Change

 I'm currently reading - in fact, have just begun, a book called The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World by Alan J. Roxburgh and Fred Romanuk.  In the first chapter, they write about two different kinds of change:

1. "Continuous change develops out of what has gone before and therefore can be expected, anticipated, and managed."
2. "Discontinuous change is disruptive and unanticipated; it creates situations that challenge our assumptions.  The skills we have learned aren't helpful in this kind of change."

When experiencing discontinuous change, working harder with one's habitual skills does not always create results.  The environment is new, so it could be that new skills are needed.  "There is no getting back to normal."

In Sunday school, we were talking about belonging.  The lesson was based around a passage in Jeremiah 29.  Verse 7 says, "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare."  We spent some time in class telling stories of how we had been made to feel as if we belonged.  We talked about how we need to continue to do that.  And then someone made a comment about how we either can't now or how it is harder now (I don't remember which) because of the pandemic.

When I read this morning about discontinuous change, I thought that the pandemic must be all discontinuous change.  It is disruptive, unanticipated, and it creates situations that challenge our assumptions.  I often hear comments about "we can't do that because of the pandemic."  Or, especially from businesses, "Please be patient; our work is challenging because of the pandemic."

And yet, people still need what the church provides.  People still need to feel as if they belong.  As if they are cared for. As if they matter.  I don't think our normal approach will work - I'm certain it will not, and yet, even in the face of discontinuous change, we can't offer people the excuse of the pandemic  - I'm sorry you feel alone, but there is a pandemic.

We can't do what we have done.  So what CAN we do?  Even though what used to work doesn't work, we are still the church.  We still need to meet the need - so how?  How will we meet the needs of our communities in the face of discontinuous change?