We’ve Never Done it That Way Before…
How many times have we heard that? In fact, we hear it so often that we often call it “The seven dying words of the church!” We need to look ahead and reinvent to stay current, right? Well maybe. But sometimes it might be good to look back and see if you have done it that way before!
I had an interesting experience just today. In a staff meeting at our church, our associate pastor was sharing the application of our vision statement. As he was sharing, I was rummaging around in my computer and came up with a template from ten or so years before. It was a perfect match for his vision template, down to the same number of steps. I believe he remarked, “Well gee, why did I go to all that effort!” I assured him it was worth it for a number of reasons, but it drove home a point to me – sometimes, we HAVE done it that way before!
I’ve been around Converge and Converge National for so long that I have grown a bit jaded. I can look back at a whole series of initiatives for outreach and discipleship. Double in a Decade, Acts 29 (before the organization), Changing the World, my own Retool, and probably more, all implemented with great effort and fanfare, all to be swept aside in favor of the “next big thing”. Interestingly, our own current national church health team has been charged with developing the next approach. I’m waiting to see just what it will look like.
Sometimes it pays to stop and look back and ask, “Have we done it that way before?” Sometimes, the language and implementation steps might change, but as a wise old king once said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” What can we learn from the past that we can apply to the future?
Recently, I added a commentary set to my digital study suite. It was a commentary by the early church fathers tied to books of the Bible. I waited with eager anticipation to what these second and third-century saints said to say about a passage that would open up a whole new set of means. What did I find? They said the passages pretty much said what we thought they did today! Sometimes we want the latest and greatest as a substitute for the simple hard work of obeying the Scriptures. Sure, I’ll be happy to come to your church and show you the Vision Frame; it’s a great way to organize your thinking and approach. But in the end, it all comes down to, …“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”. Luke 9:23. If you’re trying to find the “next step” give us a call and we can help…and it might not be new at all!