This past week marked the one year anniversary of the passing of Steve Jobs. Because I am such a big geek I read tech stories and listen to podcasts that have been writing and talking about the Jobs era. The question that keeps coming up is the conversation that apple and apple followers are having. They continue to ask ,”what would Steve did?” Or more to the point “this would never have happened under Steve’s watch.” This last comment directed the apple maps issues. Yet people seem or forget about things like the ping music service that finally shut down this week, mobile me and other cloud syncing that didn’t work or maybe most famously the iPhone antenna issues a few years back.
As I read and listen about the era of Jobs I can’t help but think of the church.
Many churches are stuck in a mentality or era of their hay-day. “I remember when” or, “If we were still like…then we wouldn’t have this or that problem.” I am interested in the way that Apple addresses this issue. Even a year later the conversations about what Jobs would do.
When leadership changes or community dynamics shift, the organization must react. If Apple doesn’t make sales numbers it is not Steve’s fault, but it also doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t have happened if Steve was still with us. The church cannot get caught in the same trap. Rather we have to adapt, keep a pulse on the community we serve. I have been blessed that I have never been appointed to a church that spends time stuck looking in the rear-view mirror. Rather my congregations have always been willing to risk to connect with the community and trust God will continue to act even if the times change.
Perhaps that is the learning from Apple. The house that Jobs built may fall because he is no longer at the helm, or at least it will take years to bounce back. But we, the church have to remember that we serve in the house the LORD built. Let us not minimize that because God is still acting in powerful ways and sometimes that just means we have to get out of the way.
