I just watched a TED talk given by Seth Godin that I have heard about but not seen until now. It is something that everyone can relate to and be inspired by, but I am going to look at it through the lens of ministry leadership for a moment. (you can watch the entire talk here)
He asks the following question to open his talk: “What do we do everyday?” we being the TED audience (very smart and influential). His answer to his own question is this: “We find a piece of the status quo, something that bothers us, that needs improved, something that’s itching to be changed and we change it.” He adds that we are aiming for “big, permanent, important change.”
I believe this is the heart of creating culture, where we embrace a counter-culture lifestyle of following Jesus while embracing the culture in which we live to create a new culture. Loving our enemy by having a conversation. Being deeply generous in the face of greed. Putting action to ideals regardless of the personal or corporate cost. This is aiming for big, permanent, important change.
He noted a shift in effective leadership style; from mass marketing to connecting people to ideas. This is what he refers to as Tribes, also the title of his book on the subject.
Some simple steps he mentions, that are exceptionally applicable to ministry leaders:
- Find something worth changing and then assemble tribes that assemble tribes – it becomes something far bigger than ourselves, it becomes a movement.
- Find a group that’s disconnected but has a yearning.
- Tell a story to people who want to hear it
- Connect a tribe who are desperate to be connected to each other,
- lead the movement
- Make a change.
Jesus upset the way of the religious elite, told the story of God’s Kingdom and assembled an eclectic group. He taught them a new way to live, and empowered them to continue telling the story. Here we are, 2000 years later, living in the midst of that revolution.
Continue fighting the staus quo, continue dreaming a big dream, and continue persuing something larger than yourself. I would love to know, what has God placed inside of you that could use this application? What are you dreaming that still needs to be put into action?
I occupy a pew in the Amen corner! I love being given permission to bump heads with the status quo. It is also refreshing to gain some ‘how-to’ perspective; And having an acceptable and effective means to do so makes it all the more feasible.