Thursday, September 1, 2011

New organizations - new wine isn't put in old bottles

Jesus explained to the Jews who criticized his new organization and new doctrine that (Mark 2)

22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

It should not be surprising that in our time, a period of confusion within Christianity about the correct ways to follow Jesus, that Jesus started a new organization and didn't try to adjust the organizations that had long established their beliefs and ways of doing things.

It's a good example for business as well. When trying to compete in the same industry under a different business model, it's important to separate the new business unit from the old business unit because otherwise the new business unit will be crushed. This has happened again and again in businesses. For example, in the computer industry, few computer giants have survived the shift from mainframe to mini to personal computers. The one that did (IBM) set up new divisions in different parts of the country and gave those divisions free license to compete however deemed wisest against the new competition in the lower ends of the market.

I am not surprised that Jesus started a new church organization in our time. He had already established a precedent of doing it.


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