Musings: Notes From My Daybook

How does change occur? Slowly. . . . or rapidly.

How do people change? What about organizations? What about churches that have been in engaging in life together for years? Does it come with a flash of light? Does a new day dawn with the sudden introduction of single, transformative new idea?

I like what Alan Roxburgh points out in his new book called Missional Leader.

"We have heard about the rising percentage of severely overweight North Americans and the obesity crisis that results in multiple diseases and high death rates. In response, people buy a huge number of diet books to help them lose weight. There is nothing wrong with the advice that many of these books offer, and the programs and regimens recommended are sound. Despite all the diet books and programs, obesity is not going away but is instead getting worse. Why? Because the books and their programs don't address the deeper cultural issues that make eating certain foods the norm, that shun exercise, and that encourage a sedentary lifestyle. Something deeper than diet books and programs is required to change the situation. A cultural transformation is needed."

In part, I think that Roxburgh is saying that we have got to think about ourselves in new ways. I am not merely the sum of my actions. Nor is a congregation going to be different by doing a new program. Rather, change occurs when a congregation (or me) embraces a new self understanding. And Roxburgh says that comes by reworking the narratives that make up the DNA of a congregation.

Every church has a certain personality. In fact, we are drawn to a congregation, or perhaps, pushed away, by the personality of a particular church. The personality of a congregation is rooted in the multitude of shared experiences. Or more accurately, a congregation's culture finds meaning in the way those shared experiences are remembered and retold by those who make up the congregation.

Experiences take on a life of their own. How they are interpreted and retold makes a big difference. That is why something similar can happen to two different people and they can have very different reactions. They have had the same experience, but they have interpreted it very differently.

Part of leadership's role is the way in which the story of a congregation is told. And even more important is the constant practice of telling the Christian story--the story that continues to transform and redeem our lives.

I remember well the woman that I once counseled whose life was slipping into chaos with a man who abused her. She heard and reheard and slowly, after much repetition, embraced the story of Jesus. She lived and belonged to a church that helped her hear the story of Jesus and lived out the story of Jesus by the strong sense of community. Over time, she became a very different person.

She was changed.

I guess that change isn't so radical after all, but I think that is very deliberate. As deliberate as God's intentions in sending Jesus.

It comes with appropriating God's vision for interpreting life. And it comes with a constant hunger for God's story to be lived out in the life of God's people.