Transform your work life to be published in the USA!

Russell Media

It is with great excitement that we can tell you that 'Transform your work life' will be released in the United States of America in June 2011!

We could not have asked for a better partner than Rusell Media!

Russel Media has a broad reach in the United States with a great emphasis on innovative marketing and communication mechanisms.

Moreover, Mark Russell, the founder of Russell Media, is himself a marketplace minister and theologian. Mark has a PhD from Asbury Seminary, having done his research on business as mission. He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, 'Our Souls at Work', and 'The Missional Entrepeneur'.

'Transform your work life' will go through a slight redesign and update to make it suitable for the American market.

Our intention is to launch the book during the Global Day of Prayer conference in Jacksonville between the 9-11th of June 2011.  Graham Power and I will be in the USA in 2 weeks time to visit some ministry partners and speak at various events in Jacksonville, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Then we'll be back in the USA in June for the Global Day of Prayer conference and the Global Day of Prayer itself.

So, please keep an eye on this site for more details as they unfold. Please also keep Mark and his team in your prayers as they prepare the book for its American release.

Hard work and utopia - a personal confession

I found this quote deeply challenging. I have so often fallen for the individualist, consumerist, hedonistic culture that pervades the first world.

Like so many others, I secretly believe that somehow I can gain happiness, prosperity, and good will without sacrifice and hard work. Indeed, living for others takes courage and discipline. Looking out for the needs of others and choosing to deny your own is a deliberate choice - it is costly.

We are not asked to subscribe to any utopia or to believe in a perfect world just around the corner. We are asked to be patient with necessarily slow and groping advance on the road forward, and to be ready for each step ahead as it become practicable. We are asked to equip ourselves with courage, hope, readiness for hard work, and to cherish large and generous ideals.

- Emily Greene Balch

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

What do you do when your heart is broken?

This morning as I was waiting for a meeting to start I was watching the people outside the window going about their morning activities.

One interaction broke my heart. I saw a young man (perhaps in his mid 20's) with two small children. The little girl could be no more than 2 years old and her brother looked about a year older than her. The father arrived carrying the little girl and holding the little boy's hand. A car was waiting for the three of them. I assumed it was the children's grandmother - an older woman. As the young man approached he opened the door, helped the two children onto the back seat. Then he got into the front passenger seat, turned his head away from the older woman and sank down in the chair. He looked distraught, depressed, beaten by life.

I wondered what events had led to this moment? Had his wife left him? Is he in some form of crisis?

My heart broke for him and for those two little children. I'm sure they could see and sense the unease in their father. What would this day, this week, hold for their little lives.

As they drove off I prayed for them. I don't know what else I could do?

What do you do when your heart is broken by the pain of others? I'd love to hear your ideas and feedback.

Together with you in Christ,

Dion

Do you want a bigger bonus? Perhaps not! Money and performance.

Would you work harder, and do better work, if you were paid more?  I am guessing that most of us would answer 'absolutely'!

However, this great video by Daniel Pink (that deals with the research he did for his book 'Drive') suggests otherwise.  In short his research shows that the relationship between monetary reward and performance does applies differently to manual and cognitive tasks.  Persons who performed basic manual tasks did better work for higher rewards.  However, persons who performed cognitive tasks seemed to perform worse when presented with a financial incentive to do so!

In the video he suggests three alternative rewards that motivate better performance among skilled, technical, cognitive workers.

What do you think? I sure would love to have 'the question of money' taken off the table! If I had the freedom not to worry about money I guess I would be able to concentrate on doing better work.  How about you?

At last! A squarespace app for the iPad!

I love my squarespace blog!  I love the squarspace platform, and for some time time now I have loved the squarespace iPhone app!

In fact I have done quite a few posts to this blog from my iPhone. However, I need to say that entering long form text on an iPhone is quite frustrating.  I had tried using the iPhone app on my iPad but it just didn't work well.

I was so pleased to learn today that sqaurespace have finally launched a native iPad version of their blogging app!

Like the iPhone version you can add text, apply HTML formatting, upload images, manage posts and comments and check your statistics from the app.  And, using the iPad keyboard (and screen realestate) is fantastic!  I can see myself using it quite a lot.

The only annoying problem that I have encounter with both the iPhone and iPad apps for squarespace is that whenever I upload an image all of my text is LOST!  I have isolted the bug - if I want to upload an image with a post I need to first type out my post and upload only the text, then once it has been uploaded I need to go back to 'manage posts' and edit the post adding the image and republish it.  Then I need to follow that same step again in order to add tags and categories.  It is a little annoying, but it works well for getting my posts on line.

