My good friend and fellow "mad scientist", Kent Smith, illustrates below a tool of effective coaching called "future perfect". One of the things this does is to put our summer MRT 2.0 Experiment into perspective. What if this is an important next step in seeing "effective Missional Resource Teams anywhere in the world"?Future Perfect: How Would We Know?
As we are considering next steps in our MRT experiment, I’m wondering if it might be helpful to step back and take a look at the big picture of what God is up to, and our part in that.
Here is one way to describe this. “We believe this chapter in universal history will only draw to a close when people of God have gathered from every tribe, tongue, people and nation (that is to say, God’s complete image, as displayed in the bride of Christ, see, for example, Matt. 24:14, Eph. 1:23, Rev. 7:9).
So—we are devoted to playing the part we have been given—no more and no less—in seeing a vibrant family of Jesus in close reach of every person on the planet.”
If this is what we passionately desire, our friends in the Solution Focus world have a wonderful clarifying question that helps us think about our next steps. It is this: “Suppose a miracle has occurred in the middle of the night and this desire has come to pass. How will you know? What evidence will show you it has happened?”
If you can, pause for a minute here. Envision the scene: you wake up one morning and a vibrant family of Jesus is in close reach—culturally and geographically—of every person on the planet. What would let you know it has happened? In my first brainstorming I came up with these. See what you think:
· We could discover fresh evidence everywhere of God’s beautiful, good, and endlessly creative in-breaking Kingdom.
· We could find an effective Missional Resource Team anywhere in the world.
· We could get local Church of Two (CO2), Vibrant Family (CO12) and Missional Resource Team (MRT) training anywhere.
· We could identify a network of trainers and training centers that have facilitated this process.
· We could find clear descriptions of the core theology, practice and process of training for CO2, VFJ, and MRTs.
Caveat: I’m using language here that we understand—others would need translation to make sense of this. Two questions, then: 1) For our purposes, have we accurately described the story in which we live? 2) How would you refine these answers to the question, “How would we know?”
I’ve been traveling the last few days; have kept up on reading the posts and comments, but have not been able to comment.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff here.
John, I liked your “hypotheses” a few posts back. I think that is a good way to describe our heart and activities.
I also really like the emphasis here on stepping back and imagining the picture we desire—the one that we believe our Father desires and is guiding us towards.
I think it is included in the description here, but I might refine by emphasizing more that we would see extreme diversity across the multitudes of CO2, VFJ and MRT’s—that the languages, cultural perspectives, socio economic backgrounds, etc. would be represented; that the diversity would form and adjust the way people think, live and interact with one another. We would evidence of barriers coming down, of injustices and inequities made right.