The Fly in the Ointment: Why Denominations Aren't Helping Their Congregations...and How They Can
178
The Fly in the Ointment: Why Denominations Aren't Helping Their Congregations...and How They Can
178Paperback
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Overview
The Fly in the Ointment is an important resource for churches and church leaders as they explore how to transform themselves into vital, flourishing organizations. That transformation requires deep, systemic change on the part of regional associations, such as dioceses, presbyteries, synods, and conferences—the bodies that are meant to help congregations live their mission in the world. This book addresses the challenging issues of coping with changes and conflict in congregations and denominations in the face of cultural changes.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780898696066 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Church Publishing, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 10/01/2008 |
| Pages: | 178 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT
WHY DENOMINATIONS AREN'T HELPING THEIR CONGREGATIONS ... AND HOW THEY CAN
By J. RUSSELL CRABTREE
Church Publishing Incorporated
Copyright © 2008 J. Russell CrabtreeAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-89869-606-6
Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
GETTING THE MESSAGE CLEAR
The Really Hot, Not So Bad, Maybe OK, Half-Burning Platform
If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle? — 1 Corinthians 14:8
If we are to renew, it is because we have a vision of something worth saving or doing. —John Gardner
Consultants working in the area of change management often refer to the concept of a burning platform. The term "burning platform" has been a mainstay in the business lexicon for many years. For those not familiar with its origin, the story goes something like this:
A man working on an oil platform in the North Sea was awakened suddenly one night by an explosion. Amidst the chaos, he made his way to the edge of the platform. As a plume of fire billowed behind him, he decided to jump from the burning platform even though jumping is a risky option for the following reasons:
* It was a 150-foot drop from the platform to the water.
* There is debris and burning oil on the surface of the water.
* If the jump into the 40°F water did not kill him, he would die of exposure within 15 minutes.
Luckily, the man survived the jump and was hauled aboard a rescue boat shortly thereafter. When asked why he jumped, he replied, "Better probable death than certain death." The point is that the literally "burning" platform triggered the radical change in his behavior.
In the parlance of change management, creating a burning platform means constructing a concise, compelling, evidence-based, and consistently communicated rationale articulating why an organization cannot stay where it is. Its purpose is to demonstrate that the risk of maintaining the status quo is significantly higher than the risk of stepping into a future that requires considerable change. A burning platform functions as the organizational equivalent of the Biblical "hell." You don't want to be there even if it requires a leap of faith to escape it.
In seasons requiring substantial change, it is imperative that the leader sound a clear call if it is expected that people will follow into the struggle, and consequent renewal, that change will likely introduce. Unfortunately, clarity is in such short supply today that seeing through a glass darkly would be a comparative illumination.
Denominational leaders seem mired in uncertainty whether they should create a burning platform or lead a pep rally. On the one hand, leaders make statements that signal the need for significant change. In a report titled A Wake-Up Call to the Presbyterian Church issued in 2005, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick wrote: "The fact that we are now into the third decade in which our annual membership numbers are showing decline is a wake-up call to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." Kirkpatrick argues that "the deepest and most profound implication is that we as a church are being called by God to prayer for repentance and renewal."
Charles Fulton, director of congregational development for the Episcopal Church, responds to the 30-year numeric decline in his denomination by pondering the depths of the water: "If it's related to one event, that can be dealt with and we'll get beyond it. If it's a systemic, life cycle issue, it will be harder to turn it around, and it will require a kind of radical leadership that we don't really encourage right now. Resurrection follows death — it does not follow denial."
We need to make changes! The platform is burning! We can't stay here! It is unbearably hot! But is it?
At the same time there are official voices wondering if it is so bad after all. In an article entitled "Picture Your Presbytery Here" found on the PCUSA website, Cynthia A. Woolever, Research Services Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), writes:
"Our presbytery suffered a net loss of members again this year. I am so discouraged." The "net loss blues" is an all too common ailment for presbytery leaders and others concerned about the future of the Presbyterian Church. But before you reach for your favorite prescription, take some time to look at the factors behind the ailment.
