I just read this article from the Harvard Business Review about the firing of General McChrystal by President Obama.

I, however, discover something in it that while relevant to the topic presented in the article has further implications than for Special Ops dropped into unknown places.

Also, I do not mean to insinuate in any way that the church’s mission strategies should be militaristic.

However, I think we can and should learn from all possible sources since all truth is God’s truth.

With that said, here is an excerpt from the article.

Dropped into an unknown culture, in a land of threatening terrain, with tools insufficient to the mission and dependent on distrustful partners, the team did what it was trained to do — design an entirely new path toward achieving its goal.

The 12-man, multidisciplinary team went through the ritual steps of innovation. The members observed the local culture, collaborated among themselves and with their partners, brainstormed and generated new options, screened for the best, iterated a few, and chose one. In the end, the best option was to get on a horse. The team mounted up to show respect to the culture, establish their social position as warriors, and transport their high-tech GPS systems and laser sighting gear across mountains and desert …

Special Forces soldiers and Special Ops soldiers in general, are taught how to go into unknown, complicated, changing environments, do fast ethnography, brainstorm, generate new ideas, iterate, collaborate, choose the most valid solution for the situation, and execute quickly. They operate in a paradigm of possibility, not reliability, learning by observing and doing, not memorizing standard procedures. They are great Design Thinkers.

What can the church learn about engaging culture from a 12 man special ops team? 4 things:

1. Design a path to achieve a goal.

4. Learn by observing and doing, not memorizing standard procedures. But we have always done it this way!

The gospel is fixed, but our methodology should be fluid.

What else would you add?

I would love to here your thoughts . . .