Archive for May, 2013

May Holidays in Poland

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Europe, Holiday, Poland, Traditions
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This time of year, we celebrate a number of holidays close together. It’s a good thing, because once the sun returns to Poland, people love to get outside, and I’m pretty sure the mental concentration of workers, students and pupils plummets. I know mine does!

This year (2013), May 1, 2, 3 and 30 are all holidays. Since the 1st through 3rd are Wednesday through Friday, many people take off Monday and Tuesday as well, in essence getting a 9-day vacation. May 30, Corpus Christi, always falls on a Thursday, so most people take the Friday after off, as well.

May 1 (May Day) has significant pagan origins. However, since 1889, it has served as the International Worker’s Day, commemorating the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, when police shot and killed 4 demonstrators. Of course, it has been closely associated with socialist, communist and anarchist groups, undoubtedly as a result of it’s origins. According to Wikipedia, over 80 countries celebrate May 1 as Labor Day, and in Poland it became a national holiday in 1950 – under communism. I find it interesting that after the fall of communism, May 1 was not abolished, in spite of its status as the premiere communist holiday. I would attribute this to two reasons: 1. No one wants to give up a holiday, whatever the reason it was established. 2. It was a labor union (Solidarity) that brought about the downfall of communism. It probably makes more sense to celebrate that victory of organized labor than it does to commemorate the Chicago tragedy.

May 2 is Flag Day in Poland, commemorated since 2004. It isn’t officially a day free from work, but nearly all schools, and many companies, make the day a holiday. It was instituted really just to have a holiday between May 1 and May 3, although it does commemorate a couple of significant events related to the Polish flag. May 2, 1945, Polish soldiers who entered Berlin planted a Polish flag on top of the Reichstag and the Victory Column, as a sign of defeating the Third Reich. Under communism, after the big communist May Day celebrations, Poles would take the flag down on May 2, in a symbolic protest against the fact that the Communist authorities abolished the May 3 holiday.

May 3 is – in my opinion – the proudest holiday in the Polish calendar. It commemorates the establishment of the Polish Constitution in 1791. This constitution, second in the world, was a monument of democratic ideals. Considering the Polish context, surrounded by the Russian and Austrian empires, and the Prussian kingdom, the Polish constitution was far braver than either the American or French, written in the same period. In effect, the constitution was valid for only 14 months, before some of the nobles, along with the Prussians, betrayed the Poles, and the Russians conquered the Polish kingdom. Then, in 1795, Poland was divided among Russia, Prussia and Austria and ceased to exist for 120 years.

The Polish constitution has some similarities with the French and American constitutions, but retained a monarchy, modeled after the English. It gave voting rights to most of the population, limited the king’s power, gave more structure to the legislative and judicial branches. It also removed voting rights from a number of nobles who had gained them by decree of the king. In addition, it guaranteed tolerance and freedom of all religions. Later, during the war against the Russians, Prussians and Austrians, the Polish leader – and American Revolutionary War hero – Tadeusz Kosciuszko, declared his own “Emancipation Proclamation” granting voting rights and land to peasants who fought against the occupying forces.

The May 3 holiday was first instituted in 1791, banned in 1795 by the Russians, Prussians and Austrian, and reinstated in 1919, when Poland regained its sovereignty after World War I. It was again abolished by the Nazis in 1939, and spontaneously celebrated in 1945. The Soviet occupiers banned it again in 1951, and it was reestablished in 1990, after the fall of communism. It has served as a symbol of Polish unity, patriotism and democracy – hence its abolition by each successive occupier of Poland.

Now, although there are patriotic events on all three days, for most people it means 3 days to spend with family, outside, picnicking, enjoying the spring sun. Unfortunately, this year, someone forgot to tell the sun to cooperate!!

Missional Leadership VI: Leadership Development

Posted: May 2, 2013 in Leadership, missional, Missions
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Part 6 of reflections from a class on “Missional Leadership,” taught by Dr. Reggie McNeal at Columbia International University.

A huge part of encouraging and facilitating movement is multiplying and developing leaders who multiply and develop other leaders. It’s this kind of reproducing development that promotes movement – in all areas, really, but especially in missions. Thankfully, there are many different methods of training leaders, from the very formal seminary setting to the very informal occasional mentoring of an emerging leader. Rather than argue over which is better, I think each setting can best address certain areas, while not doing so well in others.

