Fine Speech - Now What Do We Do?

William Wallace worked hard to inspire his fellow Scots to fight the English with his famous 'freedom speech'  in the 1995 movie Braveheart.  A classic speech. He even put on make-up to deliver it.  But THE best line came from one of his inner circle in their leadership huddle immediately after: Fine speech.  Now what do we do? 

I wrote a provocative blog titled The Pandemic Pruning of the Church on June 2.  It was about the state of the church and how I view its future as we emerge from the pandemic.  Those who know me, have worked with me and who have read my blogs know that it wasn't a one-off rant that came out of nowhere.  I have talked and written much on the topic of the diminishing effectiveness of the church and it's opportunity to re-invent and re-focus.  I write to raise awareness and to provoke thought.  On other occasions I have proposed ideas, implemented experimental ideas and offered coaching questions to leaders to help them discern answers to the "now what do we do?" question.

I write this to follow up the last blog and say that I don't stir up thinking without being committed to be part of the solution.  I am not without answers, but neither do I have answers for others.  What I mean by that is there is no silver bullet model or approach.  But I do have ideas.  Perhaps they will inspire thinking.  And more importantly, we have the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth about our tasks and the means by which we hope to accomplish those tasks. 

Honestly let's not be cognitively lazy and spiritually comforted by the system we have all known.  For the sake of a task that is totally beyond us and that is fully in the hands of a sovereign God to accomplish, let's be sure to always ask the questions of HOW the models we use are serving God's purposes.

I offer these coaching questions for you personally, and for you as church leadership teams, to help jump-start conversations about true transformational change.  These are adapted (and added to) from a previous blog I wrote called: Current Church Models: Railroads in the Age of Airplanes

• What are the purposes of God for the world?  How does the way our church practice 'church' align or misalign? (*NB - this is not about your mission or vision statements.  Its about your practices)
• The task of church leadership is to equip the saints for the 'works of service' (Eph 4).  What constitutes 'works of service'?  Knowing this, how then are we organized to equip for that?
  
• What does a church staffing model look like if we were configuring it for reaching our current context? What do we really know about our current context?  How can we know? If we started over, what needs to be different?
• To what extent should we continue to foster an institutional model for our church?  What benefit is it bringing (or can it bring) to God's Kingdom purposes for our world?  What are it's liabilities to the mission?
  
• How would we exist if we moved away from a worship service focus? What if the service took the lower priority for budget, staffing and corporate energy?  What's the alternative?  Where else would we prioritize energy|? How would that change our budget, staffing and use of the building?
  
• How could we who have buildings re-envision how they are used to integrate with and serve our surrounding communities? Where could we find examples of how to do that?
  
• For a fascinating look at how foundations, and even governments, are encouraging the re-purposing of church buildings, see this article on community hubs.  
• Also, I'd be happy to chat with you about my previous experience as Executive Director of Encompass Partnerships, an entity originally designed and delivered as a multiple-use church, mission and community hub.
  
• Are buildings a necessary element for our mission? If so, how could that building be used in light of our mission to the world (vs. a support for internal activities).
• Staffing implies salaries, which implies a system to collect funds to pay those salaries which requires maintaining group loyalty to the institution so that salaries can be paid. What could a church on mission look like without dependence on a salary-based system?  What if it were lead from a more co-vocational model?
  
• How does a Christian community identify & release all the gifts into the world where it's people live and work?  How will it exist organizationally when callings, gifts and skills move it far beyond its current programming model or staff capacity?  How will we cope coaching new mission efforts?  
• What is our risk tolerance for true innovation?  How much does our structure rely on control vs. empowerment?
  
