Church Strategy and Change without Theology is Bankrupt (September Posting Challenge)

If your strategy for spiritual growth and change does not involve theology, then it is bankrupt.  

I hear and read church leadership material and attend church leadership events regularly. There is a whole industry of people ready to tell me and everyone else how to lead Christians and churches. They speak to pastors and leaders. They speak to people in the congregation. They tell us all how to lead and change. They will work with any group that claims to be Christian. 

Any spiritual leadership that does not explain and build on spiritual foundations is destined to fail. There is more help for church leadership than ever before and more closing churches at the same time. A reason is that many attempt to lead spiritually without the Spirit. They want to lead the church without the Word that makes the church. They want the methods but don't have the reason for the mission.

I'm reminded of a quote from Jonathan Roger's novel The Bark of the Bog Owl.

"Yes, Radnor, Corenwald is a kingdom. But first it was a dream. And the kingdom cannot stand without the dream." (89)

Without theology, the church is a kingdom without a dream. It loses its way. It loses its power. It loses itself.

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