{"id":30981,"date":"2023-02-10T00:40:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T08:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=30981"},"modified":"2023-02-10T00:40:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T08:40:38","slug":"slow-fat-brained-or-fast-joyful-brained-christ-followers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/slow-fat-brained-or-fast-joyful-brained-christ-followers\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Fat Brained or Fast Joyful Brained Christ Followers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The educator in me has been struggling with church practices that are so focused on the analytical understanding [1]<\/a> of the word of God. Even though, most of the churches I have been in talk about the importance of relationships, how they interact with the scripture take the form of an expert talking at the non-experts. My pastor friends know that there needs to be meaningful relationships, so they create small groups or affinity groups around shared interests, but their longevity wanes. In their desperation to find a technic that gets their congregation more involved, they put the scripture on the screen, handout open outlines, all with the hope of achieving transformed lives. In the end, the majority of their congregants have slow fat Christian brains. They know the dos and don\u2019ts. They show up for various events, but few demonstrate deep transformation of character. I began wrestling with this issue in my Discovery Workshop with the exploration of the disconnect between various relationships in the extend church family. Those dedicated stakeholders applied their best analytics on how to create communities of transformation in their churches.<\/p>\r\n

Marcus Warner and Jim Wilder, in their book Rare Leadership:4 Uncommon Habits for Increasing Trust, Joy, and Engagement in the People You Lead,[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em> tackle the challenge of creating relationally connected church communities. This book blends neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and biblical practices [3]<\/a> to create a paradigm shift from reason and good choices [4]<\/a> to true transformation through identity and belonging.[5]<\/a> The authors introduce their model of leadership of \u201cshared joy\u201d as an alternative to \u201cimposed fear.\u201d [6]<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter one introduction explains the interconnection between fast thinking [7]<\/a> and the necessary skills for developing meaningful relationships with those who one leads. The authors give an overview of the characteristics of fast and slow thinking in terms of creating a transformation community. There is an explanation of RARE, <\/em>the four essential habits of a leader: <\/em><\/p>\r\n