• How do we really equip and release the saints for the work of service God called them to do - vs. the positions the church needs filled to advance its particular mission? 
• I personally believe the gifts God gives to a church community is what is to define & drive its agenda, not the corporate leadership 'vision'.  For a model of how a community designed it's life & structure around the gifts of it's people, watch this great documentary video of the Tampa Underground church.
• What does community life look like that actually embraces people from any lifestyle, culture, economic situation, habit etc. so they can experience the way of Jesus in community and perhaps come to know Him?
• If believers were too busy in neighborhoods and vocational pursuits living out the values and ways of the Kingdom of God to attend church activities on a regular, sustained basis, how would you reconfigure 'church'?  How would you coach & support that person?  How would it change staffing?

Innovation is easy to talk about. Too easy.  Leaders sometimes have the habit of believing their rhetoric IS the reality, when they are actually barely out of the gate. It's also easy to be deluded into thinking that if you tweak at the edges of the existing system, you have innovated towards a transformational change.  Tweaking is not innovation.  What we need to become will cost more than we think.  So count the cost.

I'm on a journey into this.  By the time you read this I will have moved into a historic, old, eclectic neighborhood in Calgary.  As I embed myself into my new neighborhood, my relationship with the corporate church expression as it is today will diminish.  My role in this world is to bring the Way of Jesus into my world - my new neighbourhood and it's people, systems, values and relationships.  It is not to bring my world into the church model.  If and when there can be a useful, mission focused integration, won't that be wonderful. 

Harv

 

The Pandemic Pruning of the Church

No one has the foresight to know, but I believe the Church as it was pre-pandemic won't survive once this is over. (Frankly I hope I am right).

We are being pruned.

The gift of God to the Church via this pandemic just may be that we are learning what it means to remain in Christ beyond the structures of corporate church.  Attendees whose faith was dependent on, or held together by 'church-life' rituals and habits have either:

1. Fallen away because the structures were removed, or
   
2. Matured into a deeper life with Christ apart from those structures

It's a pruning of individuals as well as the church corporate.  Individuals held together only by hackneyed rituals and habits have had their foundation torn away.  They're most likely already lost to the church's ranks, never to return.  Churches dependent on their structures have had those challenged, and it seems rather than learn & discover something new in this pruning time, they are falling all over themselves to return to what was.

"Unfortunately church leaders invest everything they have in making that ineffective model work.  Why?  Because their security,  identity and purpose are intertwined with that model's function.  Those who have the best opportunity to make it change are the very people most motivated to keep it the same.  As Upton Sinclair once quipped: 'It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!'  Our leadership is invested in holding up a model that is incapable of accomplishing what God asks of it.  This model has been in place for one and a half millennia, so it now has become our very definition of church.  It is a challenge to imagine anything else, but we must if we are to make a difference in this generation." (Neil Cole: Rising Tides; Pg 8)

The Church as it is structured now is NOT able to impact it's world.  The sheer escalation in human population over the last two centuries, VS. the capacity of the current limiting structures of the Church to reach the world is enough to prove the model is inadequate, outdated and a totally ineffective tool for Kingdom expansion.  

Tools are amoral.  You can use a hammer to build or to destroy.  You can also drop one tool and use another that is more effective, simply because it is better.  The corporate church model & structure, developed post-Constantine, is no longer useful.  The once organic expression of Kingdom life that overtook and actually defeated the Roman Empire morphed into a corporate, fixed structure that has been built upon to this day. It has become old, tired, too accommodating to power (think of the collusion with governments over slavery, residential schools, political wedge issues...) and simply too rigid to zig or zag.

And please, none of this nonsense guilt-tripping from pastors saying that "you can't love Jesus and not love the church".  That's nothing but a ruse to ensure you keep your job and structure intact.  I dare say that this pandemic pruning is proving you wrong.  Many Christians are discovering they continue to love Christ, even more deeply, WITHOUT the corporate church connection.  Perhaps there is something there to pay attention to.  Will you pay attention or simply interpret it only in reference to your ability to perpetuate your model?

Unless we are freed from understanding & relating to the Body of Christ as a structure, we simply won't be able to impact this world. It calls for a new way of perceiving and leading.  It calls for true releasing of control; a relinquishing of power and polity.

