Pull

How many times have you walked up to a door and tried to Push your way in only to come up short in your path because there, clearly written, was the word "Pull"? How many times have you even tried again, pushing a bit harder, somewhere in your unconscious possibly believing the door is stuck or something is wrong? Push! Push! Then feeling foolish as you realize it's right there in front of you--the clear instruction to Pull.

We here at CEM along with the Merrie Bande of Bishops are beginning to work on the 2020 Vision strategies. The first of a series of get-togethers with a sampling of congregations happened Sunday with the Brydges congregation in east London. You'll be hearing more as we branch out into other areas, meeting with congregations gathering data and shaking things up a bit. Keep your antennae up; someone might just be coming your way! Or call if you'd like to take part.

One thought I've had as I've been mulling over some things we heard there has to do with the idea of Push and Pull. Folks were thinking about "what they need from the Mission" and we Mission people were thinking of all the things we want to do for them, and for you. We plan and work out things to offer, messages to send, announcements to publish, resources we collect and how we push, push, push those things your way. But sometimes, no matter how much one may push, the action that is really needed is the Pull from the other end.

I really hope this blog, for example, is part of an ever-growing conversation keeping us connected with one another. Some of the feedback I get tells me this is beginning to happen. (More feedback might help it be even better.) But we can only push it out in your direction. It it's going to be helpful at all, somebody needs to pull on the receiving end. Just like some of the other "products" we offer.

Let's make sure this partnership is as good as it can be. Let's share the push/pull tasks and create something amazing.



Posted by Marion