By Pastor Kerry Nelson
How do you influence positive change in a congregation, across a synod or even across the wider church? If anyone suggests there is an easy answer to that question, run the other way. But it is a question that needs to be asked and some effort at an answer needs to be embodied in the life of the institution if there is hope for positive change.
I’ve long held the belief that there are three sources of motivation in the life of a congregation:
1. Inspiration – Call it “whispers from the Holy Spirit” or excitement generated by the passion of a leader or a life changing event or new insights given in prayer. Sometimes a congregation can be inspired with a fresh vision for the future worth striving toward.
2. Education – It is both a truism and true – we don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes, in the face of challenges and obstacles, we can gain a fresh perspective and a new kind of action/strategy when we come across new ideas, hearing the voice of experience, from continuing education events, outside consultants, books, etc.
3. Desperation – And sometimes we get to that jumping off point where it becomes crystal clear that, if anything is going to change, something has to change.
Surely there are more motivating factors than these, but this is a good place to start. As leaders in the church, which of these do we find motivate us? Which of these do we turn to as we seek to motivate positive change in our congregations?
If our best efforts at motivating positive change don’t seem to be working…is it time to seek new insight or try a new strategy? Reading books brings the voice of those who have been there before into our lives. Continuing education events where we go (maybe bringing our people with us) can provide road maps that can help. If the congregational system seems too “change averse”, it might be time to bring in someone from outside the system who can take us places we otherwise wouldn’t know to go on our own.
I’ve been talking recently to the staff of Church Innovations, Inc. which serves the church through an effort they call the “Partnership for Missional Church.” Participating congregations form clusters for a 3-5 year process of learning how to listen to God’s voice, discover God’s preferred future, and live into that future as a community of faith. The “voice from the outside” comes in the form of three annual retreats led by a trained consultant and the experiences shared with the other cluster partners.
What I find particularly attractive about the possibility of engaging in such a process is that it “hits” all the motivating factors. We could be inspired by fresh perspectives and the witness of other congregations that turned toward more effective congregational mission in the church and the world. We could learn new personal and congregational skills that we don’t now know that will serve us in serving others. And we would be guided to submit, to surrender, in new ways to the possibility that God can do through us what we cannot do on our own – which is the life giving insight we receive when we come to that place where we become open to God’s leadership.
Where this process would start is raising the funds for our synod to join this partnership and then identifying a cluster of 12-14 congregations willing to play. The Central States Synod has been engaged in this process for several years now and those participating bear witness to the positive directions they are turning.
Is this something that our synod needs to look into?
