the aware saga drew my attention without fail,
for a simple reason...
it was leadership, and cultural mandate in action,
carried out in a sincere, yet (in the eyes of the world) in wrong way...and now that the dust is settling down, what can we learn from them?
for me, it was also a "documentary" of how i have fail (or succeed) in the past..
how can we live out the Cultural Mandate, if we are not at the top now?for yrs, we have been talkin about the 3rd pillar of CHC.
this is our calling.
to go into the world to excel and shine,
to be a positive influencer.
but its not as easy as it sound like.
the fact remain that there are people that is better than us,
who know more,
can do more,
excel better than us,
us, people claimed to believe in, pray and serve God...
and when they hear our sermons on culture mandate,
hose with a proud heart,
those who have achieved much,
will look at christians who are not "there as them" as the lower class,
and the message to excel is lost to them.
And they are right to think that the message are "not for them".
after all, if christians are preaching about leadin in the marketplace on Sundays,
then why are they still not as good as non christians?
esp on Mondays and Wednesdays in the office?
then how can we carry out the cultural mandate in the marketplace?
certainly not by shouting in our work place that we are christians, and that people should listen to us, and follow us, because we are following God's word...
(neither will you want to band together a group of people over sunday lunch, and plan a takeover)
for christians who are not as good as their non christian friends,
the cultural mandate mean that we humble ourselves,
and submit to those who are better,
to be taught, even if their words hurts.
to be corrected, even if its public embrassment.
remember Daniel?
he learnt the ways of leaderships, while treated as 2nd class citizens.
they were given names, names that humilated and seek to destroy their self-worth...
would you think the teachers / mentors spoke to them nicely?
or were Daniel and his 3 friends the subject of humilating jokes?
(esp about been captured and "given" a second chance to learn obedience" in the class?)
ouch!
remember what Paul said to Timothy?
humble yourself, listen and honor the "non christian" slave masters!
for the past few wks, a mentor in my work place have been "helping" me to be a better sale person.
her words were blunt, sharp, and many times, painful to listen to.
there were no "sandwiches treatment".
it was you failed, you need to change these areas, or get out, and get lost.
it was painful, but it showed me how lacking i was now.
and to believe in God meant in God, i will humble myself, and learn, and seek to be better.
to fulfill the cultural mandate in this aspect mean that i will first have to treasure and learnt from the lessons that she taught,
and be as successful as i can in the company,...
and when i am successful,
i honor her,
and let her know how much she has helped me.
i believed that i need not bluntly tell her about church, or asking her to come church..
but through my lifestyle,
and my testimony,
esp how i am willing to humble,
and learn and be better,
she will know that it take someone different,
a true discipler of Christ, who are willing to change, for the better.
and when my hard work paid off,
through all the hard and painful lessons,
when i am in a leadership position,
i can choose to demonstrate christ like discipleship and mentoring to my juniors.
i can choose to take the love way, and not the dog eat dog way.
i can choose to believe in others, instead of killing others.
when we are successful, then we can be an influencer.
but we must first go through the learning way.
and its the same principle in every area.
esp in ministry.
fellowshipping with the leaders can only bring you to the table.
if you fail to recognise those who have helped you to be there,
you lost their support.
if you fail to engage the ground, you end up with such a far gap, that no one bother to reach in to you.
how can we lead? both in society, and in ministry?Was it right or wrong for the "new team" to desire to lead? my view?
we are commission-ed to lead, but we must first win the support & respect of the team.
the problem with the Aware saga was not christians leading, but how they seek to lead using the shortest way possible.
the wrong was how they plan to take over leadership, when they were not involved on the ground.
it was a coup.
not leadership in progress.
it was people tryin to take over, becoz they thought they can do better,
when they are not even involved.
the worst attitude one can have is to think they they can do anything better,when they did nothing to make something happened in the first place.the old guard let their guard down, and the consitution did not specify that nominees must have at least clear certain criterias before they can even be consider.
that was the whole org's fault.
but, no one should come, and organise a coup, just becoz they think they can do the job better.
who will be willing to be be defeated, and yet follow the winner?
esp when there was no reasons why they lost?
except by the numbers of the votes?
to lead in the old 4S2 was to plough through stones for the first 3 months.
no one want to listen,
or to try,
to do things differently.
until i stop leading, and got them involved, at least in the planning.
until i stop forcing my view, and give them a chance to give theirs, and get them to try.
when i stop pushing them to alight their views to mine,
and get them to understand and see why they may need to change,
it became easier, and people start to move.
and within a yr, we grew, and outgrew all our expectation.
the reason for bitterness is not on religion, nor the homosexuality issue.the main reason is on a lack of communication.when we failed to communicate, even the smallest thing can become the stumbling block,
or the spark that start the bush fires.
i knew all along that due to my enlistment, i could not be the official CGL.
and i will have to hand over my "mini zone" to someone when i "enlist myself"
but the lack of communication,
and lack of proper transition,
AND lack of consideration to how i was feeling, made the whole transition particularly painful.
it took me months to let go, and even longer to push the pain down, trying to forget,
while trying to remember how i would want to take ownership of the "mini zone" again,
one day.
many of you have read and heard how i rebelled againt DT.
i am never proud of it.
would things be different if we have all talk about the transition from day 1?
would things be different if i never entertain the "comeback" thought?
to not desire to lead is as good as me giving up.
but was there a second option that i could choose at that point?
things would surely had work out differently.
i was taught that we are to assume that our listeners do not know everything that we know.
thus, when we shared with them our "messages", it is important that we bring them through an intro before the main topic, so that there is a point of reference.
when there is communication,
when there is points of reference,
nothing is too deep for people to understand.
for the "new team", they felt that something was wrong, and it was for them to step out and contribute...
but to do a coup, without explaining,
esp when they were not involved on the ground,
caused them huge embrassment,
caused the church (and themselves) to come under undue attacks
caused them to waste all the resources that were meant for good works..
let's hope that we will not make the same mistakes,
while trying to shine in our marketplace, and in ministry!
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