Praise Report from Gorbachevs

Last week, we sent out a prayer request for the Gorbachevs and the resistance they experienced at the university where they study. Their work has to do with the teachers' role in students spiritual formation. And spirituality is an uncomfortable topic for a group of atheists to discuss. For background information, please click here.

This week, Alexei gave us the some encouraging news. What follows below is a praise report in his worlds.

Monday morning (April 28th) I contacted our advisor letting him know that many people pray for the second meeting of dissertation committee where he will have to speak in behalf of Tatiana about her work. He said that situation is quite difficult. He sounded burdened. The meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon. In the evening our advisor called us saying that discussion about Tatiana's dissertation was very intense.

As we prayed many people in the committee read the dissertation prior to the meeting - we wanted this to happen so that they will start thinking about their own understanding of spirituality and God will plant His seeds. At the beginning of discussion the committee was unconstructively negative, just saying that they do not want this dissertation to be defended. Our advisor had a strong personal arguments with several members and they were throwing accusation against him personally.

Then, as our advisor said, God started His work, and he was able to establish constructive communication with these people and committee as a whole. They started pointing to particular places in the work, to particular words which they considered religious. Finally committee agreed that if dissertation would be corrected, it could be approved for defense. Our advisor said that Tatiana will correct the work according to their requirements and Tatiana's defense was appointed for June 23rd. The changes she has to make are not major ones - it is more matter of terminology, and it will not require to compromise the content.

Praise God for His work in the heart of of people in dissertation committee!

Thank you very much for prayers!

Alexei and Tatiana

Ministry Team Diagnostics - Nancy Ortberg

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about Patrick Lencioni's book on the Five Dysfunctions of a Team. I also noted that Lencioni was writing for a secular/business audience, but his principles fit nicely in the Christian ministry paradigm.

Today I see an article in the Leadership Journal (owned by Christianity Today) in which Nancy Ortberg applies Lencioni's lessons in a church setting. Her article is too large to post here in its entirety, but its a great read. (I printed it out; it comes to six pages).

And if anyone is interested in reading more of Lencioni's stuff, check out "our store" -- an associate store of Amazon.com. Just click on the link in right hand column or here.

Prayer request for the Gorbachevs

Many of our friends are aware that both Alexei and Tatiana Gorbachev, both of whom are faculty members at our seminary, are working on their Ph.D. at a prestigious university in Russia. Previous, I had made an appeal to our friends for their financial support - and with your help, the Lord has provided for them. (To learn more about the Gorbachevs, please read my blog entry here).

Alexei is looking the psychological aspects of spiritual and moral development; Tatiana is looking at the teacher's role in the process. By design, Tatiana will defend this spring (March/April) and Alexei in the summer

Since we made our appeal in February, some major reforms have taken place throughout the entire Russian higher education system. As a result, both Alexei and Tatiana (as well as all students in their cohort) had to take a fourth comprehensive exam. Yesterday, Alexei and Tatiana each passed their exams without any difficulties.

But a challenge arose on Monday during Tatiana's "pre-defense" or dissertation proposal defense. Part of the latest Russian reform required that Tatiana face a new doctoral committee. She was able to keep her doctoral mentor/advisor, but the remaining members of the committee were recently were assigned without any consultation by Tatiana or her advisor - nor were they familiar with her previous articles and work up to this point.

According to her advisor, she was well prepared and presented an excellent proposal. However, the other members of the newly appointed committee had problems with the subject of "spirituality". As it turns out, most of the professors at the university are agnostics or atheist. But there is the ever present pressure of the Orthodox church. One committee member asked,"Do you know what the Orthodox church calls Protestants? Heretics!"

To make a long story short, the committee delayed approving her topic. This is partly due to the new reforms that place much pressure on these committees; these committees do not want to have rejected proposals/dissertations from the centralized office in Moscow. And since "spirituality" is a relatively new field of study in Russian universities, the committee decided to take a week to review the situation. (Keep in mind, atheism was the official stance of the communist party that controlled all schools during the Soviet era.)

Here is the prayer request: Please pray for the members of Tatiana's dissertation committee and that they will decide in Tatiana's favor and allow a dissertation in Christian spirituality as it relates to moral development.

