Tim Clark’s Blog

I just read an article about the liquid church. The gist of it went like this: “We don’t need the church gathering anymore, because real church consists of interconnected people and Christ flowing through those relationships”. While there is some truth here, the idea throws out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

Of course the church is liquid—an expression of the Holy Spirit through all of us who believe. This liquidity exists every day and in every interaction. We should celebrate the informal relationships and connections. If a believer is plugged into the life of Christ, church happens through them wherever they go. I like to say, (quoting someone I don’t remember) “We don’t go to church; we are the church”.

However, if we leave it at that we are missing gathering and belonging. Now, you may not “gather” like I do: That’s great! I love the idea of house churches, or cell based ministries or any way for people to get together to share the life of Jesus. But it needs to happen intentionally and there must be commitment to one another. Equipping gifts need to flow. Corporate worship needs to be experienced. Authority should be in place. Evangelism needs to be encouraged. Church cannot be about people like each other—who like each other—just getting together. In fact, if there is not someone not like us, not at our maturity level, and who we don’t particularly like in the community, I don’t think we are really being the church.

There is no question in my mind that God sets up a leadership structure, and a gathering structure, for the diverse people of God throughout the Bible. From the family structure of the patriarchs, to the formation of the nation of Israel, and all the way through to the New Testament era: Paul, Peter, and finally John’s words to the 7 churches in Revelation.

Are there problems with structure or authority or the gatherings? Yes, in fact, from the very institution of these institutions. Challenges always have and always will exist within the organized church, but this does not give us an option to give up on it. I deeply believe that God wants us to try and work out those issues within the context of committed relationship.

To illustrate, I recently talked to a couple that didn’t feel the need to get married. They mentioned divorce, family dysfunction, and other issues marriage could bring. Why, they reasoned, is there a need for a piece of paper and official recognition? And the answer is: there is a need for an official marriage because it honors God. There is a need because we get to work out our problems in context of committed relationship.

Being a committed part of a local church (in whatever form it takes) and purposing to show up and contribute is simply a part of Christian growth. Stability, family and community are a part of the church. We serve one another. We teach each-others kids. We are there when a spouse dies.

Believers who have these kinds of relationships already established—many times developed through church networks they used to belong to—forget that there are thousands of people coming to Christ who have no such networks built. How are these new people going to find those connections if there is not a Christian community to belong to? I find it odd that those who grew up with the blessing of children’s ministry and summer camps and extended family are not willing to help extend that blessing to a new generation (new believers), as well as to the next generation (kids).

What I’m not saying is that the church gathering has to look or feel traditional. What I’m not saying is that there is no need to recognize and celebrate Liquid Church. What I’m not saying is that the organized church doesn’t have major problems. What I am suggesting, however, is that we pause to consider what we are doing before totally throwing out Biblical principles of the Church.

Liquid and solid: My diet needs both. Let’s grab a hold of one without letting go of the other.

Christian Leadership B.S.—Online degree completion program Preparing Leaders for over 100 yrs…

The above was the auto-generated Google ad on the sidebar of a friend’s blog. It wasn’t the academic degree that caught my eye—for a brief moment I actually thought “Christian Leadership B.S.” might be the title of a new book.

I’ve been reading a lot about Christian leadership in the last few years. As a pastor and educator who loves to read and as a grad student (my program is in leadership) who has to read, I’ve been exposed to more than most people on the subject. Some of it is good, and a lot of it is, well…let’s just say it’s not Biblically Sound.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m actually a pretty positive person. I learn quite a bit from people that I don’t agree with.  I like reading material that stretches my perspective, and I really enjoy reading and learning from current leadership thought. However, the problem is that so much leadership literature (even Christian Leadership literature) is simply not Biblical. A lot of it of it sounds good to me at first blush, probably because there are some great universal leadership principles. But when I deeply reflect on it, I have to be honest and say that much of it leaves me empty. Furthermore, when I examine the leadership blowout that has left our world in a mess over the last few months (and make no mistake, our current cultural and national crisis is much about leadership), I wonder if we have been betting on the wrong horse.

I’m reminded that King Saul was a pretty good leader. If we compared his command to what we see in leadership literature, it would line up rather nicely. There is an example of this in 1 Samuel 13.  Saul and his men are waiting for Samuel to show up for the sacrifice that must happen before a key battle, and Samuel is late. Saul’s army begins to scatter in fear, but they are needed for the fight against the Philistines. Saul does what every leadership book would tell him to do: He rallies the troops; he takes leadership into his own hands; he preforms the sacrifice and all the men are encouraged and end up staying to fight. His methods worked brilliantly.

Good leadership—but bad faith. Godly leaders are not just called to do what works, but to walk in obedience to THE Leader. Because of Saul’s leadership acuity, he lost his assignment (see verse 14). I wish it was just Saul, but we see examples like this littered all through the Bible and we see it often in current Church practice.

I don’t think that Christian leadership is supposed to simply be a mirror of secular leadership, no matter how effective we think those leadership principles may be. We always have to look at what we do through the lens of the Word. I actually believe that Christians should be coming up with the most innovative, collaborative, and Godly ways to lead. Why are believers always trailing, or even worse, copying, culture?

I’m hungry to discover and implement Biblically sound ideas about leadership in the church that blow away the accepted practices we might find in Grad School textbooks or in the edgy principles we can discover in Fast Company or the hottest new business-lit release.

