Making Change, or D + V + F > R

LICC'sSummer Appeal

Mathematicians and scientists are fond of formulae. They make a lot of things easier, like calculating how much fuel you need to fly from London to New York – good to get that one right since there aren't many garages along the way.
But people who work with organisations are less fond of formulae. Indeed, church leaders have rightly become sceptical about the latest formula or programme that promises to propel their community into a land flowing with new converts and growing disciples.

Still, the formula D + V + F > R has proved rather helpful in summing up how a church can begin to go about generating sustainable change that enables people to live out their discipleship in all of life - Monday through Monday, home and away, neighbourhood and workplace. The formula suggests 3 incentives for change:

- Dissatisfaction with the status quo
- Vision of a better future
- First steps that are doable: preparations to climb Everest may need to start with a walk round the block.

To work, however, D + V + F needs to be greater than the Resistance to change - cultures rarely change without a struggle.

Mark Greene