Tuesday, May 26, 2009

What system...

Yesterday I sat down in the Youth Centre with Jamie and Josh, cracked open a Coke and listened to Andy Stanley talk about systems. (Go buy the DVD here.)

It did more than just inspire me. It rattled me to my core.

"Systems create behaviors."

We are all surrounded by systems. Our family, our work, our sports teams, our churches. And each system will elicit a behavior or action from the individuals involved.

So, what do you do if you don't like the behaviors that are showing up? Do you just get rid of the people? No. You change the system.

Uh...how did I miss this?

I will not change behaviors of my students or volunteers over night. But I can recreate a system that will allow their behaviors to change over time.

As a leader, I need to take responsibility for the systems that I have put in place, whether I did so intentionally or accidentally. Somewhere along the line I have been rewarding the wrong things, which in turn has created a system, which in turn has brought about certain behaviors and attitudes.

I cannot let that continue.

The system needs to change.

I'm neck-deep in asking big questions and re-evaluating how we are currently "doing" student ministry, because I think we've got some poor systems in place.

I'm curious to know, what systems around you need to change?

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