Iran and the Middle East may never be the same. The street riots and haunting pictures of Neda, the woman shot unlawfully during a political protest in Iran, have eroded the Muslim clerics influence. All they have left is callous power typified by their recent threats to make examples of the jailed protesters. Didn’t Gandhi show us that type of power isn’t sustainable?
Leadership is about influence and willing followers. Influence is an outcome of trust and trust is a result of a leader’s commitment to be:
- Concerned about your concerns
- Competent to act on those concerns
- Sincere and selfless in their motives
Pres. Ahmadinejad’s careless threats have resulted in an isolated Iran and a slumping economy. The under 30 crowd (1/3 of Iran) have different concerns molded by Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. Ahmadinejad hasn’t connected well with these concerns and hasn’t demonstrated a competence to act. Now the Neda incident has raised serious doubt about his and the Muslim cleric’s sincerity. They may never recover the 30 years of influence they’ve enjoyed.
Over those same 30 years, we’ve experienced our own erosion in America…an erosion of Christian influence. All the traditional denominations are struggling to connect with the Digital Age concerns of our youth. We’ve lacked the competence to effectively connect biblical insight and answers to these unfamiliar concerns. And as cultural influence has waned, we’ve organized political influence (think religious right) or simply avoided the serious questions about our selflessness and sincerity.
Is there a sobering parallel here or is my imagination out of control?
What is there to learn? How can we recover our influence?
1 John 4:7-8
Ed,
The days of religion, tradition, and denominations are coming to an end.
Jesus came to free people not hold them captive. That is what we are witnessing all over the globe. People are searching for freedom and truth.
In Mark 6:4-6 Jesus could not do much for a culture of people that bogged down with tradition and unbelief. That’s why they did not recognise thier savior standing right in front of them.
We can recover our influence when we first start to realize that Christianity is not a religion, the Kingdom of God is not a far away place that we get to when we transition.
It is a relationship with the King of kings and a heavenly government that start before we were even here.
Peace
Tyrone,
How do we read that in the Gospel of Luke….”the kingdom of God is within you?”
Ed
That is such a loaded question, but I will try to answer it simply.
First a person would have to study kingdoms and understand how they operate and function.
When a king leaves his land and goes to a foreign region he is still a king and represents the kingdom that he is from. Another words he brings the whole kingdom with him, by him being thier.
When Jesus walked the earth people kept asking Him where His kingdom was and questioning whether or not He was a king. He kept telling them that he was a king and that is why He came. He kept saying repent because the Kingdom of God is near or at hand. That is because He represented the whole Holy Kingdom. It was all in Him.
When a kingdom goes into another region it does this to influence the territory and transform it into the way his kingdom operates, reverse the influence of the current kingdom (in the earths case, the kingdom of darkness), and convert as many people as he can to citizens of his kingdom.
As soon as we as believers accept him as our new King and Lord (Owner) we get the whole kingdom loaded into us. Only because we accepted Him and his Name (Jesus).
Thias why He said that greater works will we do when He goes back to the Father. When He walked on the earth He was one person with the Kingdom of God in Him. We now have a multitude of people with the same Kingdom in us by the name of Jesus. Everything that Jesus did his name can do. That is why the desciples were so powerful in Acts because they used the Name, they preached the Name and they did works in the Name.
Jesus said the kingdom is in us and He said seek first the Kingdom of God, then all the things would be added to us. The reason why He said this is because He knows everything that we need, is in the Kingdom and that is in us.
Why do you think Jesus prayed in John 17:15 for the Father not to remove us from this world. He wants us to continue to reverse everything the enemy twisted and destroyed, by the name of Jesus.
I hope that kind of explains it. It’s so much in that statement it is mind blowing if we take the tradition and religious glasses off to see.
Peace
Ed,
The phrase “Erosion of Christian Influence” certainly caught my eye. I googled that right away…and found this blog entry. You sure are popular! Id like to know whose influence is eroding in particular in your statement. Do you mean the denominational influence? If you do, this doesn’t necessarily imply a negative, does it? I would argue that a denomination is just a means to an end, in fact the church is a means to God as well, who IS the end. We dont worship the church, the denomination, or the worship leader, do we?
If the “visible church” as we know it lost its authority, would that be the demise of God’s kingdom?
I believe we are the kingdom, the believers, and each of us carries the word with us. The reality is even with the power of the individual in this day and age, however, we still probably need buildings to do ministry. But do we need “visible churches” ? Or do they double as the same buildings we eat in, have fun in, or work out in?
I might argue we are having an “erosion of church influence” instead of an “erosion of Christian influence”. When I google “erosion of church influence” i get links to the catholic church…hmmm.
Tyrone- I love your comments about tradition…As someone who doesn’t always enjoy change this is a little scary, but you are probably hitting the nail on the head.
Thanks for the food for thought.
Derek
Hey Derek,
I appreciate your perspective.
I would say that, yes people do worship their denomination, church, and even the church leader, unfortunately.
They did when Jesus walked the earth. Jesus was NOT a religious person. That is why Jesus marveled at their unbelief. It was hard for Him to Fatham why they could not see the Savior, right in front of them because of their tradition and religion. The religious peolpe in the church are the ones that constantly plotted to kill him, not the sinners that the Pharisees looked down on.
The other people were looking for lookiing for hope and answers, thats why they were able to see and had ears to hear Jesus.
The same thing is happening today. People are looking more and more for answers to their life issues. When they see that Jesus is THE way and THE life through seeing His believers lives, they will want to listen and be apart of the family.
We are not the Kingdom, the Kingdom is in us. We carry It, everywhere.
As we go to the buildings to learn how to walk in the authority that has been given to us through Jesus, the Church (us) will gain the influence.
Derek,
I’m sorry for the slow response here…
Regarding your lost influence question. It seems at all levels Christians are no longer trusted as viable sources for grounded insight. The lack of trust extends across issues of economics, foreign policy, or family/welfare issues.
It truly is a global perspective and our president now labels us as a diverse faith country versus a Christian country. We are past the tipping point.
Ed