“Yikes, Jude, Watch out!”
My wife, Judy, loves driving in the city. Something about weaving in and out of traffic is very relaxing to her, for reasons I can never fathom! But whenever we’re out driving somewhere, I find myself inevitably warning her of impending doom. I seem to have a built-in alarm system! Usually she has already decided how to negotiate the road, but occasionally I’ll see something before she does. When it comes to driving the streets of Boston, it’s helpful to have two pairs of eyes on the road!
For some reason, I’ve always had this internal alarm and it surfaces in every situation in which I find myself. Rather than giving me a negative view of the world, I have found it useful in helping me anticipate problems ahead of time and work out potential scenarios for addressing them. I see it as an immune system for my actions, and it’s been especially helpful in my ministry setting.
Just like our physical bodies have immune systems, living social systems have them as well.
“The immune system is made up of a complex and vital network of cells and organs that protect the body from infection.”1
Last week’s blog was about becoming a “social system doctor” who works towards helping the social system of a church or ministry organization work at its “normal state of being.” Many social systems, including churches, are not always operating at their normal state of being because “diseases” are breaking down their health. In order to get rid of the hindrances – the diseases – that are keeping our social systems from functioning at their highest potential, a healthy immune system must be at work to fight against these diseases! The immune system’s job is to protect the health and vitality of the body.
The first step in fighting disease is being sensitive to the immune system. These immune systems already sense what is going on and are sending out warning signs. For example, if it senses that we are treating our church more like a toaster than a cat, the alarm will sound that we are getting off track. Or maybe we’ve started asking “how do we do the job?” as opposed to “how does the job get done?” Again, the church’s immune system will sound the alarm that we’re drifting towards a constructed way of thinking instead of a living system way of thinking.
But sometimes the church cannot always hear these alarms going off. Social system doctors who operate in Living System Ministry develop an ear for these alarms that the church’s immune system uses to warn us that they we’re getting off base regarding vital ministry. It is easy to drift out of living system ministry and not even realize what is happening. We must be sensitive to our system’s immune system!
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