During the second session yesterday morning, Gary Hamel challenged the way we think about church leadership in our rapidly changing world. His first question was, "Are you changing as fast as the world around you? Are you part of the vanguard or the old guard?" He discussed data that shows an increasingly negative cultural perception of Christians, particularly "born again" and "evangelical" Christians. He states his fear that "Church today has become a weekly convocation for the converted and content," and that we are "losing market-share due to apathy and antipathy."
Then, just about the time his talk was starting to feel depressing, he says, "Maybe we should be grateful that so many people are no longer willing to just go through the motions." In other words, it's not necessarily a bad thing that "cultural Christianity" is dying off and fewer and fewer people are willing to play church. This got my attention.
He then went on to describe the pace of change as hypercritical and exponential, observing that the future is less and less an extrapolation of the past. Then he said, "the world is becoming more turbulent faster than organizations are becoming more resilient." Our visions became strategies that became policies that turned into procedures which became habits. He says this is why "success is a self-correcting phenomenon." ;-) Hamel says, "Coming up with a vision is not the difficult thing, reinventing that vision from the root and branch is." WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE WAY WE CHANGE.
As if I wasn't already busy working through that, he began giving "points" after this!
1. Overcome the temptation to take refuge in denial. He says, "we miss the future, not because it's unknowable but because it's unpalatable." Dang! That one stuck somewhere deep in me. How often do we refuse to prepare for the future because we don't like what we see coming? How ridiculous does that sound when we really examine it?! Hamel says, "Face the facts. Question your beliefs about practices. Listen to the renegades and dissidents."
2. Generate more strategic options. "The job of every leader is to make sure change sounds more fun that staying put." I smiled when I heard this one. Cornerstone is lead by someone like this. Mike never uses the word "challenge" or "obstacle" but "opportunity." Hamel says those truly committed to effective change must develop a process that is open and participative.
3. Deconstruct what you already believe. Ask yourself, "What hasn't changed in the last 3-4-5 years? Why?" If the answer isn't because it's still the best practice, then do something about it. The quote of the day may have been "The longer you're down in the trenchese, the easier it is to mistake the edge of your rut for the horizon!"
In his closing remarks, Hamel asks the question, "How unconventional does God expect you to be?" Again. Dang! If I'm to become more like Him, then I have to guess I'm to be pretty radically unconventional. Hamel challenges, "Are you more committed to redemption and renewal than to practices/policies of your church?" Of course I want to say, "well, duh," but then I examine my own life and how easily flustered I am by changes ... :-/ The last note I made on this session was something Hamel pointed out. "The early church was spiritually powerful, but institutionally weak." I'll be working over that one and what it means for me today for a while to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment