Graham Stacey

I realise there are several approaches, but when I do a jigsaw…
As I pour the pieces out of the box there may be some pieces that are still stuck together from the last time the puzzle was done, or even from manufacture. I may also spot certain attractive pieces that I recognise from the finished picture. I may even put these to one side. But the first real step is to sort out the edge pieces and do the edge. Once I have the edge done I can place those few pieces that are still stuck together and even those pieces that are easy to place because of their colour or texture.
I have this same technique when doing jigsaws with my kids. I tend to focus on getting the edge done which means that they then find it very easy to place the inside bits.
I find theology very similar.
There are lots of interesting bits, colourful and attractive - Jesus on the cross, heaven, feeding the 5000, love in 1 Corinthians… These bits in and of themselves obviously have depth and meaning and can be sources of inspiration and life change, but can become disconnected stories and theories without an edge. As with the jigsaw, the edge defines the relationship between the individual aspects of the picture and the stories those parts represent. It also provides a way into the picture as a whole. If the top of the edge is blue and the bottom is green these are clues as to the setting of the whole picture. The relationship between the blue and green tells us where the horizon is which in turn is a clue as to the content of the picture. It may even allow us to begin to tell what is in the foreground and what is in the background. The few exciting colourful pieces of the puzzle that together hold a picture of, say a hot-air balloon, are put in their place by the edge. The extent to which this hot-air balloon controls the whole picture is defined by the edge.
By now this metaphor and its insight into theology may be apparent. We can so often get caught by the beauty of a few pieces of the puzzle that we forget to do the edge and thus allow those pieces to be put in their place. In so doing we can become so blinded to the whole picture that the story of the few pieces become slightly distorted and disconnected.
I remember the time clearly when I realised this and stopped trying to think about the exciting pieces I had in my hand and started to focus on finding the edge pieces and putting the frame together.
What then are the edge pieces?
My starter for ten is Trinity.

emerging church, theology

Sorry this is so long…!

Last time I wrote I explored the flipside of vision: a driven, forward looking almost urging desire to be somewhere else. This somewhere else is not, of course, necessarily a physical location, although it often is. Somewhere else can also be emotionally, intellectually, spiritually different from where you currently are. Though usually all of these aspects are involved in movement, or journey.

Along the way, in this journey, are all kinds of obstacles that need to be navigated and negotiated. Obstacles is perhaps the wrong word since it does imply that these ‘things’ are in the way: an obstruction, hindrance or difficulty. Leadership, on the other hand, is at a distinct disadvantage if it adopts such a perspective since the ‘things’ are almost certainly people. Whether directly of indirectly journey’s involve encountering people along the way. Directly with verbal opposition to the journey or destination. Indirectly with systems, procedures, traditions and habits that people hold, follow or instituted. A leader will not only have a vision of the the place to go, but they will also be able to navigate the journey, including the obstacles, which are now perhaps better described as ‘encounters’.

Navigation includes, although is not restricted to, appreciating the current landscape and the terrain of travel, perceiving and passing through the encounters. These abilities in navigation are part of the way the leader as a person ‘works’. There are not tools that the leader owns and can use as they want. There are there all the time.

Recently I attended the committee meeting of the local pre-school nursery that my Son attends. I was attending on behalf of my wife because Advertising was on the agenda and this is something I have had some input into. With six other people around the table, talking through various issues of staffing, premises, advertising, constitutions and trustees it you can gain some insight into how different people approach the tasks. Around the table there was quite clearly an administrator, someone who was very energised to do whatever was needed in the face of the current situation. What was lacking was a leader, someone who could perceive the journey and assess the current situation in the context of that journey and therefore approach the encounters in such a way that movement happens along the journey. For me, in the context of that hour, alongside addressing the simple questions of advertising and offering pervious experience of appointing trustees, I was caught up in seeing the vision of this place and drawing maps of the journey and the encounters along the way. I did not choose to do this, its just the way my thinking works. almost irresistible.

This blessing, of bringing to the community; church, business, association or organisation, a sense of journey and navigation also means that a leader can’t stop thinking in this way wherever they happen to be. I was once part of a chapliancy team at a local university. I was on site perhaps twice a week for an hour, alongside my then huge time demands from what was going on at church. Not long into this role I realised I was walking around with my head down, looking at the floor and not engaging as I walked through the campus to the Chapel [room put aside for such use]. This physical state was a manifestation of what was really going on; I was deliberately blinkering myself so I would not get caught up in a vision for mission within and on the campus. I wanted to arrive, do what was required of me and leave, and leave it behind as I walked back to my office and got on with the vision for mission that was consuming me at church.

Being wired up [to use a Bill Hybel’s phrase] for vision and navigation does not just express itself in ministry and local community group circles. It can also have very practical expressions. I have done a lot of DIY in my time; essentially refitting the 3 houses we have lived in since leaving London School of Theology in 97. When I am approaching a practical problem, be that from just painting a room through to relocating the central heating boiler in the loft, from building a deck through to converting the garage into a study and utility area, I use the same kind of wiring as I do in ministry situations. The wiring that enables me to see a vision of the completed task and to navigate my way through the steps to get there, constantly adjusting these steps to incorporate the new emerging landscape. I know several leaders, who express there leadership in vision and navigation, who similarly can approach all kinds of situations and work their way through, essentially making it up as they go along.

Given that I have saved myself what must be about £30,000+ and manage to deal with most household repairs and maintenance, why would this navigation aspect of leadership have a flipside?

Partly because you are constantly at risk of getting caught up in the next vision that comes along, sometimes several a day depending on what you are exposed to. I recently got caught up in two such visions and started two things up and now feeling like I really should have kept my mouth shut. Not because the things in question are bad, quite the contrary, they have brought some life where there was little, but because they have distracted me from what I currently perceive to be my main vision and calling. Don’t read that as me just being selfish, the need is for wisdom as to what one chooses to speak up about.

Secondly, because just because you can it does not mean you should. 5 years where most days off were DIY does something to you personhood that a lie-in on the odd Saturday does not solve!

leadership, ministry