flict. Leaders can only tolerate so much discontent. And even a little discontent sounds loud when you’re in the hot seat. So when things heat up, leaders circle the wagons, which is precisely the wrong thing to do. Instead, leaders need to sin boldly. Lead boldly. Look at any successful enterprise and you can be certain that someone, at some point, took a huge risk along the way. Nothing great is accomplished without risk. An article in Fortune magazine noted: “The trouble with Steve Jobs: Likes to make his own rules, whether the topic is computers, stock options, or even pancreatic cancer. The same traits that make him a great CEO drive him to put his company, and his investors, at risk.” But risk is risky, and change is simply too difficult and painful. Most
organizations won’t change until they’re desperate, like the alcoholic who won’t go to rehab until she or he hits rock bottom.
So what will give us the courage to take those risks? This takes us back to the beginning. Churches won’t adapt to the new realities until they care as much about reaching those outside as appeasing those inside.
The world is hell-bent on destruc- tion in countless ways. It is desper- ately in need of a church that offers a way of peace, truth, compassion and hope, as opposed to the world’s way of power, materialism, exploitation and violence. It needs leaders willing to risk comfort, status and economic security for the life of the world. It needs a church that looks less like the Pharisees’ religion and more like Jesus’ ministry. It needs a church that
will sacrifice everything for those outside: buildings, budgets, sacred cows, traditions, structures. It needs a church that so loves the world, she’d be willing to die for it. So here’s the plan. New policy. Every decision made by staff, council and committees is made on behalf of those not yet here. Every sermon choice, every hymn or song choice, every building and grounds choice, every spending choice is made with outsiders in mind.
When we become a church for the world, the outsider, when the pain of staying the same (and dying of irrelevance) for those already here exceeds the pain of changing (and sacrificing old ways) for those not yet here, we will be the church for which God incarnate came to this earth and gave his life. M
through our faith LifeBalance
Reflecting on wellness
SM is an 8-week curriculum
offering a congregational-based approach to wellness education.
To learn more, contact Kelly Fitzgerald at 847/390-1432 or
at
Kelly.Fitzgerald@
LSSI.org.
1001 E. Touhy Avenue, Suite 50 Des Plaines, Illinois 60018
www.LSSI.org
February 2012 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52