Is the platform really burning? Or is our "crisis talking" an "all too common ailment"? Maybe it's not so bad after all!
Woolever then goes on to look at the bright side of the data, while acknowledging losses, and concludes, "The implications are clear. Continued care and nurturing of congregations of all sizes and types will yield good overall health for the presbytery in the future."
It's really OK! We just need to continue what we are doing and our future is secured! What we really need is a pep rally!
I have chosen a handful of comments from a few good folks to illustrate the confused message that denominational leaders are sending to the church. It's not worth the print space to list quotes from leaders across the years indicating that all the losses are actually positive, that they indicate a separation of faithful believers from nominal members, that inflated rolls are finally being cleaned, etc. When all the pieces of the message are gathered from the four corners of Denomination Land they amount to something like "It's a really-hot-not-so-bad-maybe-OK half-burning platform." In contrast to denominational leaders, church members are remarkably unconfused about the state of things. As we shall see, their priorities and concerns are clear and consistent.
Now the reader may be thinking something like this: "Of course there are different perspectives on the need for change. It is natural and appropriate for there to be free and open debate about these issues at the highest levels of the church." My response is simply this: I do not know of a single effective organization today in either the profit or nonprofit realm that is still debating the need for substantial change in the way they go about accomplishing their mission. If the denominational leadership wants to continue to debate the need for change, it will have to accept the consequential decline in the system as a whole. There will be bright spots scattered about, but these will be led by persons who have figured out effective strategies on their own, often in reaction to the inertia of the system. Church leaders cannot expect folks to charge into the chaos of system change if they continue to sound such an ambiguous call.
Good communication skills are a core leadership requirement. In situations that call for significant change, clear communication makes or breaks the process. The first step in creating a transformational regional association is to realize that the primary target audience for the case for change is not members of churches but key players in the systems, including pastors, regional association leaders, and higher-level denominational leaders.
Strategically, members of congregations are keenly aware of the need to grow and revitalize their churches. Having surveyed tens of thousands of church members I can say without equivocation that the number one priority for members is to invest additional energy into reaching new members and the number two priority is making necessary changes to attract families with children and youth. This is true in 95 percent of the churches surveyed and has not changed significantly in 20 years of data gathering. Church members have sparkling clarity on this issue.
In addition, when church leaders are asked to indicate priorities for their regional association, their number one priority is equipping pastors and other church leaders with strategies that will help them grow and revitalize their churches. No "wake-up" call is needed; I would urge that we cease upon that particular bugle. Church members are awake! They don't need more "pow"! They need more "how"! But where are the persons who will allocate the time, money, expertise, and spiritual juice to provide the "how"? This, it seems to me, falls squarely in the lap of regional association leaders and is the opportunity that calls for the redevelopment of those associations.
There is a question here that screams for an answer: What does it mean that we have denominational leaders sounding wake-up calls for the church to become more concerned about reaching new persons, when all the research indicates that the number one concern for members is reaching new persons? It suggests to me that we have denominational systems in the middle that are unaligned with that goal and that these systems are robust in their resistance to change.
Clifton Kirkpatrick listed six imperatives for one Presbyterian Church to "rise again":
1. We need to realize that our most important evangelistic outreach begins at home.
2. We need to follow the wisdom of the Book of Order concerning inactive members.
3. Jesus was quite clear in the Great Commission that we as followers of Christ are called to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them (Matthew 28:19).
4. We need to learn from our growing churches and imitate them!
5. If we are going to be a growing church, we must be a multicultural church.
6. We need to start more new churches.
Kirkpatrick has provided a respectable list of strategic initiatives that few members would argue with. What is missing is the necessary revamping of denominational systems to provide the focus, resources, and expertise to make this happen, specifically at the level of the regional association. I would argue that Charles Fulton has it right: we are dealing with a "systemic, life cycle issue, [that] will be harder to turn it around, and it will require a kind of radical leadership that we don't really encourage right now."
