“That is such a cliché!” A phrase you probably thought or said out loud after someone said something like “time is money”, “Ignorance is bliss”, “The grass is always greener on the other side”…The thing with clichés is that they tend to be true and a bit confronting, because you don’t want your situation or expectation to be downsized to one little phrase. A cliché.
Walk the Talk. Is one those clichés that I find confronting true, mostly because of the absence of its reality in my life. We Christians are good in talking. Call it preaching, sharing, testifying, we love to talk about our faith. I think (there’s no scientific research here) that we as Christians have grown in to 80 – 20 ‘talk about it – do it’ mode. But when we look at the life of Jesus it seems there is more action than preaching. More walking than talking. Jesus embodies and lives the invitation God gave humanity. The invitation from that first poem of the Bible. Where the Creator invites us to co-create new things in to this world. Tangible reflections of Him.
These last 5 months I’ve had the privilege being one of the coaches on Seed’s incubator program. The incubator has a cohort of 12 people from diverse backgrounds, places in live, experiences, sharing one thing: ‘creating something that makes a change in this world!’ It’s inspirational to see people translate their faith into something tangible. Walk the Talk.
Our incubator is one of the services we provide as Seed to help Christians design and lead initiatives that bring redemptive change in society. Central in the incubator (and our other streams) is our IP of Redemptive Design. Redemptive Design is a process and a set of tools that helps Christians make things that show the world what Jesus is like. It’s a distinctive approach to design that leads to more constructive, embodied and creative expressions of the Christian faith. It helps you grow in your faith while also making a positive impact in the world. Redemptive Design helps turn theoretical beliefs and ideas into tangible initiatives. It helps you Walk the Talk.
Back to the 12 the amazing people who set out on this journey. They all saw something broken in the world around them. I am sure they all started a conversation at one point addressing this brokenness and talking about solutions, seeing an imagined future. But at some point, talking wasn’t enough anymore. Each one of them stepped into the invitation of creating something tangible, bringing redemptive change in society
So thank you John, Kate, Hailey, Yannick, Jenny, Philippa, Elise, Josie, Angas, Julie, Kirilyn and Laura. Thank you for being change makers, for walking the talk!
Erik is an experienced change management and business consultant. He started his own business ‘SEE Consulting’ after working for 13 years with ARCADIS, a global engineering and consulting firm. SEE Consulting supports people and organisations with organisational development, such as strategy development, change and transformation management, business modelling and interventions. As a Master in Change and Implementation management, Erik developed a set of skills leading organisations in complex situations of change. Holding a Bachelor in Civil Engineering, Erik uses his strong analytical ability to comprehend strategic and change-related issues. Erik is comfortable working at management and board level as well as on an operational level.
Erik is passionate about making social change and justice visible and practical. He worked as a pro-bono consultant and volunteer for a number of Faith-based and Not-For-Profit organisations, such as International Justice Mission, Tear, Soul Survivor and Refugee Aid.