Now if only tumblr would release a native iPad application!!!

Got sins to confess? There's an app for that!

I enjoy Daniel Mosley's tweets and blog posts. He recently posted this post on the Catholic Church's use of an iPhone app to support the sacrament of reconciliation (confession and penance).

Please see his post here: http://danielmosley.posterous.com/got-sins-to-confess-theres-an-app-for-that

I thought this was a great idea at first glance! I am all for the Church finding contemporary methods (and tools) to reach and serve a much wider audience to aid faith, transformation and wholeness.

The Methodist Church in Britain has done something similar. See my post on this here: http://www.dionforster.com/blog/2010/5/17/methodist-church-launches-an-iphone-app-now-thats-missional.html

And, of course there are a myriad of 'ministries' and 'individuals' who have created tools and apps for devotion, news, encouragement or interaction. Some, like the two mentioned above are 'discipleship' tools to support believers, while others are evangelical tools to reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I would highly recommend that you read Tallskinnykiwi's post on evangelism in this space here: http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/tallskinnykiwi/2011/01/social-media-talk-at-lausanne-.html

Back to the confession app, I wonder if I would use it? Of course one major problem is that this sacrament is not part of my theological and spiritual tradition. So, that does cause me to value it a little less for the specific task it performs.

Let me ask, if you are from a tradition that applies this sacrament would you feel comfortable (or not) using such a tool? I'd love to hear why.

Also, are there any other tools or apps that you use, or know of, that you find as important in your faith and spiritual life?

Personally I use the Methodist app mentioned above, and I use the Olivetree Bible app daily on my iPhone and iPad.

Realistic elongation and your perfect day.

Work-Life balance is an important topic.  I hardly know a person who does not struggle with some aspect of it.  There are some who need the rest because they work too hard, and others who long for work to be able to pay their bills and meet their obligations.

In my own life I have constantly struggled with work-life balance.  The real misnomer in that is of course that work is part of life!  It is not as if I balance my work off against my life.  The two are one.  However, what I constantly battle with is finding a realistic rhythm that can sustain the needs of my family (and my own physical and ego needs) yet allow enough space and time for true and authentic life with my God, wife, children, and friends.  I never have enough time for deep prayer, uninterrupted and unhurried conversation with my wife and kids.  I seldom feel energized or free enough to truly be free for play.  Even when I am not working I am thinking about work.

I have some friends who strive for absolute freedom.  This is a wonderful desire, but I think that it could disconnect one from your what is realistically possible.  It is not possible to live one's life without making some measure of compromise towards the needs, desires and demands of others.  As a parent I have had to learn that my sleep patterns are less important than my children's sleep patterns.  As a husband I have had to learn that my mood and desire frequently need to give way to my wife's needs and mood.  As a citizen of a country I have had to learn that my will must sometimes take a back seat to the greater will of the people.

Realistic compromise is the name of game!  Now of course you don't want to compromise to such an extent that you never achieve what you want or need - I had a relative who died before he retired because he had planned to 'start living' when he had enough money to do so.  That is the opposite extreme.

Nigel Marsh (tip of the hat to my psychologist friend Phil Collier who pointed this talk out to me!), the author of the wonderful book 'Overworked underlaid' (no that is not a typo), presents this very informative TEDx Talk, in which he discusses the delicate balance between work and daily life.  He offers the following advice (well, at least this is what I gleaned from his talk as 'advice'):  

- Write out your ideal day.

- Then realise that it is unlikely that you will have that specific day too often.

- Then plan to 'live' the elements of that day over a realistic time span.

In other words plan a 'realistic elongation' of your ideal day!  By doing this you will have some plan to work towards that removes the pressure of having to have a perfect day, every day.  At the same time you should have measurable instances of blessing, freedom and unhindered choice.  Yet, you will also allow enough space to fit your life into the lives of others.  This concession is not only necessary, I believe that in the long term we shall find that we cannot simply live our lives for ourselves.  Some of the most rewarding experiences I've had in life are things that I would not necessarily have chosen for myself.  Yet, by 'giving' a little I have met wonderful people, learned new things and seen magnificent places.

What do you think?  How do you manage 'work life balance'?

