Ryan Bolger who blogs here and has co-authored Emerging Churches with Eddie Gibbs has particpated in an interview that tries to articulate the landscape for youth ministry in experimental churches. (You may have noticed that lately I have been using ‘experimental churches’ in place of the now overused and muddled term ’emerging church’)

You can read the it here. Its a helpful read for those of us with our fingers in a number of different pies and who want to chew thru the place of young people in a changing ecclesiastical landscape.

Is it the job of a leader to motivate people?…

That’s a question I am chewing on at the moment and would be interested in your reflections.

If you’d asked me 5 years ago I would have said ‘absolutely’ – that it’s a primary task of leadership to be a driving force and to motivate people to carry out certain roles and tasks. The leader is to be the one who helps people find energy and enthusiasm for whatever it is that they are working towards. I’m not sure why I thought that. I guess I’d always found myself drawn to inspirational, motivational leaders – hence that was my concept of leadership.

Lately I’ve been wondering about the wisdom of seeing motivation as a function of leadership.

I wonder if as leaders we risk spending our time trying to get naturally unmotivated people to do things that they don’t actually want to do (even if they actually say they do). Is it my job as a leader to find the key in them to help them get moving, or is this actually a self defeating process in that people who are not intrinsically motivated will never actually self start if someone else is always turning their crank?

Do we actually create a dependent relationship and get in the way of people taking responsibility for their own success and failures?

For a long time I have felt that it is my job to get people moving and to be a primary source of their energy and inspiration, but more and more I am coming to believe that if people don’t want to do something (or if they need my energy to make it happen) then I’m better off leaving them alone to do nothing.

It requires way too much unnecessary energy to motivate the disinterested and the lazy.

I will work with anyone who is prepared to have a go, but I am starting to think its bad stewardship of time to try and motivate those who don’t want to do anything to take action.

Ironically in the past I have been able to motivate people well and easily, but I am starting to wonder if the end result of that is a project that relies on my energy and passion rather than on people’s own sense of calling and desire.

Ok… there’s some food for thought…

Fire up!

I was chatting with fellow misho Scott this morning about the ‘drop in’.

You know – where rather than calling a friend and asking if you can come by, or waiting for an invite, you just drop in at their home… and hang out. Have coffee – chat – watch the footy etc.

I listened to the ‘drop in’ cop a fair old hiding from the 92.9 FM morning crew a little while back, as something people no longer appreciate. The message they gave was ‘if you’re going to come by then at least ring and let me know – but under no circumstances should you just drop in!’

Is the ‘drop in’ going the way of the dinosaur?

Does it matter?

As Scott I discussed it this morning we were reflecting on what makes the drop in possible. Here are some thoughts.

1) Proximity – I am unlikely to drop in on you if you live in Mandurah! The chances of casually dropping in are much higher if we are in the same locale.

2) Familiarity – I was going to say the ‘length’ of the friendship, but its not really that. Its more to do with the shape the relationship takes and the degree of comfort people feel with each other.

3) Availability – I reckon this one is huge and is part of the reason the ‘drop in’ has been drop kicked. Most people are so damn busy that either they don’t have time to drop in or when they do you aren’t home anyway because you are also so busy.

4) Personality – (for want of a better term) I think some people aren’t really all that excited by either dropping in or having someone drop in, while others find the spontaneity of it all just makes their day.

Of course it is als0 probably true to suggest that the reason drop ins have diminished is because we no longer base community on proximity like we used to, we have few significant relationships and most of us are too busy to be able to live with that degree of spontaneity.

Ironically Danelle is a ‘drop in’ lover who will lob in on you fairly easily and equally will welcome you warmly if you ever drop in over here. Whereas I am much less likely to just drop in on you. I will usually have a reason for calling and wouldn’t want to feel like I am imposing on you. (And you sure as hell better have a reason if you come here too!)

Seriously… is this an issue we need to consider? Is it a symptom of stuff gone wrong in our society or is it just where we are at and is neither good nor bad?

As I reflect on our Upstream communities mob here in Brighton the ‘drop in’ has not been a big part of our DNA. Its has been moreso for the girls who are home during the day, but for the guys it would seem odd to have someone just stop by for a while. It wouldn’t be bad, but I imagine we’d all be wondering ‘what do you want?!’