I was driving somewhere recently with my boys.
My phone was safely positioned in its dashboard mount, directing my every turn to an unfamiliar destination. From the back, I hear
How did you even get places before you had phones?
Well, that’s a good and fair question, I began telling them. Back in the day (yes, I’m old enough, I guess, to say “back in the day!”), two big ingredients were required to get you from Point A to Point B. First, planning. You gotta bring out a map [insert definition of map] and trace your steps carefully. Secondly, you needed support. Traveling was best suited with a partner or a co-pilot committed to getting you where you needed to go.
Oh, the collective response from my boys, quickly losing interest in the answer to their own question.
In our work with churches, technology will always be a crucial component. Make no mistake, technology provides platforms and systems to better manage security, shared calendars, payments and pathways of communication. But technology only gets us so far.
The MIND work within our placemaking process centers on this question:
How is God inviting us to better steward our space to love our neighbor?
NOT How can we generate the most revenue possible from our building?
BUT How can our space be shared in a way that demonstrates our love for neighbor?
COMBINED WITH Who can we partner with in this work, and what values will guide our partnership(s)?
At the core of these questions remains GOOD PLANNING.
STRONG VISION.
And VALUES that will hold it, and all of us, together.
Technology can help us get from here to there, but good planning and partnerships are the necessary ingredients in identifying where it is we need to go and what the final destination will be.
Further.
Together.
