September 2008

Bridging the Generation Gap

Do you see yourself as younger then your years say you are? Most people do. We tend to see ourselves as we were “x” years ago. Therein lies a perception dilemma.

Most of us see ourselves providing excellent leadership in our congregations; but unfortunately, more often then not, that leadership is for a world that existed 40 years ago.

Gil Rendle in his book, The Multigenerational Congregation: Meeting the Leadership Challenge, shares surprising data about the age makeup of congregations today. The age distribution is an upside down bell curve, giving evidence of a younger generation on the left and a heavily populated older generation on the right. There is a big, absent hole in the middle. The “younger” generation tends to leave the organized main line churches, and some times may return as they approach their later years.

What’s interesting about this is that the “younger’ and “older” generations have two very different value systems.

The presidential campaign in the US is a classic example of these two contrasting value systems. The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain has more to do with the generation that they embody, rather then the politics they preach. Obama excites the younger half America, while McCain breeds confidence to the other older half of America. Both have good value systems, but each tends to scare and not understand the other.

Rendle, drawing on many sources, differentiates these two polar generations as follows:

Each generation has something of value for the Church today. But, guess which of these generations makes up most of our parish councils and the primary leadership in our congregations. We are terribly out of balance and often that out-of-balance-ness gets us stuck in our ways. It also tends to make us terribly insensitive and unattractive to the goodness and value of the “younger” generation. When a younger generation family or individual talks about participating regularly in a United or Baptist program we tend to be think that the family/individual is being disloyal. In truth, the family/individual still feels Anglican, but they value ecumenical participation as a greater value then party loyalty.

So where do we as clergy and congregational leaders find ourselves in this generation gap? Rendle suggests that we are the minority middle, “bridge people.” We are expected to know each of the generations and speak both of their languages. A challenge often encountered by bridge leaders is the perception that they are “siding with” the newer members who represent different values.

If we are serious about wanting younger folk in our congregations we are going to have to get a lot more intentional about understanding and respecting their values. To be healthy and whole we need one another, i.e. both value systems.

How can we do this? Visit congregations or groups that are successful at welcoming younger people. Read Rendle’s book (mentioned above). Ask your kids and other younger generation types what’s important to them. Really listen. Talk about this Connecting… article with your leadership. Imagine what it would be like to live in a truly integrated intergenerational community.

                                   +Ed

July/August, 2008
Deep Change takes Time and Courage

When Moses led his people out of bondage in Egypt, he sustained a holy conversation with his people for 40 years as they meandered in desert territories finding their way to the Promised Land.

If God could spread the waters of the Red Sea, I suppose God could also have created a superhighway through the wilderness directly to Promised Land – thereby reducing the time of the Exodus to a mere 6 months. But God did not do that; and for good reason. The trials, tribulations, and turmoil’s in the desert, allowed Abraham’s ancestors to be formed into a “People of God.” They got an identity and purpose. They discovered who they were and what they were all about. It was precisely the conflict, uncertainties and hardships that gave them time to learn to trust God and one another. In a sense they learned to get comfortable with their uncomfortableness; and that allowed them to be formed into a new, strong and resilient people.

Deep change takes time. Quick fixes to immediate problems only allow us to survive for just another season. They seldom get at the kind of transformations that we need to become a new kind of sustainable and holy people. Of course, we do need to pay attention to immediate needs in order to survive. We need “manna” fixes in our contemporary wilderness journeys. But without a desire and persistence for deep change in the long haul, we will probably never get to that better place that God wants us to be. Shifting the chairs on the deck of a ship going in the wrong direction does not get you to your desired destination.

The Church today needs strong lay and ordained leaders that can help sustain holy conversations in the desert times in which we live. Leaders (like Moses) ask “Are we doing the right thing?” That’s an irksome question, as it implies that a change may be necessary. The Israelites constantly complained about Moses leadership. Many wanted to return to the “good old days” of slavery, rather then face an unknown and dangerous future. Gil Rendle, a past senior consultant with the Alban Institute, recently spoke at a conference on congregational change and planning at Conrad Grebel College where he said,

“Congregations really want managers not leaders. That’s because the manager’s role is to keep things going as they are. They ask, ‘Are we doing things right?’ rather than ‘Are we doing right things?’ Communities tend to reward managers while they crucify leaders.”

