Rob Voyle's Appreciative Way Blog
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Are You Using the Right Map?
Posted: February 6, 2015 by Rob Voyle
Imagine you and your congregation are lost in the rain forests of Brazil...
And a learned man from your group says, don't worry friends I have a map. I have spent many years and dollars getting educated and preparing this map. Its a beautiful map. With this map we will find our way home...
Unfortunately its a map of the rain forest Washington State USA. Now the man is quite right it is a beautiful map and it has lots of trees and clearly there are lots of trees in Brazil, and there is lots of rain and there are lots of streams everywhere.
So yes there are many indicators that you are mapping the right things. You have those little aha moments that convince you that you are on the right path, yes there is a river, and there is a river on our map.
Two things can happen:
You will become increasingly lost and confused. You may become angry with yourself because of your inability to read maps and vow that if you ever get out of the forest you will go and get extra training in map reading...
Or by chance you may continue walking down hill and follow the streams until they reach a river and by chance a village on the river. Not being aware of the unconscious strategy you were using you are now convinced that your success was because of the map and your incredible map reading abilities...
Too often in the church and in life in general it seems to me that we borrow maps from some part of the world and try to use them for other things and wonder why it all unravels. There may be some helpfulness in some of the maps but in other ways they may be fundamentally flawed and ultimately lead us down an unhelpful path.
Faulty maps can be detected by the way they are:
Fear based rather than love based.
Designed to prevent bad things from happening rather than ensuring good things happen.
Eloquently descriptions of the causes of problems rather than elegant descriptions of how to achieve solutions to problems.
Incongruent with our ultimate purpose and values.
Here are some maps that I think are fundamentally flawed:
The annual performance review, which gets prettied up and re-presented as Mutual Ministry Review.
Conflict management: We have not been entrusted with a ministry of conflict management, we have been entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation.
Premarriage counseling designed and motivated by a desire to prevent marriage failure rather than ensure couple enrichment.
Family systems theory, especially when applied to program and corporate sized churches.
The veneration of Spirit inspired innovators that have been boiled down into tradition, rules, and laws in a "one-size fits all" mentality that preserves the temporal innovation yet denies the Spirit and the spirit of innovation.
And then there are all the personal, cultural, maps that abound in our society such as the:
The map of revenge couched in terms of justice, or the map of revenge honored as a sign of strength.
And I wonder, in this so-called Christian culture, whatever happened to that hardest map of all: love your enemies...
And I wonder too if I have the wrong map...
So what are we to do?
Instead of studying and using old maps what if we came up with a map to create maps. Granted there is, as with all ways of knowing, a paradox in the idea of having a map to create maps, however here is my basic way or "map" for making maps.
It has to be based on love and compassion. My beloved Kim calls compassion the "temporal manifestation of eternal loving kindness in the world." If I am making a map it needs be a compassionate map.
It needs to be an open map. Open to the Spirit, open to possibilities, open to the wisdom incarnate in us all.
It needs to be a courageous map, rather than a fear based map. In many situations I need courage to be compassionate.
It needs to be a map that ensures that good things will occur, rather than is designed to prevent bad things from happening.
That sees history and the past as a wonderful treasure trove of resources to build a better future. It is a map that looks on the past from the perspective of what did I learn to do rather than simply what not to do.
And some of the tools of the map maker, beyond a solid analysis of what is, include: paradox, asking crazy questions, absurdity, a huge bunch of laughter, and a profound curiosity and openness to what shall be...
And the proof that we created a good map. Where would we end up if we followed the map?
For me I know I am using the right map if I and the people I am playing with are:
Free to laugh, love, and live from the very depths of their being.
As the season of Epiphany unfolds I trust the light is continuing to shine on the maps you are making and using.
Rob Voyle
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Additional Articles By Year: 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010
Previous Posts By Category
Coaching
- I Saw Satan Fall From Heaven
- Church Growth Makes Absolutely no Sense
- Agents of Change or Agents of God, and What's Christmas Got to Do With It?
- Are You Using the Right Map?
- Coaching: Paul's Conundrum Explained
- Goals Must Be Imaginable
- Coaching Next Steps to Achieving Goals
- Shaman 101: Change the Question
- Changing the Paradigm of Blame
- The Sermon I Need to Hear this Christmas
- Blue Christmas Meditation
- What's the Purpose, What's My Purpose?
- Church Growth and Making Disciples
- Thinking about Language: Are People Assets or Treasures?
- Transfiguration and Agents of Transformation
- Managing Resistance to Change
- Ensuring Change is a Blessing
- Growing Leaders Through Intentional Coaching
- Forget Balance, Get Integrated!
- Get Feed-Forward not Feed-Back
- The Power of Great Questions
Forgiveness
- No Reconciliation Without Repentance
- Moving Mountains of Resentment and Uprooting Mulberry Trees of Misery
- Teach Your Congregation to Forgive: Five Week Lenten program
- Forgiveness and Standing Silent Before the Pilates of this World
- Transforming Anger Into Practical Compassion
- Teaching Forgiveness and Staying in Love
- Stick with Love if You Want Others to Change
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part II
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part I
- The Power to Resolve the Past Is Within You?
