Sally Carter a colleague, alerted me to the relevance of a quote another colleague used in a presentation to Christchurch Presbytery this last week… it comes from Albert Einstein and seems pertinent to what New Thing (an emerging group in the PCANZ) is trying to be about.
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them’ - Einstein
I think that our church especially how it goes about its life together in these days of diversity needs a new way of thinking – a stepping back. I think that this is what New Thing is attempting to explore… but it isn’t easy. Already some of the ways we address one another’s point of view in our discussion forums reflects the old skins we have grown up in.
How do we enable new ways of being the church in these diverse times that don’t diminish people and their way of seeing things, yet still hold to the integrity of the Christian faith?
I find it stupid that a modest majority from a gathering of 300 or so people can or should be determining what happens in the church where I minister in terms of who they can call into any form of leadership etc (The PCANZ General Assembly made a ruling in 2006). I’m with Albert in that I believe we aren’t going to sort this stupidity out by using the same systems that created the initial stupidity – what a deep hole we will end up with then!
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