Jordon wrote a few thoughts in his review of "Organic Community" (Joe Myers) that caught my attention.
:: For some reason, many men cling to the idea that their pastor needs to be a visionary leader, perhaps to justify their involvement in the church.
:: True community and traditional churches are incompatible. Part of the problem is the idea of a pastoral calling being a career and also the view that church leaders are interchangeable parts that can be swapped in and out for the good of the community.
:: The leader/pastor has been so ingrained in how we see the church and we have spent so much time building him or her up, it is going to take a long time and a lot of discussion for the church to move away from it. Ironically, for the first bit, it may even take a strong leader to have the church to stop thinking in terms of heirarchical leadership and start thinking in terms of community.
The first chapter, Organic Order, he relates the story of a woman who led a conference workshop:
"The fact is, for about 90 percent of the participants, our time together was a process of learning. They came expecting to learn. And almost all of them were excited to share their own techniques, too.
But I was not prepared for the other 10 percent. These people expected me to deliver a ‘checklist/bullet-point/how-to plan’ ... It caught me by surprise, and it distracted me from much of what I’d planned to do."
While Myers' book is about church community, the woman's story caught my attention in relation to an entirely different context. Perhaps I'm allowed to draw a parallel.
I mentor students as part of my job. It always brings a little bit of trepidation though; half are incredibly keen, soaking up anything you pass their way, and the rest are merely putting in their time. Because they are coming to gain real life experience, all hang tightly on to their safe textbook explanations of the way things are. So how do I create an environment in which they can become passionate, motivated, self-directed learners?