One of the things I look for in people is their ability to embrace a both/and reality, an ability to hold two things together that most people keep separate. For example, one of the things I have always appreciated about Mike Breen and the organization he leads, 3DM, is that they very intentionally embrace two things that are often kept separate in many people’s thought and practice: God’s power and strategic thinking.
It seems that some people are very serious about our need for God’s power to accomplish God’s mission, but they tend not to worry too much about structure, method, or strategy. They think if we can just get people in a room and see a few miracles, the world will be changed.
Others are always thinking about how to better organize things, thinking strategically about structure and method, but rely very little, if at all, on God’s power as a factor in their practice of mission. They think if we can just get our method right we’ll change the world.
But what if we really need both?