"How often do you hear the people you work with play the ‘fill-in-the-blank’ game? For those of you who don’t know what we’re talking about, it goes something like this:
You’re in a meeting and people are brainstorming and there’s pretty good energy but it’s starting to fade because somebody in the room keeps coming up with reasons why one idea after another just won’t work. And the worst thing is he’s right.
Then someone else says, wistfully:
If we only had _________________, we could do (whatever it is we want to do/need to do/think we’re supposed to do).
And the conversation is over.
This ‘fill-in-the-blank’ game is just one characteristic of what we’re calling a consumable approach to life and work. This is the predominant approach in most organizations (including faith-based ones) today. The result is that you feel like you never have enough of anything. The whole focus of your life and work becomes whatever is in the blank. You set up command-and-control systems, putting somebody in charge of telling everybody else what to do and how to do it, to make sure you get that blank filled as quickly and efficiently as possible. And the only reason whatever is in the blank is important is because of what it has the potential to produce for you.
Your metric of success isn’t what difference did I make in the world today? You’re not wondering did I make a contribution to something or somebody else? You're not thinking how are we being useful to God? All you’re focused on is that thing in the blank; how to get it, what it can do for you and what a disaster it’ll be if you don’t get it.
In this consumable approach to life and work, the metric of success becomes did I get it? What did it do for me? Did I get what I wanted out of it? And it doesn’t matter what the ‘it’ is, either. It could be a natural resource. It could be a building or a parking lot. It could be a new staff person or a new church member (preferably the tithing, volunteering, non-complaining kind).
On the other hand, not being able to fill-in-the-blank with enough money or people or whatever is debilitating. It leaves you feeling impotent and powerless. For a lot of church folk today, not being able to fill-in-the-blank has become The Great Excuse to throw up their hands in despair and do nothing.
No wonder the planet is so messed up. No wonder so many people feel like the life is being sucked out of them by their job. No wonder people say they’re burned out by church.
That story about the call to his first disciples illustrates that Jesus has shown us a different way:
- Be who you are;
- See what you have;
- Do what matters.
We call this a renewable approach to life and work because it is in such stark contrast to the consumable way most people are functioning today. Making the shift is not going to be easy. But it should not be hard to see why this shift is necessary for any organization (including the church) that expects to thrive in the emerging future."
- Excerpt from The Future Starts Now: The Renewable Organization for Faith-Based Groups, A Renewal Enterprise, ARE Books, 2009.
We're very excited to announce the grand opening of ARE Books, our new publishing imprint, and the publication of our first SEVEN books in The Renewable Organization for Faith-Based Groups series. The anchor book in this series is called The Future Starts Now; it gives you an in-depth introduction to the theology and theory behind the practices and the processes of The Renewable OrganizationTM. Written collaboratively by the ARE team and scribed by Kelly Fryer, this book is both provocative and accessible. It offers a post-missional, post-modern approach to being, seeing, and doing church in the 21st century. It will get you thinking and acting in new --- renewable! --- ways. Reflection questions at the end of each chapter could make this book a good study for a church board or council this fall.
Pre-order your copy today! Click here to visit the ARE Bookstore.
I don't think I can change an organizational culture until I change myself. I look forward to reading the ARE Books and discovering the possibilities for personal renewal.
Posted by: Joe | September 21, 2009 at 09:35 AM