And A Little Child Shall Lead Them… August 3, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Uncategorized.add a comment
This is for any and all of us who think we can’t make a difference… and often don’t even try.
Behavior Modification or Transformation? August 3, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Church Leadership, Congregational Life, Mission of the Church.Tags: Christian discipleship, Mission & Purpose
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Some comments at the School of Congregational Development highlight an incredibly important distinction. “We’ve heard all this before. The problem is putting it into practice.” “You don’t have to talk me into thinking this is important, tell me ways to make it happen.” “Doing this stuff is a lot harder than talking about this stuff.” “What I hear today isn’t a vision, but a dream. We are painting a lovely picture of what we wish the world — the church — could be. But we haven’t honestly explored what it will take to turn it into a reality.”
Don’t hear this as a criticism — it is meant as a statement of where we are, but not where we want to be – and not where we are because we’re not good people doing good work. I don’t feel there is much value in blaming or pointing fingers. We have a system that pushes us to focus on short-term behaviors instead of fundamental change. We promote behavior modification at the expense of transformation. The distinction is one of superficial change over radical, or deep, change. It is well to remember that our mission is not “making nominal believers of Jesus Christ for the behavior modification of the world.”
