In March I was honored to be a part of a small group
leadership gathering in Dallas. As a member of the Steering Committee for the
gathering I was asked to facilitate a discussion regarding ways of building and
growing trust among ourselves as ministry workers from different organizations.
One word that popped into my mind relevant to trust building was coalescence. Coalescence can most easily be illustrated,
if you think scientifically, as “the process by which two or more droplets,
bubbles or particles merge during contact to form a single daughter droplet,
bubble or particle.” For my simple mind, coalescence is most easily defined as
the process by which two separate entities grow closer together until they
ultimately become one.
I find this to be particularly interesting in my capacity
both as the Rabbi of Devar Emet Messianic Synagogue and
as the current President of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations.
Developing trust between individuals within religious organizations is critical
to ministry effectiveness. But trust grows slowly, demanding accountability,
transparency and clarity of understanding between people, and yet is easily
lost. Without these three values held closely, honestly and passionately among an
entity’s constituents, “togetherness” can never be more than a superficial reality
for any organization. Without these values an entity will inevitably and easily
suffer division and chaos, and ultimately dissolution.
Patrick Lencioni in his book The Advantage speaks
of four disciplines required for a healthy organization:
1)
Building Cohesive Leadership Teams
2)
Creating Clarity in Purpose and Policy
3)
Over-Communicating that Clarity
4)
Reinforcing that Clarity
Demanding real accountability, transparency and clarity
from each member of a team, organization or communal entity is critical if the
organization is to be healthy and to function in the way it’s supposed to. If
these three values are not being carefully adhered to, trust will be diminished
and ultimately lost, regardless of whether that entity is your local
congregation or an international association like the UMJC.
Our faith in Messiah Yeshua demands that we live lives
before one another of accountability, transparency and clarity. I agree it’s
not easy, but Messiah Yeshua never promised us more than an execution stake in
this world, so learning to build genuine trust with one another seems a small
price to pay to living as effective members of the Messianic Kingdom.
Forward for Messiah,
Kirk Gliebe
Rabbi & Director
