Emersion Books

Joe Myers: What is the Soul?

Joseph R. Myers is an entrepreneur, speaker, writer, and owner of FrontPorch, a consulting firm that helps churches, businesses, and other organizations promote and develop community. Author of Organic Community andThe Search to Belong, Myers is also a founding partner of the communications arts group settingPace, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can find out more about Joe at www.languageofbelonging.com

I have been wrestling with “Spiritual Formation.”

What is it? Can it be accomplished? How?

Spiritual practices seem so empty at times.

I have been led to a beginning question, one that is most perplexing. If we are to gain any knowledge or experience of spiritual formation, maybe we should contemplate this question first. Maybe it holds the key.

What is the soul?

There, I asked it aloud. Now it must be dealt with.

What if the soul is not something we have, but rather is something we are? “It is the very life-pulse within us, that which makes us alive…As such it has two functions.

First of all, it is the principle of energy. Life is energy. There is only one kind of body that does not have any energy or tension within it: a dead one. The soul is what gives life. Inside us, it lies the fire, the eros, the energy that drives us…”The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality, Ronald Rolheiser.

Rolheiser also states: “But the soul does more than merely give energy. It is also the adhesive that holds us together, the principle of integration and individuation within us. The soul not only makes us alive, it also makes us one.”

What if spiritual formation was the nurturing of this fire burning within us—the energy and tension that define “alive?” What if it’s about finding a way for peace and tension to live in harmony?

What if spiritual formation is less about spiritual practices and more about nurturing wholeness? What if it is about nurturing live-giving relationships and communities?

What if spiritual formation was more about living with Christ than practicing Christ?

It seems that, if this is true, then spiritual formation practices would have a more organic order than a master plan mindset. Our practices would have more descriptive than prescriptive patterns.

Patterns are integral to our lives. They protect us, help us organize what we do from day to day, and even entertain us. Most of the time, we don’t even think about them. We simply absorb them.

When we see a man coming toward us in the distance, we observe the pattern of his walk and can know instantly if he is a good friend and not someone intending to do us harm. When we wake up in the morning, our first thought may be: What day is it? Weekdays tend to follow one pattern; weekends another. We hear three or four notes of a melody and we begin to sing along.

Patterns, as organizational tools, can be prescriptive or descriptive. Master plans tend to follow prescriptive patterns. Prescriptive patterns are “prescribed;” they are specific, rigid, and regular. A physician dictates which medication you should use, how often you should take it, and for how long. A general aviation pilot knows to follow a basic airport traffic pattern when no air traffic control tower is present. The patient gets better; collisions are minimized. Sometimes prescriptive patterns are good and necessary.
But when we talk about spiritual formation, prescriptive patterns may not be helpful. Forcing behaviors to accomplish spiritual health may not be the “silver bullet” we are looking for.

Organic order is strengthened by descriptive patterns. Descriptive patterns have an expressive, evocative, and eloquent spirit. They describe reality. They don’t force it. We discover descriptive patterns through observation, as they emerge.

Maybe it would be more helpful to think of those elements that keep us alive and together, and describe those as our journey of spiritual formation.

Lord, help me to be alive and soulful…

Purpose Driven Kit for Life

Joseph R. Myers is an entrepreneur, speaker, writer, and owner of FrontPorch, a consulting firm that helps churches, businesses, and other organizations promote and develop community. Author of The Search to Belong, Myers is also a founding partner of the communications arts group settingPace, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can find out more about Joe at www.languageofbelonging.com

If I only had a purpose…

I’m driven. Ask anyone who knows me—I have an italic bent to my life.

But do I have a purpose? Does God have a purpose for me?

If he does he seems to be a little confused about it. I mean, why does he keep it so secret? Why is it so illusive that over 20 million bought a book to discover it?

If God has a purpose why does he make it so hard to find?

What if he doesn’t have a purpose, but instead has possibilities? What if God’s plan is emerging and fluid, not static and set? What if God’s plan is Organic Order and not a Master Plan?

Here is one illustration (that I also mention in Organic Community). When I was a boy, I started showing an interest in art. My parents often found me with pencil and paper, drawing anything and everything I could bring to mind. The front of the refrigerator door quickly filled with pieces I had completed.

I remember one Christmas in particular, when I had started to show a growing competency in art, my family encouraged me by giving me supplies and instructional books. The more presents I opened, the more excited I became.

My expectations ran high when we arrived at Grandma’s house. In her own way, my grandmother was an artist. Grandma would give me presents selected with the wisdom and insight of a fellow artist!

The first gift came. Brushes. Then the second: a large, rectangular box. I couldn’t suppress my excitement. This would be the gift that would set me on the path of Artist. I unwrapped that present like a starving dog devouring a bowl of food, all the while composing in my mind the wonderful acceptance speech I would give to honor this gift and my hopeful future.

There it was: a paint-by-numbers kit. I was shocked into silence.

