It's about the Cargo

I think we've all heard the analogy between small churches and speedboats and larger churches and tankers.

The smaller can make changes quickly much like a speedboat while the larger has to take it's time and move slowly, much like the large church.

I brought up the question of "why" on Face Book and got a lot of good and right answers.
Some were very technologically sound; "the draft and freeboard--speedboat sits on top of water, tanker has a lot below the water line" and "less friction" and "momentum."
Other answers were more deep, such as, "As with life, that which requires a greater investment of time and energy to gain momentum to move, also requires more to change it's course. It's bigger!" Or the classic "your tanker has "fatter" people on it." (Thanks Josh!)

All these answers are true, but one thing I've never thought of until I heard it said from a dear Pastor friend last week was that "it depends also on the cargo." Pastor David Gibson went on to explain that an oil tanker needs about a 5 to 6 mile radius to make it's turn. The reason is due to the liquid cargo; if it makes too sharp of a turn it will cause a shift in weight and the cargo itself will cause the ship to turn over; meaning, it's not just a size issue, it's also about the cargo.

In relating to churches, I know of large churches that were able to make some quick changes without shipwrecking, and some small churches that needed to take their time.
Why? Was it just a size issue? No.
It's about the cargo.
People.

People are the cargo we take with us in every journey. As a leader we need to know our ship and the people on it. If we make a change and the cargo tips over and causes the ship to sink, while the cargo was the result, it was the leader who navigated that way.

Navigate well and remember the cargo.