Pastor Steve’s Blog January 20, 2019 One of the books that is being read across our District and Annual Conference is entitled: “Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.” In the book, the author, Todd Bolsinger, compares the principles and challenges we face today as a church to those faced by Lewis and Clark in their expedition to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean in 1803. The back jacket of the book describes the basic story and theme of the book this way: “Although explorers Lewis and Clark were prepared to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, instead they found themselves facing the Rocky Mountains. You too may feel that you are leading in a context you were not expecting. You may even feel that your training holds you back more often than it carries you along. Tod Bolsinger brings decades of expertise in guiding churches and organizations through uncharted territory to help you reimagine what effective leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. If you’re going to scale the mountains of ministry, you need to leave behind canoes and find new navigational tools.” Let me point out a couple of important things the author highlights in his book. First, at the core of adaptive work is clarifying what is precious, elemental, even essential, to the identity of the church. In other words, “This is who we are.” Lewis and Clark had to adapt to facing the Rocky Mountains with canoes. They had to recommit to their “core value” of exploration rather than just be about finding a waterway to the Pacific Ocean. We, as a church, are facing the unexpected Rocky Mountains so to speak with our canoes. We have found ourselves in a post-Christian era in this country where past models and ideas are no longer working. In other words, we have to recommit to our core value(s) and come up with a new strategy to meet the challenge of the mountains. The author poses some questions for us to consider as we seek to meet this new and changing challenge: -Why do we exist as a congregation? -What would be lost in our community if we ceased to exist? -What purposes and principles must we protect as central to our identity? -What are we willing to let go of so the mission will continue? Look for more in next week’s blog.