Management is what is needed when things are going well. When times change and the old ways no longer work, we need leaders who are able to persistently lead the way through the wilderness. Such leaders grow their people, not by giving them answers (which in fact they do not have), but by asking questions. “Imagine the difference in behavior,” writes Ron Heifetz, author of Leadership without Easy Answers, “when people operate with the idea that ‘leadership means influencing the community to follow the leader’s vision’ versus ‘leadership means influencing the community to face its problems.’”

There is an old rabbinic story about the moment that Moses and his people arrived at the Red sea with the powerful Egyptian Army at their heels. God says, “Go forth” but the waters do not part. God says again, “Go forth” and there is dead silence and fear. Finally, Nashon, son of Amminadab, begins to walk into the water. He walks up to waist and turns back to look at Moses – still the waters do not part. Again, he walks in further up to his nose and again turns to look at Moses as the waters still have not parted. Finally, in an act of great courage he goes forth and allows the waters to pass over him. Precisely at that moment God instructs Moses to raise his rod and the waters part. It takes courage to enter the wilderness without an exit strategy or any guarantee of success.

Beyond the limited task of managing the concerns of our churches, we live in a time when leadership depends upon shaping the hopes and fears of people. People overwhelmed by their stuckness need to be set free. In a memorable prayer from his time as pastor at Riverside Church in New York, William Sloan Coffin thanked God for…

“…our failures, which teach us so much more than success; our lack of money, which points to the only truly renewable resources – the resources of the spirit; our lack of health, yea, even the knowledge of death, for until we learn that life is limitation, we are surely as formless and as shallow as a stream without banks.”

The courage of faithful leadership in this time of change is to stand in the midst of perceived limits and scarcity and fears and help people to discover new identities and new purposes; it is a time to ask deep questions and to allow people to discover their own deep answers as they lean on God and experience God’s Amazing Grace. This is a time for lay and clergy leaders to speak of hope and to help people face their fears to claim that hope. This is a time for persisting in a Holy Conversation.

May you be blessed as you plunge into the deep waters that are beginning to form tomorrow’s Emerging Church.

+Ed
Congregational Coach

June, 2008
It’s All About Perspective!

As you no doubt have already heard, there are two characters in the Chinese word for Crisis: Danger + Opportunity. Likewise, we are coming to learn that the word Chaos has a positive side. In the book of Genesis we read that in the beginning there was Chaos, and God breathed over the Chaos to create order. In order to re-order what has become stuck, we need embrace chaos and allow God to re-order our lives and our awareness of our identity and purpose.

So what is your perception of what is going on in the Church today? What’s your perception of your congregation? Is the glass half full or is it half empty? Well it’s both; BUT what are you focusing on?

There’s a great truth here, and that is “What you focus on becomes your reality.”

Are you bogged down by anxiety and worry, or are you lifted up by hope and a sense of new opportunity? It really is (as Bp. Howe said in his charge at Synod – It really is “a matter of choice.”

Case in point… data was shared at Synod on what has happened in the Diocese of Huron over the LAST 10 years:

Strategic planning is not a magic gyroscope, but it is an essential process that integrates important dimensions and tools of our Christian and organizational worlds.

Interested in learning more about strategic planning? If so, a once in a life-time opportunity awaits you here in Ontario. The Rev. Dr. Gil Rendle (pat director and now senior consultant of the world famous Alban Institute) is presenting a three day (June 17-19) workshop at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo entitled, Holy Conversations: Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practice for Congregations. I and a number of our diocesan lay leaders and clergy have already signed up. For more information, go to my website at http://smallchurchcoach and click on the Connecting… tab and go to the end of the article.

