Just Do It
By Richard Meyer
Jim Esch offered to buy me lunch. We met on a Tuesday at an Italian restaurant close to the church. After exchanging pleasantries, I asked him if he had a reason for inviting me to lunch. He said, "Yes, I did." He went on to tell me about a "transitions" group in his former church in California. The group helped people through career changes. He told me the group was invaluable when he was considering changing jobs. He wondered if he could start such a group in our congregation. He told me the group would meet weekly on Thursday evenings and he would lead it and take care of all the details. He then asked THE question. What did he need to do to get the group approved by the church board?
I smiled. I thought back to the previous Sunday night. On that night our church board made the best decision any church board can make. Their decision can be summarized in three words: "Just do it." As long as a new ministry aligns with the church's mission statement, just do it. You do not have to ask the board for permission. We trust you. Just do it, and keep us informed. Of course, if you start something that does not align with our congregation's mission statement and core values, we'll get after you. But as long as it aligns with the direction of the church, just do it.
So I smiled at Jim and told him, "Just do it." I then asked him how I could help get the group off the ground. He replied, "You could help by getting the word out." So the next Sunday Jim sounded the call to this new ministry during worship, and two weeks later the group met for the first time.
Throwing Gasoline on Burning Bushes
Think of it as throwing gasoline on burning bushes. Most often churches do just the opposite. Someone has a great idea to advance the purposes of God, and instead of throwing gasoline on their burning bush, we throw water. We ask them to go to this committee and then that committee, and by the time they get approval the fire has gone out. In one congregation I served it took six months to decide whether to mount a fan in the cry room! The Worship Committee referred it to the Building Committee, who referred it back to the Worship Committee, and finally after bouncing from committee to committee, a joint "fan task force" agreed to take the matter to the church board for approval. Six months!
One pastor posed the question, "What do the words committees, elections, majority rule, boards, board members, parliamentary procedures, voting and vote have in common? None of those words are found in the New Testament! We have imposed an American form of government on the church and, as a result, most churches are as bogged down in bureaucracy as our government is. It takes forever to get anything done. Human-made organizational structures have prevented more churches from healthy growth than any of us could imagine."
Shifting Gears
E. Stanley Ott, senior pastor of Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and president of the Vital Churches Institute, invites congregations to abandon church bureaucracy and shift from controlling leadership to permission-giving "sending" leadership. In his wonderful book Twelve Dynamic Shifts for Transforming Your Church, Ott writes, "In the traditional congregation, leadership is often very hierarchal in nature, with a chain of authority connecting every committee, ministry program, and person to the ruling board. The driving force of such leadership is the desire to maintain control. This is evidenced in a tendency to dwell on policy-making and the review and approval or disapproval of all ministry initiatives within the life of the congregation … Transformational congregations are far less interested in such micromanagement and are much more interested in setting people free to accomplish ministry."
Of course, moving from a "controlling" style of leadership to a "permission-giving" style of leadership requires two things. First, it requires a clear, articulated vision for the church which congregants can express. Both the church leadership and membership need to know the mission and be able to recite it. An example is "CBS": Calling people to deep relationships with Jesus Christ and one another; Building a community of acceptance, hope, joy and love; and Sending people out into the world as salt and light. Second, it requires trust. The leadership of the church trusts its people to use good judgment in launching new ministries and the leadership trusts the Spirit to lead in exciting new directions.
Thoughts, Feelings, and Stories to Share
- Who has been a "gasoline thrower," encouraging you in a new venture?
- Where would you place the leadership of your faith community? Would it tend to be more controlling or permission giving?
Dick Meyer is the Director of the One Anothering Institute in Omaha NE and author of three books, One Anothering, Vol 1, 2 &3. His new book is entitled, Step Up. All of Meyer's books are available from Faith At Work.