survival is under-ratedthriving in the strange land

10 Commandments (sort of)

1. See your actual job in context.(Define a public and private written version)What is your job?- Your written contract?- Your unwritten contract?- Who are your “clients?” (vertical, lateral, anterior, posterior)- What are their requirements?- What are the persistent absurdities?- Which expectations must be fulfilled - and which ones challenged or adjusted?- When and how are you evaluated?- Who are your advisors/allies?

-What realities and absurdities are your clients dealing with?

2. Distinguish your job from your ministry and your life.

2. Distinguish your job from your ministry and your life.

JobMinistry

Life

Everyone is multi-vocational ...

JobsMinistry

Life

Everyone is multi-vocational ...Your primary job is to manage your many roles.

JobsMinistry

Life

3. Renegotiate your job - with the key clients - to be at least 70% enjoyable.

A. What do you love doing? B. What is OK to do? C. What do you hate doing?

How can you be sure that C gets done well - by you or someone else?

How can you make sure you spend more time doing A?

4. Find a cluster of soul friends - and help one another do 1 - 3 and 5-10.- Nonutilitarian- Shared concern for mutual success- Pledge of honesty and charity- Use “queries” -

High points and low points since we last met?How goes the work?How is your soul?What do you need?

5. Discover your power.

Realize how complaining disempowers, and how dreaming, planning, and acting empowers.

Help one another dream, plan, act in empowerment.

Discover the awesome power of intentional ignorance.

5. Discover your power.

Realize how complaining disempowers, and how dreaming, planning, and acting empowers.

Are you empowered more by meeting or setting expectations?

Help one another dream, plan, act in empowerment.

Discover the awesome power of intentional ignorance.(What is that to you? You follow me.

6. Smoke what you’re selling.

(Your primary work is to embody the abundant life you are preaching to others.)

7. Change by addition.When possible, substitute and subtract after additions have been welcomed.

- A new ministry- A new service- A new partnership- A new participation

7. Tell stories ... celebrate every small gain.

8. God works by creativity: go and do likewise.

Creatively sequestering hours.Creatively engaging retired people.Creatively empowering others.Creatively employing new media.

9. Expect people to leave, and before they leave, expect them to complain, criticize, and be unfair and nasty, and after they leave, expect things to improve.

Count the cost and decide which people you would rather have leave and stay.

Make it easy for them to leave. Bless them in leaving.

Rely on your soul friends to process your stress and grief.

The new day will come with new people. You probably don’t have a problem 50 or 100 of the right new people couldn’t solve.

10. Remember April ...

There are plenty of churches to serve the found 99.

There aren’t many for the lost 1.

(And the truth is, it’s more like the found 20 and the lost 80.)

Remember April

and remember Wesley.