I'm not going back to the church as it was.  And I work for a denomination! (perhaps not for long). Not because it is wrong, but because it isn't working.  It isn't capable of truly becoming part of communities around the world in a transformational way.  It's polity, structure, layers of approval for this or that etc. all get in the way and assume too much control.  

Seth Godin once said "When you fall in love with the system you lose the ability to grow".  Christian leaders - let's focus our love on Christ and His Kingdom, not our church system.  The system, whatever it is for the future, must only exist if it serves God's purposes for the people of this world.

Be strong and courageous. And maybe, get a new job.

Harv Matchullis

 

I'm Not Passing the Torch

As leaders we are often told to 'pass the torch' to the next generation.  I don't think I'm going to do that. However, I do want to empower and make way for new leadership

How?

In the Bible there's a story about John, who came ahead of Jesus Christ to announce His coming.  When Jesus had come and was rising in His popularity, people asked John if they should now go follow Jesus.  John said YES, because he knew Jesus was to increase in importance.  John knew he was to concurrently decrease in focus and importance.

Be like John.

How?

Many factors influence (even drive) my focus to think and plan for the 'passing the torch' phase of life and career. My own ageing, the organizational/societal need for constant leadership development, the negative reality of ageism, and for me as a white male, the need to make space for others.  It is time to seek out and empower the next generation of leadership.  I should decrease and they should increase.

How?

I like what Gloria Steinhem said in 2018 at age 84: "I'm holding on to my torch.  I'll let other people light theirs from mine."

That's how I'll do it.  Keep my torch going and not give it up to another.  Keep that flame alive by being active, continually learning and hopefully inspiring others to light their own torches from mine.  Besides, my torch was uniquely mine, created by my historical context and through how I used and developed my personal gifts and skills to meet that context.  THAT torch isn't useful for what's next.  It won't carry the kind of light and heat the next generation needs for their context.  So NO, I wont pass it on - for their sake. New leaders need their own torch, lighting the way for their unique personal, cultural and historical context.  

May some of my fire inspire them, but they have their own torch to carry. 

I'm not going to pass the torch.

Leaderships' Appetite for the Past

Leaders are about the future, right?  Well, don't be surprised that they often have a strong appetite for the past.

I'm observing a 'leeks and onions' moment among Christian leadership during this pandemic.  After the initial major adjustments to deliver services online there was a lot of discussion and even excitement around this being a 'moment' to re-think and reconfigure the very nature and mission of the Christian community (read: church).  Vision & dreaming was flourishing.

Now, note the conversations.  Seems those visions & dreams are now morphing into a focus on returning to normal.  This is where leadership energy is now predominantly focused.  Looking in the rear-view mirror to the leeks and onions of the past are proving too tempting.

The context for my 'leeks and onions' reference is clear to most Christian leaders.  But let me review:  When God lead an entire national community (Israel) out of their slavery in Egypt for a promised new existence, among leaders and followers there was the usual excitement, fear and uncertainty that accompanies change.   Then came the long haul process of actually getting to the new thing.  That's where things started to break down.  (We all love the rhetoric of change.  It's the execution that kills us!).  It was tough.  It was boring. It was tedious.  Kind of like our pandemic existence.  The people started hankering for what was: "We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted.". (Book of Numbers 11:5)

When challenge came on the way to the future, and it wasn't yet clear what that future would look like, the default human reaction was to not only to reminisce, but to long for a re-creation of the past.

Most of what I read lately from church leaders are plans and promises for how to return to gathering. Gone are references to previous visioning & discussions that the pandemic was an unprecedented opportunity to re-shape the Church.  Now its really about how to get back to what we were.

Leaders - are you about preserving what was or persevering into the future?  Show yourself.  Lead or follow. 

It's a leeks and onions moment.

The Un-Orthodoxy of God

Ah – Christmas.  We love the traditional story.  But the backstory gives a glimpse into the origins of this faith, and it is anything but traditional.  God reveals His un-orthodox ways of working with humanity to make His presence known.  Here is where the real wonder of the Christmas story lies.  He does far more than our personal God-box will ‘allow’ Him to do.