I pray you God’s Joy and Hope in all of the here-to-there’s that you do.

+Ed
Congregational coach

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April, 2008
On Pigeons, Urgency, and Continuing Education

Martha was the last of her kind. At one time her species had been endlessly abundant. They seemed indestructible. Martha died in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens in 1914. And that was the end of her kind.

Martha was a Passenger Pigeon. Martha’s relatives were most abundant in Michigan. Hence the names of many of Michigan’s towns: Pigeon River, Pigeon, Pigeon Lake, etc.

Passenger Pigeons were done in because they could not adapt to change. Strangely,  Passenger Pigeons were also done in because they were friendly and family oriented. Whenever a Passenger Pigeon spotted another, they flew down to have fellowship. They would nest by the hundreds in trees; sometimes adding so much weight that the tree would fall over.

Besides being friendly, they were also good to eat. Hence the term: “Stool Pigeon.” Hunters would take a lone pigeon, tie a string on his leg, put him on a stool and wait for other pigeons to congregate as they pooled the sting causing the stool pigeon to dance. Hundreds could gather. All the hunter had to do at that point was to join the friendship circle, club his victims to death and go off to market with their catch.

Thomas Bandy, in his book, Moving Off the Map: A Field Guide to Changing the Congregation, suggests that small friendly Churches are like communities of  Passenger Pigeons. “All churches pride themselves on being friendly, and they are! This is precisely the source of their danger. Everybody loves the roost. Everybody knows everybody by name. Therefore, no second worship service can begin, no new congregation can spin off from the parenting nest, and no entrepreneurship can pioneer new territory – because everyone values friendliness, fellowship, unity, and harmony too much.”

Church “crystal ball gazers” like Lyle Shaller, Bill Easum and George Barna all suggest that in the next ten years almost half of today’s Churches in North America are going to go out of business. They will go out of business because they will not adapt to the new needs of our ailing culture, and to the opportunities that God is giving to us to renew the way we do mission. On the other hand, the other half of today’s churches who will make it through the next ten years are those who will adapt.

Alan Klaas, in his excellent book In Search of the Unchurched, notes that all church bulletins and newsletters refer to ministries and activities that can be divided into three groupings:
(a) activities for parishioners,
(b) maintenance activities, and
(c) activities and ministries for the unchurched.
He notes that today’s healthier churches are those who spend at least half of their time on

(c) activities for the unchurched.

How do leaders motivate others to change an organization when change is really needed?

John Kotter, author of Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail suggests that for most institutions today maintaining the status quo is more dangerous than launching into transformational change. He further suggests that 50% of attempts to transform an institution fail because there isn’t a great enough sense of urgency for change from within the structure. Kotter asks, “When is the urgency rate high enough?” He answers, when “about 75% of a company’s management is honestly convinced that business-as-usual is totally unacceptable. Anything less can produce very serious problems later on in the process.”

So, how urgent is your sense of need for change for your congregation?

Today, “status quo” means death. John Cotter has suggestions for transforming organizations:
(1) Create a purpose that is truly needed and that is uniquely connected to your organization’s DNA,
(2) Communicate the purpose over and over again, and
(3) Empower your organization to act on your purpose.

Some futurists suggest that another way to ride the winds of change is to be constantly engaged in continuing education. Last month the Alban Institute (an American think tank for church transformation) began a blog on offerings for lay and clergy leaders. I highly recommend it to you: http://albanlearning.org/2008/02/07/welcome/

Times of urgency can become opportunities for hope and change for transformational leaders.

+Ed
Congregational Coach

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March, 2008
Getting Unstuck

I loved all the Indiana Jones movies. I can’t wait to see the new one that’s coming out in a month or so. “Indy” is my hero because in the midst of the most horrendous, nightmarish, stuck situations he always manages to get miraculously unstuck. There he is in a pit of poisonous snakes with a 5,000 pound bolder about to come down on him; he’s outnumbered 1,000 to one without anyone to help; and then - swish, wham, bam, zappo - he’s suddenly liberated to win the day!