So, for the sake of the blessed clarity which I espouse, let me sharpen the lines. If systematic change is going to occur, not just for a few churches, but for the majority, the locus of that change will need to be the regional association. Leading that change will require the clearest, most compelling, and most consistently communicated rationale of all. Without a change in this middle body, we will simply become noisy gongs sounding wake-up calls to rooms vacated by people who wanted to learn something beyond what an alarm could teach them.
* * *
Discussion Questions
For church members and leaders
1. What is your vision for what your church will look like in three to five years?
2. Do you know how to get there? What do you think your church needs to learn how to do?
3. What is the basic message you are hearing from your regional association regarding what you need to be doing? How clear is that message?
For regional associations
1. How would you respond to Clifton Kirkpatrick's wake-up call? Is it strong enough? Too strong?
2. What do you think about Charles Fulton's analysis? Are we dealing with a systemic, life-cycle issue that calls for a radical kind of new leadership?
3. How clear is your regional association about the need for change?
CHAPTER 2
BEYOND TWO-SKUNK SOLUTIONS
Only through such transformation or contextual shift can an individual, a work unit, an organization, or a society break the self-limiting barriers imposed by the old frame of reference and open up to the possibility of renewal. —John Williamson
There once was a woman who lived in a house by the woods. One evening she absentmindedly left the outside basement door open. When she went down the basement stairs to do laundry the next morning, she was startled by a skunk that had entered during the night.
Dismayed by the prospect of being sprayed by a skunk but unsure what to do, she called the local department of natural resources and asked a ranger for advice. "It is really quite simple," the ranger said. "Leave the door open again tonight, but before you go to bed place a trail of bread crumbs from the basement door to the woods."
"That's not so hard," she thought to herself, and went about her other work. That evening, before she went to bed, she placed a trail of bread crumbs from the basement door to the woods, just like the ranger had instructed her.
The next morning the phone rang in the ranger station. "Sir, I did what you said. Now I have two skunks in my basement."
The story illustrates what I refer to as two-skunk solutions. Two-skunk solutions inadvertently create problems that are simply replications of existing ones. Denominational efforts in the 1980s and 1990s to prop up marginally sized congregations with financial supplements simply resulted in more marginally sized congregations. Fostering dependency is generally a two-skunk solution that feels like help but simply generates more dependency.
When we do not think deeply enough about a problem, we create two-skunk solutions. The chronic use of credit cards to cover a consistent shortfall in income is a solution that simply creates a second, similar problem. As Einstein put it, "In order to solve a problem, you have to think in a different way than what created the problem in the first place."
Even the best of solutions creates new problems. But the goal of solving problems is not to eliminate problems but to create higher problems. Jesus solves the hunger problem of the five thousand by feeding them. But this solution simply introduces a higher-level problem: how do you nourish a sense of meaning and purpose in your life? Jesus shatters the illusion of a life without problems; the goal of any endeavor is not to eliminate problems but to create and then engage higher-level issues.
The effort to redevelop a regional association is not aimed at eliminating problems; it is aimed at engaging higher-level problems. Denominations are failing to make the changes that are necessary to cultivate vital, healthy congregations. Instead, they are engaging in relatively superficial solutions that not only fail as solutions but replicate existing problems. Just as we confess our small sins to avoid confessing more serious ones, denominations are engaging low-level issues in order to avoid dealing with more substantive ones. Endless reorganizations, "new" mission statements, salvation by language all feel like change, but they are usually little more than a fresh coat of paint.
