One of the questions raised by David Kinnaman in the article I discussed earlier is this: “Do you have practices in place to clearly see reality?”
It’s really hard to even ask that question.
You might think it is most difficult to deal with outcome measurement concept. Doing so is really tough, but by far, the most difficult of Kinnaman’s four questions is whether you have practices to see reality as clearly as you possibly can.
To see reality clearly means moving beyond our deeply held beliefs and long-time practices. It means we have to evaluate the very real possibility that we have misunderstood some of the basics. Maybe, just maybe, we have been wrong in some basic operating assumptions in our business or ministry.
It means getting outside our comfort zone. We might even have to admit that those rigid fundamentalists, or those wild charismatics, or those tradition-soaked Catholics, or those traditionless Protestants or (shudder!) those people that we disparagingly refer to as cults, are right on some issue and we are wrong. Maybe we need to learn from those people.
That is really, really hard to do. I know that is hard for you to do because it is hard for me.
But still. . . . . .
If we are to move our ministry, or business-as-a-ministry, forward in a change-soaked tumultuous environment and have the maximum impact on the kingdom that we possible can, we need to see and understand what is taking place around us. We need to deal brutally with the facts of changing circumstances and growing comprehension of our world. Then we urgently need to make some changes so we can adjust ourselves and our ministries accordingly.
Failing to see reality means our impact shrinks. And that is not acceptable.