Where Jesus Died: George MacLeod

Many churches today struggle to reach out to the next generation.  In order to stay relevant post-enlightenment, the church has retreated from the fields of science, business, and arts and focused on developing the spiritual lives of believers.  While spirituality is important for the life of a person, the result has also caused the church to be further disengaged with the critical issues that affect our neighborhoods.  Platonic thought continues to permeate the church–somehow believing in Jesus became a first class ticket to Heaven. Really? More, one of the repercussions is for Christians to escape from the world and further live dualistic lives where we prize the sacred and denigrate the secular.  We are no longer living holistic lives when we do that.  This is a misunderstanding of the biblical narrative specifically God redemptive purpose in the world today and into the future. God desires to redeem and reconcile all of creation to himself and invites us to participate in that redemptive purpose.  This means, as God's redeemed people, we are to take both our faith and work seriously.  We are also to live incarnationally as the God-man Jesus did, 2000 years ago on earth. I would contend that to live disintegrated lives of faith and work is a failure to live out our God ordained purpose for us as his image-bearers who were created reflect His image into the world and back to Him.

George MacLeod reminds us of the importance of living out an integrated life where spirituality meets the marketplace. 

George MacLeod on Where Jesus Died

Only One Way Left (The Iona Community: 1956), p. 38. Jan 01 . 1970

The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse,and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died and that is what he died about and that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen should be about.

We are to be rooted in Christ and to grow spiritually to become mature Christ-like followers.  But also to Go!  Go into the world without fear for God is ahead of us, and with us.  To be in the world but not of it.  As "Church", in its original Greek meaning, is to be governors in the city who decide matters for city. Reflecting on the account of the blindman according to John 9, he doesn't begin seeing until he goes to the pool of Siloam (which means sent)--and after he goes, washes and returns he then is seeing. Essentially, it's not adequate to simply believe but also to connect what you do after you believe.  As Christians, we are not suppose to be clean and tidy or retreating or escaping from the world; we're supposed to be in the thick of it all–in the action with our hands dirty as MacLeod reminds us. And if you listen to your heart, you will know this is true.  Jesus Christ didn't seem to mind being in the messy world--I didn't say it was easy.    And it is only when we, as the salt and light of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit, embrace the world and live out our lives in the marketplace will His faith, hope, and love permeate throughout it.  

Reinforcing and Modeling Behaviors: You are all together the team

It was our second game day with my U7 team yesterday.  We split our team up to be an Away and Home team. I got to coach the home team which consisted of four players--four players are also needed to form the basic diamond formation.  Our technical trainers have drilled into the coaches’ heads the importance of the diamond formation.  In our training sessions and in our recent game day we began to also instill in the players' minds and in game play to form the diamond shape–reminding them consistently and often, as this is still U7.  My co-coach and I agreed to focus on our diamond formation this week–communication with the co-coach and having consistent coaching plan is also essential.  Then make sure to clearly communicate the goal and desired behavior to your team. 

During the games, I would encourage the boys to get into their diamond and complement them when they formed one. This is an example of where praxis is important–it's not enough talk about it–we (as coaches for these young players) need to be on the field, show them, and to point them to look at each other.  When we had water breaks, I would complement each and everyone individually on a job well done and praise them on the wonderful diamonds they were creating on the field. Reinforcement of the goal and desired behavior matters.  As an aside, I would say, focus only on the positive at this level.  And I must again complement these kids because by the end of game day, they played hard, they had fun, scored a bunch as a team; impressively, these boys got into their diamond formation at the sound of my voice.   They even figured on their own to always have one person stay behind (as the other 3 played offense) in event of a sudden breakaway from the opponents.  I thought the other team would demolish our team because they were physically bigger than my boys; however, the other team were disorganized and simply became demotivated due to the lack of instruction and coaching that was taking place.  After the game, my co-coach shared with me how impressed the other team's coaches were with our teams because of our ability to organize.  Secretly, I felt a bit like Leonidas from 300.  This was a stark reminder of how important having a coach is in not only the soccer game, but also strong leadership on ANY team for that matter.  

This leads into my second point.  As coach (or managers), we are not only dictating instructions or shouting commands from the sidelines. We cannot be hiding or highlighting only the negatives and failures.  We need to BE the extra player on the team.  In soccer, there are 11 players (10 plus goalie); Coaches are like the 12th player.  This is going to be different for older kids and other parents and coaches will probably see me running around like a madman.  If you know me, you will probably hear me from a kilometer away.  And when the players are running up and down the field, I’m right behind them and cheering them on. You cannot help yourself to be excited when you see these players play! They are simply amazing to watch.  Others can say what they want, but my philosophy is the same whether it is coaching a U7 team or in the workplace–managers and leaders need to be part of team. They need to know you got their back.  The team needs to know that you are there for them, care for them and work with them in training and while on the field.  Leaders/Coaches are on the field; they are always energetic, energized and ready to celebrate with the players and always ready to encourage them.  Also, always be ready to tie the laces of one of your players–they are your All-stars.  Contrastingly, when the coaches are unenthusiastic and lacking passion, these players at this young age will feed off that energy and passion.  Moreover, we need to model the behavior we want to see in others.

