Change happens in Individuals and Communities.
The Redemptive Leader Framework visualizes how this takes place.
Every person lives with two basic questions:
1. How will I be known?
2. Where do I belong?
In answering those questions, we see ourselves as both individuals and members of a community.
At a basic level, these questions drive our every action and decision. These two questions are related, and connect in our sense of identity (dark area at right) and extend to our sense of purpose (light area).
This area is where we experience “Community.” God created us to be in community, and it influences everything we do.
God’s purpose is that we experience change in community.
Scarcity and Abundance Make a Cycle
Community is present from the moment of creation. But the effects of sin have constrained our need to be known.
We work as individuals to overcome scarcity.
Yet we do not work alone. God is active in the world, and sustains the expanding purpose of his creation. He blesses our work and allows us to multiply our efforts with others.
Together we create abundance.
But abundance is never permanent. Even when we have abundant material things, we can still lack meaningful relationships and a satisfying purpose.
The effect of sin forces us to resist scarcity.
The reality of scarcity moves us toward belonging in community. The common experience of suffering together creates a desire to be generous with others.
We experience the fulfillment of dissipating abundance with others.
Our movement through this cycle cannot be stopped or reversed.
Shame Causes Conflict and Avoidance
Where communities were created by God to fill and expand, sin causes us to withdraw and contract.
We instinctively move to hide our shame.
This move to hide shame is caused by our awareness of our sin before God. Shame also makes us fear being exposed and excluded from relationships with others.
Shame results in conflict and avoidance.
Our fear of being exposed causes us to pull back from others. When our choice to withdraw encounters another’s desire to be known, we are in conflict with that person.
Our fear of being excluded causes us to resist scarcity while others desire to create abundance. This causes us to avoid living out our purpose.
If left unchecked, conflict and avoidance will isolate and immobilize us.
Overcoming shame with the Redemptive Leader Process of Identify, Influence and Inspire.
Read more about this framework for change and its biblical foundations.