Last Thursday and Friday I was privilged to facilitate a meeting of county officials designed to update a comprehensive plan for services offered to children and their families in Douglas County. Several thingks are striking about this group of county and state officials- some elected officials, and some social service professionals-
1. a common commitment to outcomes. Everyone in the room for those meetings really wants to provide the best and most effective opportunities for children and their families. Both days we struggled with how to assist families in overcoming the culture of poverty and hopelessness that threatens many families in our communities.
2. a shared vision of a better future. Everyone in the room wants to see a community where everyone thrives, where every member of the community is valued, where everyone is able to offer their unique contribution to the whole.
3. a clash of values. The challenge comes when well-meaning professionals- all of whom have a great deal more experience than I have in the social service realm- seek to apply limited dollars to what is a growing problem.
The discussion was honest and pointed, but all was done in a civil and respetable tone of voice. As a pastor- a veteran of thirty years of Baptist business meetings at the local church level, the associational level, the regional level, and some limited exposure to national denominational level business meetings- it strikes me that even good people with well meaning and well intentioned ideas will disagree about some of the most basic of issues. The challenge is not to force everyone into agreement, but to create a climate where people are free to discuss their differences and where people appreciate the differences between them rather than acting from fear and anxiety.
I overheard a suggestion that intrigues me- what are the parallels and constrasts between our culture and the culture of the nations of Israel and Judah during the monarchy and period of divided kingdoms? What leadership lessons can we learn? What spiritual principles can we appropriate and apply? Interesting questions that I hope to explore as I have time...