Expecting Contributions

Most of what we look for from our members of congregations or ministry teams in terms of contribution either falls into the category of money or time.

Otherwise, we are usually looking only for compliance. We inform people, especially younger ones, of the rules and protocol and expect them to comply. We engineer structures and teams to maintain “normal” for us. We teach our members to maintain and guard the past and protect it from the future.

Contribution in other categories of life and work scares us, because it could mean we have to constantly fight suggestions for change or questions about why we do or don’t do certain things. It is in these categories, though, that we teach our members to lead.

When we create spaces into which people can step with new ideas about how to love God and people, they will scare us by doing exactly that. And we will grow. And we will mature. And we will make mistakes, but learn from them. And we will colonize the earth with much of “as it is in Heaven.”

And the generation that comes after us will bless us and build more, starting at a higher place.