We had some prospective staff for Neiu Communities, South Africa, speak at our church a few weeks ago. They shared a video produced by their parent organization CRM-Empowering Leaders. At the beginning of the video was this quote from Richard Halverson:
"Christianity began in Palestine as a relationship, moved to Greece and became an idea, went to Rome and became an institution, then came to America and became an enterprise."
- Richard Halverson
I'm not sure that it is completely fair but I loved it anyway. I hate to speak for a man who is no longer with us but I'm pretty sure that by enterprise Halverson was referring to the business oriented, organizational, systematic action that we usually think of when we think of the term. I doubt he was thinking in terms of a daring adventure or journey.
Sometimes it is easy to forget about relationships in the midst of all the stuff that needs to get done. I just read a book in which the author becomes aware of his inability to listen carefully. He was shocked to find that he was indeed a bad listener and even more shocked to realize how it made others feel.
So many times I want to tell people that I care but I really have some other things to do that need to get done now. What I'm really saying in those situations is that I care but only a little. I don't care if everyone else does it either. Just one more person more worried about the bottom line than relationships is one too many.
I hope I can see through the clutter and be able to focus on what is really important. The enterprise can get to looking quite fancy and appealing but it is pretty hollow in and of itself. The relationships are the real substance and without substance why should we even bother.
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