In his book The New Leadership Literacies, Bob Johansen
tells the story of American railroads in the 19th century. Telegraph companies came to the railroad
owners--ambitious people we often refer to as “robber barons” --and asked if
they could string telegraph wires along the tracks. The railroad people thought this would help
them keep up with their trains and agreed.
If they had been able to “see beyond the edges” of their business, they
could have done this themselves and controlled wired communications. They could have become AT&T! Why did they miss this opportunity? Johansen writes:
“They missed it because they loved trains too much. Also, their centralized organizational structure
made it hard to see to the edges of their own businesses. Shape-shifting organizations will make this
much easier, since there is no center and they grow from the edges.”
I won’t take the time here to discuss “shape-shifting
organizations,” but I do suggest that our churches and organizations miss
opportunities for ministry and growth for a couple of reasons.
First, we limit the scope of our mission. It is easy to engage in “mission drift” and
move beyond the mission to which we are called, but we can also limit the
possibilities of what we might do in fulfilling our mission. We love what we are already doing too
much! The railroads thought they were in
the transportation business, but their mission was also connecting people. This could be done not just physically for
electrically as well.
As churches, we are part of the missio Dei, God’s mission in
the world. Too often we limit ourselves
to the methods and techniques with which we are familiar, failing to take
advantage of the rich heritage of the Church and possibilities that will
stretch us. There are people out there
on the edges of our ministries who might respond to these tested, but
unfamiliar means of growth and outreach. There are those who would welcome the
church’s stepping outside its self-imposed boundaries and blessing new way of
ministry as well.
Second, we don’t listen to those out on the edge. Our churches have people who are engaged in
society every day. They are medical
professionals, educators, business people, factory workers, and service
providers. How often do we ask them to
tell us what they are seeing and hearing?
How often do we ask them for ideas about expanding our ministry in the
community?
These people are our trailblazers and could be our
apostles. They have fresh knowledge that
could inform and empower us to do something new.
The failure to take advantage of all the resources that God
has provided limits our Kingdom work. We
need to look backward, inward, and outward to enrich our involvement in the
missio Dei.
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