I had dinner with some great people last night. I’d have to say that they’re not the sort you’ll find anywhere near a church. We went to their place for a BBQ.
They had another couple there and I was interested in the discussion between the two guys. They were discussing their involvement (or lack of) in a volunteer fire service. Both agreed that the thing that stopped them getting involved was that the leadership of the group expected them to line up military style and pretty much act as if they were the subordinates.
They went on to discuss similar gripes with a local service club. One of the guys was involved for a short while but they had a lot of stuff ‘forced on them’ such as reciting oaths etc.
Both of them commented that they would get involved (and I know enough about one of the guys to know that he would be an absolute asset to such groups) if it wasn’t for all the extra formalities. They said, “It’d be all right if we were able to just get out and do the stuff.”
I know that as a church we need good leadership and some kind of structure but I wonder how many more people would want to get involved with their local church if they saw them ‘getting out and just doing the stuff’ without all the extra bits and pieces that we can often force into the equation.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
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great analogy – I have heard this other places too
For too many, “giving” is a zero-sum game. They are only willing to give as much as they are liable to receive, which really isn’t “giving” at all, is it?
I’d be a team player if it weren’t for all that “teamwork” business…
or,
Just because i make fun of all those flag-waging idiots doesn’t mean i don’t support the troops or am “unpatriotic”.
Absolutely right Marty. There are many people who will measure their involvement only by what the pay off is likely to be.
However, there are also many, like my friend, who would put in the effort again and again without thought of reward if the focus of the particular group was on the task and not on the unecessary peripherals that have been built into the system over time.
Which raises the interesting point – is it better to be a solely focussed on the result or to be a pragmatist and put up with `stuff you have to endure’ along the way.
I sometimes wonder how much maturity is involved in accepting that life isn’t always how you want it to be.
There is a balance somewhere between standing on the sideline and throwing stones, and believing in something bigger and trying to change things. :- Like working from within to wipe out the motivation for the stone throwers.
Hey this is a cool blog,
And DP makes an even better call.
look forward to reading more,
Blessings,
Any organisation needs a level of structure, documentation and ‘control checks’ to ensure that its objectives are met and governance is maintained. The trouble is getting the balance right. I grew up in a ‘high’ church situation and left as a teenager due to unneccesary ‘meaningless’ liturgy. I have been exposed to some churches with almost no structure or formality that seem to go scarily off on a tangent. Equally, in Churches there is a need to get the balance right.
Great to see a few new names commenting on this issue.
Thanks to Marty, dp and Bing for dropping in.
Hello to Lionfish too. Glad to see you here at the-journey.tk