The Zigzag way of change

Keith Sawyer says we need to Zig Zag.[1] I think he is right. Success is rarely about imagining one big change, and implementing it to great success. It is usually about 1000 little changes.

That is what this book is about. It is not about imagining one big change that is going to make all the difference in your church. It is not about changing to become a Saddleback Church, or 9 Marks church, or a praying church like Brooklyn Tabernacle. It is about becoming church in change. It is about becoming a church that changes in 1000 little ways so that over time the church becomes unrecognizable from its former self.

This is how God changes us as individuals, isn’t it? There are occasional momentous life-altering events that change the trajectory of our lives. But, most of life is not that way. Most of what it means to grow in Christ is about 1000 little changes. It is about becoming a little more consistent in your quiet time, a little kinder to your wife, a little more of a servant’s heart, a little less agitated, a little more patient, and a little more like Jesus.

Changing the church is the same way. It is about 1000 little changes—some of them successful, some of them failures. Some of them become part of the institution, some of them are abandoned.

We must get used to change. We must embrace change. We must love change. We must constantly change, or die.

 

[1] Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity by Keith Sawyer