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church xp, the up-grade - part four, adaptability

Introduction:

Change is a hard word.  it never fails, mention the need to change and people freeze.  No matter who they are, where they are from, or how they got to where they are, the word “change” will strike fear in the hearts of millions.  One day I was talking with an older gentleman after a particularly difficult board meeting when he said something that would change my understanding of both human nature and the possibilities of reality; he said, “Change is seen as something hard, something radical.  When you say, ‘time to change,’ people here, ‘what we have done all these years, and everything we put our life into, is not worth it any more,’ even it that is not what you said.  People are funny, change is scary and life is short – don’t fight it, use another word.  Tell people, ‘we need to adapt.’”  He added, “keep in mind, people don’t want to change but they are willing to adapt.”

So, “change” is out and “adapting” is in, cool – that is very postmodern and nonlinear.  You see, the new operating system requires you to adapt, it is a must.  Without the ability to adapt, the new operating system is running on empty.  Not only must we adapt now, we must build into our DNA the ability to adapt again, and again, and again.  It is not that we must adapt now, we must adapt always.  We need to be chameleons, willing to adapt our color as needed.  The greatest thing about being a chameleon is that while they can adapt to their environment, they are always a chameleon.  They adapt, but at the core they are the same, that is the same with the new operating system it requires the church to reach out in honesty and see everything that can be adapted to the new postmodern world, while keeping the core strong.

The core of the new operating system is Christ.  The core is not doctrine, dogma, constitutions, by-laws, boards, building, land, history, tradition, ministries, staff, worship services, elders, deacons, money, stewardship, the core is simply Christ.  If we make it anything else, for any reason, the new operating system will not work and we distort the core of a postmodern community of faith.  Everything is adaptable, everything that is except the core of Christ.  I know what your thinking, “sounds like this ‘adapt’ word is simply another way of saying ‘change.’”  And you know what, your right.

What are the elements of adaptability, and how do we adapt?  Good question (I wrote it).  The answer, to me, is simple.  First, you must listen to God because all we do must start with God and not our personal desires.  Second, we must be honest in the need to adapt.  We must evaluate who we are and where we are going in the light of true honesty, it is the only way we will know where we are going.  Third, accept accidents.  Sometimes God works in way we will never understand and accidents happen for a reason.  Forth, be ready to adapt again.  Remember, God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, the church is fair game to be adapted to meet the needs of the people in this generation.

We need to remember that the world is adapting all around us, in ways most cannot define or comprehend.  But the inability to understand is not stopping the movement of the world.  Keep in mind this very important fact (and I will explain more at the end of the chapter) adaptability is not strategy.  Strategy is the science and art of employing a political, economic, psychological of military force to conduct or accomplish a particular goal or objective, sounds very modern and very “church” to me.  While adapting to a situation simply means we are working with a particular situation and “deconstructing” it, and constructing it to face a new generation.  We need to see the “changes” all around us, here are just a few that are here now, or coming down the pike[i]:

From nation to network

From Western to Eastern

From Government to Market

From Village to Super City

From Tradition to Option

From Family to Tribe

Listening to God

I love the concept of “emergence.”  In connection to a nonlinear adaptable world, emergence is the fact, and understanding, that the whole is greater then the sum of its parts; 2+2=100.  While linear thought teachers that the sum of the parts is equal to the whole; 2+2=4.  Most, who use a modern linear understanding of church see this as truth, but for those of us who see the world with a postmodern nonlinear eye see the power and truth behind the concept of emergence – for us it is totally true.  For example, if you took the total sum of all believers, it would come nowhere near the total sum of God – God is greater then the parts of the whole.  When we see the concept of emergence in connection with a community of faith, we understand that Christ is greater then the sum of all those in the community of faith and as such is able to be “the go to guy.” 

With that in mind, our meager little ideas are nothing to the vastness of God’s.  so, the question is this, “If God’s ideas are so much greater then ours, why are we forcing ‘our vision’ on others?”  When we realize that God is the emergence of all that is happening in the world and our lives, why would you go anywhere else for answer to life questions?  Knowing that God is the emergence of all, and is the “go to guy” in our lives, how do we “go to” God for help, answers and guidance in our vision narrative?

