent, or adult?
There is a multi-week podcast series in which the seminal work from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is explored. If you are a pastor, leader, or listener and you want to start the journey toward emotional and spiritual health, this series is a must-listen. Emotionally Healthy Podcast

Ask Pete Scazerro Anything About Leadership and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Over the last two months, the podcast has focused on the core principles of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Now we want to know, what are the greatest challenges you face in actually walking this out in your life and church?

Do you have challenges related to:

Slowing Down for Sabbath
Practicing the Daily Office
Exploring Grief and Loss
Discovering Your Emotions
Understanding your Own Family of Origin
Doing All of This as a Church or Leadership Team

Submit your specific challenges or questions to Pete at emotionallyhealthy.org/casestudy.

We hope that you are enjoying the spring sunshine today. We are too......but we are also thinking about the cooler, darker evenings of autumn, as we launch Streets of Light 2022!

The idea behind it is very simple.

We seek to bring change & transformation to neighbourhoods & communities by creating window displays that convey a message of Light, Love & Hope as an alternative to Halloween.

For one week, at the end of October, we ask people to create a window display in their home, their place of work, in a school, a church, a shop – in fact anywhere where there is a window! It’s that simple!

It has been 6 months since Streets of Light 2021, and now it is 6 months until our 2022 windows go on display around the country. We know that at this time of year, lots of us are setting our minds to planning the church calendar for the next academic year, so we thought this would be the ideal time to get the dates in your diary.

Streets of Light 2022 will run from 24th to 31st October. The website is updated and all ready for people to sign up. You could even be super-organised and sign up today!
Click Here