Navigating the Future Book Review | Executive Board Retreat Presentation

Introduction

Jones opens the book by writing, “Human beings live and are sustained by hope.” (14). As Christians, this hope is rooted in the grace of Christ Jesus as written in the Scriptures and gives shape to our lives through Spirit-led conviction, discipleship, and spiritual practices.

With faith on the decline, however, along with trust in institutions, especially churches, how does society navigate a complex and foreboding future that demands the presence and leadership of healthy, vibrant, life-giving and life-serving institutions?

This is the question Jones seeks to answer.

Jones asks, “Is there something that can point us toward a hope-filled future, that can enable us to live not only with purpose but with a sense that there is ultimate Purpose—the sort that can guide us even if our own lives, our own organizations, and our own relationships are rife with failure, brokenness, vulnerability, and sin?” (14)

Jones says, Yes, and it is the Gospel! Amen! Yet, he remarks that due to the decline of the Christian faith, fewer people neither know nor trust the Christian narrative.

He writes, “That’s not without cause, of course: the “brand” of Christianity is too often associated with partisan politics, sexual scandal, infighting, irrelevance, or shallow promises of prosperity unable to cope with suffering and injustice. And even when Christianity is associated with radical virtues such as love and kindness, it tends to be rooted more in cultural accommodation than in Christianity’s unique and compelling story about the origin and destiny of the world and of human life in all of its complexity and disorder.” (15)

Do you agree with Jones’ cultural indictment of the church?

Whether or not we agree with this assessment, the truth remains: as Christians learn more to trust and rely on God as the author and perfector of our faith, then this ought to empower and lead Christians to act in the world with a forward vision of faith, hope, and love in the full knowledge that God will one day reconcile the world back to rights with Him in the promised glory of Revelation 21-22.

This promised vision leads Jones to make a bold statement about the role of institutions in society. Jones writes, “This story, in all its ability to surprise, only comes to life when it is lived in and through institutions that are willing to bear witness to it, when those institutions resist the disenchantment from which our modern world seems to suffer.” (16).

Jones argues that institutions do not need to be ‘Christian’ to promote the flourishing of society, but Christian institutions ought to be leading the way.

See Tim Keller’s sermon on “A Theology of Cities.” (https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/leadership-training/sending-your-team/a-theology-of-cities.html)

See The Human Flourishing Program at Harvard (https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/measuring-flourishing)

See Christian Social Innovation by Greg Jones (preceded this book and offers a pathway for how churches might see their identity as institutions of social change and flourishing)

Jones states, though, that the activities of modern institutions have given rise to what Hannah Arendt, one of the foremost political theorists of the 20th century and Holocaust survivor, called the “banality of evil” (16) and what scripture calls “the powers and principalities of the world.”

Often times, as influence and power grows within companies and organizations, the temptation becomes to hold the line on growth and power at whatever cost.

Thus, a tension forms between the Purpose of an institution and the Power possibilities that it possesses in society.

The greater the tension, then the greater the risks of trading the flourishing and advancement of the community for the flourishing and advancement of the institution.

And churches aren’t immune. As institutions of good in society, and more so the Body of Christ in the world, churches live in the same tension that the enemy presented to Jesus in the desert: provision, power, pleasure.

Yet, Jesus modeled a different way. His no to Satan resulted in him forsaking the full potential gains of provision, power, and pleasure in this life, and he calls his followers, including institution-builders like us in this room, to lead in the same way.

Living in the way of Jesus counters every cultural script, along with our innate sensibilities, because at the center of our faith is a cross.

Sacrifice marks success in the Christian life, including the institutions we build.

As a thriving church institution in Miami and the wider South Florida region, how might Christ Journey continually confront the temptation to self-preservation to stay on the cutting edge of growth and faithful, sacrificial Christian ministry?

As a way to counter the institutional failings of the past, Jones argues that organizations have over-reacted by leaning too heavily on innovation as a means to correct the institutional evils against society.