Prayer – I am always amazed that we need to mention prayer.  Why are we, myself included, so reluctant to go to God in prayer?  Could it be our “american individualism” that has us not go to God?  Could it be our desire to “sol it ourselves” that keeps us going to God?  IMO, I would say the reason is our “desire to be in control” and our “self-centered” nature.  We somehow believe, if it’s not “from us” it’s not worth doing.  I know personally, this is an area in my faith life where I can use a push every now and then, and I believe most of us can do the same.  Prayer connects us to God in powerful ways.  As I write this, I realize my prayer life can use a push.  Prayer allows us to “clean the pipes” of our spiritual connections.  It encourages us to open with ourselves and know that God is in control.  It starts with two-way communication between you and God.

Study – To be in God’s word is very important.  To know what God will do, one needs to know what God has done.   To know the power and might of God is endless, know His word.  I can remember reading the whole New Testament and thinking “boy, now I am godlier, because I read the whole New Testament.”  And this is so not true.  I have read it, but I needed to study it, and that could take a lifetime.  I have gotten more out of studying three lines of scripture then reading the whole of the New Testament.  When we are in God’s word, what God wants from us is easier to know.

Live in Community – No person lives in a vacuum.  We live connected.  To know what God desires from you, you must live in the community where God is leading you to, and you must listen to that community.  I have made this mistake times before as a Pastor, Teacher and Theologian, and I know I will make this mistake again, if I am not open to the possibility.  Because we live in community, the vision narrative God gives to the leadership of that community will not harm that community – at all, in any way.  I was once fired[ii] as the Senior Pastor of a church because I did not understand this very important fact.  I wanted to do things that I felt were from God, but turned out to be my own desires, because I did not understand community.  It was my own arrogance and my own desire for “power” that blinded me to seeing the community as an important part God’s direction for me.  I was misguided; I wanted one thing and God wanted another.  I thought I knew what was best for all concerned.  But I was wrong.

Living in community means knowing the community.  Not knowing the community can lead to many problems.  Remember that as leaders, you serve the community the community does not serve you.  God will never tell you to move forward if the community is not ready, but do not use this as an excuse to maintain the status quo.  Too many time we believe the community is not ready, when it is – it takes a great skill and connection to God to know when to move and when to sit.  God does not destroy his people as he moves them forward.  He challenges them, and gives them what they need to grow, but He will never destroy them.  When God is ready to move the community forward, and the community is not willing to move, God will allow them to wonder in the wilderness for years and he will allow only those in a new generation to enter the promise land.

Honest Evaluation

Generally speaking, the church has become its own best listener.  For example, I was once served a church (one of the first I served) where the board decided to do a survey to see if the church was meeting the needs of the people and to determine what it could do different.  They decided on an “informal” approach, to ask people on Sunday mornings.  They decided to ask each people over the next month, after all some people did not come every Sunday.  The conclusion reached by the board, “all is well on the western front.”  They decided to keep doing what they were doing, everyone was happy.  The problem, the only people who were asked, were the people who attended the church.  When you ask fifty people who attend a church if they like it, I would hope they did – they attend.  When you ask the fifty people who attend and they dislike it, you have a problem – but the questions is this, what of the 300 who visited the church over the past year and did not come back, why?  What do they think?  Why did they not return?

Honest evaluation is hard, but to be truthful in the adaptability one must be willing to ask the hard questions.  When we do this we can make an honest assessment of who we are, and where we need to be.  After letting the Board know that the process they used was not a good indication of how the church was doing we developed a better way.  We went back over all visitor cards for the past year and developed a “bland” survey card.  We mailed out the cards to 322 people who had attended the church over a one-year period, and asked if they would fill in the cards and mail them back – we picked up the postage on the mail back.  We asked three basic questions, and then asked for their opinion.  We asked, “Did you like the worship service?”, “ Did you like the preaching?”, “Did you feel welcomed?”, “What would you change if you could.”  The answers amazed the Board.  People did not care for their worship experience (even though those attending were very happy with the music and worship style).  They were not overly impressed with the preaching (the preaching over the covered period was preformed by surplus Ministers and retired Pastors).  They did not feel welcomed (even though the church defined themselves as a “very friendly” place – and they were, to each other but not to visitors).  The suggested list of changes was vast, very vast.  We decided to place a video camera up and video the service and show the board what was happening – the results were unbelievable and the Board quickly made the changes needed.  We kept the survey as an active part of our “thanking visitors” letter, and it has produced some great results.

