Would you agree our life comes with challenges? Some challenges we encounter are hardly noticed and we are quick to take care of it without much thought. Other challenges cause us to stop and address the situation and maybe even carefully assess before moving to a solution.
Part of the Ridder Church Renewal (RCR) team’s homework the last several months has been to identify our Current Reality. Our Current Reality is a “You Are Here” dot on the map of ARC’s ministry, so to speak. The team discovered many wonderful truths about our church and community and celebrated where we are. Yet, we also discovered there are a few areas we could be even more effective at reaching others and caring for one another if they were to be intentionally addressed. This led the team to identifying what our Technical and Adaptive Challenges are.
For example, I was recently made aware of a Technical Challenge during a conversation with a couple ladies from our church. One of the moms has only been attending ARC about a year and commented that she didn’t know who her child’s Sunday School teacher was for months. I was shocked when she said that, but quickly recalled what it was like 13 years ago when my family started attending here – we knew almost no one! This challenge is technical in nature due to the fact that it can be remedied by simply tweaking something within what we are already doing. The solution can be taught from the experience of other similar challenges encountered in the past.
I knew my opportunity to begin remedying this challenge could be a simple fix that would work best at the beginning of the Sunday School year. So, next Sunday as part of our kickoff, there will be a Meet & Greet opportunity for parents, students, and teachers. It should be a great way to meet new people in our church family and be able to put faces and names together. More details will be given next week.
I find the Adaptive Challenges to be a bit more…well, challenging. Adaptive Challenges are situations we have never encountered before. The church has never been the church in the 21st Century and as we reflect on how the things of this world have changed around us in the last fifty years, will the church continue to operate as we always have, or will we need to think outside of the box as we live into God’s Preferred Future? While our mission will always remain the same, our methods may need to change and adapt to those they are intended to teach. Adaptive Challenges will require a change of heart in some areas and a little experimenting along the way, because we simply have never done it before. There will be tension as we journey together, but in the tension I pray we all feel compelled to march forward to an even greater fruitful and effective way of missional living, both personally and corporately.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
Becky Ossefoort