I almost skipped this message because it sounded too much like stuff I’ve already been studying for months in my doctoral work. I wasn’t expecting much novelty or challenge. Boy, was I wrong!Opening with a bleak picture of church effectiveness, Hamel asked how we in the church can possibly face the withering pace of organizational change? Hamel discussed four imperatives…
#1: Conquer Denial – We must overcome our tendency to take refuge in denial. We must face the facts about who we really are, for better or for worse.
#2: Generate More Strategic Options – We must do all we can to ensure that change sounds like a more exciting option than the status quo. We must “cover the ground with acorns,” since we have no idea which of these seeds will sprout meaningfully. The parable of the sower and the seed surfaces here. He mentioned Dell’s Ideastorm website as a model for church innovation.
#3: Deconstruct Organizational Orthodoxy/Doctrine – Not theologically, but organizationally, we must ask ourselves what programs/ministries/activities have not changed in 4-5 years and why. Are we engaging in the redemption of the world or are we simply continuing to comfort the converted?
But the fourth and final imperative was the stunner, from my doctoral research perspective…
#4: Autocratic Leadership Must End – There is no longer any place for superheroes! While there are truly some great, multi-talented leaders out there, we must increasingly forget the idea that any one person is capable of leading our churches where they are supposed to go. We must become Velcro organizations, with countless points of connection. We must become Wikipedia organizations, where we are all working on the dictionary. We must become WWW churches, where we exist as a network more than a fixed and controlled hierarchy. WE ARE NOT A COMPANY, WE ARE A CAUSE!
