Karl Westerhof
What interests me: Books, babies, dogs,books, North Woods cabins, Liz my wife and Joe my son, organizational change, books, conflict management, community development, communication, discipleship, leadership, books... and did I mention that I love to read?
I've always loved Jesus, but in recent years that love has become so much more central in my life. Willard, Foster, Peterson, Chan and Wright, and the like have taken their places on my shelves along with Drucker, Collins, Heifetz, and Buckingham... I'm on the journey of learning how spiritual transformation happens in my life, and how I can become more like Jesus, my Savior, Teacher, Lord, and Friend.
I worked for the CRC in one way and another since the late 60s, and much of that experience was strongly shaped by being a child of the 60s. Race relations, justice, development, and social change were abiding interests. And the North Woods of Michigan.
Most recently I've been with World Renew (formerly CRWRC), the denomination's relief and community development agency. Our family lived in the Philippines while I worked as Asia Regional Director, and later I was Program team leader, coach to team leaders, and leader of the Advancement team. In semi retirement I'm working as coach for classis renewal in the CRC, and as outreach pastor for Grace CRC.
Posted in: Deacons Helping Deacons
Paul, How about something like this --
What if the revitalization of the CRC depends like never before on deacons to show us how to answer the urgent needs in our communities? What if now is the moment to mobilize the denomination to do the deeds which will provoke the questions to which the Gospel is the answer? Is this the time for pastors, elders and deacons to SHARE leadership together, gathering the specific gifts and callings, and shaping the leadership team to respond to opportunities. Deacons would have a high profile in this mix these days I think. I'd go so far as to say it might be a kairos moment for deacons.
Posted in: Valuing Visitors
Thanks for turning our attention to this challenge/ opportunity again, Norm! I do believe more and more classes are being proactive about restoring this practice and strengthening it so it really counts for something. I know of a few who are doing that, and I think some best practices are developing! I hope we see some good dialog here about what can happen !
Posted in: Are You Connecting With Community?
I did an urban seminary internship for two years, and have been active in race and community development professionally for 45 years. I go to an urban church that sits in the middle of a community of high needs, and we have a long standing relationship with John Perkins. We also have a community house next door where some congregation members live to give expression to our commitment to be the presence of Jesus in the neighborhood. We have a food pantry, and we are very concerned about the gentrification happening in our parish. Ive talked with Lupton, and read Toxic Charity, as well as When Helping Hurts. Ive read the Bible too. So why is it so very hard for me to give up my old assumptions and paradigms about. helping, and why do I persist in talking the new ABCD lingo while doing things pretty much the old way? Why do the old habits and patterns and programs continue to shape my behaviors? it's like my racial attitudes. I can talk the talk, but rooting out the old junk in my heart is way harder than root canals. Here's what 'Ive been thinking about....... 1. I LOVE my comfort zone. 2. being a change agent is difficult, lonely, unpopular. 3. Changing my own behavior is way hard when I'm functioning in a context packed with traditions, opinions, policies, habits, and procedures that are in tension with radical development theory and practice. 4. Taking neighbors seriously and listening to them and genuinely respecting and nurturing their emerging leadership takes long and demands persistance and tenacity, grace, patience, humility. I prefer fast and thrilling. 5. Working with a diverse and heterogeneous population is inefficient. It's much more efficient to design a program, get it funded, and roll it out. 6. The task is overwhelming. Kids are being lost to the streets at a rate that far outpaces anything our little local efforts could possible address. Even if I made a radical change in my own behavior, I'd still be making barely a dent. 7. You get my drift. Can you sort of get a feel for what my New Year's resolution might be? What if following Jesus more closely outweighed all my wants and opinions? What a journey I'd be on! Time for transformation of my mind. Again. Pray for it.
Posted in: Letting Go
thanks, Norm! Valuable antidotes to pride, and my hidden conviction that of course I'm indispensable.
Posted in: Some Observations: Do You See What I See?
Hungry for hope! Thanks to you who posted comments! It sure is easy to focus on the problems, isn't it? Yes, we have work to do to strengthen the CRC, and even more important, yes we have work to do as we listen to the guiding of the Spirit and watch for the opportunities, and follow in faith and obedience and joy. May God grant that we do that together - at synod this week, in our congregations and classes, and in our personal lives. More and more I look to my congregation to be a community that facilitates my listening, my obedience, my joy. I need them. And our congregations need each other.
Posted in: Some Observations: Do You See What I See?
Thank God. The Spirit is working. I love getting good news.
Posted in: Classis Is Responsible for [Fill in the Blank]
Thanks, Del,
Yes I agree there is a new wind blowing, and more and more classes are hoisting their sails to catch it (him). You are right that it is so easy to be consumed with the routines, and in fact I've been struck by how many classes have actually gone through a renewal process only to slide back within a few years into the routines - if no one pays attention. Prayer is an important way to "hoist our sails", and it's the way we can listen together to the leading of the Spirit. That's an exciting opportunity for the Church.
Posted in: Healthy Classis – How to Get There, Or at Least Close
NOTICE! If you are the person who called my office asking to talk to me about this blog, please call again. I am not able to return your call because the message was garbled in transmission. Thanks.
Posted in: Peer Group Spurs Classis Renewal
Yes! I just heard another classis renewal story today, and the formation of a leadership team that was characterized by high trust and respect, high commitment and accountabilty, and just plain enjoyment in being together, played a vital role in the story.
Posted in: Does Your Classis Collaborate or Compete?
Paul, I know there are risks associated with the dynamics of cluster-like groups, but it sounds to me as though this meeting is serving a really important purpose of relationship building and brainstorming, building community that can undergird and support the classis when it does its formal business. Hurrah for you!
The building of strong investment in the "common good" rather than the competitive spirit also sounds good to me. I sometimes think that in areas where there is a pocket of CRC folk, (the clumps you speak of), and overall CRC church attendance may be declining, the temptation to get competitive is stronger than ever. We become afraid when we feel our pool shrinking, and one powerful antidote is strong and healthy community among the leadership. Hurrah for you!
The temptation to identify with my own leadership role, and feel valued as a person depending on my "success" - that's a huge temptation in my experience. If you leaders are meeting that head on and helping each other to deal with it, I say Hurrah for you!
The challenges and the opportunities are so big, and our classical networks are so frail, we really shouldn't take time or energy to compete. You are building networks. Hurrah for you!!
PS Wherever there are clumps, I suppose there are Klompen.
Posted in: After Watching OF GODS AND MEN
Neil, you said, "We come together to listen to what Christ, our Lord, is inviting us to be and do. In other words, our life together lived with deep attention to the “breathing together the Breath of Life” elevates us and in Christ unites us."
I love this. It captures a sense of the disciplines of common life, and reminds me that my life in Jesus is importantly a CORPORATE life, not an individual one. Maybe most important it reminds me that the One who breathes life into me is the one who lives in me by his life-giving Breath. And so I become more like him.
The dimensions of our life post Easter are so nicely captured. And you've whetted my appetite for the movie!
Thanks!
Posted in: Going to the Mall for Christmas?
This gives me goosebumps every time! I like to think it's a foretaste of heaven, when the community of Jesus breaks out into song any time anywhere, and Holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and every pot will be holy to the Lord, and every mall and food court will be a holy place of singing and fellowship.