I find myself half-way through the LCI program of Calvin College for summer 2011. For many weeks, I have felt that the experiences I have had being part of the leadership for this summer have been teaching my invaluable things. Today, I will try to articulate some of those things as an excercise in reflection and evaluation of my summer thus far.
During the first week of the program, one of the exercises I completed was to define three goals I had for myself this summer. The first goal which I set was to receive encouragement in leadership. I can honestly say that I have been blessed to see this goal satisfied from time to time. Just two days ago I was sitting in the City Center Community lobby in Denver and there, partly because I had communicated earlier with the leader of that initiative and he kept referring things to me and partly for more intangible reasons, I felt that I did not have to work to be regarded as the leader of the group. The day was a relaxing one, yet I found myself continually in positions of leadership very naturally as people would come to me with questions or I would end up in a conversation with other leaders, both from our group and from the City Center Community. The respect I felt on Saturday is something I have worked hard for and it was rewarding.
How to become a leader that is respected and encouraged is something I have had to learn. One component of this important task is, I think, having a constant presence amongst a group. Every week this summer I have stood up in large group meetings to give announcements and I have connected with people outside of those meetings about Calvin events. Through this presence and my simple presence in smaller groups hanging out at the sauna, playing sports, or watching a movie, I have become a person people know and are inclined to listen to. This equation, that time spent with the people you lead on a personal level multiplies into an ability to lead those people, is something I suspected would be the case while reflection on the first week's talk on humility. Thus far, I think I can say the equation proves true.
I have also learned that leadership requires confidence. People look up to leaders who display leadership and seize opportunities that require leadership. Without a personal connection to the people led, confidence can become aggressive and lead to resentment. With a personal connection and with care, though, confidence is a key to stepping into the leadership role which personal connection begins to open.
The second goal which I articulated was to find practice in community formataion (koinonia). In this endeavor, I have seen the importance of frequent, simple games to make such small but important connections of learning one-another's names. This first step cannot be overrated. A further step, however, is to engage one another in telling personal stories and sharing opinions. This is easiest done in a small group but can be done in a large group provided that the mood is set for such conversation immediately after the gathering of the group. When gathered, people first look for a leader to inform them of a plan. Without that, though, the group splinters as people begin to react in default postures aand interact generally with people they already know well.
Formation of a unified group is important because a sense of unity around a common purpose brings people closer and also allows for people without a small friend group to feel at home within some part of the larger group. The goal of such mix-up games is to open doors into already formed friend groups for people in other groups or people more on the outside. This is also the goal of having structured activities and ones which are more low-key and inviting of conversation and sharing. These characteristics are inclusive, yet they also require an open and inclusive group. Still, even with such a group, leadership is needed to draw out those characteristics within the group. These are some early lessons I have learned about building community from a group of individuals or small friend groups. I still have much to learn here though and I expect the remainder of the summer will give me opportunities to learn it through deployment in such formation.
The final goal I set for myself was to increase the richness of my faith. Over the spring semester at Calvin, the richness I felt in my faith was very dependent on my weekly attendance at a liturgical church. Out here, however, I have been without liturgy and, for two weeks, without church in general. This has left me feeling dehydrated in my faith, although the Monday night meeetings have been a worthy substitute in our gathered worship time. Still, I need more.
This frustration has only been added to by my neglect of the Word and of prayer. Last summer, I found the mountains to be an incredible incentive to worship and to pray but this year I have not found the time to relax in these worshipful ways. Once again I am reminded that a relationship with God, like any relationship, requires diligence at times, perhaps much of the time.
If I can set one goal for the remainder of the summer, I think it is that I grow in diligence. I think this summer will prove an excellent training ground in diligence given that the hard work I put into this program is often quickly-rewarded at the next weekly meeting or activity. This highly-responsive payoff structure makes it easy to sustain hard work. Moving past this summer (and even in this summer), I need to learn how to practice Sabbath in such a way that my hard work is rewarded every week. To do this, though, I know I need more diligence in my work in general as Sabbath seems to emerge from spaces in-between times of diligent work. Moreover, I have seen this summer how working hard and working ahead helps me to feel that I am on top of things and that gives me a peace that allows me to have Sabbath rather than to be stressed. This week in particular I feel a need for more Sabbath as I am a bit weary. To reach that Sabbath though, I will need to push through the work I have to do. It should be a good week to learn more about leadership in this way, just as I hope the rest of the summer is instructive as well.
--reposted from abeyondperspective.blogspot.com
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