Teaching a dog new tricks

I recently finished iconoclast, and the author ends the book summarizing two strategies for change to occur (any change- buying a new product, implementing a new technology, changing the pervailing opinion on something):

• target those most receptive to change (if you're not a geek like me, skip to the next bullet: Berns argues that physiologicaly, people under 30, and specifically teenagers, are the most receptive to change due to higher levels of dopamine in the brain)
• make new ideas seem familar (again, geek alert: Berns' studies reveal that older brains are able to learn, especially with confronted with newer ideas, which leads to learning. The more one learns, the more familiar new ideas become).

For churches, the implications are interesting to say the least. So much strife and conflict occurs in church because of change- change in worship, change in leadership, change in programs, change in vision, etc. Many churches have taken (or will take) the first approach and simply target the crowds most receptive to change (see here for one local example). There's nothing wrong with that approach at all. But Churches can also take the second approach, which is probably more of what Hillcrest has done. Before we launched the reveal in 2007 or Wednesday Night Service this past fall, there was much public teaching from the pulpit. Our leaders were reading books and passing those books onto other leaders. Our people were engaged in discussions about what a mission for the community might look like. So when we went public with these things, most already knew because most were part of the process.

Conclusion: any of us dogs can learn new tricks, provided we are either young or wanting to learn. Those of us in the latter group have our work cut out for us.