There are many noble reasons for focusing on higher-level problems: mission effectiveness, creation of meaning, spiritual growth, rich team experiences. But my favorite is simply that they are more fun to solve even at their most difficult. That, I believe, is why Jesus told parables. A parable is a kind of puzzle that invites the reader to engage in a quest for solution. Once the puzzle is solved, the reader is taken to another level; the reader "owns" the solution at a higher level than if the answer had simply been given away.
So let me say up front to clergy, board members, church members, and regional association leaders: my goal is not to make your life easier by eliminating problems; my goal is to make your life richer by challenging you to engage the higher problems that are truly worthy of your soul's endeavor. Paradoxically, what we avoid only makes life harder.
The Challenge of Church Leadership
This book is sympathetic to the challenge of church leadership. How hard is it to lead in the church today? Business consultant Peter Drucker suggested that the three toughest management jobs in the United States are university president, hospital CEO, and senior pastor of a large church. From research conducted with thousands of members in hundreds of churches, on average only 55 percent of members are clearly satisfied overall with what is happening in their church. By way of comparison, over 85 percent of members in an average community are clearly satisfied with their local public library (see Table 2.1).
The problem we are facing is not simply a numeric decline, but churches where members indicate such poor quality of community life that it is difficult to invite new people into them. From the standpoint of the satisfaction with their experience, it is easier to make the case for folks to get a library card than to join the typical denominational church in their community! With some notable exceptions, few of us are exclaiming with the Apostle Paul, "my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown" (Philippians 4:1). No wonder the career mortality rates of new seminary graduates is so high. In a landmark study of seminaries and their graduates (Appendix C), Carolyn Weese found that only one in five seminary graduates continued in ministry five years after graduation.
What clergy are experiencing at the helm of leadership, church board members are experiencing on deck. The seas are rough for both; the same wind and spray buffets them all. At any particular board meeting important decisions are made, most of which would receive the support of a majority of the congregation, but none is likely to be energetically and enthusiastically embraced. Burn-out at least implies a fire, but rust-out (burn-out at room temperature) is the more likely destination for the average board member.
Transformational Churches
The reader might be tempted to heave a sigh of resignation at this point: "That's just the way it is with churches! We're supposed to be struggling! Jesus called us to pick up our crosses and follow him! That pretty much means that if something is making our life as a church unsatisfying, it is our cross to bear. These low levels of energy and satisfaction are simply a reflection of a life of discipleship!"
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT by J. RUSSELL CRABTREE. Copyright © 2008 by J. Russell Crabtree. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface.................... ix
Acknowledgments.................... xi
Introduction: The Fly in the Ointment.................... 1
Chapter One Getting the Message Clear: The Really Hot, Not So Bad, Maybe
OK, Half-Burning Platform.................... 9
Chapter Two Beyond Two-Skunk Solutions.................... 14
Chapter Three Smart Love in a "For Dummies" Culture.................... 23
Chapter Four Organizational Level Dynamics.................... 34
Chapter Five Organizational Level Dynamics II: Skill and Time Allocation... 45
Chapter Six Strategic Coaching.................... 56
Chapter Seven The Sea in Which We Swim.................... 65
Chapter Eight Servant Leadership in Regional Associations.................. 72
Chapter Nine The Pretty Dozen.................... 79
Chapter Ten For Adults Only.................... 87
Chapter Eleven A Well-Intentioned, Fatal Mistake.................... 96
Chapter Twelve Listening!.................... 106
Chapter Thirteen Shifting Culture: Lessons from an Elevator................ 112
Chapter Fourteen Leading and Managing Change.................... 122
Chapter Fifteen Straight Talk.................... 131
Chapter Sixteen In the School of the Invoice.................... 140
Chapter Seventeen Structuring Revenue.................... 146
Chapter Eighteen Getting Started.................... 153
Appendix A: The Data Sets.................... 157
Appendix B: The Regional Association Assessment Tool.................... 159
Appendix C: Standing on the Banks of Tomorrow: A Summary by Carolyn Weese.. 167
Notes.................... 175
The Author.................... 177