Quick Connections

Executive Director's Desk
by Craig Kraft

In Memory of Dr. R. Kraft
2 • Craig Kraft

Coach-like Leadership
3 • Cam Taylor
Transitional Leadership Ministries

Governance Traffic Jam
4 • Alan Simpson
Conflict Resolution & Mediation

Outreach Learning Network
5 • Doug Harris
the Outreach Learning Network

Rainy Season Refreshment
6 • Patrick McKitrick
Meditations

From the Director’s Desk,

Greetings,

My name is Craig Kraft and I am the new Executive Director of Outreach Canada (OC). My family returned from South Africa last year where we were serving the Lord as OC missionaries. Prior to going to Africa we worked in BC and Alberta in pastoral and church health ministries. I am thrilled and challenged in this new role as I seek to fill some very large shoes that have been left by our previous Executive Director who just happens to be my father.

Last year was a very challenging year for OC. We lost several staff members in 2008; some to new ministries and some to life threatening diseases. We also launched our Side by Side capital campaign to expand our Delta ministry centre just as the economy was beginning to slow down. The Lord has been faithful to OC. So far we have added five new staff members to our team and we are in the final stages of adding another couple to serve with us in Europe. We have made great progress on our capital campaign and we are trusting the Lord to help us wrap up this campaign in the fall.

The first months of 2009 have been filled with excitement.
Outreach Canada is thrilled to offer you this first edition of our new outreach CONNECTIONS newsletter. It is our desire to produce this newsletter quarterly and to make it available in electronic form through our website and via email. OC exists to empower churches to grow and plant, equip leaders for effective service, and to expand the Kingdom. We hope that the articles shared in this publication will assist you and your church as you seek to be all that God has called you to be.

In His Grip,

        Craig Kraft

outreach CONNECTIONS : Volume 1 : Edition 1
    Page 2 - July 2009  

In Memory of a Great Christian Leader

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”
Psalm 116:15  

On May 18, 2009 he celebrated his 95th birthday, on June 9th he and his wife celebrated their 70th anniversary, and on June 15th he entered into the presence of the Lord. His name is Ralph Wesley Kraft and he is my grandfather.

My Grandpa was raised in a simple, loving Christian home where he gave his heart to the Lord at an early age. After his brother Clinton died while preparing to be a minister, he felt God’s call to full-time Christian ministry. He began his ministry by doing evangelistic work with his twin brother, Roy, and he travelled extensively with the Biola Quartet. Later, he settled into the pastorate where he served in three different churches in California for over 40 years. During that time he also served as a leader within the Conservative Baptist denomination in America and he co-founded the Prakash Ministry in Nagpur, India. But none of that is what made him a great Christian leader.

I once asked my Grandpa what it took to be a great Christian leader and his answer was the same as the four words that he shared with my family from his bed in the days before his departure. “Live by the Book.”

It was his life and it was his message and all who knew him would agree that Grandpa lived by the book. Now that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have fun! Many are the memories of hunting and fishing trips, great stories, adventures in parenting, and of course the driving lessons in his old VW bug when we were still way too young to be driving (always on private property and with his hand on the handbrake). Grandpa made our visits to his house an adventure.

Somehow, no matter what the activity, Grandpa had a way of tying it into one of the Truths in God’s Word. We never spent time with Grandpa when there wasn’t some sort of lesson from the Book.

I remember from those early driving experiences when Grandpa would say, “Do you see how I have my hand on this brake? No matter what you do with the car I have complete control right here. You know, that is just how it is in our lives when we give them over to God. He lets us have some fun but He never lets us go out of His control.”

When Grandpa passed away I was given one of his Bibles. Tucked into the pages was a three by five card with four simple statements that pretty well summarize the life of this champion.
1. Practice the presence of God,
2. Claim the promises of God,
3. Rely on the power of God, and
4. Rest in the peace of God.
These were the principles that my Grandpa lived by.

I hope that I will be around in another forty years and that I will live to see my grandchildren and great- grandchildren. I hope that I can leave my family with the same rich heritage and memories that my Grandpa has left for me. When all is said and done, I hope to be remembered as one who lived by the Book – a great Christian leader.

