Dr. James Emery White, former President of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and long time senior pastor of Mecklenberg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina recently wrote on article address change for churches and Christian schools. Here is a summary of his article:
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How do you fail at failing?
According to a recent article in Time magazine, all you have to do is study the recent collapse of Blockbuster. “Yes, the movie-rental firm was doomed,” Stephen Gandel writes, “But the ending could have been a lot better.”
There was little doubt that the practice of driving to a store to rent a movie was destined to come to an end. That it was Netflix, and not Blockbuster, adjusting to a new model that sends movies to our mailboxes - or better yet, our computers - is just one more story of an industry leader failing to adapt to a changing world.
But the Blockbuster story is deeper than that. One that isn’t as tired or familiar. Blockbuster, as Gandel notes, failed at failing.
Netflix was operating for six years, gaining market share and rewriting the book on Blockbuster’s world, before Blockbuster launched its own movie-by-mail service.
That’s failing at failing.
In other words, you fail to do – in the midst of failing – what needs to be done to stop failing.
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Several reasons he listed why this happens in Christian churches, ministries and schools include:
- Failure to address your failure through innovation until such innovation is pursued out of desperation and in imitation of existing mainstream innovations.
- Failure to address your failure through a renewed focus on the mission.
- Failure to address your failure by not expanding strategically.
- Failure to address your failure by failing to look in the mirror.
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During the course of this year, we have determined among ourselves to make Bethel Life School better than it has ever been before. To accomplish this, we are taking a hard look at ourselves and hope to partner with you as parents in this process. Stay tuned for the next parent meeting as we continue working together!
