Something Worth Saving

"If we are to renew, it is because we have a vision of something worth saving or doing." (John Gardner)

My early morning thinking is focused upon the need for organizational change if the church (not Church) is going to survive the present storm of decline.

I don't want to change - really - because like everyone else, I'd rather leadership be easy or at least predictable. But it is neither and I am not one to settle down to a "normal" life, so change is called for and to be welcomed.

We need no longer to bugle the necessity for change; we must go about spending our resources leading the necessary changes required to see our churches renewed in the Spirit for community transformation.

A church the size of ours demands tremendous effort just to get the mundane done, say nothing of keeping focused on the actions required to see change that will bring us to a new place of systemic growth and spiritual vitality. I suffer with a three-pronged tension:

1. God's view on His Church, and the way the church that meets in our facility really is, and how to close the gap between the two.

2. The manifold expectations of the people I lead to either go back to the past, or zip ahead to the fast lane of a yet-to-be-determined "exciting" future, and the subtle pressure that quietly asks for things to stay the same, thus avoiding the pain change will inevitably bring (futile).

3. And, my own expectations/perceptions and how to process them in a way that can be communicated to those whom I lead and thus realizing a new, fresh, bold, invigorated church that will attract people from all walks of life to the New Life found in Jesus Christ.

I know we have something worth saving here and there is something we all can do to to help save it. Now to figure out what all that is and get about doing it!