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The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church decodes profound shifts and events taking place in the world today due to globalism, multiculturalism and technology, and introduces an original approach to ministry, church, and leadership known as The Third Culture.
Leadership Network asked author Dave Gibbons to share the inspiration behind his new book.
Why did you write this book?
I believe we're living in one of the greatest transitions in human history. Economically, culturally, politically, and spiritually the shift isn't about to happen; we're in the thick of it! I wrote this book to help leaders of for-profits and not-for-profits navigate these shifts artfully and effectively.
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Where did you get the idea?
A lot of it was forged from the pain of seeing loved ones not connecting to the church as we know it. The vision was clarified while living in Bangkok, Thailand with a dream team of men and women I adore.
Why a title like Monkey and the Fish?
It refers to an Eastern parable. The idea is to challenge people to reexamine fundamental assumptions of the evangelical movement, including erroneous interpretations that have made the church increasingly irrelevant in North America and the global village.
What's the big idea in your book?
That the art of leadership is, at the core, about adaptation. Learning to adapt to the culture and roles God calls you to is our life as followers of Jesus. You can do that with a series of three questions that will lead you to define strategic initiatives. It's not answers -- because answers can change -- but questions that can be laid over any culture that will lead you to the right solutions.
What are those questions?
One example is when you ask the question: "What is your pain?" This is counterintuitive to many assessment tools when it comes to finding direction and looking at who you are. Yet this is fundamentally one of the most important aspects to knowing how God may lead you toward a specific path or to a particular area of focus.
What new things do you write about in this book?
The book engages principles of leadership from an Eastern and Western perspective. Hence, it's more holistic and inclusive in its approach to leadership and organization.
Who is the book for?
It's for leaders: young and old, for-profit and not-for-profit, local or global! My hope is that readers discover the passionate need to creatively and innovatively adapt ourselves, our forms and our language to the cultures and domains God is calling us to love.
How have you applied some of the ideas in your church?
We describe Third Culture as the mindset and will to love, learn and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort. And there are many ways to adapt forms and language to connect with people from diverse cultures. One example of how we do it at Newsong is in the way we develop leaders. We used to focus on a mass production style of discipleship, mostly classroom style. Now because of Monkey and the Fish principles, we do a hybrid of an individual, highly customized discipleship process that includes larger classes.
What is your background?
I love discovering opportunities and catalyzing solutions. I do this with movement leaders in the domains of the arts, business, technology, the church and the non-profit world. I'm currently the CEO of Xealot, a global innovations and resource center for global leaders, CEO of YangDang, and the Lead Pastor of NewSong Global.
What can we look for next?
YangDang is an amazing technology that streams financial, human and knowledge capital. It's designed to be a unique tool for churches and non-profits to more efficiently and effectively engage the world! We have some of the best people from the NGO (non-government organization), church and technology world putting this together.
Dave Gibbons is the lead pastor of Newsong, a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-continental, multi-site church in inner-city Los Angeles, North Orange County, Irvine, and Bangkok. Future NewSong sites include Mexico City, London, New York City, and Seoul.
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