It’s been a tumultuous year already. Living expenses have increased. Lockdowns have decreased. Financial markets have fluctuated. Unpredictability has become the norm. As a result, millions of people worldwide have made major work-life changes as the marketplace has…
Browsing Category leadership
A LACK OF ELDERS. How we desperately need to grow up.
This was the alarming start of a recent conversation.“Is it just me, or are older guys willing to be mentors really hard to find?”“Yep.” I replied, “At this age and stage of life, they are…
REGRETTING WHAT I BELIEVED – The trap of Narrative Fallacy and the shame it brings.
It is almost a decade since I went into voluntary bankruptcy. In 2006 Natalie and I had sold up and sold out to do missions work in Japan. We returned in 2008 with our second…
When it doesn’t feel authentic, try it anyway.
There is an emerging area of leadership practice and theory called Authentic Leadership. If you’ve studied leadership principles for a while you’ll know they are often relabelled (and repriced) social science theories. After all, leadership…
When you gotta go. 4 Questions that may help with transitioning from church positions
It’s hard to know where to start on a topic like this because it is so complicated and multifaceted. When people move away from prominent positions in a church community and do something outside ‘church…
The business of breaking bread. Have we lost our corporate soul?
Once upon a time, a company was not held together by a legal structure. It was not limited and protected by firewalls of intricately woven words and laws crafted to protect its beneficiaries from having…
You’ve been lied too, and might want to get down… right now.
See the spike on that graph? It’s labeled Mt. Stupid. Right now, that’s pretty much where most of our COVID-19 related posts are situated. The Dunning-Kruger Effect illustrates how most of us approach knowledge. It…
So, you’re think of moving your classes or church services online for a while? 3 things you should consider
In light of the recent the COVID19 pandemic, a number of pastors, teachers and trainers have been considering streaming online services/training/classes in place of meeting in-person. My wife and I ran gatherings and teachings for…
Invisible Women Syndrome… in church. Video and Audio with Annie Layton
Just before recording this, the Christian world had been watching the fall out generated by American Pastor John Macarthur’s comments on Pastor Beth Moore. There were some choice statements made about women in ministry. Annie…
Sort Your Ship Out – Navigating Relational Seas
Why is this too common? Why do we find ourselves boarding ships, jumping ships, finding ourselves feeling like hungry and shameful stowaways on certain ships? Why do some leaders find necessary organisational decisions so difficult, such as moving staff on (especially if staff are aboard intimate ship)?
An open letter to that frustrated guy around 30.
It’s a confronting, tough and frustrating time. It’s filled with new energy and a different type of the drive to what we experienced in our teens and twenties. Guys between 28 and 32 (roughly) who…
Don’t Care and Can’t Care… They’re not the same.
Repeat after me, “I’m not a super-human. I have limits. I matter too. I DO care. I mean well. I just can’t always care.”
People who are in pain are generally concerned with one thing: Relief. They will do what they can to not be in pain. When someone or something is not available, pain may well want to discharge through blame. So when you can’t care, and therefore won’t care, you may hear, “You DON’T care.” In most cases, this is pain talking and looking for some relief; therefore, consideration for you and your scenario is being overruled by their pain and immediate need.
AN OPEN LETTER OF CONCERN WITH TODAY’S PUBLIC PROPHETIC CULTURE
I wanted to film this instead of writing it because sentiment can get lost in translation, and I wanted people to hear my heart on a topic that I know is dear to many…
I Was a Willing Sacrifice
As a follow up to last week’s essay and articles on the dark side of organisational sacrificial, I wanted to add a couple of thoughts on the dynamics of organisational wounding. Because I think there…
The Dark Side of Organisational Sacrifice – Blood in the Foundations
Foreword: Before writing this I published a social concern essay on the Utilisation of Staff and Volunteers in church life. I received a few brief comments and some very lengthy emails from people who thanked…
The Utilisation of Staff and Volunteers in Churches. A Social Concern Essay
I’ve been in church leadership roles from the time I came to know Christ in my late teens. It’s been a wild 22-year ride, and I want to keep riding – albeit with less falling…
Millennials: Not bad, at all. Why I’m cutting slack and taking sides.
Being born in 1978, I straddle the Gen-X and Millennial (Gen-Y) Generations. By 2020 it is believed 35% of the world’s workforce will be Millenials [1]. And I love the prospects. I know some social…
The Toll of Ministry Life – Emotional health, burnout and PTSD among clergy
A previous Danielsen study found post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in one Christian denomination’s clergy that “was higher than that of post-deployment soldiers.” We need to humanise this workspace. If church workers and their families are susceptible burnout, PTSD and other mental health challenges, it’s the joint responsibility of the body of Christ to address this with humility and seriousness. We can’t afford more casualties, especially when these casualties are injured serving their people.
Accountability Shift. When it’s good to care less.
She’s laying on her bed, iPad in hand. Eyes fully fixed on the screen. “What are you up to?” These are five words my teenage daughter is used to hearing from her parents as they…
Why I really don’t want to see my Gold card again.
Yes, I’m that guy who walks through the glass doors into the air lounge and gets on the plane before you. I get the good seat up the front and am among the first off…