Outside the Box
My family spent our labour day in Owen Sound hanging out with longtime friends.
While we were waiting to eat, I chatted with someone who was part of the Owen Sound church I pastored.
After some informal chit-chat, she made a bold statement.
She said, “You were way ahead of your time. You saw things and you thought things that were years away from where we were and where we needed to be as a church.”
That’s how I feel, most of the time. I wonder if it’s my lot in life to fight against ecclesiastical policies and practices that were one day “cutting edge” but have since become ineffective.
As a visionary, I find this to be one of my toughest challenges: confronting ingrained ideologies carried by people who, in the past, risked everything to implement them. These people are often prepared to die on the hill for a fifteen-year-old system.
Without change, the very thing that once functioned as a conduit of life can become that which casts aside new ideas, models, impulses, and people.
Someone please hit me if I ever dig in my heels to prevent the next generation of church leaders from leading me outside of my 2015 box!
