Thursday, January 8, 2009

PERRY'S LAST POST ON WHAT THE CHURCH CAN LEARN

Okay, here's Perry's last post on What The Church Can Learn From The Auto Industry.

Amazingly, I just shared some of these principles in our dream team session last night. (I didn't use the auto industry as a metaphor.)

Perry's thoughts on change, creativity and innovation are crucial if the church is to make a difference in or world.


Seven Mistakes The Church Can Learn From The Auto Industry…Part Three
Perry Noble

Here’s my last post on this…

6. No Plan To Embrace Change…DESPITE the Dooming Facts

The big three, when they came to Washington, D.C. to ask for money flew in on their private jets indicating that they didn’t think that any sort of change was necessary.

The second thing that blew me away was that when Congress asked how they intended to spend the money they didn’t have a plan. They simply thought that more money would solve the problem; they had no intention of changing.

One of the things we must embrace in the church is that we live in a changing world and while the message of Jesus Christ never changes, the methodology of how we present that message should often change. What is your plan for change? What is the one thing in your church that needs to change right now? Is there anything in your church that you are doing just because you’ve always done it…but if you were not on staff YOU would not personally be involved?

AND…please understand that a plan for change isn’t going to a conference and then trying to be like someone else. A plan for change is put together by a group of Romans 12:8 leaders who SERIOUSLY have a passion to see greater things happen for the Kingdom…and are willing to pray and participate in meetings and such to figure out what God wants next for His church.

The church in America MUST embrace change…the population of the world is INCREASING and church attendance in America is DECREASING. Uh…this is a problem! And trying to rearrange broken systems and implement outdated ideas are NOT the solution!

So what needs to change?

7. They Neglected Creativity and Innovation

These companies were built on innovation. These companies were built on creativity. Instead of embracing these values they simply settled for status quo.

One of the things that we cannot do as a church is neglect the gift God has given us of creativity and innovation. The Bible says “In the beginning God CREATED the heavens and the earth.” All throughout the book of Psalms David said “Create in me a new song” “Lord I lift up a new song to you”. He never stopped praising God for who he was but the way he praised God often changed.

As a church we can never be afraid of innovation and creativity in when it is used in the proper context to advance the Gospel. God is the author of creativity. And his church ought to be reflective of the fact that he is the author of creativity. A boring church is a sin in the sight of Almighty God.

I once heard someone say that in heaven the word “holy” means something amazing…and on earth it means something boring. Personally…I blame the church…for too long we’ve allowed boring, dull and lifeless worship services to exist that communicate to the world that God is not worth following.

We’re the church…we’re empowered by the Holy Spirit…we should have THE MOST creative people on the planet designing worship services under the direction of HIS guidance…KNOWING that if HE doesn’t intervene with HIS GRACE then what we do is meaningless…but ALSO KNOWING that if we step up and do what He has gifted and designed us to do…partnering with Him to see His gift manifested in us…the end result is amazing!

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What about you? What do you think the church could learn from the mistakes of the auto industry?

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