I guess these miraculous scenarios appeal to me because more often then not, I feel stuck in living out the life I believe I am supposed to be living. Many of the clergy and lay leaders that call me for coaching share that they are experiencing “stuckness” in their congregations.

It’s instructive to note that Jesus continuously finds himself in stuck situations: situations where folks are stuck in illness, in fear, in conflict, in ignorance, or in their attitudes and distorted perceptions. Jesus counters these situations with his ministries of healing, teaching and prophetic challenging of the status-quo. Jesus breaths, lives and even dies to proclaim “unstuckness.” Nailed to a cross, he still proclaims love and forgiveness. Sealed in a tomb, he bursts out (just like Indy) to proclaim that Life is bigger then death, Light is greater then darkness, and that a Liberating (unstuck) Life is meant always to conquer any and all of our experiences of stuckness.

Imprisoned in our stuckness, we are sometimes liberated by unexpected surprises, which give us flash insights into the presence of God’s Kingdom bursting into our awareness.

One of my favorite things to do on Easter during the sermon time (beware!) is to blow up a balloon – explaining that God’s invisible Spirit filled our humanity in Jesus’ flesh, making God’s presence visible to us. But then after 33 years of contending with the forces of stuckness, the forces of darkness attempt to destroy and encapsulate Jesus in a tomb (I hold up the balloon – now a symbol of Jesus' grave) and without warning I prick the balloon making a shocking Bang to recreate the experience of Resurrection.

Sometimes getting unstuck is just that easy. It’s a matter of pricking the perception bubble that keeps us captive and helpless. A prophetic word, a healing touch, an experience of undeserved love, a new a way of seeing something: any of these can prick our hellish bubbles of self-imposed imprisonment.

Believing leads to seeing. Miraculous expectations lead to realized transformations. Easter, Resurrection and getting unstuck is about no longer seeing our congregations as “problems to be solved,” but as “miraculous mysteries to be embraced.”

Alleluia, Christ is risen; Alleluia, so are we!

+Ed

Congregational Coach

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February, 2008

“Create and Make in us New Hearts”

In the Collect for Ash Wednesday we will be asking God to “create and make in us new and contrite hearts.” The collect teaches us that the new will only come as we “lament our sins and acknowledge our wretchedness.” New doors open after we close old ones.

Anglican priest and theologian Kenneth Leach suggests that “promiscuousness” is the root cause of the sin that get us off the track of being true to our Christian vocations today. He’s talking about a promiscuousness that comes from the neck-up, not from the neck-down. We become promiscuous when we are unfocused and without vision. We get bored and promiscuous when we’re not guided by a significant purpose in our lives.

Claude Payne, one time bishop of the Diocese of Texas has suggested that we need BHAGs in our lives and in the Church to get us back on track. BHAG is a Texan colloquialism that stands for: “Big, Hairy, and Audacious Goal.” Across the border in Michigan we can quickly identify with the BHAG that Henry Ford put forth in the early years of the 20th century when he suggested that it was possible to “put one automobile in every home.” Years later President Kennedy shared his vision of “a man on the moon in ten years.” Big and bold visions pull out the best that is in us. Without out a target to shoot at, we will never hit the bull’s eye that God puts before us.

As we begin Lent we will hear again of Jesus' retreat to the desert after his baptism which named him as God’s “beloved Son.” This was Jesus’ calling and he needed time to focus on what God was specifically calling him to. His wrestling with Satan helped him to empty himself of all false pretense and purpose. As he emptied himself, the Holy Spirit filled Him and “drove” him forth into life to live out the new vision that God had given to Him. Jesus had a BHAG that led him to the cross and resurrection and to our redemption.

Could this Lent perhaps be an opportunity for your congregation to spend time in its “desert” wrestling with its purpose-diverting “promiscuities?” Could there be an Easter BHAG waiting for you on the other side of our 40 days in the desert?

