UMC20250309 - Breaking out of our silos¶

Last week, I had the privilege of visiting all the schools in the South African Reddam House group to train various teams. I was excited—not only to travel to Cape Town and Joburg, seeing new places, but also to finally put faces to the names behind emails. I love meeting new people, but I was surprised by how many people shared my passion for technology in schools. From my experience, this is normally a small group, but this trip showed me that passionate people are everywhere and more common than I believed it to be.

It made me think about how often we find ourselves in silos—at work, at church, and in life general? We assume we’re alone in our passions simply because we limit the people that we interact with. It is hard, but how do we step outside of our usual spaces at least once in a while? Ideas/passions often have a life of their own in reality, and, just like plants, they grow the most through cross-pollination.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul reminds us that the body of Christ is made up of many parts, each unique but essential. No one person or church has the full picture—God’s work is bigger than any single community. Good ideas exist everywhere. Would we benefit from visiting other churches? From engaging with different departments at work? From learning how God is moving in different places?

The truth is, God has placed passionate, like-minded people all around us—we just have to look beyond our silos to find them. When we open ourselves to new connections, we expand our understanding of God’s kingdom and grow in ways we never expected.

So, where might God be calling you to step out?

Love, Cliff