Missional Dip

Seth Godin has a new book, The Dip. I've ordered it, but it doesn't ship until May 10.

Here are some quotations about the topic of the book.

From the book description at the Amazon site:

"Maybe you're in a Dip-a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try."

"Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it."

"Losers, on the other hand, fall into two basic traps. Either they fail to stick out the Dip—they get to the moment of truth and then give up—or they never even find the right Dip to conquer."

From an interview with Guy Kawasaki:

"What's the worst time to quit? When the pain is the greatest."

"The willingness to quit when you get off track pushes you on the path to mastery."

"When you copy something that's already on the other side of the Dip, you've already lost."

From an old essay at Fast Company:

"Fundamentalists decide whether they like a new piece of information based on how it will affect their prior belief system, not based on whether it is actually true."

Here's my summary of what Seth is trying to say:

• Any accomplishment that is really worthwhile gets difficult before there is a "pay off."
  
• But not all difficulties are created equal.
  
• Some difficulties are essentially dead ends.
  
• The "trick" is to be able to tell the difference.
  
• The bigger the dip, the greater the pay off.
  
• Each person, or organization, must discover what challenges should be faced and what obstacles are simply too big to overcome.
  

This requires a little translation to apply to missional Christianity. But here are some observations I would offer:

• Missional living is the ultimate "Dip."
  
• There is no quick pay off, no short cut.
  
• But the eventual reward is incalculable.
  
• There is no one-size-fits-all approach to ministry.
  
• One of the most important disciplines for a congregation is to learn to say, "No."
  
• It is a mistake to copy what another congregation did to get to the other side of the "Dip."
  
• The reward for getting to the other side of the "Dip" is not
  
  • Getting big
    
  • Becoming famous
    
  • Speaking at seminars
    
  • Telling other people how to do it
    
• The reward for getting to the other side is
  
  • Participating in the viral spread of God's kingdom
    
  • The opportunity to encourage others to survive the "Dip"
    
  • The opportunity to "risk it all" to cross another "Dip"
    

So what do you think? What would you add? What do you take issue with?

Here's an even more important question: Does this sound like something you'd be willing to spend your life for?

Pastor Rod

"Helping you become the person God created you to be"