Article June 16, 1997 Issue

Reforming reform

Carolyn Ruffin

"Repent! " The command brings with it an image of a street preacher shouting an apocalyptic warning. Or a Puritan minister leaning across his pulpit. From the first day of Christ Jesus' ministry, the call for repentance as a first step in individual reformation has been basic to Christian teaching. But does this teaching have anything to offer someone working to reform an institution—to improve public schools, institute campaign finance reform, or streamline government programs?

Consider this scenario: A reformer builds a veritable cathedral of new ways of doing things only to have those carrying out the new approaches reduce them almost to rubble. Such resistance to institutional reform may not even be mean-spirited. But if some kind of change of thought has not happened within the individuals implementing an improved program, institutional reform may be slow or halted entirely.

Here is where a fresh appreciation for repentance is indispensable. It literally goes to the heart of the matter. The word repentance has its origin in terms meaning to think again. This rethinking is so embracing that it reforms the heart. Contemporary change strategists would say it starts a fundamental paradigm shift.

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