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Posts Tagged ‘Enter New Territory’
3 Non-Negotiables for Congregational Change
By: Jock Ficken
Every day, leaders wake up knowing that their congregation must navigate change or distance itself from being a vibrant community with wider influence. Here’s the problem: Inertia wakes up even earlier every day and has already resolved to fend off any feeble attempts at desperately needed change that would challenge the status quo. So, here … Continue reading
What You Can Do if You Think Your Church is Failing
By: Jock Ficken
80% of U.S. churches… Worship less than 100. Face steady to rapid decline. Possess collective memories of being 2 times or 10 times larger. Leaders and members are taunted with the whisper that they’re failing. Usually today’s realities were set in motion years earlier by… A stubborn refusal or inability to make necessary changes for … Continue reading
Why We Can’t Stay Here
By: Jock Ficken
Leaders articulate vision! They offer a preferred future. They also articulate WHY WE CAN’T STAY HERE. My early leader years? Lots of vision! I ignored WHY WE CAN’T STAY HERE, and then I couldn’t understand why nobody wanted to leave…HERE! I was like Moses trying to convince the Israelites to exit Egypt before anyone realized … Continue reading
The Gap between Intentions and Action
By: Jock Ficken
I am absolutely excited about Gail’s rollout of Multipli last week. If you haven’t yet… watch the video introduction: If you didn’t… read Gail’s blog from last week. If you haven’t… sign up or or recommend someone for Genesis leader. The bottom line: I’m seeing people all over the place who are stuck and have … Continue reading
Gathered and Scattered
By: Jock Ficken
Remember when we all shut down and scattered back in March…for two weeks? Remember when whatever it is that you lead adjusted…adapted…zoomed…went online…got creative? And remember when you started talking about “going back to normal?” Do you remember the first time it occurred to you that “back to normal” would not be “normal”—maybe similar but … Continue reading
Letting Go of the Single Voice to Reach the Many
By: Gail Ficken
Many of you know that I grew up in suburban Washington, D.C. Our neighbors changed based on who was ushered in by the most recent presidential election. To say that “I work for the government” was oftentimes code for CIA or FBI, or someone who wanted to appear important or mysterious. As a child I … Continue reading
The 5 Courage Killers
By: Jock Ficken
Here are 5 courage killers that any leader, woman or man, needs to know and confront. They’re embedded in who we are. (And they’re adapted from Heifetz, Grashow and Linsky’s book The Practice of Adaptive Leadership.) 1. LOYALTIES TO PEOPLE WHO DON’T BELIEVE YOU’RE DOING THE RIGHT THING It’s an unstated social contract that a good … Continue reading
Get In The Game
By: Jock Ficken
Get yourself in the mission game if you’re not there already! Don’t wait for all those folks to one day wake up and decide they should ask you about Jesus. You’ll be waiting a long time. (Review our Christendom and Post-Christendom PLI Entry Paths.) It was incredibly difficult when I started down this path. I … Continue reading
Look Into the Future
By: Jock Ficken
As a leader…think women and men here…it’s your job to be looking out into the future of your congregation, your ministry, your organization! Seeing the bigger picture Looking at your stated mission. Have we drifted? Are we aligned? Thinking more than most 20 years ago PLI’s founders saw the big picture and started to train … Continue reading
Overcoming the Hesitater in You
By: Jock Ficken
… the spirit told me to have no hesitation—Peter (Acts 11:12) It was part of Peter’s explanation/defense of the landmark visit to Cornelius, equally buttressed by… So if God gave them the same gift he gave us…who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way? (v. 17) No doubt that Peter’s vision … Continue reading
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