Nice Germans - They're serious about humor

Whenever we visit churches in the United States, people often ask what the people in Germany are like. And usually once a year, we receive a letter from some children's Sunday School class asking what life is like in Germany.

My favorite letter came many years ago from Georgia in which the question was asked, "Do they electricity and running water in Germany?" To which I was tempted to reply, "No, but they make Mercedes and Porche."

Germans are not known for their humor. But that's not a true characterization. I just think that they're very serious about their humor. That's partly why I found this video clip with Dana Carvey and Steve Carell funny -- there's an element of truth in it.

Five Dysfunctions of a (Leadership) Team

Patrick Lencioni is one of my favorite authors. My favorite book of his to date is Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Although Lencioni writes for a secular audience - primarily for executive leadership teams, his insights are just as valid for teams within a church or ministry context. I have used his model to diagnose problems in both local churches as well educational institutions. I would go so far to say, it could be applied to every level of a denomination (international, national, state, and local).

Below is a brief summary of the model (as listed on his website).

Dysfunction #1: Absence of Trust
This occurs when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another and are unwilling to admit their mistakes, weaknesses or needs for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of trust is impossible.

Dysfunction #2: Fear of Conflict
Teams that are lacking on trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered, passionate debate about key issues, causing situations where team conflict can easily turn into veiled discussions and back channel comments. In a work setting where team members do not openly air their opinions, inferior decisions are the result.

Dysfunction #3: Lack of Commitment
Without conflict, it is difficult for team members to commit to decisions, creating an environment where ambiguity prevails. Lack of direction and commitment can make employees, particularly star employees, disgruntled

Dysfunction #4: Avoidance of Accountability
When teams don't commit to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven individuals hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that may seem counterproductive to the overall good of the team.

Dysfunction #5: Inattention to Results
Team members naturally tend to put their own needs (ego, career development, recognition, etc.) ahead of the collective goals of the team when individuals aren't held accountable. If a team has lost sight of the need for achievement, the business ultimately suffers.

So...just how dysfunctional is your ministry team?

Actually, you can begin from the bottom up (i.e., invert the sequence). The lack of trust is often the root of all team dysfunction. Not surprisingly, we tend to highly esteem leaders we can trust and, conversely, hold in low regard those whom we don't trust.

April newsletter is now online

Just in time to divert you away from doing your income taxes (if you live in the United States), our latest newsletter is now online for downloading.

Just click on this link for the pdf version. http://www.cog-europe.de/rosson/april2008.pdf

How to choose a leader?

Earlier this week, Tom Sterbens mused over the upcoming elections of our denominational leadership. Our current presiding bishop is facing term-limits and must step down. Tom suggested that questions be asked to potential candidates and their answers be posted on the internet.

Our denomination has an informal tradition of frowning upon open election campaigns with stump speeches, etc. Instead, the delegates of the General Assembly rely upon their impressions of various leaders and their past experience (e.g., as state overseer, pastor, public speaker, etc.) and hopefully lots of prayer before traveling to the assembly. In fact, a large percentage of our delegates may perceive such "politicking" as unspiritual.

But Tom's idea is an interesting one. I’m just listing some questions here not because I have a beef with anyone in particular. Nor do I really expect any open campaigning before the upcoming Assembly. But I have adapted a list of questions to fit Tom's request But the essence of the questions are issues that I have been working my way through for my own context of ministry in Europe.

1. What is his vision for the denomination?

• What will the COG look like in the year, let’s just say, 2015?
• What kind of church will become?
• What steps will we take to get there?

2. What are his personal core values? And how have these been demonstrated in his ministry?

• What do you stand for? Why?
• What brings you suffering? Why?
• What makes you weep and wail? Why?
• What are you discontented about? Why?
• What keeps you awake at night? Why?
• Just what is it that you really care about? Why?

3. What is your assessment of the denomination?

• What opportunities do we have as a denomination?
• What are our strengths, weaknesses?
• What threatens us as a denomination?

4. I believe that the local church is the hope of the Church of God? How will you enable the pastors/members of the denomination to fulfill its mission and reach a shared vision for the future?

• How will you foster collaboration that gives a broad sense of “ownership”?
• How do we strengthen the local churches and its leaders?

