In the passage known by many as the “Great Commission” in Matthew chapter twenty-eight, Jesus gave His disciples the instructions for carrying the message of salvation to the world. In verses nineteen and twenty we read that they were to go, make disciples of all people groups, baptize them and teach them to obey all of Christ’s commands. Each of these commands are essential to seeing people come to Christ, but also to seeing that message continue to go forth past the first few believers. For many years of my life, I focused on the “teach” aspect of the final command. It was all about instructing new believers in the fundamental principles of Scripture, basically telling them, “This is what you should believe”. I’m afraid our knowledge and fact-based world has promoted this way of training believers, not only when they first come to faith but also as they grow to what we might call “maturity”. The definition of maturity in my mind for many years was having a grasp of a great deal of facts about the Bible, being able to answer any question like on a Bible quizzing show.
God’s heart is not for us to know a great many things, but rather to obey the things that we do know. As we gain more and more knowledge, are we becoming more and more obedient? By focusing on the first part of the command to teach, we miss the crucial element that we are to teach them to obey all of Christ’s commands. My class with Kent and Erika helped me see again, and perhaps more than before, how this is important to keep a church planting movement going. First, instead of telling new believers what to do, we need to let the Holy Spirit and authority of God’s Word serve as the guide as they learn and grow in their faith. An important question to ask after studying a passage of Scripture or Bible story is: “What am I going to obey this week?” I have been thinking about the possibility of working in Cambodia and one of the things that has been on my mind is Cambodian believers being sent not only to their own people but to other people groups and nations as well. I have been wondering how to do that without flat out telling them, “You need to send out missionaries”. As I pondered our class discussions on obedience, I realized that it is much more powerful for the Holy Spirit to show the Cambodian believers that they are to follow the exact same Great Commission that I am following. As they learn the stories of the believers in Acts and seek to obey all of Christ’s commands, then the conviction to go will come from the authority of God’s Word rather than anything I might say. This is true of many issues that a missionary might naturally want to fix. As the local church obeys God’s Word they will feed the hungry, care for the widow and orphan, and make disciples that will make disciples. Jesus did not instruct us to build more buildings, or even to plant churches, but rather to make disciples and teach them to obey.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Lessons from... The Marines?
30 Management Principles of the US Marines
1. Aim for the 70% solution: It's better to decide quickly on an imperfect plan than to roll out a perfect plan when it's too late.
2. Find the essence: When it comes time to act, even the most complex situations and missions must be perceived in simple terms.
3. Build a capability-based organizational mission: Focusing on developing organizational talents creates opportunities; focusing on particular products and services invites obsolescence.
4. Orient to speed and complexity: The ability to react quickly and effectively in chaotic environments usually trumps other competencies.
5. Organize according to the rule of three: In times of stress, most people can efficiently handle exactly three key responsibilities.
6. Build authority-on-demand into the hierarchy: Retain a strong management pyramid, but encourage people even at the lowest levels to make whatever decisions are necessary to accomplish the mission when management guidance isn't at hand.
7. Focus on the small team: Most of the organization's critical tasks are accomplished by the lowest-level managers and their subordinates, so anything done to make them more effective will have a large payoff.
8. Task-organize: The size and make-up of groups within the organization should be changed according to the needs of each specific mission.
9. Hire by trial by fire: Challenging a prospective employee makes it easier to determine the fit, and initiates a bond between the hiree and the organization.
10. Employ extreme training: Situations faced on the job shouldn't seem more daunting than those faced in training.
11. Breed decision by analogy: Managers can't be briefed on every possible situation, but they can be trained to recognize similarities between novel and familiar situations.
12. Cross-train: Running through different jobs creates versatile managers who understand all aspects of the organization, even if at a cost in efficiency.
13. Manage by end state and intent: Tell people what needs to be accomplished and why, and leave the details to them.
14. Distribute competence: Obsessively and ceaselessly educate and train people at all levels of the organization.
15. Reward failure: Someone who never fails probably isn't pushing the envelope.
16. Make personnel functions stepping-stones for stars: The development of the most promising managers should include taking responsibility for hiring, training, promoting and transferring people.
17. Glorify the lower levels of the organization: The higher the manager, the harder he or she should work at making it clear that the rank and file are the heroes.
18. Demand to be questioned: Subordinates should feel free to openly disagree with their managers, up until it comes time to carry out a final and legitimate decision.