Grandma kept looking at me as only grandmothers can, with eyes full of love and a voice full of tenderness: “Now you can paint beautiful paintings.”

Beautiful paintings! What did she think of the ones I had already done? Weren’t they beautiful? Weren’t they art? Her gift told me that, in her mind, I was no artist at all. I was just a little boy trying a new hobby. Maybe, if I could learn to follow somebody else’s plan, I could produce “beautiful paintings.”

It is not true that an artist is someone who manufactures art. An artist is someone who enables art to emerge from a canvas—someone who has the strengths, competencies, and patience to bring that miracle into being.

Art is not formulaic, like a paint-by-numbers kit. It has life. It is viewed and appreciated. It moves and inspires. It invites participation, mingling its own story with those of its observers.

God invites our artistic participation in life. He does not have a master plan—a paint-by-number experience waiting for you to discover. God invites you to paint your life and discover the masterpiece!

Presence, Present, and Power

Joseph R. Myers is an entrepreneur, speaker, writer, and owner of FrontPorch, a consulting firm that helps churches, businesses, and other organizations promote and develop community. Author of The Search to Belong, Myers is also a founding partner of the communications arts group settingPace, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. You can find out more about Joe at www.languageofbelonging.com

I am swearing to you…. I will not read another leadership book based on the leadership style of Jesus. Is there anyone that will hold me to this?

Why do I feel this way?

For several reasons, but let’s unpack just one that confuses me.

There are at least two times where Jesus had an opportunity to lead an anxious group forward and he runs.

First, Jesus described the competencies of a good shepherd, and he said something like “If it were me, I would leave the ninety-nine in the desert to go find the one who has lost its way.” That doesn’t sound like a great leader. I’ve never heard any of the books describe a good leader as someone who would escape the responsibility of caring for the group for the sake of one rebellious soul. That just doesn’t sound like a “getting the right people on the bus” mentality.

Second, Jesus was talking to a group who were in their hour of dire need. And again, he ran. “I must leave you. I can’t stay. But don’t worry, someone else is coming.” I haven’t seen a leadership model like this in the literature I’m reading.

It seems to me that a leader is to lead by presence more than by being present. A movement based on a leader being present will surely die. To lead a movement by presence requires one to leave.

So maybe the question is, “Can you leave, knowing that whatever or whoever you are leading will continue to move forward without you?”

Leading with such presence may require an organic use of power.

A Master Plan tries to deliver power to individuals through position. A person is set into a position on an organizational chart and given corresponding control, authority, jurisdiction, permission-granting rights, and influence. He or she is trained in how to use these tools to achieve the master plan.

An Organic Order asks, “Who is the steward of power now?” and “Who is leading now?” Positions have no place of permanent importance. There is a revolving understanding of power.

In a framework of revolving power, there is no dominant member. Like the dynamic game of “rock, paper, scissors,” no one element stands as permanent leader. Rock is covered by a single sheet of paper. Paper is cut down to size by scissors. Scissors are crushed under the rock. This revolving understanding of power gives flow to the game and makes it competitive. (And interesting!)

Feel free to lead with presence and a revolving understanding of power. Let go of your fleeting positional power. Not even God tries to control your life with positional power.

God, you left the kingdom in some messy hands, please let me be as wise.

Organic Community Links

Check out Joe Myers website, Language of Belonging: http://www.languageofbelonging.com/. His site includes a podcast section. Right now there are four recorded talks from San Antonio at the Christian Education Association Conference.

Here are a couple of reviews about Organic Community:

Eddie Gibbs:

"In our highly mobile and fragmented living the challenge to create community remains a daunting one. Joseph Myers provides some fresh perspectives on this important topic, arguing that we need to move n our thinking from master plan to organic order. Creating community has more to do with fostering an environment than with imposing a structure. Highly recommended."

http://www.netbloghost.com/tiggertalk/?p=53

Bob Hyatt ("Bob.Blog"):

[...]I won't get too deep into the book in this post, other than to highly recommend it. I started it last night and am already half-way through, and while not the monster mind-blower of his last one (though it may yet prove to be so) I am already thankful for the thinking it has stirred up in me. I feel like books that prompt me not only to hear and absorb what the author is saying, but prove to be a catalyst for further thought about my community, my ministry are few and far between (at least for me, in this stage of life) so when they come along, I like to recommend them.[...]

http://bobhyatt.typepad.com/bobblog/2007/04/organic_communi.html 

Announcing Organic Community

Organic Community: Creating a Place Where People Naturally Connect by Joe Myers is in stores May 1st.

Joseph R. Myers is an entrepreneur, speaker, writer, and owner of FrontPorch, a consulting firm that helps churches, businesses, and other organizations promote and develop community. Author of The Search to Belong, Myers is also a founding partner of the communications arts group settingPace, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Read a Sampling:

Download in PDF format: Myers_Organic Community_Sample Booklet.pdf

The Sample Booklet includes the cover, table of contents, and chapters 1 (Organic Order) and 6 (Power).