5. How will you motivate the church in such a way that we it can overcome resistance (from both within and without)? How do we promote a healthy team spirit within the denomination? Some may call this ‘reinforcing corporate identity. On purpose, I’m not giving any leading questions on approaches or methods.

Claudia can see right through you

After a 14-year break, Claudia has returned to work as a dental hygienist. Although she works only one day a week (Fridays), she still had to get re-certificied in x-ray technology and techniques. Most of the material was "old hat", but she also had to learn about digital imaging, too. In late March, Claudia attended a two-day seminar and passed the exams. So...she can literally look through anyone. (Personally, I find her job depressing ... so down in the mouth.)

Licensing Update - Partial Success

Earlier this week, I posted that we received short notice in Moscow for the interview of the expert committee. I wrote:

The tentative date for the meeting of the expert committee is April 2 - provided we can coordinate everyone's calendar. The expert committee will consist of a representative from (1) the Federal Licensing Bureau - Mr Alexander Gruzkov will chair the meeting, (2) the Department of Education for the City of Moscow - Erina Timchak, (3) a University representative specializing in State-Confessions Relations - Dr. Mikhail Shakhov, (4) a NGO serving society - Elena Polyanskaya, and (5) our religious union (the umbrella organization under which our denomination has its legal home) - Sergei Riakhovsky.

Dr. Gruzkov came and met with "our" two members of the committee (Polyanskaya and Riakhovsky) and we got a very positive response. The Director of the Licensing Office Dr. Gruzkov gave us his approval. The one item that we need to improve is our library (more 'textbooks'). The rest of our facilities were given the green light.

But two of the committee members could not rearrange their schedule with such short notice. They have, however, indicated their willingness to agree with the decision of the other members of the committee. So.... we busy trying to get their signatures - which should not be a problem. But you never what to take these things for granted.

We hope to have the final approval within a couple of weeks and the actual license in hand by the end of May. So... it's guarded celebration!

Evangelical Church of Germany Rejects Creationism

From Germany, the biggest religious news this week comes from the "Evangelical Church of Germany" (die evangelische Kirche in Deutschland or EKD). This name is the umbrella organization for the "state" churches of the Lutheran or Reformed tradition. In other words, this is the church that Martin Luther gave birth to. (This is not to be confused with the term "evangelical" as we know it in the USA by which many Pentecostals and Baptists describe themselves. )

The headlines read, "The EKD rejects creationism due of theological reasons." Essentially, they contend that any teaching of "intelligent design" is bad science. At the same time, the EKD rejected the "new atheism" which battles against the teaching of the biblical creation accounts. Since the EKD has the right to teach religion in public schools, this debate takes on more meaning.

Presiding Bishop Wolfgang Huber noted that the current debate tends to place one view above the other. However, this "is not in agreement with neiter the knowledge of natural science and theology nor with the 'Evangelical' faith."

So where does the EKD stand? For everything, yet nothing.

Licensing Update - Call for Prayer

Thank you for your prayers on behalf of ETSM. We have been working through the bureaucratic challenges appending our legal status as a "religious organization" to that also of an "educational institution."

In March, we submitted all of the paperwork (along with accompanying documents and contracts with various offices/agencies). On March 27, we were notified that our documents have been found in order and received the "Executive Resolution of Federal Service of Supervision in Education and Science" to have one final visit from an expert committee.

The tentative date for the meeting of the expert committee is April 2 - provided we can coordinate everyone's calendar. The expert committee will consist of a representative from (1) the Federal Licensing Bureau - Mr Alexander Gruzkov will chair the meeting, (2) the Department of Education for the City of Moscow - Erina Timchak, (3) a University representative specializing in State-Confessions Relations - Dr. Mikhail Shakhov, (4) a NGO serving society - Elena Polyanskaya, and (5) our religious union (the umbrella organization under which our denomination has its legal home) - Sergei Riakhovsky.

As you can tell from the above paragraph, this will be a very important meeting. We simply ask you to pray for the meeting that takes place on April 2, so that God will grant us favor in the eyes of the committee. Two of the five members are "our people," but the remaining three (the first three mentioned) are not saved and do not favor evangelicals.

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." Proverbs 21:1