Change or Die!

One of the sessions at the conference that I found very interesting was the one on Making Sense of the Journey. It took a look at spiritual formation as a process, not as a program. During that time, Greg Bowman shared his understanding of the Four Stages of Spiritual Formation, Non-Faith, Institutional Faith, Desert (no, not Dessert!), and Mystical/Practical. While I tend to disagree with this being the process of spiritual growth (perhaps the subject of another post), there was insightful information along the way.

One comment he made really rang true. It was a quote that was attributed to Alan Deutschman from his book, Change or Die. Mind you, this is not a Christian book. Here is its Amazon.com synopsis:

Change or Die. What if you were given that choice? If you didn't, your time would end soon—a lot sooner than it had to. Could you change when change matters most? This is the question Alan Deutschman poses in Change or Die, which began as a sensational cover story by the same title for Fast Company. Deutschman concludes that although we all have the ability to change our behavior, we rarely ever do. From patients suffering from heart disease to repeat offenders in the criminal justice system to companies trapped in the mold of unsuccessful business practices, many of us could prevent ominous outcomes by simply changing our mindset.

So, what was the quote that got me thinking? It was this: “Breaking from your ‘old community’ is the most effective way to change your life.” Now, clearly, as Christians we believe that the Holy Spirit is the One in the life change business. Upon offering ourselves to the Lord, placing all of our trust and hope in Him, we are indwelt by the Spirit of God. And bit by bit He works to overcome our enslavement to sin as we fight or cooperate with Him. But there is tremendous truth in Deutschman’s statement about community.

Think about how we learn most things, by immersion. We associate ourselves with family, peers, society, systems which provide the context for our learning. When I lived in Southern California, this was more evident. We had recent immigrants from Vietnam flooding into Orange County. Guess what. Vietnamese people like to eat duck. And Mile Square Park had a lovely selection from which to choose. It was as simple as scaring the flock into the busy traffic. Voila, dinner! They also developed a taste for dog meat. If Fido got out of your yard in Westminster, well, buy another dog. The debate in the press and in the courts became one of cultural conditioning. “Is it wrong for people who grew up believing it’s OK to kill and consume wild fowl and stray canines to do those same things in a culture that values these same creatures for their aesthetic and domestic qualities? After all, they don’t know any better.”

So, why did I focus on this? It’s because we are all the product of our upbringing. And this applies to the church and our discipleship efforts too. We know and trust what is familiar to us. The more “conservative” we are, the stronger this is. But what if we’ve been settling for something less than God’s best? Not to say that what we have is wrong or bad. But what if God has something amazing for us and we’re content to settle. When I think of the heroes of the Bible, their lives don’t communicate The Quest for Mediocrity.

So, where are you? Is Sunday attendance at a Bible-saturated “show” good enough for you? Are you doggedly holding on to a discipleship program that never leaves the classroom? Has your small group run its course and no longer stretches and challenges you? Have you been burying your gifts and abilities because Leadership is too much work and too big a responsibility?

Organically speaking, something which is not growing is dying. Are you growing? Deutschman says, “Change, or Die!”