A few year’s back, the TV program, Touched by an Angel, captured the hungry hearts of many North Americans. All of us are yearning to be touched by God. People want to experience the Divine and know that they are loved and their lives have BHAGs. All of us want to expect the miraculous to come bursting forth in our lives. The truth is that God’s miraculous activity is already and always will be at work in our lives. We simply need (as Jesus said) to open our eyes and to see and our ears to hear the good things that are already present in our lives. What we focus on becomes our perceived reality. When we focus on what’s working instead of on our problems, we are focusing on God’s Spirit moving in our midst.

Where is God presently acting in your congregation?

If you haven’t already decided on your Lenten reading here is a suggestion to help set your sites on a BEHAG:
From Survival to Celebration by Howard Hanchey. Hanchey suggests that when we start celebrating God’s active presence in the world instead of focusing primarily on the “work of the church,” then the church will recover a gospel that is “good news” and not “work news” and thus find itself moving from survival to celebration.

Note:
Check out the Readings link on the SmallChurchCoach.com web site. There are some new additions there on how to a congregation unstuck.

+Ed
Congregational Coach

January, 2008

Hospitality: The Key to Celtic Style Evangelism

In the fifth through tenth centuries Ireland did not have parish churches. Yet, in that 500 year period a totally pagan country became a totally Christian country. How did that incredibly unique act of evangelism occur without a single drop of martyr’s blood being spilt? The answer is based in Celtic Ireland’s practice of hospitality.

Deep down in our Anglican heritage there are roots of Celtic Christianity, which if rekindled, could bless our efforts to become spiritually alive and evangelically astute.

George Hunter has written a book (The Celtic Way of Evangelism), that contrasts our current (what he calls “Roman”) way of evangelism with what he calls the “Celtic” way of evangelism. We are all too familiar with the Roman model. Chronologically, it goes this way:

(1) Present the Christian message
(2) Invite outsiders to believe in Christ and become Christians
(3) If the outsiders decide to embrace the message, welcome them to church and its fellowship

This “Roman” model seems very logical to us because most American evangelists are scripted by it. We explain the gospel, they accept Christ, we welcome them into church. Presentation, Decision, Assimilation. What could be more logical?

The Celtic model of reaching people stands in stark contrast to this. In ancient Ireland, Christianity was based in “monastic” communities of men and women (often married) which were safe places for anyone to come. These communities were anywhere from 12 to 200 souls, where learning was advanced. The community was always more then willing to share its resources with all who wanted or needed them. In the Celtic way of evangelism:

(1) You first establish community with people, or bring them into the fellowship of your faith community. That is: you practice hospitality.
(2) Then, within the fellowship, you engage in conversation, ministry, prayer and worship.
(3) In time, as the welcomed discover that they now believe, you invite them to commit.

The Celtic model reflects the adage that, “Christianity is more caught than taught.” Belonging comes before believing. Celtic (Anglican) evangelism is about helping people to belong so that they can believe. It all begins with the practice of hospitality. And hospitality is a ministry that almost all of us can do; and it’s a ministry that most of us really enjoy.

So, building houses for Habitat for Humanity, or having a dinner honoring a community organization’s work (i.e. your firemen, police, school teachers, etc.) are acts of hospitality that are doorways into sharing and listening to one another’s stories. What are some other ways that you can think of to begin a Celtic process of evangelism, beginning with an act of hospitality?

+Ed
Congregatioal Coach

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December, 2007
Getting Healthy with “Need-Oriented” Evangelism

How can soft spoken, well mannered Anglicans do evangelism? Anglicans know that manipulative, in-your-face, fear-based tactics are offensive, and they seldom produce sustainable results, or results that express a loving and sacrificial face of God.

Healthy evangelism connects hungry and seeking souls to a loving Presence that is generative, healing and enlightening. Healthy, “need-oriented” evangelism is an expression of God’s endless Grace in both word and deed.

