Finding my inner Storyteller

At our recent leaders night I decided to tell three stories that have been playing in my mind recently. The first two stories were familiar childhood stories which may have been told as bed time stories, the third story was a familiar story from the bible. Although the stories were familiar I encouraged the group to listen to the stories with fresh ears, looking for fresh insights.I asked the group to listen to the stories as leaders and listen for what values they heard in the stories, what the stories said about team work and leadership and what the moral of the story might be.

The first story I told is a story that pops into my head every now and then about a Little Red Hen who wants to make some bread but when she asks the pig and the duck and the cat to help they decide to stay where they are comfortable instead of helping out. The little red hen goes through the motions of making the bread, asking the others to help her along the way but they continue to refuse. Finally the bread is ready and she asks who will help her eat the bread, the pig, the duck and the cat all offer to help eat the bread but the hen says because she's the one who made it, she will eat all the bread by herself.

I like this story because as leaders we can relate to struggling to get people out of their comfort zones or wanting to get something done but others not seeing the vision. As a group we also wondered whether the hen had asked for help the year before and the pig and the duck and the cat had all offered to help but the hen was such a perfectionist that it put them off helping this time!

The second story I was reminded of when I heard it told at our recent Synod meeting. It's the story of Stone Soup. This story seems more gracious than the story of the Little Red Hen. A stranger comes into town and starts to make stone soup. It sparks curiosity in the villagers. The stranger then invites the villagers to bring what they are able to add to the stone soup to make an even better soup. Everyone is invited to share in the soup, even if they didn't contribute.

I like the way people were invited to share what they had; herbs, vegetables, meat. It may not seem like much but there isn't any judgment on the offerings and when they were all put together in the pot it created something that none of the offerings could have done on their own. Not only was there soup but community was created as well.

The third story I told was Jesus heals the paralytic. This story tells of 4 men who take their friend, who is paralyzed, to Jesus to be healed. They face obstacles in getting their friend to Jesus but they are focused and determined and they carry their friend to Jesus and the result is their friend is able to walk home that day.

I like this story because it shows the love the men have for their friend and the faith they have in Jesus. The friend would never have been able to get to Jesus on his own. Many people worked together and overcame obstacles for a common goal, and the outcome was amazing.

These stories generated a lot of table discussions for our leaders and we shared together our own stories and insights. I enjoyed being a story teller!

What are we waiting for?

I just read this article at the "Gifted for leadership" site. It made me think of what I journalled about this morning.

Luke 19:1-10 is the story of Zacchaeus - the tax collector. Verses 3-4 says 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. (NIV)

Zacchaeus was faced with a problem. He knew he wanted to see Jesus, he knew he was at the right place at the right time, he knew this was his opportunity but he also knew that he was too short and circumstances were against him.

This is sometimes like us in the church. We know we want people to see Jesus, we know we're in the right place at the right time and we know we have the opportunity to make a difference but that sometimes our situation and circumstances are against us. When we're faced with those situations our first response is often to pray and ask God to remove the obstacles for us or to discern what God want us to do in a particular situation, or wait until we hear God's leading. I'm not saying this is wrong but I wonder if sometimes we do these things so we don't have to take responsibility for the situation we find ourselves in. (This is different to trusting God)

Zacchaeus could have prayed that God would miraculously make him taller, he could have prayed for the crowd of people to part at the most opportune time. He could have hoped that if he stood his ground, somehow, as Jesus passed, he would see Zacchaeus in the crowd...it would be fate....it was meant to be.... Alternatively Zacchaeus could have grumbled about the unfair state of affairs that there are too many tall people in the world and why did God have to make him short?!

Instead, Zacchaeus used his initiative and he climbed a tree. There was no miracle, no leading from God, no bringing about justice to a bad situation. He climbed a tree, he saw Jesus and his life was transformed.

Sometimes we have to stop praying for a miracle or divine intervention and actually get up and do something ourselves. We need to stop grumbling about our situation and do something about it. It doesn't mean we've stopped trusting God or we aren't listening to God. Sometimes when we are faced with a tough situation we need to be active and be the change that we need.

Seeing Beauty

I've been very busy the last few weeks and was really looking forward to the long weekend to just relax and spend time with the family. I didn't have anything planned and enjoyed the idea of being schedule free.

My weekend didn't turn out as planned.....6:30am Saturday morning I received a call from our Youth Pastor asking if it was possible for me to go to SAYCO (youth camp) as an adult helper.

It was actually quite easy to rearrange my weekend so I could go to camp, the real problem was actually psyching myself up for camp! I AM NOT A CAMPER! I haven't camped since highschool. There was one time where we pitched a tent in our backyard for one night so the kids could experience camping but I don't think you could really call it camping. I know that I am not the outdoors, enjoying nature, sleeping on the floor type of person.

So as I stood watching tents go up, seeing the walk needed to get from the tent to the toilets, noticing the clouds overhead and realising there wasn't any coffee at our campsite, reality hit that this was going to be a loooong weekend.

When you're in an uncomfortable situation it can be easy to see the negatives, to grumble inwardly or to think about the things you're missing out on. Lack of coffee can also do this to a person.

