14 Ways to Overcome Burnout by Sarah Cunningham

Author:Sarah Cunningham [Cunningham, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-9144-2
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2013-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

WHAT IS NEW DOES NOT ALWAYS TURN OUT TO BE GOOD

SYNONYM FOR GOOD

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

—BARUCH SPINOZA

Consider:

New is not a synonym for useful.

New is not a synonym for better.

New is not a synonym for relevant.

Sometimes what is new turns out to be good. But it could just as easily be bad.

And even if it once was good, all that was ever sparkly and shiny eventually becomes bland and familiar. What once swooned with momentum eventually plateaus.

Everything new gets old.

Today’s new is just tomorrow’s old.

You probably have no problem accepting these statements when you pause to reflect on them. But in our culture, these realities tend to get buried. We tend to admire people who are on the “cutting edge” of their fields, those early adopters who are the first to own the latest gadget or the first to clue into a newly discovered pop star.

But new can also be empty. New can be pointless.

Take how the lure of new sometimes manifests in the faith arena.

How when some new idea or new technology emerges in culture, some leaders and churches will race to grab hold of it. They pledge to be the first to get on board and not the last. They refuse to be the bogged down, lumbering old institutional church who is always slogging along a hundred years behind the rest of the culture.

That single that just hit the top Billboard charts? You’ll hear it in the preservice playlist the next Sunday morning.

The latest number one comedy? You can count on a video clip of this week’s episode as this Sunday’s sermon illustration.

The newest handheld gadget? That’s the thing the pastor is reading his sermon notes from.

The newest method? The simple church? The missional church? The fluid church? The organic church? We get pre-release copies of the books. We go to the corresponding workshops and conferences. The authors have been to our church to speak twice this year.

We become like the retail industry, enticing people with a church culture of new, new, new. Until it can get to the point where we feel like we have to be new to survive.

This is why, on several occasions, veteran leaders who want to stay relevant to younger generations have asked me, “Should we invest in the newest technology? In swirling graphics and videos embedded behind our song lyrics? Should we have strobe lights? Fog? Scent machines? Multiscreen options?”

Translation.

“Should we always do new things? Should we always buy new equipment? Should we always chase whatever is new in culture? Do you recommend being as new as possible?”

I always give them a qualified yes or a qualified no.

I can say yes, you should adopt technology if it helps to advance your purpose. If it makes your mission stronger. If it makes you more effective.

Or I can say no, you should not adopt new technology unless it serves your vision, unless it drives home your message, unless it reaches the unreachable.

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