Scott Parrish, campus minister at Augusta State University and host of kudzulife, has posted several provocative questions about linkages between what's happening in the US automotive industry and what is happening with the UMC denominational structures, though the same questions apply more broadly across denominations as well.
Read them here in full context:
Or read them below...
Ponder, reflect, and respond as you can or will. And where you can, let's make these questions (and others like them) viral...
Peace in Christ,
Taylor Burton-Edwards
Scott's Questions...
- Can these institutions undo their growth, management style, and culture of the last decade/s quickly enough to gain their footing in these times?
- Will they move past talk to quick, strategic action? Or do we wait a Year or, worse yet, FOUR YEARS! (This could be a discussion for another time)
- Salaries & expectations of the institution by the administration & workers seem to be a major issue with the Big 3. This seems comparable to the UMC. How can we "undo" this and refocus on the consumer or potential consumer? Or will it be an impasse that causes our demise?
- Are there basic steps common in such institutional retooling- other than establishing more committees?
- Or is this merely a part of an institutional life cycle to be expected? Perhaps the option is that we merely serve as the clergy officiating the last years of a dying institution and this is our role.-Change IS going to happen. Will the UMC have the (what word should we use?!) resolve to do what is necessary to retool. If a for profit group can't do this and is hampered by a self inflicted hamstring injury (NOTE: from obesity not activity!) what are the odds a religious institution will survive?