The ministry of a chaplain in the contemporary missional Church

For the past 3 years I have been seconded by the Methodist Church of Southern Africa to serve as a Chaplain.  My chaplaincy has been to a number of organisations (which are all connected with the work and ministry of Graham Power, a prominent Christian Businessman and member of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa).

I have served as the Chaplain to the Global Day of Prayer, the Unashamedly Ethical movement, to two of the teams that helped to arrange the Third Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, and to the 2000 employees of the Power Group of Companies.

I often get asked what a Chaplain is, and of course what a Chaplain does!  In particular people seem to find the concept of 'corporate', 'industrial' or 'business' Chaplaincy quite interesting.  Most people are familiar with military Chaplains, prison Chaplains, and hospital Chaplains.

What is a Chaplain?  A little bit of theology and history.

Before I talk about what I do let me give a little bit of background to the concept of Chaplaincy.  Most scholars trace this history of Chaplaincy to St Martin of Tours, a 4th century Roman soldier who was convereted to Christianity.  He was stationed in the North of France and tradition tells of how he encountered a destitute man at the gate of the city of Amiens one day.  He was filled with compassion for the poor, naked, man and so took his sword and cut his Roman cloak (capella) in half and gave one half to the shivering man.  The legend further suggests that the poor man that he helpded later revealed himself as Jesus (similar to what we read in Matthew 24:34-36).  St Martin was later ordained and allowed to minister outside of the 'gathered Church' in places of great need.  He became known as the keeper of the bisected cloak (the capellanus) - from which we derive the name 'Chaplain'.

It is interesting to note that Martin and his cohorts spread throughout the country meeting the needs of people and establishing places of worship (which where known as Chapels, after those who birthed and nurtured them, the Chaplains).  The Chapel this came out of the ministry of the Chaplain, and not the other way around as it is commonly assumed.

Robert Jones writes in the Journal, Epworth Review:

Here then is the initial feature of chaplaincy, that it first addresses the acute need with practical care. Secondly, it goes to where people are without wating for them to come where we are....  Finally, this story says something to us about status, for at the moment of the inception of [St Martin's] ministry, Martin was still a lay person. He was later ordained... Chaplaincy has had the potential from the beginning to be a ministry of the whole people of God.

I have found this image very helpful in my own ministry.  I am one who is called to meet people at their point of need.  The 'world of work' is often a place of great struggle, hardship, and drudgery.  I have had wonderful opportunities to offer practical and spiritual care in the workplace. Second, I constantly strive to facilitate instances of worship (Chapels if you will).  Sometimes these are places (like the prayer room we have at our offices).  And at other times they are short momemnts either with groups of individuals - for example when I go out onto our building and construction sites to meet with our staff.  Most importantly I have attempted to 'extend' the office of Chaplain to numerous people in our company and in other companies and contexts.  We have numerous 'lay people' who are ministers in their own right, offering pastoral care, teaching, and mobilizing ministry.

What do I do as a 'corporate' or 'business' Chaplain?

My Chaplaincy is primarily characterised by service.  I'm sure that each Chaplaincy is unique in its character and form, attempted to meet the needs of the context in Christian love.

However, since I serve a Christian man, and serve in a Christian organisation, I have many wonderful opportunities for ministry.  Among other things I do the following:

• Offer counselling and care to our staff and their families.
• Lead prayer meetings and Bible study groups in and around the workplace.
• I develop and share materials on spirituality in daily life (prayer guides, daily reflections, ideas for ministry and service etc.)
• I oversee and assist in the ministry of The Global Day of Prayer internationally and perform the same function with the team in our Unashamedly Ethical Office.
• I oversee the management of our company's Corporate Social Investment and Charitable giving (we have a Charitable Trust for this purpose).
• I do executive coaching for some of our senior leadership (with a particular emphasis on work life balance, spirituality, personal calling etc.)
• I sit on numerous committees in the company that have an input into the wellbeing of our employees, that look after aspects of our decisions (particularly in regard to ethics and social responsibility).
• I travel to lead workshops and retreats on the book that Graham Power and I wrote together called 'Transform your work life: Turn your ordinary day into an extraordinary calling'
• I consult to individuals and companies who are serious about finding God's direction, guidance, and will for their lives and their resources.  I help to reshape both individuals and structures for greater significance in God's Kingdom.

Of course I perform a myriad of more mundane tasks that relate to budgest, meetings, planning, strategy, correspondance etc.