So the question needs to be asked, what do we evaluate?  What part is fear game to the evaluation factor?  The answer is everything.  Everything is free to be evaluated, the music, the pastor, the governance, ministries, tech, everything.  In order for the evaluation to truly have meaning and value, nothing should be considered a “sacred cow.”  But to truly have an open and meaningful evaluation you need to understand the difference between “adaptability and strategy.”

Adaptability and Strategy – when we speak of determining an honest evaluation of the church we need to determine the reality of adaptability of the system.  Strategy is a planed structural review of the goals with a political agenda connected to it.  Never evaluate an open system with a predetermined set of goals in mind it will distort the process.  Some churches do an “evaluation” as a way of building support to get rid of a Pastor or other Staff member.  I have seen other church take the evaluation process and use it to cause a church split.  Never start an evaluation with a preset of ideas and plans.  Let the information speak for it’s self and allow the solutions to come from the possibilities.  Politics does not govern the church and when it does, people sense this and are disgusted by it. 

Governance:

This is one area that the church should take a deep and honest look at, and it is the one area that most churches refuse to examine.  Most American churches have developed a twisted idea that the church needs to be run democratically.  For some reason, they have developed this though that “the American system” is the closest thing to the truth of God then anything on earth – and they could not be so far from the truth.  But, it is because of this “political bias” they believe that the way the church governs itself is off limits to being evaluated.  This allows them to develop a system that is a “business model” for the church.  The biggest problem is this; the church is not a business.  It never was, should not be, and never will be a business, at all.  Church must have a totally different set of priorities.

For business, profit (money) structures are important, but for the church people must be the center.  Saying that “money helps us do ministry” is not true, people do ministry; money strives the heart for greed.  So, when we take an honest look at the way the church is governed we must be willing to look at it all – all.  By doing so we create an opportunity for adaptability in the future.  When we keep in mind the emergence concept (God is greater then the sum of His parts) we remember that God is in control and trust is central to that understanding.  When we see trust as the central part of governance, we develop a willingness to allow the structure to change to meet the needs of the people.  All, and I do not believe I am overstating this; all, churches are governed by a “lack of trust.”  If you doubt this, try this – ask the board to not make any decisions for one year; ask them to allow one person to place the money in the account, without “checks.”  Not going to happen.  I remember asking a Board to not make decisions for one year, and I was told I was crazy.  The chairman actually said, “We must lead these people, without is they are wondering in the wilderness.”  I could have sworn that God was to lead the people, and without God we wonder in the wilderness – go figure.  Boards, committees and ministry leadership must be self-organizing. 

Self-organizing trust is essential to the new operating system.  In a nonlinear world self-organizing systems of leadership are the best forms possible.  They start with those who are doing the ministry and are developed by the same group.  Most ministries fail in church today because the “central” Board is not in tune with the rest of the church has her needs.  Ask yourself, does your system allow for a quick forming and deforming of ministries in the church?  Do people need to go through so many people and so much red tape to get a ministry started that is causes them to do nothing?  In most churches it can take upwards of a year before a ministry is started, and then it is not the same as it was when the vision started.  When I was at Fellowship we prayed over starting a Christian School.  The vision was to start with k-2 and move slowly from that point, but the process needed to “follow the rules.”  It took several months, and people who were not connecting with the vision narrative of the ministry go appointed to the development team and the problems started.  We went from k-2 to having a school that went from k-8, because one of the people who got involved after had 5^th grade girl and a 7^th grade boy.  We started two grades because of one person.  The people who started the process and the vision was quickly pushed aside, and a group who wanted to be in control took over the process.  Because people who were “in charge” did not trust in the self-organizing process, they forced a board on others and the ministry was a failure.

Staffing:

If everything is to be open to evaluation, staffing is no exception.  Do you know how you can tell a church is out of step with a nonlinear postmodern operating system?  They have a poor staffing structure.  Most churches hire a Senior Pastor, then a Youth Pastor, then a Worship Pastor, then a Children’s Pastor.  Even if the order is different, these are the first four people hired by the church.  They follow the process set down by the modern church, and this will not work in a postmodern reality.

