Friday, March 5, 2010

Book Club Friday: Church Unique, Chapters 5-7

I haven’t read them yet, but this week’s discussion on Church Unique will be Chapters 5-7 (they’re short!). While the first few chapters were laying the groundwork for vision-casting, this next section is “Clarifying Vision.” Be sure to share your insights/questions as we work through the process.

4 comments:

Justin said...

Starting to read ch. 5, I was thinking, “When are we going to get to the vision stuff already?” I think my impatience reveals my difficulty with vision. It’s hard work and takes clarity and understanding of your context. I think I have a tendency to fall in love with the latest book I’ve read or model I’ve heard about and don’t take enough time grappling with my context and getting crystal clarity on whatever it is that God might be calling me to.

Clarity and communication are things I really need to work on. This was a good, challenging chapter that I need to bookmark and reference often. I’m not a good vision communicator. I think it’s been done and it’s barely registered a lot of the time. I forget that I live in the world of church and vision. Nobody else does – and I don’t think they should. I’m rambling. Any thoughts from anyone else?

Justin said...

Ch. 7 is a really good reminder – both humbling and inspiring. It’s inspiring because God has a vision that He wants us to fulfill and He wants to communicate it to us. It’s humbling because we’re one link in the chain – one domino – in what God is doing between Genesis 1-2 and Revelation 21-22. It brings hope and takes pressure off at the same time.

To be honest, I’m getting a little lost on how everything pieces together reading just a chapter or two at a time. Hopefully when we get to some nuts and bolts this will bring things together and bring greater clarity.

Greg said...

Well, I just read 5-7. I liked how ch 7 brought the focus back to relationship with the Lord. I think it is easy in any area, including vision for the church, to get lost in our own ideas and desires and forget about what God or the Bible has to say. Even when we are well intentioned.

To be honest, a lot of this is hard for me to get into. Having never been part of something like this much of what he is saying just goes over my head, I think. But, I can see how clarity is important as well as humility. So far it seems like common sense but I suppose there are a lot of things that seem like they should be common sense but we want to do our own thing.

I don't know, I could just be missing something.

Justin said...

That makes sense. I don't know how much I'd get out of it if I wasn't seeing it unfold, but one way this might be helpful for you, Greg, is to think of your new ministry. I don't remember the chapter, but think about those overlapping circles of leadership culture, church culture, and community. Those can give you good questions to ask the churches that you work with as a parachurch. You can be an asset as you learn their vision and see how your ministry can help them best fulfill what God is calling them to do.