What is central to everything that I do as a Chaplain is the understanding that 'work can be worship' (Col 3.23).  And the little phrase I often use which says:

While some are called to pastor congregations, everyone is called to ministry.

I'd love to hear your ideas, feedback!  Do you do something similar?  Do you long to do something similar?  Have you got any creative ideas or inputs that could shape and form such a ministry?

Update on Friday, July 4, 2014 at 8:27AM by Dr Dion Forster

Today is the 4th of July 2014 - it has been 4 years since I first wrote my short reflection on the ministry of a chaplain and St Martin of Tours.  Today is the feast day of St Martin of Tours.  My life has changed somewhat since I wrote that.  I am sitting in Holland at the moment, working towards the completion of my second PhD at Radboud University in Nijmegen.  I am no longer a workplace chaplain.  Since January 2015 I am a full time academic - teaching Systematic Theology, Ethics and Public Theology at the University of Stellenbosch.  It is a wonderful privilege to serve the Church and the world in this way.

This year I had an article published in the academic journal, Koers, on ministry and faith in the world of work, and I am working on another article with my friend Dr Johan Oosterbrink for the journal 'In die skriflig' (a Festschrift for Prof Koos Lotter).  This article also focusses on faith and work.

My prayer is that we will see many more people awaken to the high calling of work, and like St Martin of Tours, that they would follow the call of Christ and serve Him and the world with their talents, time and treasure so that God's Kingdom of justice, mercy and peace may be established for all.

Today's 'Common Prayer' has a focus on St Martin.  The two quotes below were a great encouragement and blessing to me in devotions today.

Martin of Tours (d. 397)

Martin of Tours saw Christ in the face of the poor and in the commitment to nonviolence. He was born in what is now Hungary and as a young man was involuntarily enlisted in the Roman Army. Martin’s conversion to Christianity occurred after he met a beggar seeking alms. Without money to offer the man, Martin tore his own coat in half and gave one part to the beggar. The following night, Martin dreamed of Christ wearing half of his coat. Once Martin was baptized he resolved to leave the army because Christ called him to nonviolence. His superiors mistakenly saw his request as one of cowardice until Martin offered to face the front lines without weapons as a sign of Christian pacifism. Denied this offer, Martin spent time in prison. Afterward he joined the monastery at Solesmes and eventually served for ten years as bishop of Tours.

Here is the other quote from the end of the devotion:

Martin of Tours said, “I am a soldier of Christ; it is not lawful for me to fight.”

Prayers for Others

Almighty God, you are King of all creation. You created order out of chaos, and you call us to strive for the peace that is not like the peace empires bring. Teach us to drop the weapons we carry in our hands, in our hearts, and on our tongues. Enable us to be soldiers of yours who destroy the weapons of our oppressors with your grace. Amen.

With rich blessing in your work and ministry!

Dailyness - learning to live without need for constant excitement

My 4 year old son is a source of immeasurable blessing and joy!

This morning I had to be at work just before 6am so I didn't get to see him. So, just before Megie took him to school I phoned him - the first thing he said when he got on the line was 'daddy, when you get home tonight I want to ride my bicycle'!

Liam loves riding his bike with me! In part I think it is the excitement of gaining a new skill (he has only just learnt how to ride his bike), and in part it is the joy of the two of us spending time together.

However, I remember when my daughter was that way - she too loved to ride her bike! We spent countless hours riding up and down the street. Now that she is 11 years old riding her bike up and down the road with her dad is not quite as exciting as it once was! She prefers to leave that activity to her brother.

Life can be like that! The things that excite us today tend to loose their 'shine' with time. We become accustomed to them, we master them, they loose their initial challenge and attraction, and eventually they become part of our routine; they become mundane.

Every aspect of life is prone to this propensity towards becoming mundane or familiar.

From a neuroscientific point of view I know that in part this has to do with the body's attempt to become (and remain) as efficient as possible. It takes energy to generate excitement, to learn new things, and to be stimulated. The brain literally requires more energy to fire the synaptic junctions and activate the dopamine system that makes one interested in something (or someone), thus making you alert to the many new aspects and possibilities of such an encounter.

Relationships move form passionate lust to stable love. Shiny cars soon pale in comparison to newer, faster, models.... The list of 'exciting to ordinary' examples could go on and on!

In spiritual circles we call this tendency 'dailyness'.

A healthy spirituality is one that moves from the immaturity of seeking pleasure through excitement and exotic experiences, to one that allows you to enjoy and be blessed by everyday life.

