Friday 18 November 2016

Keeping up with the Spirit



Conceptually stuck systems cannot become unstuck simply by trying harder.
Ed Friedman - A failure of nerve

It's much easier to tweak programmes, to step up on strategy and to put more effort into delivering on expectations than to step aside, take time out and imagine a new future.
It's easier to work harder at what we know than to embrace what is uncertain and requires learning new skills and, crucially, a different mindset.
On Path of Renewal, we're confronting that with varying degrees of boldness because we recognise an opportunity to redefine church in a post-Christendom era, we have discerned something of God's spirit ahead of us and, quite frankly, we have seen that our current practice and structures are not sufficient for the age we now inhabit. So why would tinkering with those practices or rearranging those structures when the premise on which they were built (a Christendom era) no longer prevails?
What, though, of those for whom the old ways do still seem to be working? What of those wedded to a system, with the resources to keep things running for some time to come, who see no need to do things any other way and, for whom, initiating any radical changes would result in loss, whose immediate context does not mirror the rapidly changing culture with which others are grappling?
Our mission is not to change how others "do church" but to faithfully listen to the Spirit's leading where we are. To listen to and follow God into the places we are called to serve and be served and to continue listening for the voice of God on the fringes and in the heart of the communities we inhabit.
And, in doing that, to share our stories, to gather evidence of God at work and the divine invitation to get involved, to persist in the face of obstacles spurred on by God's affirmation of our calling to be faithful. To learn lessons that may be shared but, first of all, to be obedient to and shaped by God at work in our lives and in our context.

John 14:25-27
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you. You have helped chase away blues I had this morning.

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