Let me tell you a story of a small congregation that has been doing “need-oriented” evangelism for the last ten years. Twelve years ago the folk at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Mio, Michigan were facing extinction. Sunday attendance was hovering around ten in this small, mid-Michigan rural community.

I have never understood where the inspiration came from, but somehow a core group in the congregation decided to stop fussing about its struggle to survive and instead give energy to DOING something for the good of the community.

Now the people of St. Bart’s knew they had the gift of hospitality. Their Church suppers were always worth more than twice the price of admission; and they truly enjoyed having a party. Someone asked, “Why don’t we give a banquet for all the school teachers who so faithfully serve our communities children?” Let’s give them a big thank you, and in the process let’s share some stories about how some of our lives were changed by their faithful caring ministries.

Plans began to be made. They decided to make this an annual event – calling it the Good Samaritan Dinner, and inviting a different service organization as guests every year.

Invitations went out, and the quests filled the hall. After dinner, the story of the Good Samaritan was read, and stories were told, a surprise check of $500 was given to a needy fund in one of the schools, and the promise was made that the teachers would be prayed for every Sunday at St. Bart’s throughout the coming year. And then to top things off, the teachers were urged to call any member of the congregation at any time if there was something they could do to help the schools. The evening was filled with generous amounts of applause, laughter and tears.

For the past ten years, St. Bart’s has held their Samaritan banquet for a host of different community servants: the firefighters, the boy-scout and girl-scout leaders, the police force, the garbage collectors and municipal workers, the social workers and county court workers, etc. The banquets got so large that the congregation had to enlarge their parish hall and upgrade their kitchen. In fact the congregation has done three building projects the past ten years to facilitate their growing ministries.

Ten years ago the people of Mio hardly knew that St. Bart’s existed. Today their presence is well known throughout the county. Average Sunday attendance now wavers around 30 to 40 in the summertime – that a whopping 400% increase from ten years ago!

Folks are curious to see what drives these generous, community minded people – so some show up on Sunday morning to hear their name prayed for. One mother showed up and asked if they had a Sunday School. The mother was promptly told, “We do now.”

The Diocese has given St. Bart’s a nickname – they are fondly now called, “the Little Cathedral of the North.” They have become a healthy small church that understands the meaning of “need-oriented” evangelism.

What would “need-oriented” evangelism look like in your congregation?

+Ed

Congregational Coach

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November, 2007
Quality Trumps Quantity

Last month we talked about how “bigger is not necessarily better.” There is an important corollary to that truth, and it is “Quality always trumps quantity.”

Remember the “Build it and they will come!” slogan that evolved out of the Field of Dreams movie years ago? I have some colleagues who used that slogan in building campaign projects, and it didn’t work. It worked in Field of Dreams because – well, first of all, it was a movie – but second of all, a field of quality with quality players was built; and that’s why they came.

These days we talk a lot about the need for GROWTH. The need is usually expressed out of the experience of dwindling finances and worn out workers. So, numerical growth seems to be the magic target that will cure all problems.

But the reality is that numerical growth is not a cure-all. I have served in very large (1000+ average Sunday attendance) congregations and in small (25-50) congregations. More people usually means more challenges. The money and “worn-out” issues live on.

Trying to grow numerically just for the sake of growing numerically hardly ever works. One of the reasons for that is that we are still focusing on the perceived problem (i.e., we’re small) and not on Gospel values – like mission outreach and justice, or passionate spirituality, or sharing the Good News of God’s amazing Grace in our own lives. What we focus on becomes our reality. When we focus on our “problems” (being worn out and lacking funds) the “problems” just seem to get bigger. Who would want to join a community that is always groveling in their problems? We desperately need to change our focus. We need to change the conversation.

There are other ways to grow, other then in numbers.

