Shawn Coons

12 Mar 2012

Africa is not a country

Say the word 'Africa' and many people will either think of this:

or possibly something along these lines:

Well, this weekend I was reminded again of how monolithically many people in our society view Africa. I was speaking with a representative from a private company whose business is sending students from around the world to other countries for educational purposes. This person was specifically looking for families to host students from abroad in their homes for several weeks during the summer.

So I was asking the representative some questions about the program, and one of the questions I asked was if they had any students who come from countries in Africa. Here is the reply I received:

"No. We only have students whose families can afford it."

After I picked my jaw up off the floor here's how I responded,

"Really? You don't think that there are any families out of the one billion people in Africa who might be able to afford your program? Do you honestly believe that every single student on the second largest continent in the world comes from a family that lives in poverty? Are you telling me that every one of the fifty different countries in Africa is devoid of anyone other than the people you see on the latest 'Save the Children' commercial?"

Ok, that's not really what I said. It was more along the lines of:

"I'm sure there are plenty of families in Africa that could afford it."

Several days later I still can't let go of this conversation. Now, I have no desire to single out this person or this company, because versions of this conversation happen all the time. Statements that demonstrate stereotypes, prejudices and gross misunderstandings of "those poor Africans" are commonplace and routine in our society and in our media.

But just because they are commonplace doesn't mean they aren't damaging.

7 Feb 2012

10 ways being a geek prepared me for ministry

Landon and Jan posted in the "10 ways being a <blank> prepared me for ministry" meme. So I thought I'd do the same. Here are ten ways that being a geek prepared me for ministry.

1. Imagining new realities is second nature to geeks. Some days it's hard to envision a world where we all treat each other as God intended. Fortunately, geeks have +3 to imagination. We spend part of our time in the real world and the rest of it envisioning new worlds. My imaginary passport has stamps in it from Perth, Azeroth, Middle Earth, Pliocene Earth, Barsoom, Federation Space, Tatooine, and numerous parralel and alternate universes.

2. Even if you do everything right, things may not go your way. We can make the best plans for a new program, a sermon, or a Session meeting and still have things go wrong. Just like your plate-armored Paladin should be able to take that low-level skeleton but rolling a d20 saving throw and getting a 1 says otherwise.

3. Don't feed the trolls. The church, just like everywhere else, has people who have no interest in anything other than taking your time and making you angry. Don't try to "win" against them. Smile, nod and tell them Jesus loves 'em.

4. Trekkies are like fundamentalists. Hardcore Trekkies Fundamentalist Christians have pieced together an alternate universe from bits and pieces of Star Trek Biblical canon. This universe goes far beyond what the creator ever intended.

5. Geek conventions are like Reformation Sunday. People dress up in funny costumes and celebrate a niche identity that outsiders can't identify with.

6. Geeks realized the impact of the internet a long time ago. Connecting with congregation members and ministry colleagues online feels a lot like hanging out on BBSs and Usenet groups 20 years ago.

7. Geeks can wear one of their many black t-shirts to an emerging/hipster worship service.

8. Geeks realize that differences are good, even if someone is really different. Geeks, by definition, are different and somewhat on the margins. But World of Warcraft geek and Magic the Gathering geek have no business making fun of the other for being different. This is exactly how church should be. We don't have to see eye to eye on everything (like homosexuality or whether Picard>Kirk) to be in ministry together.

9. Role playing comes easy. In various role-playing games I've been a: magic user, druid, lorekeeper, starship captain, jedi, mutant racoon, post-apocalytpic car driver, and giant robot pilot. In ministry I've been a: preacher, caregiver, plumber, computer tech, peacemaker, lawbringer, administrator, and rebel.

10. Your worth is not determined by others. Geeks have long endured scorn from those who would like to label them as 'less than' because of their passions and dedications. Eventually (hopefully) geeks learn to value themselves as pretty darn great regardless of what anyone else tells them. Likewise, the church spreads a message the no one's worth should be the product of societal norms and pressures, but that each person is pretty darn great because they are a child of God.

1 Feb 2012

The Reality of Parenting

Adam Walker Cleaveland wrote on his blog about trying to adjust to a new job and a new son at the same time. Either one of these is a huge change that would throw most of us for a loop, but trying to do them both at the same time is huge.

In this post he asked some good questions that sound real familair to me:

How do I find time for myself when coming home now means that Sarah is more than willing to relinquish the baby into my care so she can nap, get some work done or just relax? How do I spend the time I feel is necessary to read, study and reflect deeply on my ministry when I need to find more Sunday School teachers, continue to learn how this church does things from potlucks, to expense reports, and pastoral care visits? Where do Sarah and I find the time to sit with each other, catch each other up on our days, and cultivate our marriage when we’re both exhausted at the end of the day and she’s ready for bed, and I’m ready to get in some “Adam time” by doing things like writing this blog post?

Here is my answer:

You don’t.

At least not anywhere close to as much as you used to and not in many of the ways that you used to. That time for yourself is gone. I’ve been looking for it for the last seven years since my son was born and haven’t found it yet. I haven’t found it as he’s got older, or in a different job, or when our daughter came into our family.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t miss it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t ask the exact same questions on a regular basis that you are asking. But good parents sacrifice a huge part of themselves, their life and their time when they have children. More than they ever imagined.

IMO, that’s the dirty little secret of parenting.

But here’s the other secret that I am still discovering…

…it’s worth it.

29 Dec 2011

What do Netflix, GoDaddy, and the church have in common?

Earlier this year Netflix made a number of business decisions and reversals of those business decisions that made a lot of its customers mad. Many were so mad that they stopped doing business with Netflix. In the past week GoDaddy announced it's support for the Stop Online Privacy Act. Their statement of support led to tens of thousands of GoDaddy's customers taking their business to GoDaddy's competitors. GoDaddy later reversed its position on SOPA (somewhat), but it apparently was too little too late and the exodus continues.

Both of these companies made decisions that they knew would make a significant number of their customers mad.

Both of these companies thought that the fallout wouldn't be too bad.

Both of these companies were wrong.

And it remains to be seen to what extent each company will recover.

What I find interesting is that neither one of these companies changed it's core service or product. At the end of the day you could still get movies from Netflix and you could still get web hosting from GoDaddy. What did change was how those services were provided and just as important, a message was sent as to how much each company valued its customers. I'd also be willing to bet that the demographics of these lost customers tended to be from younger generations.

I believe that the church has gone the Netflix/GoDaddy route and made a number of decisions that have caused millions of customers* (especially younger generations) to bring their business elsewhere. If you want some numbers to back this statement up, take a look at Carol Howard Merritt's recent Christian Century post.

Like Netflix and GoDaddy, it's not that these lost customers don't want what the church has to offer. Millions of young adults and others want spirituality, to be in touch with the divine, a deeper meaning to life, to give themselves to something great and worth dying for. But for decades the church has been making a number of bad decisions about how we provide our services and what we think of younger generations that have made many people mad and driven them away from the church.

And like GoDaddy and Netflix it remains to be seen to what extent the church can and will recover.

*I know that there are all sorts of problems with making analogies between the business world and the church. Every analogy is imperfect and flawed, some more than others. But even imperfect analogies can be helpful. There was a man once who compared the kingdom of God to all sorts of things that it wasn't, and some people have found that guy's teachings of value.