19. Instill values that support the mission: The ability to get the job done can be a function of shared character.
20. Cultivate opposing traits: Success often requires combining seemingly contradictory approaches.
21. Establish a core identity: Everyone in the organization should feel they're performing an aspect of the same job.
22. Match strength to weakness: Find ways to tilt the playing field to the competition's disadvantage.
23. Surprise and disorient the opposition: A confused and off-balance competitor can be routed with fewer resources.
24. Make tempo a weapon: Controlling the pace of competition can exhaust and demoralize the competition.
25. Keep plans simple and flexible: It's better to have options that can be easily adapted to changing situations than to make specific plans for every contingency.
26. Make organizational doctrine a living thing: It's good to standardize practices, as long as one of them is to continually refine and occasionally change the practices.
27. Experiment obsessively: Even the most successful organizations will eventually stop winning if it doesn't explore radically new approaches.
28. Build new tactics around new technology: Fully leveraging technology requires new styles of competing.
29. Don't depend on technology: Train to be effective regardless of which technologies are available.
30. Get an outside perspective: Insights into organizational improvement can often come from people in seemingly unrelated fields.
Okay, what do you think? Can these principles from the US Marines be applied to work in the mission field or ministry? Or was my professor crazy for having us read this for a class called Strategies for Missionary Work? Let me know your thoughts!
From Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the US Marines by David Freedman (2000)
1. Aim for the 70% solution: It's better to decide quickly on an imperfect plan than to roll out a perfect plan when it's too late.
2. Find the essence: When it comes time to act, even the most complex situations and missions must be perceived in simple terms.
3. Build a capability-based organizational mission: Focusing on developing organizational talents creates opportunities; focusing on particular products and services invites obsolescence.
4. Orient to speed and complexity: The ability to react quickly and effectively in chaotic environments usually trumps other competencies.
5. Organize according to the rule of three: In times of stress, most people can efficiently handle exactly three key responsibilities.
6. Build authority-on-demand into the hierarchy: Retain a strong management pyramid, but encourage people even at the lowest levels to make whatever decisions are necessary to accomplish the mission when management guidance isn't at hand.
7. Focus on the small team: Most of the organization's critical tasks are accomplished by the lowest-level managers and their subordinates, so anything done to make them more effective will have a large payoff.
8. Task-organize: The size and make-up of groups within the organization should be changed according to the needs of each specific mission.
9. Hire by trial by fire: Challenging a prospective employee makes it easier to determine the fit, and initiates a bond between the hiree and the organization.
10. Employ extreme training: Situations faced on the job shouldn't seem more daunting than those faced in training.
11. Breed decision by analogy: Managers can't be briefed on every possible situation, but they can be trained to recognize similarities between novel and familiar situations.
12. Cross-train: Running through different jobs creates versatile managers who understand all aspects of the organization, even if at a cost in efficiency.
13. Manage by end state and intent: Tell people what needs to be accomplished and why, and leave the details to them.
14. Distribute competence: Obsessively and ceaselessly educate and train people at all levels of the organization.
15. Reward failure: Someone who never fails probably isn't pushing the envelope.
16. Make personnel functions stepping-stones for stars: The development of the most promising managers should include taking responsibility for hiring, training, promoting and transferring people.
17. Glorify the lower levels of the organization: The higher the manager, the harder he or she should work at making it clear that the rank and file are the heroes.
18. Demand to be questioned: Subordinates should feel free to openly disagree with their managers, up until it comes time to carry out a final and legitimate decision.
19. Instill values that support the mission: The ability to get the job done can be a function of shared character.
20. Cultivate opposing traits: Success often requires combining seemingly contradictory approaches.
21. Establish a core identity: Everyone in the organization should feel they're performing an aspect of the same job.
22. Match strength to weakness: Find ways to tilt the playing field to the competition's disadvantage.
23. Surprise and disorient the opposition: A confused and off-balance competitor can be routed with fewer resources.
24. Make tempo a weapon: Controlling the pace of competition can exhaust and demoralize the competition.
25. Keep plans simple and flexible: It's better to have options that can be easily adapted to changing situations than to make specific plans for every contingency.
26. Make organizational doctrine a living thing: It's good to standardize practices, as long as one of them is to continually refine and occasionally change the practices.
27. Experiment obsessively: Even the most successful organizations will eventually stop winning if it doesn't explore radically new approaches.
28. Build new tactics around new technology: Fully leveraging technology requires new styles of competing.
29. Don't depend on technology: Train to be effective regardless of which technologies are available.
30. Get an outside perspective: Insights into organizational improvement can often come from people in seemingly unrelated fields.
Okay, what do you think? Can these principles from the US Marines be applied to work in the mission field or ministry? Or was my professor crazy for having us read this for a class called Strategies for Missionary Work? Let me know your thoughts!
From Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the US Marines by David Freedman (2000)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)