For the last 15 years of my congregational ministry I have tried to change the conversation away from numbers to health. I, and many others, have discovered eight other areas for growth, none of which require numerical growth. They are:

                • Empowering Leadership
                • Functional Structures
                • Gift-Oriented Ministry
                • Holistic Small Groups
                • Inspiring Worship
                • Loving Relationships
                • Need-Oriented Evangelism 
                • Passionate Spirituality

An amazing thing happens when you begin to focus on Gospel values rather than on human frustrations. When you begin to change the conversation to Gospel values, all of things that you were frustrated about begin to magically disappear; and miracle of miracles, numerical growth – out of nowhere – begins to happen.

One of the most important things that Jesus said was (I’m paraphrasing) “If you stop worrying about yourself and all the things you cannot change, and begin rather to focus on our Creator’s Love and God’s Kingdom, then instead of living a loosing life, you will begin to live a winner’s life, and that life of Grace, you will have to live forever.”

In the next few months, I am going to focus on some of these gospel values that build healthy congregations. With the utmost of confidence, I can tell you that if you begin now to focus on these things persistently, you will experience transformation, health, and yes - even numerical growth.

May God bless your gifts and bring you joy and fruitfulness in your ministry,
+Ed

Congregational Coach for the Diocese of Huron
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October, 2007 

Bigger is not Always Better

Why is it that we are always apologetic whenever we talk about anything small? “I’m only 4 foot, 8;” “I graduated from a very small school;” “Our congregation has only xx members, and we struggle along on a very small budget.” Who ever heard of a kid saying, “My dad’s smaller than your dad?”

I googled “bigger NOT better” and found carloads of references from energy consumption, human body parts, housing, urban sprawl, and warehousing, to hog farms, etc. But, alas, no references to congregational size.

One Google reference from a science teacher noted that the hugeness of dinosaurs may have had something to do with their extinction. She also noted that dragon flies and chambered nautiluses (to name just a few animal species), once huge, have evolved to much smaller sizes.

Then I hit pay dirt. The last few pages of Seth Godin’s Incomplete Guide to Blogs was pure wisdom to my ears (http://http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/files/whos_there.pdf). Hear are a few of his remarks:

   Big used to matter. Big meant economies of scale. (You never hear about “economies of tiny” do you?) People, usually guys, often ex-Marines, wanted to be CEO of a big company. The Fortune 500 is where people went to make… a fortune. There was a good reason for this. Value was added in ways that big organizations were good at. Value was added with efficient manufacturing, widespread distribution and very large R&D staffs. Value came from hundreds of operators standing by and from nine-figure TV ad budgets. Value came from a huge sales force.

   Of course, it’s not just big organizations that added value. Big planes were better than small ones, because they were faster and more efficient. Big buildings were better than small ones because they facilitated communications and used downtown land quite efficiently. Bigger computers could handle more simultaneous users, as well. Get Big Fast was the motto for startups, because big companies can go public and get more access to capital and use that capital to get even bigger. Big accounting firms were the place to go to get audited if you were a big company, because a big accounting firm could be trusted. Big law firms were the place to find the right lawyer, because big law firms were a one-stop shop.

   And then small happened. Enron (big) got audited by Andersen (big) and failed (big.) The World Trade Center was a target. TV advertising is collapsing so fast you can hear it. American Airlines (big) is getting creamed by Jet Blue (think small). BoingBoing (four people) has a readership growing a hundred times faster than the New Yorker (hundreds of people). Big computers are silly. They use lots of power and are not nearly as efficient as properly networked Dell boxes (at least that’s the way it works at Yahoo and Google). Big boom boxes are replaced by tiny ipod shuffles. (Yeah, I know bigscreen tvs are the big thing. Can’t be right all the time).

   Today, little companies often make more money than big companies. Little churches grow faster than worldwide ones. Little jets are way faster (door to door) than big ones. Today, Craigslist (18 employees) is the fourth most visited site according to some measures. They are partly owned by eBay (more than 4,000 employees) which hopes to stay in the same league, traffic-wise. They’re certainly not growing nearly as fast.

   Small means the founder makes a far greater percentage of the customer interactions. Small means the founder is close to the decisions that matter and can make them, quickly.