So, I’ve got a great title; now maybe I’ll get to writing that book…

Once in a while we are “blessed” with the opportunity to have to hear the Lord regarding a directional issue in our lives. Those times when God seems to be about to change something in our assignment (like a job or a ministry) a relationship (like dating or marriage) or a commitment (like a church). How do we process through these times?

Sometimes it’s easy: The Holy Spirit simply speaks. If we are people who regularly immerse ourselves in the Word and in prayer and who maintain a soft and repentant heart before God and others, I believe we are in a great position to hear Him. In that case we’re not going to do something that goes against scripture or that is based on unresolved sin in our lives or that springs from a disconnection from the Vine.

There have been a number of times in my life when the Holy Spirit has clearly said “go”, and in obedience I did it; or said “no” and in obedience, I didn’t. Those times are refreshing because more often it seems that God’s clear voice is a bit muffled, at best, or completely silent at worst. What do we do if we know how to hear the Lord, but we just don’t seem to be hearing Him, and we’ve got a big decision to make?

One of my mentors, Roger Whitlow, says, “let peace be your umpire”. He uses Colossians 3:15 as a guide: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts”. The ruling of an umpire—is it a strike or ball?; is it foul or fair?; did you touch or miss first base?—is the final word. Sometimes in the midst of the confusion of life we don’t have the kind of perspective that our Umpire has. We can and should look for wisdom from other Godly people, make sure distraction is removed from our lives, fast and pray, and line up what God has said in the past with the opportunity of the present. But in the final analysis, is the peace of Christ in our hearts ruling for or against a decision? If we determine that the lack of peace is not because of fear or flesh, we need to trust that red light, regardless of how fantastic the situation we are looking at may be.

Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I don’t know about you, but big decisions can sometimes tend to make me a bit anxious. However, if I am living a life of prayer and thanksgiving (and if I am accountable and in unity to others God has put in my life—see verse 2-3), I believe I have the freedom to move ahead if there is peace. After laying everything before the Lord, if there is a clear lack of peace, even if it does not make much sense, then I do not have the freedom to do it. Though in the short run it can be very frustrating to not have understanding about why, we have to trust God’s peace and know that His plan is bigger than we can imagine, and we trust Him alone for our future.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you…Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who truts in Him”. Psalms 32

A couple of weeks ago I was at a conference listening to Andy Stanley speak about leading in times of uncertainty. What he said was compelling: leadership is not needed unless there is uncertainty. Managers are always necessary to keep an organizational machine running, but leaders exist to ensure an organization clearly knows where it is going and to make the tough calls that may be necessary to get there.

Uncertainty is a normal fact of life in any organization. But though a leader may be a bit uncertain about a situation or even about the future, ambiguity is never OK. Clarity is essential for a leader if he or she is going to be effective.

It reminded me about a conversation I had recently with my wife’s aunt and uncle. Uncle Michael is a merchant marine, which means that he has worked his whole life on huge ships delivering goods to ports all over the world. Recently he was offered a promotion to serve as the Captain on one of the trips, a promotion that he accepted.

I asked what the captain of a ship does; his answer surprised me. He said that during a voyage there isn’t a whole lot that you are required to do as captain. You check in with the officers to make sure that they have their individual areas taken care of. When you pull into port you have some decisions to make regarding personnel, supplies, etc… There is plenty a captain can do, but not much he has to do. Regardless, it is the most stressful job on the ship.

When he was wrestling with the decision regarding whether to take the post, Aunt Laurie asked him the million-dollar question: “Do you want to be the one they call when there is fog?” You see, when everything is ‘smooth sailing’ on the open sea, a captain of a major ship might be able to lock himself in his suite for weeks at a time and play video games (though that obviously shows a lack of work ethic for which captains are chosen), but when the pilot of the ship encounters a rough situation that requires a decision that will affect everyone on board, he calls the captain. For instance, Uncle Michael said that this can often happen when there is much fog in a port. Clear decisions need to be made in the thick soup of uncertainty, and nobody wants to be on the hook for making the wrong call—so they call the captain (who is responsible to make the call, right or wrong).

The captain may not always know the absolute best course of action, but he must project total confidence and zero ambiguity to his crew as he makes the call to navigate through a tough situation. A bridge full of waffling crew second guessing one another will do nothing to help in that situation. This is not about false bravado—pretending you have no doubts—but about clarity of direction even when you are not 100% sure of the outcome. Seek input from the officers—get the best wisdom and council you can— but when a decision has to be made, it needs to be clear and the leader always takes responsibility for the outcome.

Whether it is the fog or pirates (Uncle Michael made his first ‘captain’ trip off the coast of Somolia, where a sister ship in his company famously was captured by pirates a few weeks later) or some other situation with an unknown outcome, the captain is paid to make clear, unambiguous calls in the midst of the deepest uncertainty. If there was no uncertainty, a captain would hardly be needed—everyone could do the job predetermined when they got on the ship and the end result would be just fine.

A lack of clarity—fog—is never fun. Outcomes and lives are at stake. If a leader makes a wrong call, he or she is responsible for the result. But if a leader becomes paralyzed and refuses to make a call or is ambiguous about what is required, his or her value as a leader is greatly diminished. This is no more frightening when, after taking all the advice and council possible, a decision needs to be made and the leader is asked “are you sure you are making the right decision?” Sometimes the answer must be “no, but I am clear about the direction we are to go”. Circumstances require a decision to be made because making no decision is often a de-facto choice. It is during that moment that a leader is earning his or her pay.