Another tip for coaches–when you see the other team demoralized cheer them on too because it is not about winning; next season, some of these players could be on your team.  In the end, we are all playing a part in coaching the future superstars of team Canada and the Vancouver Whitecaps.  Be proud of your team but also be proud of all these players.  Celebrate them and motivate them through engagement, encouragement and empowerment.  

When you are having fun, everyone will have fun too!  

Profits Only? Business Purpose-for-others (telos) and need for a third indicator of Success.

Many companies today focus on profits as if that is the key indicator of the corporation's success. Profits are important--it shows that the company is a viable company, the leadership is competent, the business is stable and sustainable, and so forth. This is necessary to attract capital to gain more investors and for further and future growth of the company. But profits alone do not demonstrate the complete picture when we're talking about the "health" of the company today and for the future.  

A secondary indicator these days is around social impact and environmental responsibility of the business. Investors want to know, for example, the footprint and impact of the company on the environment and society as a whole.  Chris Houston in his Ebook "For Goodness' Sake: Business for telos" discusses the importance of the purpose of the business.   Houston clarifies that "society is not asking for the business case for purpose.  What society is in fact demanding to see is the purpose case for business." (39)  Houston argues that "we need businesses that relentlessly deliver on a telos to serve others." (43) Telos being: 

A Greek word meaning "intended end." Applied by Aristotle to humans, telos implies a life of virtue, lived for the good of others. Telos has an inherent benevolence and a predisposition towards the common good. It is most precisely defined as a purpose-for-others. Every telos is a purpose, but only the rare purpose is a telos. (44)

For the business to formulate and live out its telos "involves the reformulation or clarification of the very identity of the organization and its primary reason to exist." (45) Customers want to know that you care about society and them as a customer. Yes, positive social impact is indeed important and serving others (its purpose-for-others) is of utmost importance.  It's important that everyone in the company understands and owns the purpose (telos) of the business and brand.  

I want to propose a third indicator of importance that can better the long-term success of a company that demonstrates the true "health" of the business and it relates to its people.  Houston does touch on it, but I want to call it out more explicitly.

Over the past years, employee engagement sits around 30% engaged, with the remaining 70% disengaged or actively sabotaging the company (20%?). That's 3 out of 10 employees that are actually engaged in their work.  (Cf. Gallup)

A company can be making money and even have a compelling purpose; however, if a company's employees are not engaged in their work--is it truly a viable company?  My challenge to today's business leaders is to publicly publish your quarterly/annual earnings with your employee engagement survey results. Yes, show your profits and let the world see how engaged your employees are.  I have a feeling that doing so probably scares leadership more than how much money they not making.  I believe transparency and openness will build greater trust with your employees, customers, as well as investors--real investors.   It demonstrates publicly what you value as a leader, how you are making a difference in the lives of the people that work in your company, how you are investing and caring for your employees, and what you're doing to make your company the best place to work. More, it shows that you can be trusted, you are accountable as a leader inside and outside the company, you are willing to listen, and you're not afraid to admit failure. Measuring and disclosing the company's employee engagement helps leaders understand whether employees are in fact aligned and living out the business purpose-telos, be transparent with the challenges, and work towards creating a plan for how to resolve those challenges.  Furthermore, doing so will demonstrate character, vulnerability and humility--again, trust and whether you can be trusted as a brand and business will be a key competitive differentiator in today and future markets.  

When businesses focus solely on profits (and sadly, many companies still do), a company will unfortunately rot from the inside.  A company that focuses solely on profits will become irrelevant and also loose the customer's interest. To regain momentum towards a more healthy business will be a insurmountable task at that point.  I hope leaders have the courage to be different-different where both profits, purpose and people are top priorities and focus.   Essentially, investors and customers want to know about your product as well as its profits, its telos, and the people behind the brand.  When you focus on these three factors, profits will come and continue come--I believe it. More importantly, employees will be more engaged (and with more joy) and passionate with what they do because you genuinely care about them as persons--they will champion the company and work to delight customers. Moreover, when profits, purpose and people are valued and aligned, people in and outside the company will want to invest in your company. 


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