- Teach Them How to Forgive this Sunday
- Transforming Victim Narratives: Mark 7:24-30
- 9/11: Resentment, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation
Leadership
- Parishioners and Staff are Treasures not Assets
- Anglican Primates: My Appreciative Way Perspective on the Conflict
- Leadership is About Empowering not Controlling
- Who is the Greatest: Calling Forth the Best
- Discovering the Power of an Ennobling Dream
- Incarnational Leadership
- Core Leadership Competencies: Three Ways of Being a Leader.
- Core Leadership Competencies: The Art of Wise Pruning.
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief: Asking Powerful Questions.
- Core Leadership Competencies: Empowering Others
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief
- Creating Sustainable Change through Incarnational Leadership
- The Challenge of Growing the Church
- All Sustainable Change is an Inside Job
- The Importance of Understanding Your Purpose
- Thinking and Acting Like a Leader
Performance Review
Sermon
- Those Damn Foreigners!
- No, You Don't Want to Take Your Ministry to the Next Level
- Why Be Good
- Teach Us to Pray
- We Are God's Chosen People Not God's Protected People
- Easter and Three Stories When Bad Stuff Happens
- An Appreciative Lent
- Remembering Dr. King
- Find Resurrection this Easter not Reincarnation
- Lent, Coaching, Change and Transformation
- Doing the Unexpected this Christmas
- Appreciatively Thinking about Lent and the Ten commandments
- Thinking about Lent, Sin, and Grace
- Lent and an Appreciative Approach to Repentance
Teaching Love
Tigers
Previous Posts By Date
2016
- The Amur Tigers Need You!
- No Reconciliation Without Repentance
- Confessions and Repentance for Election Failure!
- Those Damn Foreigners!
- Moving Mountains of Resentment and Uprooting Mulberry Trees of Misery
- Teach Your Congregation to Forgive: Five Week Lenten program
- No, You Don't Want to Take Your Ministry to the Next Level
- Parishioners and Staff are Treasures not Assets
- Why Be Good
- Teach Us to Pray
- Good Samaritans and What Is Love Calling Us To Do
- I Saw Satan Fall From Heaven
- We Are God's Chosen People Not God's Protected People
- Forgiveness and Standing Silent Before the Pilates of this World
- Transforming Anger Into Practical Compassion
- Teaching Forgiveness and Staying in Love
- Church Growth Makes Absolutely no Sense
- Anglican Primates: My Appreciative Way Perspective on the Conflict
- Stick with Love if You Want Others to Change
2015
- Agents of Change or Agents of God, and What's Christmas Got to Do With It?
- Teaching People How to Say Yes to Sex
- Leadership is About Empowering not Controlling
- Who is the Greatest: Calling Forth the Best
- What in God's name is Going On Here?
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part II
- I Tried, But I Just Can't Forgive: Part I
- The Power to Resolve the Past Is Within You?
- Are You Using the Right Map?
2014
- Christmas: God the slow learner, but thank Jesus, God learns!
- People in the Church Love Change!
- Teach Them How to Forgive this Sunday
- Coaching: Paul's Conundrum Explained
- Goals Must Be Imaginable
- Coaching Next Steps to Achieving Goals
- Mutual Ministry Valuation
- I Hate Performance Reviews: Creating Cultures of Excellence
- Why did Christianity Flourish: The Power of Your Easter Story
- Easter and Three Stories When Bad Stuff Happens
- Shaman 101: Change the Question
- The Search Process: It is not Dating
- Discovering the Power of an Ennobling Dream
2013
- Incarnational Leadership
- Changing the Paradigm of Blame
- Core Leadership Competencies: Three Ways of Being a Leader.
- Core Leadership Competencies: The Art of Wise Pruning.
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief: Asking Powerful Questions.
- Core Leadership Competencies: Empowering Others
- Core Competencies for Being Your Congregation's Chief
- An Appreciative Lent
2012
- The Sermon I Need to Hear this Christmas
- Blue Christmas Meditation
- Remembering Dr. King
- What's the Purpose, What's My Purpose?
- The Language of Growing in Love
- Church Growth and Making Disciples
- Transforming Victim Narratives: Mark 7:24-30
- Creating Sustainable Change through Incarnational Leadership
- Find Resurrection this Easter not Reincarnation
- Lent, Coaching, Change and Transformation
- Thinking about Language: Are People Assets or Treasures?
- From Transfiguration to Tempting Job Offers
- Transfiguration and Agents of Transformation
- Managing Resistance to Change
2011
2010
- The Importance of Understanding Your Purpose
- Thinking about Lent, Sin, and Grace
- Ensuring Change is a Blessing
- Thinking and Acting Like a Leader
- Growing Leaders Through Intentional Coaching
- Forget Balance, Get Integrated!
- Get Feed-Forward not Feed-Back
- Lent and an Appreciative Approach to Repentance
- The Power of Great Questions
The Appreciative Way
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About the Author
Rob Voyle
The Rev. Dr. Rob Voyle is a leader in the development and use of appreciative inquiry in church and coaching settings.
Rob's Approach to Training
- Helpful: Training must provide practical, sustainable solutions for today's challenges.
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- Healing: I create opportunities for people to experience transformational insights that lead to new ways of living, working, and being in the world.
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