Two of the industries that are behind the curve of our culture are also, in my mind, two of the most important. I am talking about the American Church and the American Education system. I know that there are a lot of different things going on all over the world, and I seriously think that we have a ton to learn from all of that. However, I am much more familiar with what is going on locally and I have only the ability to influence that. This video is about American Education but it doesn't take much effort to apply it to the church as well. (It's a little long, but totally worth it! Trust me!)
So if we are behind, we have 2 options... or 3 I guess. The first one, that I want to avoid at all costs, would be to just stay behind the culture and become voiceless and irrelevant. If we do nothing, this is the road we will be on. The other 2 options are to try to slowly change the current system/congregations or to start a new form of the industry with the new DNA in place. If we don't do enough, we are in danger of becoming like the first option, and if we try to do to much we can predict the future wrong or be ahead of our time. I believe we are called to lead the culture and to create culture so to be ignored or to be unimportant to the world around us is to fail. So what can we do to change the culture of our institutions and change the culture of the world? And how can we create new ways of being the education or church industry, while creating the DNA of future?
3 comments:
We aren't just along for the ride.
We were created in the image of our creator. I think that means we are supposed to be able to be creative. So...what gives?!
There seems to be a movement to adopt best practices from industry into how churches are run. While that may stave off the inevitable, it doesn't change the course. Except maybe when you look at the most innovative and successful companies...the ones that celebrate and encourage the creativity of their people. That isn't a practice per se as a way to be.
It doesn't make for objective performance measures and the like, so the church just might have to rely on something more ethereal...like the Holy Spirit. Hmm...
good points matt, we can learn a lot from other organizations that are successful, but we also have to create new ways of doing things that fit our mission and the culture that immediately surrounds us. The world is getting much smaller very quickly, but our neighborhoods must get smaller at the same time. Small is the new big! We just need to create a system that honors that reality!
Post a Comment