Influenced in part by the tech revolution of the 80s and 90s, innovation is now seen as the most valued pathway to the promised land of achievement, creating from scratch the brave new world that leaders desire to see. While Jones argues that innovation is necessary, it is insufficient on its own. Rather, the best innovation always draws on our history. Jones writes, “We believe that the innovation that matters is innovation that draws on the best of the past, carrying forward its wisdom through ‘traditioned innovation.’” (17)

What is ‘traditioned innovation?’ Jones states, “Traditioned innovation is a way of thinking and living that holds the past and future together in creative tension. That is to say, our feet are firmly on the ground with our hands open to the future. It requires an ongoing learning in which we are encouraged to live into the future by immersing ourselves in the best of our past, formed with a practical wisdom—what Aristotle called phronesis—that enables us to discern what we ought to carry forward and what we ought to leave behind.” (18)

At Christ Journey, what are the best parts of our history that we need to carry with us into our innovative future?

Jones says that Traditioned Innovation is Obvious, Counterintuitive, Transformational, and Urgent.

Obvious: Jones writes, “It is obvious because we know that we all come from somewhere (the past/tradition) and that we are all headed somewhere new (the future/innovation).” (19)

Traditioned innovation calls us to draw on past learnings to discover new opportunities.

Traditioned innovation reminds us that our traditions overlap with one another, which beckons appreciation, patience, and the call to reconcile with one another.

Traditioned innovation depends upon a vision of an over-arching narrative that holds all people together with a “trustworthy origin” and a “promised vision of the consummation of this story.” (20)

Though our traditions depart from one another at various points, Christian Traditioned Innovation leads us to share a common starting point and a common destination, rooting our lives together in both history and future that informs how we address the major issues of the present.

Counterintuitive: Jones writes, “[Traditioned Innovation] is counterintuitive because central features of modernity have undermined any real hope for the future. The burdens of the past and of the present seem overwhelming even to religious people who have typically been a source of hope-filled storytelling but whose communities have been complicit in, and even responsible for, the brokenness.” (20)

The harms of modern culture and modern institutions, including churches, have disintegrated the transcendent vision of Christianity into what Charles Taylor calls the imminent frame, which assumes that present life is all there is and all that we can know. Therefore, there’s no use to draw upon the past or innovate to a new future. We’re stuck in the present, so ‘live your best life now’ (this is the postmodern anthem).

Jones argues, “At the cosmic level, a truncated vision of an “immanent frame” has left us with minimal resources for any hope for the future; at the individual level, a hyper-individualistic culture is undermining our moral commitments and our character; and at the social level, a bureaucratic approach to organizations is stifling human productivity and creativity, leaving us hating the institutions whose creative vitality we desperately need. We currently lack the resources and vocabulary to navigate a more life-giving future. So traditioned innovation seems counterintuitive.” (21)

If we agree with Jones’ critique of modern culture and modern institutions, then what good news message does the Gospel offer to a postmodern city like Miami?

How might Christ Journey lead the way on building the most faithful and effective institution to champion this message for the next generation?

Transformational: Traditioned innovation offers a vision that transcends both the naive optimism of progressive thinkers who benefit from the current sociopolitical dynamics in the world, and the cynical despair of people who are suffering from systemic injustice or are paralyzed by either fear, hatred, or anxiety, or all of these. (21)

Traditioned Innovation offers a resilient and restorative path forward, as opposed to the fragility of naive optimism that might rally people but leave them uncertain about what next steps to take.

Jones writes, “We believe a rich sense of Purpose is rooted in convictions, practices, and friendships that embody a hope that the world ultimately does make sense, that there is a God who will, in the end, redeem even the most difficult and horrifying realities of our world and of our own lives. This is the God who, in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, takes all of the world’s suffering and redeems it for the sake of flourishing: yours and mine, that of communities and institutions, indeed, that of the whole cosmos.” (22)

What naively optimistic narratives are native to Miami that Christ Journey needs to confront with a resilient and restorative pathway forward?

Urgent: Jones states, “We are living in a time of extreme disorientation.” (24)

Home away from home: We are living in the time in between the victory of Christ and the promised redemption of this world.

The cultural issues of the day have exacerbated the needs for leadership and connection.

The signs of the times indicate the passing away of culture as we currently know it and the birth of something new.

As a result, society is increasingly experiencing anxiety and uncertainty about the future: socially, financially, and culturally.

Jones states, “This means even the ordinary virtues are consistently under threat, unless we can cultivate stronger institutions. That in itself is a daunting task, because many institutions are corrupt or weak, and because there is an overall sense that most of our institutions are inadequate for navigating the changes occurring in our world. They are too often embodiments of bureaucracy and thus tend towards corruption.” (26)

What ordinary virtues do you believe are under threat.

