My most recent post on the discussion at Lifeway for emerging leaders.
In the discussions, the issue of the role of the association has been touched upon, but not really explored.
I contend that if SBC churches are going to make real gains, the association possesses the greatest potential toward success.
The majority of our churches are small, under 150 in active membership) with limited budgets. Accordingly, ministry plans and mission actions are likewise limited. However, by partnering with churches in our association, we can attain synergy (buzz buzz) of being a force with multiplied resources. The association is our closest level of autonomy, as well as our closest level of like-minded ministry partners.
Unfortunately, it tends to be the autonomy that we are first to overlook, in deference to the equally-easy access to our state or national agencies.
From a converse perspective, the association is the agency best suited to meet your local church need, call, or goal. The associational missionary (or leader, if it's an assocational director of evangelism, Sunday school, discipleship, mission education, whatever). Your correlative state person, or staff of Lifeway or NAMB will try best to help you, maybe suggesting good resources, but the associational contact will/should be able to connect you with nearby churches and/or likeminded servants.
The problem we're facing is that to pursue this strategy means to resurrect the most neglected autonomy in the denomination. That means we -- the emergent leaders (if I foolishly dare to include myself in this category for the purpose of illustration)-- need to quit griping long enough to start a proactive change.
We need to do a few things.
First, we need to establish a basic level of expectation upon our DOM. If you are passionate about evangelism, connect with your DOM about an evangelism network in the association. Share your heart, give him the opportunity to capture the vision. Ask him who else in the association shares the passion and is doing the work. Ask him to help you get connected. Give your DOM every opportunity to be the leader and coordinator he was hired to be.
Then, get connected. Make connections and start planning how you can strengthen your network. Maybe you can offer training for their people. Maybe you can bring your people over to theirs. Maybe you can bring your people in to an evangelistic effort of theirs. This puts your people in an associational mission opportunity to whet their appetite for another Acts 1:8 experience.
This idea will work because it has worked before. It's working now, all over the country. If it's not working where you are, its probably because its either been neglected or allowed to fail. However, readers here either claim to be or desire to be emerging leaders. And everything rises and falls on leadership.
This might require you to be "the guy." You may have to be the guy who beats the bushes to enlist and encourage folks from other churches to join in. I understand that's tough, even when you struggle to recruit your own folks. But it's doable. Connect with Pastors and share with them, and ask them to give you the names of the laymen who are doing good work.
The concept of "association" may not be very much in vogue. I believe the associational strategy is biblical (look at all the partnerships of human and financial resources in the NT). Maybe we need to call it something else...okay, whatever, fine. Call it Matrixed Opportunities Relating Evangelically Cooperative Organizations With Biblically Explorative Leaders ( &) Loyalty.
I'm also not terribly concerned about the mechanisms of how your association discovers its functionality. The point is that we are taking ownership over our opportunities. Find the strategy that works for you. Then, use the state and denominational resources to meet your associational efforts. Your church and the church down the road (or in the next town) will both benefit.
The state and SBC agencies are going to get a lot more excited and more ready to help if you are an association requesting resources and training than if you are a local church going at it alone. That's just wise stewardship from their perspective.
The system works, but we have to work the system. This may be an obscure comparison, but for us to claim that associations are broken make us like Colin from the Amazing Race 5, who claimed his ox was broken, just because it wouldn't do what he wanted it to. Just as the ox would do only what it was designed and trained to do, so will our association. Maybe some dysfunction needs to be corrected, some apathy needs to be eliminated, or some effort needs to be given, but your best solutions are the ones most nearby.
Its up to each of us to use them correctly.
November 26, 2004 5:31 PM