"I came that you might have life and have it to the full."
Because our habits are so ingrained in us, what happens is what we call the elastic band phenomena . We will try to pull people in a new direction with new programs or training workshops, but within a short period of time they return to their former habits and practices because they are the ones that have worked in the past.
Roxburgh, Alan J.. Introducing the Missional Church (Allelon Missional Series) (pp. 138). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition
Leadership
The Missional Model introduces a process for cultivating this level of culture change in the local church or the systems that serve it . Cultured change is never achieved through top-down process; it happens as people are empowered to m=name their own realities and develop experiments in which they test out new habits and practices.
Roxburgh, Alan J.. Introducing the Missional Church (Allelon Missional Series) (pp. 139). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition
Although leadership in this bottom –up process is crucial, it operates differently than we expect. The leader whether pastor, clergy, or board) needs to develop skills in creating environments in which people themselves do the work of discerning and discovering the imagination that the Spirit is giving them for mission. The leader creates space and experiences for others to imagine what the Spirit is calling forth . It is a move away from the people being passive to the people being the center of the process of discernment . In his book Community: The Structure of Belonging , Peter Block describes one of the primary roles of the leader as that of convening:
“This is not an argument against leadership, only a desire to change the nature of our thinking . Communal transformation requires a certain kind of leadership, one that ceates conditions where context shifts.
Roxburgh, Alan J.. Introducing the Missional Church (Allelon Missional Series) (pp. 139). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition
