Transformative Change: Embracing Jesus' Path to Growth

so the phrase i want to talk about today think about reflect on invite you and me to seek to live out is the phrase theory of change this gets talked about a lot in our day for businesses for not-for-profits for government agencies particularly for people who are working on some kind of social change that is you don't want to just take random shots in the dark you want to have a theory of change you start with a desired outcome what's the great end goal that you are pursuing [00:00:25]

and then you look at what are the outcomes that need to be arranged between where i am right now you kind of work backwards and where it is that you want to go and what are the rationales for each one of the outcomes in that link why why does it rationally coherently fit together what's the theory of change apparently it dates back to peter drucker brilliant guru of leadership and management thought who talked about management by objectives [00:00:57]

and then in the 1990s carol weiss and other folks at the aspen institute by the way how come we never get invited to the aspen institute there should be some kind of a become new dot me institute in aspen i think anyway uh they talked about it quite a lot and that the measure of a great theory of change is looking at three different facets one is the impact that impact is uh the power that it has on the individual life upon which it is focused [00:01:30]

and then influence that is does it cause change in other people who are working in that same field and then leverage does it motivate people to want to give to invest resources to be a part of this and you could look at any kind of system that you want to you could look at something like climate change or helping to people to be healthier or stop racism or combat poverty and the question is what is the theory of change behind your efforts [00:01:58]

in the field of psychology how is it that people change was marked by theories of change so freud came along and said our problem is we have these unsatisfied largely unconscious drives and desires and if people could just achieve insight if through techniques like psychoanalysis like free association people could become aware of what they had been repressing now they could change bf skinner came along and said no you don't need to worry about any of that [00:03:52]

it's all about reward just reinforcement and punishment so whatever it is that you want to achieve you just reinforce that shape and reinforcement and you'll get there carl rogers came along and said no it's about the human potential the lies latent within each one of us and if we could just experience unconditional acceptance and warm positive regard it would blossom like a flower in the 20th century [00:04:20]

i think you could make an argument that one of the great most influential theories of change was actually the 12 steps people trapped in alcoholism or later on other forms of addiction how are you going to change well nagging people didn't seem to work just pain didn't seem to work going into a hospital didn't seem to work trying harder didn't seem to work so admit i i got this problem before which i am powerless and my life has become unmanageable [00:04:45]

and then the next step came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity and then the next steps you know theories of of change there's a series of steps that are logically coherently related to each other made the decision i would turn my life and my will over to the care of god i can't he can i think i'll let him now that brings us to the big question if you were to look throughout human history [00:05:18]

all the geniuses all the governments all the movements all the businesses all the economies that have ever existed and you were to ask yourself the question what is the most influential theory of change of all time in any sphere what would it be and i will tell you simply as a matter of history whether you agree with it or not whether you think that it is wise or foolish beneficial or destructive nothing else comes close [00:05:43]

one day a carpenter who was said to have been crucified failed humiliated and then resurrected stood with a group of 11 people that nobody in their right mind would ever have selected fisherman tax collector political activist zealot and here's what he said here's the theory of change all authority has been given to me so now you go as you're traveling all around the world and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit [00:06:19]

and teaching them to obey everything that i commanded you and i will be with you and that movement uh is unprecedented its impact was so strong that billions of people have had their lives changed by it its influence was so great that it caused the founding of places like oxford and cambridge and harvard and yale and the red cross and compassion international and hospitals and untold institutions [00:06:54]

dallas writes let us simply focus upon the application of matthew 28 18-20 verses 18-20 this is god's plan for the growth and prospering of local congregations as well as the church at large as well as the world it is his plan for spiritual formation in the human community number one we make apprentices of jesus it is these of which the local congregation of the called out ones are do consist [00:08:00]