The View from the Pew
Over the past several days as I've visited family and friends in northeast Florida, I've been learning lots about congregational life from people who don't wear black shirts with white plastic collars. In fact, most of them attend churches that aren't of the Episcopal variety. The tales I've heard about "church life" have been poignant -- sometimes troubling but full of realistic hope as well. These stories come from people who work their jobs, raise their families, tend to sick loved ones, help their neighbors, attend weekly worship services, listen to all sorts of sermons and support their respective congregations with the treasures of time, talent and money.
Here's what I've learned:
1. The "Next Big Thing" (NBT) is usually doomed from the beginning, and not because of so-called "resistance to change". Based on the anectdotal information I've received, "NBT's", whether in the form of a new initiative, a new plan, a new program -- are not clearly communicated, or the communication comes across as stilted or artificial, so people don't really understand what's happening or why...and it feels as though the initiative, plan or program is being "done" to them.
2. NBT's come and go -- and mostly they go. And when an "NBT" whithers away or disappears from congregational life with hardly a peep, the impression is given that there wasn't any commitment on the part of "the leadership" to stick with it anyway. Even if the folks in the pew weren't sure of the "NBT" (or actively opposed it!), they now begin to wonder about the competence of the people (leaders) who foisted it upon them in the first place.
3. DETAILS MATTER! Congregational leaders ignore details (particularly the "routine" ones!) at their own peril. And the details are legion! And every detail is important to the person who called the detail to some leader's attention. The information is shared with the (often unspoken) expectation that some action will be taken. I now know that I'll be much more diligent in my own attention to details!!!
4. Follow-through is probably more important than initiative. Bits of information percolate throughout the congregational system -- and the collection of those pieces of data gives "the leadership" a fair picture of what's happening within the community. Closing the loops -- thanking the people who need to be thanked, calling the people who need to be called, seeing the people who need to be seen (whether they've specifically requested a visit or not), coordinating the groups that need to be coordinated, managing and maintaining the machinery of congregational life -- the work (and ministry!) of administration is the way in which trust is established and strengthened. Tending the garden is tedious, but that's the only way to insure that eventually some fruit will ripen.
There were probably other things I learned from listening to all of the church stories that folks have told me over the past week, but these four items were the recurring themes throughout the conversations. I wondered why people had not told their pastors, elders, deacons and priests all that they told me. Perhaps they did tell "the leadership"...and either the concerns weren't addressed, or just ignored outright. Then I had the unsettling realization that I've probably committed these same oversights, failed to communicate properly or forgot to close the loop -- and the tales of my own incompentence are being told far and wide. Humbling, to say the least!
Over the past several days as I've visited family and friends in northeast Florida, I've been learning lots about congregational life from people who don't wear black shirts with white plastic collars. In fact, most of them attend churches that aren't of the Episcopal variety. The tales I've heard about "church life" have been poignant -- sometimes troubling but full of realistic hope as well. These stories come from people who work their jobs, raise their families, tend to sick loved ones, help their neighbors, attend weekly worship services, listen to all sorts of sermons and support their respective congregations with the treasures of time, talent and money.
Here's what I've learned:
1. The "Next Big Thing" (NBT) is usually doomed from the beginning, and not because of so-called "resistance to change". Based on the anectdotal information I've received, "NBT's", whether in the form of a new initiative, a new plan, a new program -- are not clearly communicated, or the communication comes across as stilted or artificial, so people don't really understand what's happening or why...and it feels as though the initiative, plan or program is being "done" to them.
2. NBT's come and go -- and mostly they go. And when an "NBT" whithers away or disappears from congregational life with hardly a peep, the impression is given that there wasn't any commitment on the part of "the leadership" to stick with it anyway. Even if the folks in the pew weren't sure of the "NBT" (or actively opposed it!), they now begin to wonder about the competence of the people (leaders) who foisted it upon them in the first place.
3. DETAILS MATTER! Congregational leaders ignore details (particularly the "routine" ones!) at their own peril. And the details are legion! And every detail is important to the person who called the detail to some leader's attention. The information is shared with the (often unspoken) expectation that some action will be taken. I now know that I'll be much more diligent in my own attention to details!!!
4. Follow-through is probably more important than initiative. Bits of information percolate throughout the congregational system -- and the collection of those pieces of data gives "the leadership" a fair picture of what's happening within the community. Closing the loops -- thanking the people who need to be thanked, calling the people who need to be called, seeing the people who need to be seen (whether they've specifically requested a visit or not), coordinating the groups that need to be coordinated, managing and maintaining the machinery of congregational life -- the work (and ministry!) of administration is the way in which trust is established and strengthened. Tending the garden is tedious, but that's the only way to insure that eventually some fruit will ripen.
There were probably other things I learned from listening to all of the church stories that folks have told me over the past week, but these four items were the recurring themes throughout the conversations. I wondered why people had not told their pastors, elders, deacons and priests all that they told me. Perhaps they did tell "the leadership"...and either the concerns weren't addressed, or just ignored outright. Then I had the unsettling realization that I've probably committed these same oversights, failed to communicate properly or forgot to close the loop -- and the tales of my own incompentence are being told far and wide. Humbling, to say the least!
posted by FrGaryB | 9:59 AM
3 Comments:
This is all very interesting stuff. As I read it, it seems to me that it should all be intuitive - nothing here that those of us who've been around awhile don't already "know." Although we frequently function as though none of this is true. I sense some interesting implications in this data as we gather, pray and work during the Vestry retreat.
Ironically, I just had a conversation with my father that had some elements of this in it. After this past week, I had wanted him to call his Pastor, but he couldn't understand why he (the Pastor) didn't just already know what was going on and why he hadn't called my father already. My father who only occasionally goes to church and who leaves immediately after - involving himself in nothing else in his church community, can't understand why the poor bloke is unable to learn his name (and, I presume, everything else about him).
The following comment really stood out for me: "Tending the garden is tedious, but that's the only way to insure that eventually some fruit will ripen". I think that those "personal relationships" and "attention to details" are what help to "germinate" the seeds. Unfortunately, since "spiritual plants" seem to grow extensive root systems, the "flowers and fruits" don't always show themselves until long after the seed germinates. Pretty exciting stuff, really...
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