Dan Smith & Mary K. Hucyke: CourageousSpace Newsletter: March 2007
A Perspective on Congregational Renewal:
External Fix or Inner Work
"They expect me to fix it and make it all better," remarked a coaching client of ours recently. The new pastor of a church that's been experiencing decline, she has run into the attitude of many congregations: when something is going wrong, it is the pastor's job to find out what that something is and fix it.
Underlying that assertion is the assumption we find most damaging to churches'
strategies for and attempts at renewal. "When our church is experiencing
decline, there is a problem that needs to be fixed. Find the problem and fix
it and we can get back to the way church is supposed to be."
Congregations are not alone in that assumption. Seminars and books offer a myriad
of solutions to a congregation's stall or decline - learn how to better welcome
visitors, move to a growing suburb, prepare your nursery, upgrade your marketing,
add video screens in the worship space, change the music and the preaching style.
When programmatic and building "fixes" prove ineffective, the congregation
often turns to the personnel committee demanding they figure out what's wrong
with the pastor and fix him or her.
It's to be expected - we are a fix it or replace it culture. The natural inclination
when something isn't working is to find out what needs to be fixed and either
repair or replace it. This approach, which works well with cars or washing machines,
provides a quick answer, but little relief to a church experiencing systemic
decline. A pastor that can't be "fixed", is typically replaced. The
new pastor may provide a shot of energy and hope, but typically the congregation
returns to where it was in short order.
That's because the underlying cause of what's going on in congregation most
often isn't a problem to be fixed, but is a reflection of a significant change
in the wider community that the congregation has not adapted itself to meet.
In town after town, the make-up of the community surrounding the church has
changed, so that the demographics of the neighborhood are no longer reflective
of the demographics inside the church.
On a barrier island of New Jersey, wealthy summer people now dominate the "neighborhood"
that used to be primarily working class. In a small town in California, the
new neighborhood speaks primarily Spanish. In a neighborhood of Seattle, the
new neighbors are young families with little church background who are stretched
for time and money. In each case, the church remains an accurate historical
snapshot of who used to live in the neighborhood 30 years ago and what they
valued. Those in the church have little connection with the people in the neighborhood.
And the dominant wish is for things to go back to being the way they used to.
And that's exactly what fixes are designed to do - get things back to the way
they were. Over and over we hear that longing expressed as laity talk frankly
with us. One of the ways we can tell when a church is in decline, is by how
the laity respond to the question, "Why do you want new people to join
your church?" Anytime, more than half of the congregation answers with
something along the lines of, "to keep our programs running and our doors
open," we know that the church is in trouble. No matter how high the attendance
and the giving is running, the church has moved to the point where the people
beyond their doors are primarily valued for what they can bring the church.
In blunt terms, people new to the church are seen as the churches' salvation,
instead of the other way around.
Churches that have reached that point, often quite willingly add programs and
change worship styles and settings in order to bring in more people, and are
surprised when they show little result. Jesus' analogy was white-washing a tomb.
The hard truth is that life never goes back to the way it was. God is forever
saying to individuals and to churches, "Behold, I make all things new."
Becoming "new" in oneself is a very different thing than upgrading
your wardrobe, or cutting your hair, or moving to a new house. A person can
do all of those things and not be any different a person, and so not change
the impact they ultimately have on others. Becoming new in oneself requires
inner shifts, rather than merely shifting the externals. These shifts involve
thinking in new ways, seeing things from a new perspective, developing new attitudes,
caring about new things. It's these inner shifts that cause others to experience
the person differently.
It is very similar for a church. A church that seeks renewal must look beyond
the trappings of programs and building. Both may ultimately be changed. First,
however, the people must give themselves to the work of making deeper, inner
shifts. And these shifts in thinking, perspectives, attitudes and behavior are
work – more demanding work than changing the externals. It is these inner
shifts, however, that are needed if a congregation is going to be present for
and with their new neighbors
.
Where does a church begin? How does it step into the renewal journey, the journey
of making these internal sifts? The journey has multiple phases, but the first
two steps are:
1. Stopping the treadmill of life-as-usual to have deep and honest conversations about where they are and what's going on in the community around them
This begins to move congregation out of whatever false assumptions they may have about how things are going at the church and what's happening in the community around them. It gives them accurate information about their church and their community, which puts them in a position of being able to make choices that are grounded in reality.
2. Anchoring themselves in the big picture of what God is doing in the world and the role that a Christian church (any Christian church) is meant to play.
This gives a congregation something dependable to hold onto. It offers the grounding, direction and hope that provide the solid base for whatever programmatic, staff, or building changes they may later make. It will serve as the reliable compass for their journey when they don't have a map. And, as one of our favorite sayings goes, "you can't draw a map for journey you haven't yet taken."
Don't think that these two steps can be covered by a sermon series or through
a weekend retreat. These first two steps require participatory involvement.
People learn and grow best when they are participants and when they encounter
the "new" thing over and over in a variety of ways. Once people engage
in a participatory way in these two steps, they find a greater urgency and new
strength for addressing the deeper inner shifts.
Renewal is possible for our churches, just like it's possible for us as individuals.
The process isn't all that different. And that's a very hopeful thing!
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