This could have happened to me......but fortunately Ralph Mayhew was the speaker at SAYCO this year. One of Ralph's speaking spots was on Seeing the Beauty. Ralph had broken his arm after falling from a skateboard and he shared the ten top responses he has had from people regarding his broken arm and the fact that he'd broken his arm by falling off a skateboard. Some of the responses had been "You wont get any sympathy from me" and "You've got no one to blame but yourself". It took a response from a stranger who thought it was cool that Ralph would break his arm falling off a skateboard for Ralph to receive a positive response to his hurt, embarrassment and brokenness. He went on to talk about how when we have Jesus in our lives we can see the beauty in the world where others aren't able see beauty. (This is my interpretation of it after a couple of sleep deprived nights)

This talk was just what I needed. Instead of focusing on my uncomfortableness at camping and the ugliness of being sleep deprived,I decided to see beauty around me. I saw youth working together to create a camp site, I saw youth supporting each other as they went to the different workshops, I saw youth worshiping God and encouraging others, I saw youth using their gifts and skills and I saw community being formed. I would have missed this if I had dwelt on my discomfort.

There was so much beauty to see at SAYCO and I know I was privileged to have been called upon early Saturday morning to be part of Seeing Beauty.

10 Years......

There's been a lot of conversations recently that have started with "What were you doing 10 years ago?" Of course those conversations have been linked with 9/11 and what we were doing on that day and how we remember the course of events.

Then last week someone asked me the question "10 years ago did you imagine you'd be doing what you're doing now". I thought about who I was 10 years ago; a Stay at Home Mum with three children. No I didn't imagine then, that in 10 years time I would have already led a church for 5 years, almost completed my Bachelor of Theology, be an ordained Minister and have the position of Senior Pastor in a church that wasn't my current church, having moved my family which had grown to 4 children. I was happy being a Stay at Home Mum. Today I was in a meeting with Synod EO's and Directors of theological and leadership studies and I had a moment where I thought "10 years ago there was no way I'd imagine this"!

Which makes me think about what the next 10 years will bring. Of course there's the saying "If you want to see God laugh, tell him your plans" and I'm sure I've given God more than the odd chuckle ;-) I look back on the last 10 years and how many things I have done, things that I would never have believed I would do. It's been an exciting past 10 years and it's with that excitement that I look forward to seeing where God leads me in the next 10 years

What have the past 10 years been like for you? 10 years ago did you imagine you'd be doing what you're doing now?

And just because this is my blog I'm adding a song from my youth which asks "where will we be in 50 years" ;-)

Opening Conversations

How would you feel if you entered your church to see shoes of all different shapes, colours, sizes and cleanliness hanging from the ceiling? That is how we decorated our church last month for our "stepping out" series. We also had a boat with a pair of gum boots/wellies next to it as we thought about how we could "Step out of the boat".

Visuals are an effective way to help people in the congregation to ponder the overarching theme. However, there was some concern that shoes hanging in the church had taken the visual effects a step too far. Were shoes hanging from the ceiling "pleasing to God?"

Maybe you've had someone ask you a similar question when you've tried something new?

Obviously shoes hanging in a church strikes a chord with some people. However, I found that shoes hanging in a church are actually conversation starters. A new family at one of our Sunday services asked the person they sat next to what the shoes were for. Our playgroup coordinator told me that several care givers in our playgroups had asked her what the shoes were doing hanging from the ceiling and she was able to share the theme and the message of the shoes with the families. As different groups have entered our church I'm sure they've noticed the shoes hanging up and maybe they haven't been brave enough to ask what they're for but it may have triggered a thought for them. Maybe they'll ask about something else they see in the church in another series.

Shoes hanging in a church may not be aesthetically pleasing to the eye but they do open conversation. I would say those conversations are pleasing to God.

Too much coffee?

I'm in the process of deciding what the new staff role should be for next year. Last night I had a dream that my supervisor told me I had made a mistake and instead I should have hired a Barista! I know I've been drinking a lot of coffee recently but you know you've definitely had too much coffee when you start dreaming you need to hire a Barista and your church doesn't even have a kitchen let alone a cafe!!

Stepping Out

We have just started a second service at our church; a night service. It just so happens that the theme I had planned for August is stepping out which I think is very apt as starting a night service is a big step out!

Today's text was "Jesus walks on water" and in the morning service I talked about fear of failure and being a church that shouldn't be afraid to take risks. Instead we need to be a church that encourages people to step out, take risks, and support people willing to risk failure. The night service is an example of where our church has decided to risk doing something new, risk changing the culture of the church and risk failure.

Of course we really hope we don't fail, we really want the night service to succeed but there is always a risk in starting something new.

I talked earlier about transition being a time of growth and it turns out failure is also a growing opportunity. I've been reading Craig Groeschel's "It - How churches and leaders can get it and keep it" and am reminded that as a church we need to be willing to get out of our comfort zones and risk failure. Actually Groeschel says "Failure is not an option. It is essential."

I'm still getting used to the idea that failure can be a good thing but I understand the concept. So we have started a night service hoping not to fail. However, we would prefer to step out and try something new and risk failure than to never try and remain in our comfort zone. So, we are getting our toes wet, focusing on Jesus and trusting God; it's going to be an interesting ride :-)