Figure Out What Your Organizations DNA is and Be True to it
DNA is three letters that get thrown around a lot these days. It is something that is commonly gathered at crime scenes and often it is used in solving those crimes. It’s also used to look back and find out who your family is.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms and is different and specific to each one.
One definition of DNA is, the fundamental and distinctive characteristics or qualities of someone or something, especially when regarded as unchangeable –
“Quality is a part of this company’s DNA” or “men just don’t get shopping – it’s not in their DNA”
Being unchangeable is a good thing if you are being true to who you were made to be.
You may or may not be aware of the issues currently taking place in the United Methodist Church. Currently there is some disagreement about who the church is meant to be. The church is dealing with some differences of doctrinal and theological principles.
These kinds of divisions are nothing new. They are as old as mankind itself.
The church of which I’m a member is a small country church with a big heart. I grew up in this church and have never had any reason to find another. It’s a foundational part of who I am…a part of my DNA.
Our local church has been working through the process of deciding who we’ll be, but we first need to remember who we are.
Realizing who we are can be hard when we don’t know anything different. It’s hard to compare two things when you don’t even know what one of them is.
So, all we can do is look back and remember who we are.
We have a very loving, caring and giving history.
Here is a long list of things that have been made possible by or done through this church.
- Missionaries to other countries sent and/or supported by the church
- Mission trips by members of the congregation to over thirty different countries
- Mission trips to work on remodeling and/or repairing people’s homes when they couldn’t
- Disaster response teams sent to areas of tornado damage, flooding, hurricanes and fires.
- Helping people in the community by building handicap ramps
- Supporting and sponsoring community events
- Supporting food banks and clothing supply services
- Ringing of the bells for the Salvation Army
- Giving to families in need through the Christmas Angel Tree program
- Providing transportation to doctors for people when needed
- Providing a facility large enough to allow for community events to be held
- Gathering and preparing flood buckets for United Methodist Committee on Relief
This is just a small portion of what this little country church with a big heart has been able to do over the years.
As great as these things are, if they’re done for the wrong reasons they’re done in vain.
As Christians, we’ve been called to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Just like our DNA can be traced back to our ancestors…as Christians we should be able to trace our DNA back to Christ’s.
Being true to Christ’s DNA is what we as individuals and as a church are called to do.