What People are Saying about Organic Community:

“Once again, Myers hits a home run. Written in personable fashion and with highly informed common sense, Organic Community calls us all—church and congregants alike—to honesty about our goals and then offers us sophisticated, efficacious, and grace-filled ways to realize them.”—Phyllis Tickle, contributing editor in religion, Publishers Weekly

“Most people think ‘deep’ and ‘practical’ can’t go together, as if being practical meant being shallow. Joe Myers brings the two together as well as anyone I’ve ever read. Looking back on twenty-four years of church planting and pastoral ministry, I wish I had thoroughly digested Organic Community before I got started. It would have saved so much wasted energy—mine, and those whose lives I foolishly tried to ‘master plan.’ Beneath its simplicity and practicality lie real depth, and from its depth will flow creative, practical action that will make a difference for years to come. This is a book I will reread and widely recommend.”—Brian McLaren, author/activist; brianmclaren.net

“Helen of Troy may have had the face that launched a thousand ships, but Joe Myers has the furnishings of thought and design that will launch a thousand books, blogs, and briefs on growing ‘organic community.’ If a classic is something that has never finished what it has to say, then this little gem is a ‘classic.’”—Leonard Sweet, E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism, Drew Theological School; distinguished visiting professor, George Fox University; www.wikiletics.com

“Anyone seeking to mobilize people to collective and cooperative effort or to promote organizational growth will find Joseph Myers’s Organic Community an invaluable resource. Whether educated about organizational systems or merely experiencing them in schools, sports, the military, work settings, or voluntary associations, we have all gotten used to and accepted many wrongheaded assumptions that run contrary to the organization’s goals.
“Myers acknowledges that his is a different kind of how-to book. As much, or more, it is a how-not-to book that exposes fallacies inherent in common organizational policies and procedures, which are all the more destructive in organizations relying on volunteer efforts.
“Myers offers nine tools, not ‘steps,’ the more of which one masters the more results are achieved. Application of even a few of these tools promises substantial improvement.
“The book comes out of a small groups perspective and is aimed primarily at churches, but the principles set forth have application in organizations of all kinds.”—Ray Oldenburg, emeritus professor of sociology, The University of West Florida; author, The Great Good Place

“Organic Community is packed with practical wisdom and experience about creating church communities. At a time when many pastors and church leaders flock to the latest models and methods for church growth, Joe Myers asks us to abandon master plans and new programs and, instead, concentrate on shaping social environments where people can thrive and grow and genuinely participate and where community can emerge naturally. This book isn’t a manual for church growth; it’s more of an invitation to an adventure—with masses of useful advice and guidance for those who take up the challenge. I’d make it required reading for all church leaders.”—Dave Tomlinson, vicar,St. Luke’s Church, West Holloway, in North London; author, The Post-Evangelical and Still Waters and Skyscrapers

“Joe has captured the essence of what it means for the church to be primarily an organism rather than an organization. She is in flux, constantly moving and growing beyond the limitations of the blueprints of a stale, innate object. This book is a ‘must read’’ for preachers and church leaders whose overwhelming desire is to grow a church in the way God desires.”—James D. Harless, senior minister, Tri-County Christian Church

“Joe Myers once again challenges people serving through the church to rethink the way people enter community. While providing nine practical tools for assisting people to enter community, there is no linear or formulaic structure, no promise of a ‘this is the silver bullet’ for ministry. Organic Community lives up to its name as it forces readers to reconsider master plan strategy, which rarely worked anyway, in favor of organic order as a means for people seeking community. The nine tools will cause cognitive dissonance for many folks who formerly accepted master plan tools for helping people find community. Such dissonance is valuable even if you don’t agree with the tools or the foundation from which Myers constructs organic order. We here at Southland Christian Church are finding many of the concepts Myers uses helpful in our own journey to community. This book will become a ‘must read’ for our people, as is The Search to Belong.”—Myron D. Williams, study minister, Southland Christian Church

Organic Community Book Description

Community is a fundamental life search and one of the key aspects people look for in a congregation. But community can’t be forced, controlled, or easily created. The problem, says Joseph R. Myers, is that churches are too focused on developing programs instead of concentrating on environments where community will spontaneously emerge.

Organic Community challenges key leaders to become environmentalists—people who create or shape environments. Outlining nine organizational tools for creating a healthy environment, Myers shows readers how to diagnose their current situation and implement patterns that will develop possibilities for healthy communities.

About the author: Joseph R. Myers is an entrepreneur, speaker, writer, and owner of FrontPorch, a consulting firm that helps churches, businesses, and other organizations promote and develop community. Author of the bestselling book The Search to Belong, Myers is also a founding partner of the communications arts group settingPace, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Read Sample Chapters (Organic Community)

Download in PDF format: Myers_Organic Community_Sample Booklet.pdf 

The Sample Booklet includes the cover, table of contents, and chapters 1 (Organic Order) and 6 (Power).