How might Christ Journey continue to grow and expand its institutional influence in Miami and South Florida to lead Miami into a flourishing society without becoming bogged down in bureaucracy and unnecessary structures?

In what ways does Christ Journey need to do to remain culturally and strategically agile to achieve this vision?

The remainder of the book identifies the virtues, mindsets, and perspectives that lead an institution to provide the possibility for a community to flourish:

Purpose

1. Purpose: Jones writes, “Purpose itself isn’t quite enough. It needs to be purpose that is directed outward toward flourishing—our own, to be sure, as well as the flourishing of our friends and neighbors, our broader communities and institutions, and indeed of the whole cosmos. Cultivating a sense of purpose is natural for us as human beings, and it is natural as well for institutions. In the world in which we live, we need to renew that sense of purpose for ourselves and for institutions.” (45)

At Christ Journey, our purpose is clear: ‘to help people find and follow Christ.’ As an Executive Board team, how do you envision your role in helping Christ Journey lead more fully into our Purpose?

Bewilderment

2. Bewilderment: with all of the change and uncertainty in the world (read: Miami and South Florida), Jones writes, “it’s easy to lose sight of that purpose because of the storms and the fog and our own instability. It’s impossible to stay focused when we’re so bewildered.” (74)

In bewildering times, institutions vacillate between traditionalism and futurism. Jones writes, “We start to long either for the comforts of returning to shore, where, at best, ‘our dreams come true because we dream too little’ (to borrow from Sir Francis), or we continue to venture recklessly onward, suspecting that our technological ingenuity and innovation alone (the ‘abundance of things we possess’) will provide all we need to master the seas.” (74)

A dashboard indicator for the onset of bewilderment is when an institution experiences vacillation.

Identify areas of shore behavior (traditionalism) and areas of unsafe venturing (futurism). How might we take steps to hold these two in tension together rather than choosing a side?

Imagining

3. Imagining: If bewilderment results in the death of imagination, then resurrecting imagination requires finding clarity and renewed commitment to Purpose. Start and return to WHY. Jones states, “It’s by cultivating a rich imagination that we’re able to give shape to, and discover new possibilities for, the sort of flourishing for which we are designed and for which we yearn.” (108)

Design = tradition; yearn = innovation.

What characteristics are necessary to create an imaginative environment?

Traditioning

4. Traditioning: Jones writes, “It’s vital, therefore, to appreciate that while we are prospective by nature, we also carry forward a past. The past has real bearing on our futures, so it’s important for us to develop a long view of time, not just prospective, but retrospective, too. We exist within larger stories, and we do well to find and situate ourselves there. If our lenses toward the future are truly to be marked by the curiosity, humility, and hope we’ve described, then our curiosity and humility and hope ought to compel us toward a continual evaluation of the past and learning from it.” (145)

Jones offers 4 questions to promote Traditioning:

What are we (and have we been) doing?

What are we (and have we been) learning?

Who are we (and have we been) becoming?

What do we carry forward that will compel, inform, and give shape to the life-giving futures we’ve imagined?

Answer the 4 Traditioning questions.

Collaborating

5. Collaborating: Jones writes, “To help foster imagination for our own lives as well as for the communities and institutions that enable us to flourish, we develop intrinsic relationships with others. We do that through holy friendships and unlikely ones, through vibrant institutions and the cultivation of new ones, through dense networks and weak ties, and through entrepreneurial collaboration as well as cross-sector learning. As we cultivate intrinsic relationships, we depend on and cultivate afresh important virtues such as trust, generativity, and wisdom.” 172

Collaboration requires the abandonment of individualism, however seductive, to embrace life-giving, institutionally-thriving friendships.

What areas of your life need companionship and holy friendship? How might individualistic tendencies be slowing the advancement and up-building of Christ Journey and the Kingdom?

Improvising and Sustaining

6. Improvising and Sustaining: The task of leadership is "to cultivate vibrant institutions that are equipped and continually renewed for the work that awaits them as the future unfolds.” (201) This happens by leading institutions “ to improvise when conditions change and opportunities arise, as well as the work of sustaining our innovative, improvisational work.” (201)

Jones writes, “In navigational terms, improvising and sustaining are like adapting to the seas as they change and tending to our vessels so they stay afloat and on course as we progress toward our destination.” (201)

What methodologies and mechanisms do we need to implement to ensure that we successfully and effectively navigate the wild seas ahead of us?