Dr. McNeal listed four areas of leadership development:

  1. Paradigm – vision, mission, how people see the world
  2. Micro-skill – team-building, listening, communication skills, conflict management, recruiting, leading a meeting – among many others
  3. Resource development – how we use prayer, time, finances, etc.
  4. Spiritual formation – judgment, marriage, emotional intelligence

Dr. McNeal was very clear in stating that leadership development, in movement, is not about helping people learn to do their church job better. To be honest, if we want movement, we need a different kind of leader than most church leaders tend to be. I need to be more intentional in focusing on all these areas in people development. I tend to focus most on micro-skills and spiritual formation, but I think the primary focus might need to be in the paradigm area – helping Polish people see the world differently, especially in the light of some of the shifts that Dr. McNeal mentioned earlier (my posts 2 and 3.)

The course in Missional Leadership prompted me to think through several areas, and to set some goals to enable me to move in the direction of apostolic, movement-oriented leadership – not just for myself, but promoting that kind of leadership in Poland. Two questions serve as starting points as I try to think about a leadership culture change:

1. How can we address those aspects of leadership development that are missing for apostolic leaders?

  1. How do we decrease denominationalism?
  2. How do we Increase Kingdom-centricity?
  3. How can I help leaders develop and release other leaders?
  4. How can I help leaders become better team players?

2. How can we change the language to better encourage missional thinking and discussion?

In my opinion, changing the language is one of the key ways to begin changing a culture. Of course, I’m not referring to introducing English words into Polish, or changing Polish culture to be more American. I’m trying to figure out how in a Polish context, we can change the leadership culture. Hence, in Polish, how can we change the language to promote Kingdom-centricity, releasing other leaders, etc.?

The Polish language does not use articles, so saying “the Church” looks and sounds the same as saying “a church.” However, most evangelical groups use another word entirely to say church. This word means “assembly,” but it is really understood only by Protestants, and a few Catholics who have had contact with Protestants. Other questions arise: how would we say “missional” in Polish? Of course, the word itself matters much less than the concept.  I think missional would be the same word as missionary, just used as an adjective. Then of course – what would that mean for Poles, to hear about “missionary communities” in their midst?

Missional Leadership I

Missional Leadership II

Missional Leadership III

Missional Leadership IV: A Preparedness Mentality

Missional Leadership V: Keeping Score

Missional Leadership V: Keeping Score

Posted: May 1, 2013 in Leadership, missional, Missions
Tags: , ,
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Part 5 of reflections from a class on “Missional Leadership,” taught by Dr. Reggie McNeal at Columbia International University.

 

The scorecard – what do we count?

This particular highlight was woven throughout the major shifts, and is one of the key points from the course. What do we count, in order to see if we really are winning the game? In the past, we have counted heads, membership, income, and other such concrete items that tell us that our church is growing. However, if we make a shift that is more external, more kingdom-centric, then these measurements become less important. In addition, these measurements have never really adequately measured the real resources that we put into the task.

Dr. McNeal divided the scorecard into the following resource areas:

Prayer

Time

People

Money

Facilities

Technology

Asking questions such as “how many prayer days are in the church calendar?” (prayer/time assessment) or “how many prayer coaches or intercessors serve our community?” (prayer/people assessment) gives a better way to evaluate if we are accomplishing what we set out to do. Dr. McNeal’s book Missional Renaissance is full of many other such examples, but in reality we need to do the work of developing our own scorecard, based on our own vision and goals.

Developing such a scorecard also allows us to move away from dry, unexciting numbers into a method of record-keeping that better lends itself to stories. By including categories that every person can identify with and rejoice in, and by counting “process” elements as well as finished products, we enable everyone to see how vital is the element that God has placed on their heart. In other words, we affirm the pray-er as much as the evangelist, and acknowledge the work of the janitor, IT geek, and social worker as spiritually valid, kingdom and community-centric vocations.

Of course, for many, such an orientation is difficult to accept. It means saying “we devoted 15 minutes to prayer during our Sunday service” becomes an important measurement, in the same way “we had 3 new visitors” is. Without focusing on the numbers in those statements (15 minutes is way too little – but show me a church that devotes more . . .), I think I would have to agree – devoting time to prayer during our gatherings is just as important a measurement as how many new people came to a service. Of course, the measurements don’t have to be equal in rank, either. The point is – if we want movement, we have to put time, energy and resources into the movement, and we should be able to figure out where to put them, and how to increase them. So – if we believe having people pray regularly is important, then let’s start counting and recognizing praying people.

I would love to see our own organization rethink its strategic counting process. However, I’m afraid my colleagues would take out a hit on me if I pushed for that!! (The last strategic change process was pretty painful)

Missional Leadership I

Missional Leadership II

Missional Leadership III

Missional Leadership IV

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