Posts tagged normal
WHY BE NORMAL? SPECIAL GUEST POST BY MARK TAYLOR
WHY BE NORMAL? SPECIAL GUEST POST BY MARK TAYLOR

Last week Trevor challenged the church not to seek or settle for a “new normal” in how we do ministry. To his way of thinking, “normal” is not where the church belongs at all. Instead, like the growth of his teenage daughters, he says the church should “progress through one change after another in the coming years. . . . The goal is not to settle into normal, the goal is to progress through life.”

I keep coming back to those words. Does the notion of No New Normal really apply to everyday life? Does it work for me?

I hope so. I’m beginning to see how his insights can apply personally to my life—and maybe to some other readers of his blog as well. Trevor’s points from last week make a good outline for my thoughts, too.

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Church, Leadership, LifeTrevor DeVagenormal, complacency, covid, corona, new, leadership, church, .iveComment
THERE IS NO NEW NORMAL FOR YOUR CHURCH
THERE IS NO NEW NORMAL FOR YOUR CHURCH

My daughter turned 16 last week, one more reminder that everything in our family is changing. She’s driving now, and the other day she asked to drive us home—in my Jeep! My wife hasn’t even driven my Jeep yet! I said yes, and it was fine. My little girl is a good driver.

One more change: She has a boyfriend now. A boyfriend! Actually, I like him. (Could I have ever anticipated saying those words?) I like having him around. (I think he has a healthy fear of me, and I like that too!)

I know I can only imagine the changes we’ll experience in the next five or ten years. What our family has always known as normal has disappeared, and it’s tempting to long for the normal of the past. Or it would be easy to console ourselves believing a “new normal” will replace what’s changing. But it won’t. We’ll progress through one change after another in the coming years. Life will never settle into normal. The goal is not to settle into normal, the goal is to progress through life. And that’s how it’s supposed to be—not only in the life of a growing family, but for the life of a growing church, too.

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Church, Leadership, LifeTrevor DeVageHope, hope dealer, covid, church, online church, normal, pandemic, onlineComment