Radical Redesign

[Steven Lacy]

White made a statement in the forward of the book that I found to be
thought provoking. He said, "What is rethinking? It is the radical
redesign of church processes for dramatic improvement in the
fulfillment of the church's purposes and mission" (13). I have been a
proponent of change as it realtes to the church for quite some time. I
think that is necessary for the church to adapt its thinking if we are
going to be effective in this postmodern world. According to White,
rethinking involves radical redesign. I certainly am not advocating
adapting the word or doctrine to fit the needs of our contemporary
society, I am simply saying maybe it is time we look at what we do and
evaluate it to see if there is a better and more effective way of
doing things.

The church has a tendency to live in the glory days of the past. I am
inclined to think and certainly hope that our best days are ahead of
us. Not to say that we do not have a rich history and legacy, but the
church has the Great Commission as her mandate. It is my opinon that
if we are going to reach this postmodern generation for Christ, we are
going to have to radically redesign our methods of evangelism to reach
this generation for Christ. I appreciate that White does not place the
emphasis on "radical" but rather on the word "process". In other
words, this redesign will not be something that occurs overnight but
it will be a process. I pray the the Spirit will empower us to succeed
in the process.

In Pastor Chris's introduction post, he asked the question are we
doing a good job in reaching those in our community? I would have to
say that our churches need to be more missionally minded. We seem to
be in a maintentance mode and God wants us to be in a reaping mode. I
think the answer to the question maybe that we are doing a decent job,
but I think we can do far more. I want to do far more than good. I
want to turn my world (the community I minister in) upside down for
Christ.