Interruption or Disruption?

Interruption or Disruption? Preservation or Protection? These are 2 pertinent questions asked in this webinar hosted by CapinCrouse last week. How do we and our organizations view and approach this current season?

The first question challenges me to examine my assessment of current conditions.  

• Is it an interruption? - A situation which, when over, will leave us in pretty much the same position we were in.  Here I think of a power outage.  Even in a sustained power outage, my assumption is that things will return to normal and we will pick up where we left off.  My principal concern in such scenarios is to do what I can to minimize the impacts of the interruption while I wait for “normality.”

• Is it a disruption? - A disruption suggests that the old normal is neither possible or necessarily desirable.  Here I think of a hurricane or a tornado. I will likely not rebuild my house the same way assuming that I am able to rebuild at all. The event has forced me to think in very different ways about the next season.

The second couplet brings into focus the issues of importance and relevance.

• Preservation? - My focus here is on keeping things as close to the way they were, to preserve what we had.  My posture is process and procedure oriented. I desperately want the situation to be an interruption only.

• Protection? - My focus is the values and mission of our organization.  How do we adjust to the conditions in a way that enables us to continue or possibly even enhance our ability to serve? 

Scripture is quite clear that for the vast majority of us, transformation [change] is not what we seek naturally. God often has to break in on us through outside events and people.  How does He want to change us and our organizations in this season?