Such a spirituality celebrates 'dailyness', it seeks out and finds the blessing and joy of the 'ordinary' aspects of one's life by training the senses to be alert to them; encouraging the mind to see simple things in the light of wonder, grace, and gratitude.

Hedonism is the enemy of a 'spirituality of dailyness'. It constantly seeks pleasure and gratification. In the West we have become obsessed with the pursuit of comfort and pleasure. So much so that many of our laws and economic systems are based on an ethical / moral philosophy called 'altruistic hedonism'. What that means is that we want to seek the maximum pleasure for the most number people. The point is that we have become a pleasure directed society.

When you first consider this you may ask 'So, what is wrong with wanting to make as many people as possible happy all the time?' Well, one obvious problem is that it is not sustainable! If we cannot learn to appreciate what we do have we will constantly seek more, and better, things. This consumerist attitude is behind many economic forces in western society. We will never be satisfied because 'happiness' will always be over the next hill or around the next corner. There will always be a desire for a bigger budget, a larger house, a faster car...

In the end we chase after those things that cannot bring fulfillment, and in the process we destroy others and the environment. In the process more and more of the earth's resources are consumed for unnecessary pleasures. Why should you have a car that can go at 200km/h when one that can do 100km/h is all that is required? I think you get the idea?!

So, for the last few days I have been consciously attempting to focus on 'blessed dailyness'. I am deliberately trying to find joy in, and celebrate, what I already have. I am making it a discipline to give thanks for what I have and to fight the urge to want what others have.

It has been a remarkable experience. I am realizing anew just how fortunate and blessed I am!

Have you every applied a similar discipline, or spirituality, to 'blessed dailyness' in your life? Have you got any experiences you would be willing to share? I'd love to hear from you! God bless, Just Dion (living each day to become more truly 'Dion the just')

Has your 3G iPad stopped working on Vodacom (firmware iOS 4.2.1)?

I've had quite a few people contact me about the problem described above.

It is quite easy to solve. It would seem that with the firmware upgrade the cellular data APN is deleted or changed.

So, all that you need to do is:

1. Go to 'Settings'.
2. Choose 'Cellular Data' on the top left.
3. Select 'APN settings' on the right.
4. Then under the APN heading delete any text that is there and replace it with the word: internet
5. Please notices that internet has a lowercase 'i', simply leave 'Username' and 'Password' blank.
6. Then simply scroll back in the setting menu using the arrows at the top (that saves your settings) and exit settings to the home screen.
7. Now I would suggest that you reset your iPad and it should connect again.

I hope that helps!

To be free

A powerful quote:

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others" (Nelson Mandela)

Here is a prayer from the Psalms:

"Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved" (Psalm 80.3)

Let's choose to truly live in freedom, rather than just to exist!

On War and American Christianity

“If I am close to being right about the place of war for sustaining the American difference I find that as a Christian I wish America as a nation was more “secular” and the Christianity of America was less American. Put differently I wish America was more like Europe. For I fear the Christianity of America, a Christianity that from a European perspective seems vital, is not capable of being a political challenge to what is done in the name of the American difference. In short, the great difficulty is how to keep America, in the proper sense, secular.”

Stanley Hauerwas, War and the American Difference (via invisibleforeigner)

A powerful quote indeed.  I met Stanley Hauerwas when I was doing some teaching at Duke in 2005.  He is a remarkable man - I am currently reading his autobiography 'Hannah's child: a theologians memoir'.  Wonderfully encouraging and very 'real'.  I mean it is real in the sense that it tells the story of someone who came to be a theologian by living an authentic life with courage, and writing and thinking what he believed.

The quote above is deeply challenging to me.  I have often wondered whether a life lived in Christ demands radical pacifism.  Does living under the authority of Jesus, the 'Prince of Peace', demand that we should be peacemakers to the exclusion of participating in any form of violence?  Does it mean that we should not defend ourselves, or come to the aid of others (particularly those who are defenseless)?

As a South African I underwent military training - it was compulsory for all males at the time.  It was a deeply challenging time for me.  I struggled with many aspects of the 'formation' required for military service.

When I read Hauerwas I am convinced that war is not the answer to difficult and complex problems.  It is powerful to achieve one's aims quickly.  However, it is most often the poorer persons in society who become the casualties in achieving the ideologies of the wealthy and the powerful.

Well, I'd love to hear your thoughts!