The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Factfulness: The Destiny Instinct in Church Leadership
Can outdated traditions and resistance to change hold your church back? Tune into the Healthy Church Staff Podcast as I, Todd Rhoades, tackle the destiny instinct—a belief that innate characteristics dictate our future, leading to stagnation and exclusivity. Drawing insights from Hans Rosling's "Factfulness," we explore how this mindset infiltrates church settings, making us cling to the past and resist new technologies or approaches to ministry. Discover how this instinct can limit growth and hinder your church’s ability to reach new generations.
We'll also uncover strategies to break free from this limiting mindset. Embrace slow, incremental changes that can lead to profound transformations while staying true to the gospel message. Learn the importance of questioning long-held traditions and fostering a culture of learning and openness. By recognizing God's ongoing work and calling, we can ensure that the church remains relevant and vibrant in a constantly evolving world. Don’t miss this crucial conversation that could reshape the future of your ministry!
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
Be sure to subscribe to The Healthy Church Staff Podcast wherever you regularly listen to podcasts.
- - - - -
Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.
Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.
today we're going to talk about another instinct. We're right smack dab in the middle of a series based on the book called factfulness by hans rolling. Today we're going to talk about the destiny instinct. This instinct, at its core, is really the belief that innate characteristics determine the destinies of people and cultures and religions, or even countries, and it's the idea that things are the way that they are and will always be that way, and that change is impossible or undesirable. That's a big one, the destiny instinct. We're going to talk about it today. Thanks for joining us here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. My name is Todd Rhodes, I am your host and also one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom.
Speaker 1:So in the church, if we're talking about this destiny instinct, how does it make itself known? How does it manifest itself? There's a few ways. We might hold on to some outdated traditions and practices. What we don't do that in the church, yeah, sometimes we do Hold on to those traditions, believing that they're essential to the church's identity and that any change would really be a betrayal of our heritage. Now, I'm not talking theology here, I'm talking about traditions. Okay, so we might resist maybe some new technologies, maybe some new approaches to ministry, all because we fear that they'll compromise the core message of the gospel. We might even make certain assumptions about certain communities or cultures, believing that they're incapable of change or growth. We might even think about our church like that that, as leaders, if you're there for a while and you get all the bucking at change, you might just get to the point where this destiny impact boom, it kicks in and you're like I don't know that this church is capable of change, I don't even know if it's capable of growth.
Speaker 1:The destiny instinct can really lead to stagnation. It can lead to resistance to the Holy Spirit. It can prevent us from adapting to new contexts and reaching new generations. Boy, this happens in a lot of churches. Where this destiny impact the need to hold tight to those traditions and shun anything new, it can really foster a sense of exclusivity and judgment as we cling on to our own perceived destiny and look down on those who are different. Man, is this ringing a bell with anybody? I see this all over the place in the Big C Church and, yeah, it is an issue.
Speaker 1:So how do we overcome this? Todd, give me your answers. I don't know that I've got all the answers, but let me give you some ideas here. How can we overcome this destiny instinct? And, as I've been saying, I would like for you to put this on your radar. If you're listening to this podcast early on in the day, maybe on your way to work, or when you're in the office or over breakfast, maybe you're in the shower, I don't know what you're doing, but if you're listening to this early in the day, I'd love for you to think about this destiny instinct and how it affects you and your leadership and you and your church throughout the day.
Speaker 1:And one of the things that Hans Rosling mentions in the book is he reminds us that slow change. If you don't get anything else out of this today, listen to this, because it's vital for a lot of church leaders to hear today. I think Slow change is still change. Even small, incremental, tiny shifts can lead to significant transformation over time. And it's really about recognizing that the world is constantly evolving, that the church must be willing to adapt and grow in order to remain relevant and faithful, of course, without changing the gospel message, but changing absolutely the way that we do things. So in the church context, this means, maybe, that we embrace a posture of learning and openness. It means being willing to question those traditions, those things that we've been doing. We don't even know why we do some of these things anymore, but dang it, it's tradition. Maybe we need to explore some new approaches and engage with some different cultures and perspectives. Maybe it means recognizing that God is still speaking and he's still moving and he's still calling us to participate in the unfolding of his kingdom. Okay, here's the bottom line for today the destiny instinct. If we're not careful, it can trap us in the past and prevent us from embracing the future that God has in store for us and for our church and for our ministry, and we need to be mindful of our tendency to resist change and instead cultivate a spirit of openness and adaptability. So here's what I would love to have you do today. Would you do this with me, because I'm going to do it as well.
Speaker 1:First of all, examine your traditions. Are there any traditions, any practices that are hindering your church's growth or relevance? At least write them down on a piece of paper and then think about how could you embrace, maybe, some new approaches, not stealing anybody's church or making small, incremental changes that will change overall long-term trajectory. Be open to new technologies. Be open to different worship styles, be open to different outreach strategies, and sometimes you just have to be willing to question your assumptions and challenge outdated beliefs and embrace new insights and really change, particularly with some of the traditions, starts very small and it starts with working with some team members, some key volunteers, but, man, it's slow work, but it's necessary work. Remember, the church should not be a museum, it is a living organism. So let's embrace the dynamic nature of our faith and adapt to the changing world around us, without being worldly, of course, without changing our theology, but let's trust in God's guidance as we journey together as a church both Big C Church and the church where you serve as we journey together into the future.
Speaker 1:I'd love to hear your feedback on this or any of these instincts, or just anything. You'd like to reach out? I'd love to be able to help you If your church. I'm one of the co-founders at Chemistry Staffing, so we help churches, we help individuals connect and find each other. So if your church is looking for a new staff member, reach out to me. I'd love to have a conversation with you and see if there's any way to help. If you're a candidate, absolutely go to the website. Add your resume and we'll take a look and see if we can't help you find God's next chapter for you in ministry. But you can reach out to me anytime.
Speaker 1:I read every email that comes in podcast at chemistrystaffingcom and I hope you'll subscribe if you haven't subscribed already and join us. Tomorrow Again we're going to talk. Subscribe, if you haven't subscribed already, and join us. Tomorrow Again we're going to talk. I think we've got three more days left in this series on instincts. I think it's really good. I think it could be really helpful. So join us again tomorrow right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Great day.
