UPDATED AUGUST 2020
This post was originally posted in August of 2019. And we thought disruption was normal then! Little did we know what the next year would bring.
As you move toward the fall of 2020, how are you dealing with the disruption this year has brought? Have you resisted it? Have you embraced it?
What might it look like for the Younique tools to be a part of a process of you embracing this time of disruption in your life … and allowing God to use it as a moment to reshape your next season?
Disruption is Everywhere
Disruption is everywhere and is increasing all the time. Entire industries are being disrupted, and this causes mixed reactions.
Netflix disrupted the home video industry, which felt good to the customer who found it convenient and fun, but it didn’t feel great for Blockbuster Video. (Now Netflix is disrupting home entertainment more broadly, which doesn’t feel so good to cable and network TV.) Uber is disrupting how we get from place to place, which might feel good to the traveler, but it doesn’t feel as good to the Yellow Cab Company.
In the consumer market, disruption has become so common that it is almost what we expect. But we still don’t expect it in our lives, which is what makes disruption disruptive.
Sometimes we welcome disruption. The other day I roasted the asparagus instead of steaming it, and by the acclaim that came from the dinner table you would have thought I had been elected President.
Most disruptions in our lives are not as warmly received, however. When the cost of gas jumps, when our boss announces that she is moving on, when our youngest child leaves us with an empty nest, we get unsettled. As a leader I’ve learned that all change involves loss, even change for the better. Disruption requires us to exert new energy and find new ways of being.
Younique Can Be a Disruptor
One of the most frequent refrains I hear about Younique is that it is a disruptor—it brings forth dreams and declares calling in a way that cannot but leave you changed for the better.
One of our trainers says, “Younique lays the groundwork for disruption to happen. It digs up, takes you back, sifts through, filters and names all the broken and beautiful that each of our lives has . . . laid out in plain sight. But instead of being a disruptor of the negative sort, it offers an opportunity to redeem whatever disruptions we may have deemed the ugly parts of our lives, to be gathered up and utilized as part of our story. It might possibly be the only time you’ve ever been able to actually reclaim past disruption, because it’s now seen in light of God’s story that He’s writing.”
Younique equips the church to help each disciple name the special calling God has on his or her life that no one else has or can live. It is an amazing experience and an incredible gift to see our people being empowered by knowing and naming their calling from God. What church leader wouldn’t want to see disruption like this?
But then our people start to soar in their calling, and that might require them to say no to volunteering in the slot we had carved out for them. That disruption does not feel so good.
Last weekend a friend and staff member at my church approached me and said, “I can’t wait to go through Younique! My boss says it is okay as long as I don’t leave.” She laughed and I know the comment was meant to be humorous. But all humor contains an element of truth, and her comment put a finger on the fear that many of us leaders experience when we release people to live out their calling.
One church whose staff went through Younique describes a three-year journey of disruption. Dreams were awakened and courage found. But in addition to great celebration, it also led to a period of redesigning roles and job descriptions to enable people to work out of their sweet spot and establish replenishment rhythms in their lives.
Last week we brought together our Younique coaches and trainers from across the country. We spent time praying together, dreaming together, and exploring how we can be faithful to the great commission. By far the most resounding theme was disruption.
At first we talked about how Younique is disruptive by bringing churches into a conversation about individualization and personalization that challenges the “all come,” program-driven nature of most churches.
But we also talked about how the world is disrupting what it means for us to be church. While following Jesus faithfully in a post-Christendom world is not a new conversation, it is an ever-present source of insecurity. We are finding our way forward through a sea of disruptive forces we cannot avoid.
Embrace the Disruption
If we are going to be disrupted no matter what, why not embrace a disruption designed to usher people into a deeper relationship with the Lord? Why not take the risk to take people on a journey to the heart of who they are and the purpose for which God put them on Earth?
Yes, Younique will rattle your walls. When people are confident in the calling God has on their lives, they will lead, probably in directions you did not plan to go. They may lead you to new places; they may lead new missional communities; they may fundamentally change the way you gather as the people of God.
Yet as we say at Life Younique, “It’s Your Call.” It is that simple, that disruptive . . . and that good.
UPDATE AUGUST 2020
If you want to embrace the disruption, check out Younique On Call. It gives you access to all of our online teaching and tools for an affordable monthly amount. Both individual and church plans are available. (Church plans work like Right Now Media, giving every person in your church access to all of our courses!)
You can always get started for free with our online Starter Kit. There’s no cost, and it will give you taste of what you can expect from Younique On Call.
It’s Your Call.
