How the common experience of Churches and Businesses offers an opportunity for a financially viable shared Mission
Quite by mistake, a Scotsman named Brewster, while looking for something else, invented a device by which we can see beauty in a unique way. Within months, over 200,000 had been sold in Paris and London. The kaleidoscope was born. Two rotating mirrors, aimed at light, poured out an infinite variety of patterns that have delighted countless children and adults for two centuries. Sometimes, hope demands that we somehow see things differently. A Skyfall of Rainbows is just such a view.
Two worlds that we each know well are undergoing immense change. Churches everywhere are struggling to survive, let alone grow. It is easy to despair. Businesses are being transformed by many of the same forces that challenge churches. Both wrestle with the same issues and have far more in common than you might think. Over the last few decades, business has been undergoing a profound and accelerating transformation, a radical exploration of purpose.
This movement towards purpose beyond profit, we might call Telosity–the acceleration of an organization towards its real purpose, its purpose for others. Churches face the same challenge, and not only can businesses and churches learn from each other, but they can partner and help each other succeed. As each emerges from revolutionary change, both can have similar aim—an economically viable mission for a very broken world.
In this series, we take these two different kinds of organizations and hold them together, up to the light, up to the Light of Christ. We tend to think of them as having little to do with each other, as incompatible, even enemies. In the parables, Jesus uses stories about the everyday and gives us a glimpse of His Kingdom. In A Skyfall of Rainbows, we’ll do just that, take the everyday of church and the everyday of the business hold them up to the Light. Through this lens, I hope we can discover a rainbow of collaborations and possibilities for church and business alike, but more importantly, I hope that we see the wonder that is Christ’s Kingdom.
I Wonder if We Missed an Opportunity?
“In all our concern about maintenance, we might miss God’s mission for God’s house!” Picture the scene. A beautiful church, filled with 300 people and
Can You Still Put on Your Socks?
“To achieve resilience in the face of adversity seems mind-numbingly simple—put Christ’s words into practice!” For those more youthful readers, the daily challenge of
When Tomorrow Trumps Today
“Our challenge is to realize that we are not the story, that our propping up of what we treasure is not helping the bigger story
When more is too much
“In healthy human bodies, in churches, as in businesses, there is no cushion, no safety stock, no storage barns. If there is no flow, there
Don’t Weep, Stop the Funeral
“With Christ, and His Church, the story is not yet over. Despite the statistics, this is not the end.” I can remember the day that
‘Out There’ not ‘In Here’
“Jesus did not wait for the lost sheep to find its own way to the flock. He went out, He went off, He explored, He