Craig Kraft

outreach CONNECTIONS : Volume 1 : Edition 1
Page 3 - July 2009   

Coach-like Leadership and Conflict Coaching

Contact Don Klaassen
for more information on
Church Missions Coaching
outreach.ca/missionscoaching

ChurchMap Canada
Search over 23,000 churches

For the leader called upon to help others experiencing conflict, what leadership approach do you think is more effective in that situation? A “change or else” approach?  A “let’s just all love each other” approach? Or an “I’ve got a few questions and some tools that might help you listen to each other, are you interested?”

Let me suggest that the third approach is your better option. Here are four reasons why.

First, coach-like leadership increases the long-term success of your work because it doesn’t tell people what to do but rather leads to a discovery of what needs to change. Tony Stoltzfus in his book Leadership Coaching defines coaching as "practicing the disciplines of believing in people in order to empower them to change."  Coaching is about having the discipline to believe in people and complimentary skills to help them arrive at what God wants them to do. 

Second, coach-like leadership develops other leaders not just followers. Coaching isn’t mentoring, counselling, discipling or consulting. These other roles tend to focus on sharing what you have with the learner and can develop a dependence on you for that information or expertise. Coaching is more of a dialogue between two people or a collaborative partnership where those being coached are responsible for solutions and follow through. The coach is there to support that learning and hold those being coached accountable for the results.

Third, coach-like leadership is more likely to foster creativity verses the old status quo.  Coaching is "the process of coming alongside a person or team to help them discover God's agenda for their life and ministry, and then cooperating with the Holy Spirit to see that agenda become a reality" (Logan & Reinecke). God has no shortage of creativity and help for those needing radical change and the resolution of conflict. A coach comes in not with pat answers but with a dependence on the work of the Holy Spirit who helps people come up with God’s new solutions to old problems.

Fourth, coach-like leadership follows in the footsteps of Jesus who often was seen coaching. For example, Jesus often used questions as learning opportunities.  One study found that of the 183 questions he was asked, he only answered three of them directly!  And he asked 307 questions when interacting with people! 

Cam Taylor

outreach CONNECTIONS : Volume 1 : Edition 1
    Page 4 - July 2009  

Governance Traffic Jam

Imagine with me! Take four taxi drivers from four diverse parts of the globe and drop them into the rush hour traffic of some foreign major city without any culturally relevant training in road rules. Each one would have a different perspective of what should happen on the road and road rage would ensue.

This is not that different from what we do with new people attending our churches. We drop them into the system without clearly defining “how things work here” or “how decisions are made in our church”. As a conflict coach working in multiple governance models in various denominations I have seen the outcome of this lack of articulating the house rules to new visitors and even new members. Church-rage usually occurs at the earliest AGM. The curse of not educating new people in our preferred method of governance results in confusion and negative conflict.

Clearly the answer for this governance traffic jam is documentation, education and commitment. Every stressed out church I have encountered over the past five years has not reviewed and/or renewed their documents for many years.

One church board was shocked when I presented their bylaws to them in a Mind Map format. They did not know “that” was in the by-laws. “That” was the very issue they were at odds about. The conflict could have been resolved by reviewing and renewing their documents especially for new board members.

Someone from a congregational model will have a tough time reorienting to a leader led model of decision making. Re-education for new members (and the ever increasing non-members) might alleviate the curse of misinformation and confusion when decisions are made by leaders or by congregational vote.

One move towards solving the governance traffic jam is the annual renewal of church membership that includes a fresh commitment to the church community and its preferred and understood governance model. This will help include those who are new and give those who have been around for a while a chance to revisit what it means to be a member in their congregation. A similar trend is happening with conflict resolution and restoration policies. But that is for another article.

Alan Simpson

outreach RESOURCES
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outreach CONNECTIONS : Volume 1 : Edition 1
Page 5 - July 2009    

the Outreach Learning Network

Outreach Canada's new and exciting Ministry.

It’s brand new.
It’s full of potential.
It’s exciting.

The Outreach Learning Network (TOLN) is Outreach Canada’s formal entry into the world of personal ministry development. The purpose of TOLN is to facilitate and coordinate the training and development of church leaders and their people in Canada and abroad, in order that they may be fully equipped to fulfill the ministries they have received in the Lord. 

