The stock market of religious organizations is far more volatile than the financial markets. John Maxwell referred to this as “pocket change” but to me it has always been much more like a stock market, except in this case, we are talking about political stock, not financial ones. Maxwell said that good leadership brings more pocket change to the leader, and I would agree with him at the local church level. But at the organizational level, Maxwell himself was both marginalized and admired by his parent organization.
This marginalization and admiration by those who manage the systems of an organizations is what I call the political stock market. In my 20 years with the CMA I think I have probably seen the bottom of that scale more than most and I have even seen the top a few times. But I spend the great majority of my time split - split between where I am being measured by those who manage the systems and then where I am assessed by those who are sitting in the pews so to speak. According to Olive Drane and others, leaders are always “both marginalized and admired by those who manage the systems.” You could get a complex from being one of these political footballs.
After 20 years of up and down the CMA political stock market (high being I can do no wrong and low meaning I can do no right) my goal is no longer (and probably never should have been) to be “high” on the political stock market. My goal is how to live with the reality that leaders and those who ask hard questions are always going to be both marginalized and admired by those who manage the systems, and at the same time find new ways to stay fully integrated in the CMA.
We are in the middle of a huge cultural rift and our mandate is to reach this changing world, not remain what we think was our glorious past.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to foment revolution, but rather freedom and creativity and entrepreneurship and insight. Nor am I talking about relevance here. Hey, when you have love and hate, war and peace, sacrifice and cosmic struggle, the Bible is plenty relevant already. No the Ancient Text just needs to be set free in the modern world, the story doesn’t change, but the setting certainly has. So I long for an organization that majors on the majors, that doesn’t fear the seismic shifts going on the world, but rather sees them as opportunities. I long for an organization that is confident enough to take risks with leaders and not marginalize them when they fail, but admire them for trying. I long for an organization that doesn’t trivialize holiness by making rules all the time, sets women free like Jesus did, and doesn’t admire numbers (people and dollars) so much more than substance. I long for an organization that is strong enough to venture out to the cultural edge!
And in that sense, I reckon the CMA is just about perfect, because they let people like me stay on the team, although they often don’t know what to do with me. No worries, my mother didn’t either.
This marginalization and admiration by those who manage the systems of an organizations is what I call the political stock market. In my 20 years with the CMA I think I have probably seen the bottom of that scale more than most and I have even seen the top a few times. But I spend the great majority of my time split - split between where I am being measured by those who manage the systems and then where I am assessed by those who are sitting in the pews so to speak. According to Olive Drane and others, leaders are always “both marginalized and admired by those who manage the systems.” You could get a complex from being one of these political footballs.
After 20 years of up and down the CMA political stock market (high being I can do no wrong and low meaning I can do no right) my goal is no longer (and probably never should have been) to be “high” on the political stock market. My goal is how to live with the reality that leaders and those who ask hard questions are always going to be both marginalized and admired by those who manage the systems, and at the same time find new ways to stay fully integrated in the CMA.
We are in the middle of a huge cultural rift and our mandate is to reach this changing world, not remain what we think was our glorious past.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to foment revolution, but rather freedom and creativity and entrepreneurship and insight. Nor am I talking about relevance here. Hey, when you have love and hate, war and peace, sacrifice and cosmic struggle, the Bible is plenty relevant already. No the Ancient Text just needs to be set free in the modern world, the story doesn’t change, but the setting certainly has. So I long for an organization that majors on the majors, that doesn’t fear the seismic shifts going on the world, but rather sees them as opportunities. I long for an organization that is confident enough to take risks with leaders and not marginalize them when they fail, but admire them for trying. I long for an organization that doesn’t trivialize holiness by making rules all the time, sets women free like Jesus did, and doesn’t admire numbers (people and dollars) so much more than substance. I long for an organization that is strong enough to venture out to the cultural edge!
And in that sense, I reckon the CMA is just about perfect, because they let people like me stay on the team, although they often don’t know what to do with me. No worries, my mother didn’t either.
1 comment:
Dude, as always you just nail it. All in all, I think the CMA balances things pretty well...kind of like a religious mutual fund ? 8). But seriously may your stock always raise and may your earning pay big dividends.
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