Maybe the college won’t change, maybe I need to
Up at the college I am good friends with a big picture thinker. We’ve been talking and analyzing things at the school for a long time. We both feel that unless the school rethinks itself at a fundamental level it will eventually go the way of most other colleges like it. I guess it comes down to one of the hardest questions people are dealing with. Should our institutions change or should we make new ones and let the old ones die a natural death?
Change is difficult. We can’t get rid of the traveling choirs because that might drop donations. We can’t drop this program because of accreditation. We can’t rethink xyz department because it would cause conflict. In the end we talk big, change little, and continue to train leaders that have about a 50% chance of ending up in a ministry dumpster.
In our personal lives and out institutions we need to consider the parable of the talents. God expects a return on his investment in us. If what we are doing is not producing then change is not an option. This is one of the critical issues. When we compare our lives to scripture is there something missing? Do we line up? For most of us we interpret scripture and other tradition through the lens of our life with the dangerous assumption that we have experienced all there is to experience. If we are honest, courageous and humble we will realize that there is stuff missing and we should seek it out.