Hi, my name is Pete Kizzeril, and I want to welcome you to the emotionally healthy leader podcast.

Our title today is Church History Matters to Your Leadership.

Actually, I'm like to say church history and the global church matters to your leadership.

And so this is a really large topic, very important, essential, something I am

passionate about. And so it's so important to know your story that goes back three to four

generations. We call it our genogram because it lives in your bones. We like to say Jesus may be in your

heart, but grandpa's in your bones. In the same way, when you think of the church, Jesus may be in your heart, but grandpa's in your bones.

In the same way, when you think of the church, Jesus may live in your church, but church history

lives in your bones. The history of all that's gone before us, we're part of a genogram as a church.

And it's so critical and important that we have an understanding of how the past has impacted

our present, and what are the treasures we want to take forward

into the future, and also what are the negative legacies that we also want to reject for the

future. I like what George Santiana said, the great church historian, those who cannot remember

the past are condemned to repeat it. So many of us have a very limited and actually mistaken understanding of how

the church unfolded since the Book of Acts. And that blind spot has caused us to miss a lot of

important lessons from history that really inform us, teach us, and prepare us to face the future.

And so, again, a lack of historical memory does great damage to the way we do our leadership,

the way we make disciples and our witness for Christ in the world.

Now, I'm aware that most of you are listening to this podcast, are pastors and leaders and churches,

but a few of you as well are in the corporate world or in nonprofits.

And you might be saying, what difference does church history matter to me or the global church?

And my own leadership.

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