Missional renaissance - pt. 6

Chapter 8 of Reggie McNeal's book Missional Renaissance deals with "Changing The Scorecard From Church-based To Kingdom-based Leadership." Another good and practical chapter, but with lots and lots to work through. Not something that can just be done with a snap.

The chapter is built around four different leadership areas he feels are key to transitioning: paradigm issues (how the leader sees the world), microskill development (competencies the leader needs), resource management (what the leader has to work with), and personal growth (the leader as a person).

PARADIGM ISSUES
On p. 159 he says...

• "Whatever you as a leader are looking at is what you are working on. And the way you are looking at it will determine your approach to engaging it."
• "If you see yourself as a church leader in a church role working with church people to get church things done, you will behave accordingly. If your paradigm of what it means to be a faithful Jesus follower primarily involves being a better church member, you will center your efforts on church stuff... By contrast, missional leaders see the world and their role in it very differently. If this is your paradigm, you believe you are on mission in the world and are partnering with God in blessing the people in your sphere of influence.... You view your life as a mission trip and order your life around that view. For you, following Jesus does not involve adding a set of activities to your life. Following Jesus is life itself."

MICROSKILL DEVELOPMENT
Some key skills missional leaders will need to work on...

• Coaching
• Storytelling
• Conflict management
• Transition leadership
• Listening skills
• Celebrating others and self ("The capacity to celebrate others' achievements is an essential part of changing the culture of an organization...")
• Missionary training
• Praying ("Jesus invites us to ask for the kingdom..." "...prayer [should be] much more dialogical and much more geared to listening than to informing God of things he already knows.")

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• Prayer
• Relationships
• Time
• Money
• Techonology
• Personal property

PERSONAL GROWTH
"The truth is that God is more interested in turning you into a person than into anything else! It's the hardest work he does, and it's going to take him all your life to do it." (p.168)

• Self-awareness ("Self-awareness is the single most important information that a leaders possesses. Without this, you do not know why you do what you do."); ("Emotional Intelligence - this is leaders' capacity for knowing how they come across to other people."); ("Talent - Nowhere in Scripture are we told we are going to be held accountable for talent we don't have. However, we are informed that we will be responsible for the stewardship of what we have been given.")
• Family development
• Emotional and spiritual health ("Broken relationships take a huge toll in soul strength. Practicing forgiveness and seeking reconciliation are key to ridding yourself of toxins that poison your spirit").
  
• Physical health

Lots more I could have written down. And, for anyone who might be following these - I am not necessarily breaking down all the chapters real well. I am breaking them down and highlighting things of importance to me personally. So there is a lot I'm leaving out. If you're interested, I recommend you read the book yourself. :)