This past week the Classis of California had Dr. Eddie Gibbs speak. His topic was “From Incremental to Discontinuance Change: Thriving in the midst of profound cultural transition.”
Amongst the many things Gibbs said, the following caught my attention:
“Those who are seminary trained have learned to think according to the various ‘disciplines’ in which they were taught and are not able to make the connections. We must begin to think laterally and learn across disciplines.”
“It is high time that seminaries realize that all the information they teach is free on the internet and the role of the seminary is going to change dramatically – starting with a less costly service.”
“A lot of knowledge combined with little ministry practice is a menace – seminary education spends far too much time and energy giving information.”
“There is no longer a place for strategic planning – we need to be involved in ‘strategic thinking,’ beginning every thought with the question ‘What if?’”
“We used to believe that if we got our theology right the church would grow – that was a perilous strategy that has no viable future.”
“It is important that we bridge the gap between a missionless church and churchless mission – we often seem to have one or the other.”
“Re-envisioning change in the “Church” (Ekklessia):
From noun to a verb
From a place to people
From institution to movement
From meeting to community… Organized for innovation.”
