Church Plant Chat

Revitalisation Review: Getting curious about growth

• Paul Pavlou • Season 5 • Episode 50

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Episode 3: Getting Curious About Growth


Episode Summary
In this episode, we explore how curiosity in leadership—especially around Preparation, Posture, Pace, Perception, and Person—can shape and sharpen a leader’s approach to growth and revitalisation.


Key Topics Covered
·       Curiosity as a foundational posture in leadership

·       The 5 Ps: Preparation, Posture, Pace, Perception, Person

·       How slowing down and asking the right questions can lead to better outcomes

·       Why perception of success must be aligned with God’s view

·       Cultivating compassion and curiosity in daily leadership


Reflection Questions
·       How are you cultivating curiosity in your leadership?

·       Which of the 5 P’s needs the most attention in your context?

·       Where do you need to pause and re-align your pace?

·       How are you inviting God’s perception to shape your view of success?

·       What does it mean to get curious about the person in front of you?


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Email: churchplantchat@gmail.com

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Speaker 1:

Why is curiosity so important in leadership? In this episode episode three, getting curious about growth I wanna offer five learnings that have risen from my context, which are preparation, posture, pace, perception and person, and I wanna frame all of these within the practice of curiosity. The power of curiosity and leadership became apparent to me a couple of years ago when I was diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease which requires lifelong treatment and the initial neurologist I met said I don't know what's wrong with you, which is frustrating me, but I know someone who might and I want to ask him to help. Without his initial curiosity into inquiring further, I would have gone misdiagnosed, as I had done by others, and continued to deteriorate. I've since gone back and thanked that neurologist specifically for being curious enough to care and help me get from A to B in my health, and that's essentially what I see us doing with those we disciple in our revitalization projects. We're simply creating a culture that is curious enough in Jesus Christ and his teachings so to become more like him and reflect him back to those in our sphere of influence, so to help them get from A to B in their relationship with him. Let's get into it. Number one for cultivating curiosity is preparation, being curious enough to ask God's opinion, see where he has been at work already and how others are part of that story. Michael Mayne, in his book called Prayer, cites Max Warren, who says our first task in approaching another person, another culture, another religion, is to take off our shoes, for the place we are approaching is holy Else we may find ourselves treading on men's dreams. More seriously still, we may forget that God was here before our arrival.

Speaker 1:

When we're preparing to do this leadership thing, whether it's planting revitalisation projects or taking on the baton from someone else, it's important that we prepare ourselves emotionally, mentally and spiritually ahead of the task, recognizing that God goes before us and that we're joining in with his story in the lives of the people. In that given area, god's already prepared that which we are preparing to enter. So communication, both with God in prayer and then with others around us, is vital in our preparation. In 1 Chronicles 13, verse 1, david is preparing to move the ark of the presence of God. We read that he conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. Then in 1 Chronicles 14, verses 8 to 17, david asks God's permission around his next steps with the Philistines and twice David inquired of God about what he should do.

Speaker 1:

As we prepare to venture out in our leadership, whatever shape it takes, we need to prepare ourselves ahead of the ground that we're about to tread. So let's get curious with the Lord, asking him what he's already been up to, conferring other people asking questions, inquiring over what it is we're actually stepping into, whether it's a new expression of church, a new plant, revitalization or project within our current churches. Number two is posture posture being curious about our heart's posture and I know I just spoke about this in the first year. First priorities getting our posture right, okay, but it's one of these things that I think is essential in leadership. Out of everything that needs shaping, I'm the one who's in most desperate need of God to come and reshape me, to reshape my stony heart into a heart of compassion. You know, it's great having a vision to see great missional work taking place in the area we're serving, but it means little if our heart posture is out of sync with God's.

Speaker 1:

There's no point trying to live out leadership if we can't cultivate a heart's posture of compassion for those in front of us. The father with a demon possessed child in Mark's gospel said to Jesus but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. Compassion was the posture from which Jesus exercised his power in prayer. If we're going to lead and plant churches, revitalise them, our posture is to be one of compassion. Compassion for the lost and for the church. Groundbreaking mission starts with God. Breaking ground in us. Our relationship with God and aligning our hearts desires to his is paramount because in those moments where we get cross and frustrated, we have two choices Our frustration can either transform into vision or, if we let it, it can turn into venom. In that moment, it can transform into compassion or condemnation. How we feed this emotion will determine which transformation takes place.

Speaker 1:

Hence the importance of allowing ourselves to be daily shaped by Jesus Christ, taking time out of the day to be with him, getting our hearts and minds in check before him. Leadership exposes us, exposes our insecurities and weaknesses, but it also forces us to be vulnerable, not just to those around you, but to God also, in allowing him to be the potter and you the leader, the clay. And it's not just about allowing God to shape us in the process, and it's not just about allowing God to shape us in the process. As leaders, you know, we bring our own DNA to shape the culture, but one of the things I've learned is that as we, the leader, become more and more vulnerable, we need to then allow ourselves to be shaped a bit by those that we lead. So there's this mutual cross-pollination of understanding one another which takes place, and as trust builds, the circle for this widens, as does our heart's posture and capacity for compassion, and that process is special, it's also very humbling at times, and a posture of compassion is needed for that to take place. Okay, number three pace Pausing to allow the time needed for us to be curious about whether to slow down or speed up.

