08 Aug What Are We Willing To Sacrifice For?

One year ago yesterday. That is when Pam and I (exhausted from the tears of the day before) drove our overloaded vehicles the 500 miles we had driven many times before. The difference is that before it was to visit family or attend a meeting. This time it was launching into a whole new life: new home; new and different ministry; empty nest. It has been an interesting year.

As I traveled today, I heard an interesting talk that I identified with totally. The speaker made the point that people don’t resist change as much as they do the transition process brought about by change. Change requires people to sacrifice something to achieve a desired goal. The end is desirable; but the process of getting to that end point is usually painful and disruptive. So how do we help people through the transition?

Quick Summary of the Steps:
1. Agree on a felt need or purpose. Share it as a vision to be achieved.
2. Outline the process to get there.
3. Prepare the transitioning person over a period of time through personal and corporate communication.
4. Create or provide a way to celebrate the necessary sacrifices.
5. Celebrate it and move into the new venture. Don’t allow the sacrificed thing to hold you back.

The Bishop and I will be illustrating this process in various settings as we move ahead. But the question I wanted to raise a year into the process is this: What are we willing to sacrifice for? What are we so captivated by, so motivated by, so enslaved to, in our local churches that we would be willing to sacrifice ANYTHING in order to achieve it?

One year ago, we answered that question. And we personally and painfully sacrificed certain things in order to pursue it.

Join me in pondering this question. You and your church may be asked to answer it personally in the next couple of years. What would your answer be?