The skill of map-making offer a new perspective on how to navigate the overwhelming today's complex world, not only in our church or ministry, also in us.
I'm agree with W. Berry that we have to face the choice that we must change. M.K. Ghandi said "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
All of us see a turbulent and crazy world, all of us see the need of stop or fix something wrong, something bad; but all of us see ourselves part of the problem or the solution to turn the tide of some issue in the present or to the future?
Love the neighbors is a commandment, how? if I don't understand them, and how I understand? if I don't listen them. This self-awareness to admit that in some I need to improve. I need to change to listening more and better, in order to generate the empathy that is a must in our relationships, and love my neighbors, especially if I'm a leader.
Robert Quinn, the author of the book Deep Change , was very helpful to me. He said "To bring deep change, people have to 'suffer' the risks. And to bring about deep change in others, people have to reinvent themselves" (p.11) At the personal level, deep change requires that individuals have to examine their own essential beliefs, assumptions and rules. Then as a result it is the development of new paradigms of ourselves and the environment in which we operate. Also in p. 34 he said "One key to successful leadership is continuous personal change." In p. 125 "A transformational leader will develop a plan of action, mobilize the workforce, and unleash power by vocalizing the core values of the system. Their source of credibility is their behavioral integrity."
Risk, growth, teamwork and trust are critical to the empowerment of the individual and the organization. So, I the individual must be the first to change. Transformation of self is at the heart of deep change.