In the face of an impending crisis haste is not the first act.

I was confronted by a member of the Uniting Church pointing out to me the dreadful situation of our declining membership at both national & state level and that we needed to be on about change, etc. ASAP to halt and reverse the decline.
I've given it a little, along with years of much thought!
We have our Synod's strategic plan before us.
Two things, among many, stand out for me.

1. Genuine change cannot be about haste.
2. Playing for time cannot be an option either.

Sure the task is urgent, but if our response is any more than another effort at 'quick fix' or some wrong-headed attempt to become culturally aware & relevant, then we must avoid haste. While we may be about 'positioning the church for serious growth and renewal' as our strategic plan would have us consider, we must distinguish between 'waiting' (at which I'm not very good) and sort of, as I said in 2. above, playing for time by doing the same up and down on the same spot. (you get the allusion!). The former is, I believe, the proper beginning to a farsighted response, the latter a delaying tactic in the face of an impending crisis. The former asks us to wait on God. That, I believe, should be our first and most serious response. Long-lasting change is a life-long quest. To undertake it we need to be properly prepared. God will tell us when we need to move.