Dinner Church by Verlon Fosner

Author:Verlon Fosner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seedbed Publishing
Published: 2017-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

A Soft Touch and a Slow Pace

A vision has to be unfolded in such a way that people’s hearts have time to form around it. There is a leadership idea that every church has a set of values that you must work with when finding new vision. I would propose that exactly the opposite is closer to the reality. Every vision requires a certain set of values that are emotionally held by the people to accomplish it. Accordingly, values must be given time to reshape around a new vision, or else the “want to” to fulfill the vision will never form. Thus, the question isn’t, What are our values? as much as, What values does our call require? Once we realized that we were learning not only a new vision, but also a new set of values to emotionally sustain the new vision, it was obvious that a soft touch and a slow pace were what our group needed.

There is an interesting account in the Old Testament about Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. He was young and brash as he took his father’s place on the throne, and he wanted to make sweeping changes in the kingdom. The leaders came to him and asked him to reduce the pressure his father had imposed, and if he would, they would be loyal to his leadership (2 Chronicles 10:4). Rehoboam decided to follow his young advisers’ advice to declare that his little finger would be thicker than his father’s waist, and that he would impose heavier burdens on them (vv. 9–14). He split the kingdom that day. His lack of appreciation for a soft touch and a slow pace of change cost him more than he ever expected, and his vision for the kingdom was never realized. In Jesus’ words, the new wine (Rehoboam) burst the old wineskins (the kingdom), and both were ruined.

It is said there are three different ways to bring change: revolution, subversion, or by telling an alternate story. Revolution is fast and forceful, as was Rehoboam’s choice. Subversion is slow because it eats away at the status quo, but it has in inherent risk that another vision, just as unfavorable as the one being subverted, will arise in the void. Subversion-change strategies spend their energies tearing down existing structures without having an opportunity to craft a replacement vision. Our founder, Christ himself, chose the third option and told an alternate story of the inbreaking kingdom of God. His parables and vision phrases stand as the greatest example in all of human history of the power of the alternate story to bring change.

Further, because our Master chose this form of change making, we as his followers are limited to the same, unless we have no interest in Christlikeness. This is a serious point for Christian leaders to meditate upon. Your personality might lean toward forcefulness, like Rehoboam, but Christ chose the alternate-story approach to change. Your personality might lean toward subversive approaches, but our Lord already chose the approach to change that he wants to empower his gospel: tell a different story.

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