Speaker 1:

A great challenge of leadership is to know when to speed up and when to slow down is to know when to speed up and when to slow down. I've tripped over both. At times I've been too hasty and I've rushed decisions without conferring with people, or maybe I've pushed too hard. And at other times I've allowed my passion maybe to slow down too much and have come dangerously close to just stopping. And I think one of the things I'm learning when it comes to the pace of ministry is the importance of the pause moments within it In 1 Chronicles 13 when David is transporting the ark of God's presence. We read that on the journey the ark of God remained with the family of Abededom in his house for three months and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had. David paused. He revered God's presence too much to rush ahead, but he also knew that it wasn't an option to completely stop. So he pauses and in that three month pause the Lord poured out blessing. There's blessing to be found in the pause and out of that place of blessing we can then pick up the pace to keep moving forwards. So let's be curious enough to pause and sit with the Lord and move at the pace that his blessing allows.

Speaker 1:

Number four perception. Getting curious about what this all looks like in God's eyes. Perception, ie our perception of success and failure, perhaps of ourselves as a leader, those we lead, is something that having those pause moments really helps with. Whatever type of church we're leading, we all face the wrestling of what success and failure looks like and our part to play in that as the leader. And after much wrestling with anxious and fearful what-if questions around success and failure in leadership, I think where I'm getting to in how I perceive the wins and losses is to get curious and ask well, what does it look like in God's eyes? You know, maybe not think about what it looks like in my eyes, what it looks like in other people's eyes, not what it looks like in funders eyes, but what does it actually look like in god's eyes today? And I found that framing my perception through this question drastically changes what I perceive as a win or a loss, a success or a failure. And that includes how I perceive myself, essentially looking up to the Father with curiosity rather than in on myself with anxiety.

Speaker 1:

And also, if you're asking that question of what it looks like in God's eyes, the spirit is also going to convict you of when you've messed up too. It's not just about looking through his eyes hoping he's going to give you a pat on the head. You know, when you do that, when you invite the spirit in to look into that, it's a vulnerability. And yet at times he's going to convict you, and that's good. Psalm 17, verse 8, says keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me in the shadow of your wings.

Speaker 1:

When we get curious about how God perceives us as the apple of his eye and develop curiosity around what we in our ministry looks like to him. It helps us perceive ourselves and our leadership far more healthily. We remove that echo chamber either of our own thoughts or other people's, and rather invite God into the conversation. Okay, last one person being curious about the person in front of you and the person of Jesus. This is the ministry of the one, and I'll speak more on this in an upcoming episode, but just to touch on it as it's part of this set of five Ps.

Speaker 1:

As leaders, we can long to see waves of people saved, to see row after row of people praying, engaging with their Bibles, hands up in worship. That's no bad thing, but I've been learning that if I can't minister to just one person, then I have no chance of ministering to a thousand. If I can't offer compassion to the one person in front of me, then I have no right in ministering to an entire wave of people. For us, in our context, the wins have been mostly around helping our church to become healthier, and the way the Spirit seems to be doing that is by engaging myself and team and volunteers in the ministry of the one, working with one person at a time and gradually helping people take one step at a time. As leaders, we need to be willing to allow our lives to be interrupted for that one individual, and it's the same for us, in order to keep growing in our own discipleship to lead from a place of health.

Speaker 1:

The very last point to wrap up on is that we need to keep being curious about the person of Jesus. Let's not lose our curiosity about him. Let's press into that childlike curiosity about what Jesus is up to in, through and around us. Let's stay close to him, the things on his heart, let's keep our wonder of the cross. May we never lose the wonder, that curious mystery of God incarnate, of death and resurrection, of forgiveness, of grace and grace, of servitude and sacrifice, of truth and love.

Speaker 1:

Cultivating curiosity as we lead enables us to think outside of ourselves, avoid false assumptions and stay focused on asking God what he thinks about our leadership, the church and those outside of it. By remaining curious in Jesus as we travail leadership, we're more able to avoid going anxiously in on ourselves or being led by the expectations of others and instead foster a practice of wanting to understand and ask rather than assume. By staying curious about our leadership in terms of its health in Father God's eyes, we, and subsequently the church, are better positioned for growth. So let's remain curious about the one who was curious about us. So, to close, some questions to leave you with Number one are you curious enough to ask what God thinks? Number two are you curious enough about what's going on internally in your heart? Number three are you pausing to allow space to be curious about the timing of what you're doing? Number four are you curious about what it all looks like in God's eyes? Five are you curious about the one in front of you?

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening. If you didn't know already, there is an Instagram account for this podcast, which is at churchplantchat. You can keep up to date with what's happening on the podcast and other bits about planting, but you can also DM me on there if you ever wanted to chat or needed prayer. You can also be contacted by email at churchplantchatcom. I'd love to connect with you. Please don't hesitate to get in touch. Also, there are show notes in each of the episodes, just as a brief overview of each episode. Please use them as a resource. Thank you for listening and see you next time.