Growing up a coach told me that the best ability was flexibility, well as I sat there in the circle of 20 other guys stretching I didn't quite understand what he was getting at. I figured, "I can touch my toes, isn't that good enough?"
A few years later I heard that statement again and I understood it in a completely different perspective. I realized what my coach was getting at-one needs to be able to adapt to the differing circumstances of a game and be able to change on the fly and through those changes come out successful. In the game of soccer there are no time outs and in each 45 minute half there is multiple opportunities for change. The necessity for each player to adapt and be flexible based on what the game gives him or her. It is a constant changing affect (oxymoron intended)
What and how does this apply to our spiritual lives you might be asking. Well Dave Gibbons writes in his book The Monkey and the Fish that "If there's one quality that matters most to the fate of the church in the twenty-first century, it's adaptability." The ability to change or be flexible throughout different circumstances is the one quality the matters the most for the church. Surprising...maybe, but dig deeper, below the surface. Nothing is cut and dry, black and white when it comes to our culture-today even the notion of truth, right and wrong, good and evil are being questioned. One needs to understand that Jesus is the True Constant and as we meet, greet, and treat others is not a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. Even Jesus talked and interacted differently in different situations and circumstances.
A few years later I heard that statement again and I understood it in a completely different perspective. I realized what my coach was getting at-one needs to be able to adapt to the differing circumstances of a game and be able to change on the fly and through those changes come out successful. In the game of soccer there are no time outs and in each 45 minute half there is multiple opportunities for change. The necessity for each player to adapt and be flexible based on what the game gives him or her. It is a constant changing affect (oxymoron intended)
What and how does this apply to our spiritual lives you might be asking. Well Dave Gibbons writes in his book The Monkey and the Fish that "If there's one quality that matters most to the fate of the church in the twenty-first century, it's adaptability." The ability to change or be flexible throughout different circumstances is the one quality the matters the most for the church. Surprising...maybe, but dig deeper, below the surface. Nothing is cut and dry, black and white when it comes to our culture-today even the notion of truth, right and wrong, good and evil are being questioned. One needs to understand that Jesus is the True Constant and as we meet, greet, and treat others is not a 'one-size-fits-all' approach. Even Jesus talked and interacted differently in different situations and circumstances.
How do you live your life? Are you stuck in your ways unable to move? DO you refuse to change or be flexible to differing situations?
Or how have you been flexible and adaptable to life's changes? Share your story...
2 comments:
John -
You gotta let me borrow this book when you are done. I agree that flexibility and adaptability is needed by individuals and the "church" (leadership structures). Do you think there's a line to flexibility that could be consider too "relevant" and too much bending towards the secular culture rather than bending them towards Christian culture?
What does come to mind in this post is the number of folks who need a lesson in flexibility when doing urban missions. The dominant culture is more likely to ask ones to bend toward them..."speak our language, use our measurements of success, and follow our rules because after all 'We wrote the book...Good to Great' and we know how it's done."
The minority culture has little choice but to speak the language of the dominant culture just to be heard. I am proud of asian leaders like Gibbons, Eugene Cho, and Soon Chan Ra who are speaking their minds and using their voices to let the dominant culture that one size does not fit all.
There is a line to being too flexible, but at the same time one's flexibility needs to come from arenas that are not foundational to one's faith in Christ or "watering down" the truth of Christ and the Gospel.
However, in the area of urban ministry those stepping into an urban setting have to understand and listen to what the people are saying to understand and relate, instead of trying to conform them to the dominant culture trends and "standards." Thanks for the comments!
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