10/28/2011
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Church Transformation
As we continue to live into the new world of the Exodus Project, I am constantly reminded that change is both loss and opportunity. We have to face with honesty our sense of loss in the known & comfortable. We have to embrace with courage the opportunities before us. I am convinced that the greatest days for the Christian movement in America and in the United Methodist Church (and yes, in the Central Texas Conference!) are before us. Living in the wilderness is not easy, but it is ripe with possibility and opportunity.
Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I was in Nashville at the United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) Board meeting. (Today, I am at Southwestern University for a Board meeting, and tomorrow I’ll be in Hillsboro for both a Kairos Team meeting and Conference Core Leadership Team meeting. I leave Sunday for the Council of Bishops meeting in Lake Junaluska.) In President Neil Alexander’s (the superb President and Publisher of the UMPH!) address, he lifted a number of quotes on change. I pass them on for your reflection.
- “If you do not change direction, you will end up where you are headed.” -Lao Tzu
- “The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.” -Maya Angelou
- “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.” -John Wooden
- “It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.” -Charles Darwin
Change in theory is great. In practice it often evokes a sense of loss, anxiety and grief. Change for Christians thrusts us back into trust of God and each other! To paraphrase Paul, Christ who has begun a good work among us will bring it to completion.
As we continue to live into the new world of the Exodus Project, I am constantly reminded that change is both loss and opportunity. We have to face with honesty our sense of loss in the known & comfortable. We have to embrace with courage the opportunities before us. I am convinced that the greatest days for the Christian movement in America and in the United Methodist Church (and yes, in the Central Texas Conference!) are before us. Living in the wilderness is not easy, but it is ripe with possibility and opportunity.
Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, I was in Nashville at the United Methodist Publishing House (UMPH) Board meeting. (Today, I am at Southwestern University for a Board meeting, and tomorrow I’ll be in Hillsboro for both a Kairos Team meeting and Conference Core Leadership Team meeting. I leave Sunday for the Council of Bishops meeting in Lake Junaluska.) In President Neil Alexander’s (the superb President and Publisher of the UMPH!) address, he lifted a number of quotes on change. I pass them on for your reflection.