Serving Leaders who Serve Across Cultures
David has enjoyed teaching a DMin course, “Leading Change,” for Asian Christian leaders in the Doctor of Ministry in Leadership Effectiveness program at IGSL.
Class participants include experienced church planting leaders, pastors, a retired military officer, an entrepreneur, and educators from four Southeast Asian countries.
-Guest post by Sue Querfeld 
I needed a way to figure out how to get onto that route and start making the correct turns to make my way home.
A few years ago I had to take my daughter to get some immunizations. We managed to find the doctor easily enough, but coming home was another story.
Somehow I got turned around and was not sure where I was or how to get home. One thing I WAS sure of, though, was that we did NOT want to cross the bridge into Philadelphia, so I got off the highway at the last exit before doing that and ended up in Camden, New Jersey. Camden is NOT a nice place to be lost.
I pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store and wondered what to do. Then I remembered the GPS on my phone. We had been out of the country for several years, so the phone and all its bells and whistles were new to me.
I managed to find the GPS and even type in the address where we wanted to go. It did its thing and a route was mapped out. The voice said, “Proceed northeast on Maple Street.” Umm, sure. First of all, I could not PROCEED anywhere, as I was at a standstill, facing the wall of a building.
Secondly, which way was northeast? I’m a left-right kind of person. Unless I’m on the coast and know which ocean it is, I am NOT going to know which way is north, south, east, or west. And lastly, I could only presume that the street in front of the store was Maple, but there was no sign to indicate that. Sooo….
That GPS had all the information I needed to get home, but I did not know how to get started. I needed a way to figure out how to get onto that route and start making the correct turns to make my way home.
That happens in other areas of our lives as well. We have a goal, and even know a lot of the steps to reach it, but we don’t know how to get started. Coaching is the piece that is missing. A coach can help us access the information that we already have so we can find the route and get started. And sometimes, just like on a GPS, there are several possible routes to take. A coach asks questions that open our minds to new ideas, revealing more possible routes to reach that same goal.
Just as we sometimes run into unexpected obstacles when we are driving—construction, heavy traffic, debris in the road—that cause us to have to make a detour, we often encounter unexpected circumstances in our daily lives that make us have to adjust on the fly, changing our plans to accommodate a new situation. Through an ongoing relationship, a coach can help us find the best way to navigate those unexpected detours and still reach our goal.
GPS is only a tool; the driver is ultimately responsible for choosing the route and for getting the vehicle safely to its destination. The same is true with coaching. A coach asks questions, points out things that perhaps we have not thought of, and helps us to think in new and broader ways, but in the end we make the decisions about what steps to take to move toward out goal.
It could be, though, that those questions and the new insights that arise from them are just the thing we need to get us started on the route toward achieving our goals.
–Sue has served over 20 years in church planting, discipleship, and coaching in Peru. She coaches in both English and in Spanish; certified ACC.
“A real team has a goal that compels its members to work through their differences and misunderstandings. It compels the team to capitalize on their differences and create solutions that no one could design alone. That’s the kind of goal that transforms a group of like-minded people into a team.
Missionary groups who are mistakenly called teams suffer in two ways: (1) they fail to catch the synergy that is inherent in real teamwork, and (2) they waste a lot of energy in trying to act like a team. Missionaries and mission organizations ignore this to their peril.
So if you want to be an effective team, first make sure you really are a team. Then you can move onto the next step:” .….. continue reading “Part Two” of David’s EMQ article, posted by Ed Stetzer at The Exchange, Christianity Today.
Some wonder if working in teams is worth it. We believe, YES, it is! As long as the team has a goal that compels people to work together, and as long as its members work to maintain good team health.
Read David’s article, “Teams in Mission: Are They Worth It?” in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly, EMQ online, linked here. https://emqonline.com/https%3A//sample/emqonline.com/node/3649%23
All the photos were taken in Prague. You may see someone you know.
Take a few minutes to read and ponder the reflection questions at the end, such as, What’s something that you could do this week that could improve trust in your team?
If you were to make one change in your life that would move you forward in living out your calling, what would it be?
What would you like to accomplish, as we coach together over the next few months?
The exciting thing about working with a coach, is that you, the coachee, set the agenda. Some might not know where to start. The following are some of the actual goals our coaches have worked with. The options are endless to grow personally and professionally, whether you are head of a large organization or a new mom partnering in ministry.
A coach can help you manage a stressful or ambiguous job, think through life balance, or clarify something that has shifted. Coaching can provide a framework to take action towards your own goals.
Look here to get started.
(Coaching series questions adapted from materials by Creative Results Management.)
David had felt “but we must!” have conflict resolution with Z___, and was not given that opportunity. God worked in wonderful ways, however, and we are reminded of how good He is.
Recently we taught class sessions on Cross-cultural Communication and Biculturalism, and I had the opportunity to remember and appreciate the bigger story.
The teammate who stayed, the young Japanese pastor, grew and kept growing. More than ten years later, he is still pastor and the church continues as a creative witness in its community.
Communication, understanding and trust were strengthened between the mother church elders/pastor and the younger pastor over the years we worked together, and David played a key role in that. All of this took place in Japanese, with its nuances of respect, honor, and varying degrees of indirectness. Ironically, the gaikokujin (literally “outside country person”) who was operating outside of his native culture and language, was used by God to aid their communication with each other.
The book hadn’t been written yet, but David was following principles described by Duane Elmer in Cross-cultural Servanthood (2006). Openness, acceptance, trust, learning, and understanding are what “must be” modeled and pursued in ministry teams, if we are to thrive and succeed. I am honored to have seen that in action, especially in a multi-cultural setting with its extra challenges.
Is my work group a team? Am I well trained to lead one?
“A team is a group of people with a common goal that compels them to work together.”
Why is it such hard work, and at times end in painful break-ups?
Teams who put effort into maintaining their own heath will be glad they did. We recognize a good team when we find one, but how do we really get there? Experience and research have led us to identify four qualities of a healthy team: a compelling purpose, deepening trust, open communication and mutual commitment.
This is not simple in practice. It takes work to clarify purpose, get work done, all the while maintaining trust and getting along. We have found that the “little” things can make a difference – doing what I say I will do, listening to ideas different from my own, and creating an atmosphere where people can be open and honest.
Teams can and should engage in conflict of ideas and opinions, which does not need to devolve into interpersonal conflict. A well-trained leader can identify the difference, and capitalize on the synergy that comes from a team full of good ideas.