   Small is the new big because small gives you the flexibility to change the business model when your competition changes theirs. Small means that you can answer email from your customers. Small means that you will outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing to others, while you keep the power because you invent the remarkable and tell stories to people who want to hear them.

   A small law firm or accounting firm or ad agency is succeeding because they’re good, not because they’re big. So smart small companies are happy to hire them. A small restaurant has an owner who greets you by name.

   A small church has a minister with the time to visit you in the hospital when you’re sick.

   Is it better to be the head of Craigslist or the head of UPS? Small is the new big only when the person running the small thinks big. Don’t wait. Get small. Think big.

Hey, I lived most of my life in large congregations – and loved it. There are things large congregations can do that small ones can’t in terms of programming, variety in worship, impact on social justice issues, etc. BUT, the thing is, we have short changed the small church, treating it as a necessary (and quickly forgotten) step towards becoming big. Small is great in its own right.

Have you read Arlin Rothauge’s classic material on church size? He pays tribute to the small church by valuing all sizes of congregations equally. Each size, he says, has its own pluses and minuses. The four classic sizes are:

   The Family Church (average Sunday attendance up to 50)
   The Pastoral Church (average Sunday attendance between 50 and 150)
   The Program Church (average Sunday attendance between 150 and 350)
   The Corporation Church (average Sunday attendance above 350)

You can download (free) Rothauge’s Sizing Up a Congregation at:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/growth_23206_ENG_HTM.htm?menupage=61609

Also available at the same site are other helpful materials, such as:
   • The Life Cycle in Congregations (Every congregation is always in transition)
   • Parallel Development (A both/and strategy to replace an either/or approach)
   • All Doors Open (Good evangelism is cognizant of “open doors”)

Small messages are usually better then long ones; so here’s wishing you joy and peace in God’s Love until next time.
+Ed

______________________________________________________________

September, 2007

So What’s this "Congregational Coach" Title all About?

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"I deeply value Ed as a friend and a colleague. I appreciate his wisdom, grounded spiritual perspective, creativity, and passion for making small churches great churches. I heartily commend him to you knowing you will find a warm welcome at the hearth of God's love."

- Dr. Rob Voyle, Director of the Clergy

   Leadership Institute

   http://clergyleadership.com/consulting.html

The coaching process that Ed used for the assessing the work of the Bishop and the Council of Advice of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe proved to be a great boon for us.  Above all the process was a spiritual exercise in which the leaders of the Convocation came to know one another better, formed a closer community, and gained a clear vision for the future.  All of this was done within an atmosphere of trust, warmth, and prayer.  The process and the careful manner in which Bishop Leidel conducted have contributed to the spiritual well-being of our Episcopal Convocation.   All who participated in the process felt it was the best such exercise of which they have ever been a part, a model of discernment for a 21^st century Christian community.

 -The Rev. Dr. R. William Franklin, President of the Council of Advice of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe

"Ed Leidel is one of the fifty or so righteous folks for the sake of whom God spares .... Christianity. Ed's vision of the Church is apostolic in a sense rarely seen since New Testament times. And it's contagious. Your own ministry can catch it."
- The Rev. Gray Temple, Episcopal priest, author and clergy life-coach

"Ed is a valued colleague with gifts and skills to bless the ministry of the small church. When you connect with Ed you will discover new resources within yourself, giving you an increased confidence in carrying out your chosen ministry. You'll find yourself telling a friend about him. Genuine colleagues are a joy.
- Harold Dowler, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastor from Oklahoma. 

"Ed Leidel helps those he works with to shine a light on small churches that illuminates their value as they are, and their potential to grow into the fullness of what they can be. It is exciting to envision and work for the future with Ed."
- The Rev. S.C. Howell, Episcopal priest

"Thank you so much for your book, Awakening Grassroots Spirituality. I was so inspired by its contents that I felt guided to lead a class based on your text during Lent at our Church."
- Member of First Presbyterian Church, Elgin, IL
 

"Ed's training is full of heart, intuition, and passion."