The word Network spells Partnership.  OC is committed to cooperation rather than competition in all aspects of it’s ministry. TOLN will offer relevant courses in key ministries with a view to developing healthy churches who will work together in obeying our Lord’s Great Commandment and in fulfilling His Great Commission.

TOLN will work with OC staff in continuing to offer current OC training programs in Transitional Leadership Ministry, Vision Renewal and Missionary Perspectives. In addition it is exploring the development of training courses in such areas as eldership and diaconal ministry, conflict management, leadership in evangelism and discipleship, industrial chaplaincy, church planting, etc. Technology is being put in place that will allow TOLN to become a digital classroom through which two-way interaction will be possible anywhere in the world.   

The new home of TOLN is the Outreach Learning Centre, which is almost completed in the new wing of the recently acquired OC office facilities in Tilbury Park, Delta. There is enough room to facilitate a number of students on location.

Digital technology will make interactive education via the Internet available to students across Canada and around the world. The high tech capabilities of the Learning Centre will make it possible for other Christian organizations to offer worldwide training in and through the digital classroom. It will also be possible for Christian groups to use the Learning Centre to facilitate conferences and discussions involving people in any area of the world.

It’s brand new.
It’s full of potential.
It’s exciting.

Your prayers and financial support for this project and for the establishment of these training programs will be much appreciated.

Dr. Doug Harris

3 Weekend Intensive
Outreach Learning Centre
1-7201 72nd Ave. Delta BC
Sept. 25-27, Oct. 23-25, Nov. 20-22
For more information or
to registration visit www.perspectivescanada.org

outreach CONNECTIONS : Volume 1 : Edition 1
Page 6 - July 2009     

Rainy Season Refreshment

It rained and it rained and it rained. Piglet told himself that never in all his life, and he was goodness knows how old—three, was it, or four?—never had he seen so much rain. Days and days and days.

Milne, A.A. Winnie the Pooh
(New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.) 1954. Page 130.

How should one react to a rainy season in one’s life? If your health is poor, your finances devastated, or your relationships broken, you may find yourself looking out the window at a rainy day and wondering, “When will it finally stop?”

Let’s browse a little, shall we? We may find some refreshment in places we least expect. At first glance the book of Hosea seems a bit strange. It is about a prophet who is commanded by God to marry a prostitute and to have children with her (Hosea 1:2). This illustrates the relationship between God—in a sense, a faithful husband—and the people of Israel—in a sense, an unfaithful wife. What is more, Hosea is asked to redeem his wife, to pay for her and to take her back even after she has committed adultery (3:1). In that age, we know adultery was commonly punished by death, so God’s demands on Hosea seem extraordinary. But the point being made was God’s faithfulness to his unfaithful people.

Scholars point this out as a great foreshadowing of events in the New Testament:

A remarkable story, this.
A prophet is called to bear a cross, to experience both the suffering heart and the redeeming love of God. With unflinching obedience Hosea drank a bitter cup. His home was his Gethsemane. And in bending to a will not his own, he not only left a most poignant illustration of divine love but helped prepare the way for One who most fully embodied this love.

La Sor, W., Hubbard D., and Bush, F. Old Testament Survey (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans) 1982. Page 339. See also H.H. Rowley, “The Marriage of Hosea” BJRL 39 (1956-7). Page 233.

Sometimes the prophets are difficult to read. They are harsh and relentless in their desire to pull Israel back on track. But there are some lines in Hosea that seem to be written as if the writer were speaking in a gentle voice. They do indeed prophesy the resurrection:

Come, let us return to the Lord;
For he has torn us,
that he may heal us;
He has struck us down,
and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day
he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
Let us know;
let us press on to know the Lord;
His going out is
sure as the dawn;
He will come to us
as the showers,
As the spring rains
that water the earth.
Hosea 6:1-3. ESV.

“As the spring rains that water the earth.”
What a beautiful and powerful image is rain! Water is life-giving and sustaining. Rain falling from the skies is refreshing and renewing. Our parched souls need heavenly rain so that we might be prepared for the glorious sunshine of days ahead. Praise the eternal faithfulness of Almighty God!

In faith and fellowship,

Patrick McKitrick