Have you ever seen an Amish barn move? It’s a sight to behold. Google it. You can thank me later.
Creating meaningful change in any large context is like moving a barn. Whether that’s bringing health to a dysfunctional family, enacting justice and reform in a toxic system, protecting human life from oppressive political structures, revitalizing a dying church—or whatever big work you are called to—it’s going to require a lot of coordinated heavy lifting.
It requires everyone to lift. No one can spectate from the sidelines, expecting a few other people to do all the heavy lifting. We can’t just bank on the pastor, the board, the elected official, or a few key leaders to pull it off.
It requires everyone to move in the same direction. We must move with singular purpose and trajectory. We cannot each continue to go our own way and do our own thing. We must be humble and open-handed with our own preferences or agendas.
It requires everyone to move at the same pace. If some are running too fast, others will trip and fall. If some are moving too slow, we will not get to our destination before we simply run out of energy and time. We must keep steady pace together.
It requires leadership. Someone has to keep their eyes on the big picture and give some direction. Someone has to keep the destination in view, watch the landscape, and direct the pivots and turns.
It requires trusting that leadership. If we refuse to listen as a leader provides guidance—calling out cues on when to lift, when to walk, how fast to go, which direction to turn—we will go nowhere fast. If we constantly second-guess and question decisions, or push against them in the opposite direction, or grumble and complain, all that we may accomplish is simply scooting the barn off of its foundation.
There is a lot that needs transformation. There are a lot of big barns that need moving. Our ever-fragmenting society makes this work all the more challenging.
The good news is that this barn moving business is more than a flowery illustration of teamwork—this is the Creator’s design:
He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
-Ephesians 4:16 (NLT)
If Paul were an Amish barn mover, he might say, “He makes the whole community move together perfectly. As each person lifts as they can, it helps the other parts lift, so that the whole barn is stable and moving and full of love.”
What big thing are you compelled to move? Go for it. Find a community. Move together. Lift as you are able. Keep your barn stable, moving, and—perhaps above all—full of love.