Jesus comes out of a traditional Jewish cultural and religious heritage.  While there are clear connections to that lineage (God fulfills prophecies about Jesus’ entrance into the world),  tradition ends there.

Think about just these few things from the Christmas narrative:

• To ensure Jesus was born into a family, Joseph was led by God to step away from his own Jewish traditions and male rights and not divorce Mary.
• Further outside his tradition, he also was prompted to believe the sexual history story of Mary – a rarity in any culture, and an ‘outsider’ move on his part.
• 
  Then, God led some Zoroastrian practitioners (magi) via their astrology and their religions’ belief in a single ‘wise’ god, to follow their inner and astrological prompts to meet a person who was born a ‘king’.  They didn’t know the God of the Jews.  They weren’t connected to that orthodoxy. But clearly God knew them and spoke to them through what we might label as ‘pagan’ practices.
  

God does what He does to draw people into His Kingdom and to accomplish what He desires.  He used angels to convince a Jewish guy to abandon his traditions.  He prompted people with no understanding of the ‘orthodoxy’ we might believe is important, to not only hear Him, but obey.

God comes to all of us.  The starting place doesn’t matter and neither does any connection to a set of truths.  He’s coming - right into your personal ‘neighbourhood’ of thought, belief and circumstance. 

To me, that’s the great Wonder of this season.  So look.  Listen.  He’s calling to you.

The Dissipation of the Congregation

It’s an (unfortunate) axiom that organizational change largely occurs when chaos is introduced into the system.  That can occur either externally (read: Covid-19) or internally via bold decisions by leadership to introduce the chaos that creates the conditions for change.

Had a chat with some church leaders the other day about their thoughts on how the current chaos is impacting leadership thinking on future changes to church life.  The conversation was around the opportunity to shift away from pastoral staff functioning to ‘fill gaps’ in a centrally defined system of ministry programming, to releasing people into what they are gifted to be & do. 

The pandemic-forced dissipation & scattering of the congregation is causing an opportunity to re-think the ministry & staffing approach of churches.

I see the shift in thinking progressing like this:

• If indeed there is a priesthood of all believers,
• If indeed ALL are gifted in a way that builds the Kingdom of God and the Church (the Body not the corporation),
• If indeed the role of church leadership is to ‘equip the saints for the work of service’ to which they are called by virtue of the gifts God Himself has given them,

THEN…church staff & leaderships’ role changes FROM program and vision-casters/managers TO net-workers, brokers & trainers.  The agenda of the church moves away from being centrally defined & becomes clear ONLY as its members gifts are known, developed and released to be expressed.

Implications:

• It will be messy for staff.  Some won't make it.  Some will need re-training of mindset and skills. But it might make them feel like they are finally developing others rather than slotting them into positions.
• Corporate expression will have a dynamic & messy element to it.
• Christians just may be more involved with each other and in their communities, as they find the joy & freedom of serving according to their giftedness.
• Christian consumers who demand programming to satisfy their kids or their religiosity won’t like it and will leave (that’s a blessing). 

Carpe Chao

(Seize the Chaos)

The Fakery of (Christian) Leadership

Christian leaders often don't show up as honest or real.  I know.  I've been guilty. 

Too often the public persona and presentation drips with what is perceived to be acceptable 'spiritual' lingo.  But go out for coffee or a beer with those same leaders and the real, raw and honest spirit shows up.  So, why the facade?  What purpose does the alternate reality of their pulpit persona & presentation serve? 

Leaders - whether you are a pastor or a leader in another capacity- stop serving up truth cloaked in Christianized lingo.  Speak the language of the street, where those you lead actually live.

You're impressing no one - least of all Jesus, who as we so often declare, 'moved into the neighborhood' and became like one of us.  

Live and speak the language of those you lead.  

Be. Real. Honest.