“Organisations, the Church included, are built to administer, maintain and protect from harm that which already exists; in contrast creative or dissenting people are designed to give birth to that which has never been in existence before. The dissenters threaten the well-oiled structures of an organisation's process.” (Gerald Arbuckle – Refounding the Church: Dissent for Leadership, p1)

Dissension will always be a risky endeavour because going against the flow is never easy.  But what if the direction of the flow has remained laregly unchallenged for years?  How do we redeem a robust theology of risk in an environment where radical change is perceived as unnecessary by some and unimaginable by most?

In an age of growing hype around risk assessment, we are continually taught how to measure, manage and most importantly, minimise risk in almost every area of our lives; the Church being no exception.  In my opinion, we have been greatly influenced by this aspect of our culture which has reinforced our ‘protection reflex’, contributing towards the position we, like many others, find ourselves in at this time.  In the words of Robert Capon, “What happened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside down?  What happened to the smashing, life-threatening, anti-institutional gospel that spread through the first century like wildfire and was considered (by those in power) dangerous?” (Quoted by Simon Guillebaud in ‘For What it’s Worth’, pg 43)