Why not have an “Arts Pastor” who is responsible for helping people develop an “artist side” to life?  How about an “Activities Pastor” who helps plan activities for all people in all age groups?  What about a “Tech Pastor” who develops the tech side of the church and helps get people connected?  Why not hire people who do not desire to be Pastors at all?  Modern though has limited our creative outlook and us.  See where you are, and where God is leading the church today and then work to getting what it takes to get you there.  But there is one thing that is central, in the evaluation process you are not trying to figure pout who you will fire, no person should be fire – retrain and reeducate, but do not fire.  If we truly see ourselves as a community of faith, all people are past of that community – including the staff.  If we would help other members of the community over hard times, we must be ready to help the staff over the same times.  A friend once told me that because I was fired from a position, I was “off limits” by other churches – churches need to know the same thing.  The church I was fired from had fired all three of their past Pastors, all three.  Today, they could not hire a Pastor because of their history.  Be careful and remember that we are dealing with people, and not a commodity. 

In the new operating system we are operating with different assumptions.  We assume we are working with people; we assume we need to spread the Gospel; we assume that we are dealing with a plurality of cultures; we assume that tradition is not the guiding force; and we assume no sacred cows.  Because of this we do not hire staff based on the old contemporary model (modern model) we hire staff based on the needs God is sharing with us in the vision narrative.

Building:

My first reaction to this is that building is not important.  I have served churches lined with plaques that explained who built what part of what wall or who age want to the church.  I have heard of churches splitting over the color of the carpet.  Once, while I was serving Fellowship we needed to get the carpet replaced.  We had asked on women, great women with a heart of gold, to handle the selection and installation.  She agreed, and did a great job.  But some wanted the selection to be brought before the Board for approval and then to the Congregation for approval.  I, and the women we asked to make the selection, felt this was not needed and let them know we were not going to have a six-month debate over the selection of carpet.  So, at one level building scare me.  We get attached to the current building and lose site of the vision narrative because we do not want to offend.

Frank Tillapah, in his book “Unleashing the Church” wrote how the church he was serving at the time, Bear Valley Community Church, had a problem of being land locked.  The building was historic and so were the surrounding buildings.  So as the church grew, room for certain ministries was out of the question.  They needed to think creatively about the building and how a church defines “church building.”  What they did was fantastic.  They took the ministries out of the church and brought them to different buildings all over the city.  Most churches would have never done this, because of a lack of vision narrative.  What they found was this, as they moved past the confines of a “one building” or “one campus” church they were able to minister to people all over the city.  They had buildings all over the city with “A Ministry of Bear Valley Community Church.”

Ministries:

Take a look at what you are doing, and think if is right on task, or could it use a tweak?  Standard ministries are not going to cut it today.  A postmodern people are people who desire to get involved, and not just write a check.  Really look at the ministries of the church and it activities are not part of the ministries change.  A postmodern people desire to participate in the solution and not talk about what should be done.  Think of what the people see as important to life today. A postmodern person sees faith as dealing with “mind, body and soul.”

Why not develop a cooking class to teach people how to cook?  Why not offer a cheese and wine class?  Why not a health food class?  Why not sponsor an “exercise club?”  why not start a “Bike riding team?”  Why not start book review ministries?  How about a movie review ministry?  The possibilities are endless, and self-organizing. 

Examine the way ministries form in the church.  Can people start a ministry on their own, very important for a postmodern person?  Do you have “controls” that are in place to “protect” others?  Remember, “Leaders lead effective ministries, Teachers lead Christ centered ministries, Passionate people lead effective Christ centered ministries.”  Allow people with passion to get involved, because if you do not they will move on.  Passion is heart driven, not by mandate.  If people with passion are not able to get involved in your church, they will find another. 

John O’Keefe is the founder of www.ginkworld.net.  John sees a desperate need for the church as a whole to change and reach a new people for Christ.  He is straightforward, honest and calls it the way it he sees it.  John is a graduate of Drew and has been a Senior Pastor and Church Planter