It’s been a while since I’ve heard from Rick, who always asks interesting “systems questions.” Today he asked: “I was just wondering what steps people can take to not be guided by the emotional programming they have acquired from their family of
origin. How does one learn to separate oneself from this programming?”

That’s a tall order, but then, it describes well the work of differentiation, doesn’t it?

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A new series titled “Systems Ju-jitsu” begins today at the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog: http://perspectivesig.blogspot.com/2010/05/systems-ju-jitsu-part-1.html

Today someone asked how the job is going, two years into the deanship. If it’s between “10. The best job ever;” or, “6. I’d rather shoot my eye out with a nail gun;” and “3. I’m recommending my worst enemy for this job;” I’d say most of the time it’s a “7. It’s a challenge.”

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I grew up among ethnic pietistic Baptists who tended to emphasize the emotional and personal aspects of religion over against the liturgical, Traditional, and ecumenical. It was a simple faith that retains enough charm so as not to be off-putting, though I can only take it in small doses nowadays. While conservative in its theological orientation it was not fundamentalist, but there was enough of an influence from the popular fundamentalist milieu and networks so as to leave me with an ability to recognize the language and mentality when I came across it.

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People sometimes ask me if they can use my stuff, published material and resources like those on the educational consultant site. I always appreciate that they ask and tell them they are free to use whatever they find helpful for their work or ministry. It’s at least better than the guest lecturer I invited to speak at one of my courses. He distributed handouts to the students apropos to his topic, but the handouts were copies of my material with the copyright tag suspiciously removed, and he used it without attribution.

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GRACE member Israel Galindo reflects on three things an organization needs in order to be “great”. Read his toughts at the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog site.

Marty Canaday and Israel Galindo have a support blog for readers of Planning for Christian Education Formation (Chalice Press, 2010). You can visit the site here, read their author interview, and ask questions about applying the book in you context. You can visit the site here.

More on why change comes hard at the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog. Here’s an excerpt:

One phenomena of the power of homeostasis is that whenever a leader attempts to bring about change he or she will most certainly encounter sabotage. While we can find some comfort in the notion that reactivity is unimaginative, and therefore predictable, sabotage has a thousand faces. The fun thing about sabotage (if one can be non-reactive about it), is that while we can expect it, we will always be surprised at the forms it takes.

You can read the rest of the story here.

The new book by GRACE members Israel Galindo and Marty Canaday, Planning for Christian Education Formation: A Community of Faith Approach (Chalice Press) is immediately available in print and e-book format.

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Visit the Perspectives on Congregational Leadership blog for two ideas on bringing about organizational change.