Insanity

The new leadership book I'm reading is the 8th Habit from effectiveness to greatness by Stephen Covey.

a Jesus thought...
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

a Godly thought...
The church must allow its connection with Jesus and the responsibility that this brings to determine how it will be and do church. (p208 Frost & Hirsch)

a leading thought...
In no way is this pain more clearly or practically manifest in organisations than in their inability to focus on and execute their highest priorities. (p2 Covey)

a Dave thought...
In this mornings age newspaper it reads...
Philip Hughes, of the Christian Research Association, says the latest census figures show that despite small pockets of growth in the church - the Pentecostals have increased by 11 per cent - "the overall percentage of people who identify as Christian has gone down from 68 per cent to 64 per cent". "I think the whole idea of being part of a Sunday-morning congregation doesn't appeal to many people," says Hughes, "but they are very happy to explore spirituality in a whole range of ways."
These figures would be in line where we are as a movement as our Sunday morning attendance has been decreasing now for a number of years in this territory, and has now just platued. So to reverse the decline we have two options we either try and make Sunday mornings better or look for new ways and opportunities for people to gather as a faith community. As insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results, I do not believe it is an option to just continue to deliver the same model, without admitting that we are planning to do die soon in the coming years.
So let us be innovative and creative as God is not the problem here, it is our inability to package the gospel in a way that reaches out to others. The Salvation Army 100 years ago was always brilliant at engaging people with a powerful message that was packaged with relevant music, dress, and format for its day but unfortunatley many of us still think this is still working.

Just a thought.