Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church
180
Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church
180Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780687646999 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2008 |
| Pages: | 180 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Turnaround and Beyond
A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership ChurchBy Ron Crandall
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2008 The United Methodist Publishing HouseAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-687-64699-9
Chapter One
Pathways to Turnaround
Turnaround: "A change of allegiance, opinion, mood, or policy" —Webster's Dictionary
Some of us are old enough to remember windup toys—batteries not included or needed. One of my favorites was a tin Jeep, which performed amazing feats. If wound and turned on by the flip of a small lever, it would whir and ding, spin around, lunge forward until it encountered some obstacle or precipice, automatically reverse itself, turn in a new direction, and move ahead once more. I found it wonderfully entertaining, and I worked hard to make the obstacles I placed in its path ever more challenging. Eventually, I succeeded in stalling the vehicle by boxing it in with just the right combination of restraints. Occasionally, at least in the mind of small boy, it even seemed to get frustrated, as it banged and bumped its way into a corner. Although it was designed with a built-in "turnaround mechanism," when it was cornered and immobilized, its energy source failed rapidly. The turning wheels slowed. The whirs and dings ceased. And as abruptly as it lunged forward with the flip of a switch, it stopped, dead.
It would be stretching things to say I looked at all this with any deep or morbid thoughts of life and death. After all, the rundown toy required only the hands of a small boy to free it and rewind it so it could start its wonderful dance all over again. But the image of that childhood toy, cornered and out of power, comes to mind as we begin to explore strategies that enable struggling and often rundown small churches to experience a turnaround, move forward again, and maintain their momentum for the glory of God.
Fifteen years ago, when I first began the research for Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church, very few organizations were using the language of "turnaround." Recently, however, when I typed "turnaround strategies" into my Web browser, 1,320,000 hits emerged, and multitudes of specialized consulting organizations promoted their skills. Although individual and corporate human problems require much more than a small boy's hands and the turn of a key, along the way persons do emerge who seem to know how to bring renewal to our lives and endeavors.
When the research for Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church began, one hundred pastors who had successfully employed turnaround strategies in their small churches emerged as such persons. Their formulas were not identical, but they had learned, one way or another, many of the same lessons. Frequently, they could not describe exactly what had happened that enabled their congregations to experience turnaround; but even without knowing it, they had utilized many of the same principles we now are able to describe as turnaround strategies.
Of course, since the church is not merely a human endeavor but the creation of God empowered by the Holy Spirit, few persons who have been involved in a genuine experience of turnaround in a local church would say the result is something they accomplished. But almost always, the work of the Spirit who brings new life to old and troubled churches is connected to the lives of men and women of faith who lead God's people to a new vision, a new hope, and a new identity.
Turnaround Theories
Because the experience of decline and immobility is not unique to smaller churches in our day, concerned persons of faith have always tried to warn against the dangers and offer hope to the distraught and defeated. It could be said that the primary function of the prophets was to call God's people to "re-turn" to their identity and their covenant as the children of God. God warned the Israelites through Moses: "take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land Egypt, out of the house of slavery.... Remember what the LORD your God did" (Deuteronomy 6:12; 7:18). Paul instructs the early church to "be transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Romans 12:2). He also offers a word of hope to some of us old enough to remember windup toys: "Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16). Notice the enhanced sense of power these words have when they are hyphenated: re-member, re-turn, re-new. They re-mind us that God is able to do again whatever God has done before, if we will cooperate with heart, soul, mind, and strength.
In the early days of the eighteenth-century English revival the Reverend John Wesley observed that great movements of reform and revitalization seldom last long. He noted that the spiritual fires of the Protestant Reformation had grown cold even within the lifetime of Martin Luther. He feared the same for the new movement of the Spirit that he was leading. Near the end of his life, he wrote:
I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast both the doctrine, Spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.
The reality of decline and the necessity of re-turning to God are as old as the human story. And interest in producing turnaround is not limited to those who think in spiritual terms. We might say that the natural tendency of every activity and organization is to run down. Therefore, businesses, universities, community organizations, urban centers, and even individual persons need new beginnings or they expire. Thus, researchers in many fields such as economics, history, sociology, anthropology, and organizational development, as well as pastors, evangelists, bishops, and teachers have longed to know the secrets of turnaround. Although it would not be possible to explore all the models and theories of turnaround generated by researchers in these fields, one or two examples might reveal enough to show that similar dynamics are at work whenever new life grows in the face of death. Such a discovery should not surprise Christians who believe in "God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth."
From Research on Leadership
One of the best-selling nonfiction books of the 1980s was In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies by T. J. Peters and R. H. Waterman. They observed the managing practices of forty-three organizations selected for their excellence. From several hundred interviews with employees they consolidated their findings into a list of eight critical factors or attributes that contribute to the success of organizations. Their list includes: (1) having a bias for action—encourage creativity and be willing to risk failure; (2) being close to the customer—have a genuine interest in meeting the needs of people; (3) encouraging autonomy and entrepreneurship—utilize the creativity of small work groups kept free from bureaucratic red tape; (4) engaging productivity through people—treat employees like adults with high expectations, direct communication, and plenty of affirmation for achievement; (5) being hands-on and value driven—formulate a belief system expressing clear, qualitative values; (6) stick to the knitting—focus on your best product, avoid getting spread too thin; (7) using a simple form and lean staff—keep the management structure simple, flexible, and stable; (8) keeping simultaneous loose-tight properties— maintain the tension between creative chaos and disciplined adherence to the values.
In attribute 5 Peters and Waterman discovered seven consistent themes describing the underlying values of these organizations, including beliefs about being the best, valuing people as individuals, and the importance of using informality to enhance communication. To participate in one of these organizations is like being on a championship team, being part of a creative and caring family, or being involved in a pioneering adventure on a new frontier. These organizations are stimulating and contagious. They generate energy rather than deplete it.
From this research on excellence, Robert Waterman turned his energies to exploring how organizations successfully encounter change. Change is the one constant organizations face. It cannot be avoided. Only those organizations that are able to interpret what the changes will require of them and that actively manage the adjustments needed will survive with vigor. Without this ongoing renewal, there can be no ongoing excellence. The project looked initially at 500 companies in fifty-three industries. This field was narrowed to forty-five organizations, large and small, profit and nonprofit, that had faced the challenge of renewal successfully. The results were published in 1987 in Waterman's book, The Renewal Factor.
Successful leaders of renewal he calls "builders" and describes them as persons who not only desire to make things better in the world but also believe they can. He contrasts these with "custodians" and "manipulators." Custodians are masters of inactivity. They dislike change. Under their leadership, organizations fail to recognize the changes taking place, fail to adapt, and eventually die. The manipulators, on the other hand, are extremely active, but they place their own ends above those of the organization. Under their leadership, organizations become mere gadgets in a game played by those who seek rewards only for themselves.
The behavior and personalities of the builders varied greatly, but Waterman identified eight consistent "dynamics of renewal" that they employed as leaders: (1) informed opportunism—quality information reduces the threat of surprise and enables flexible and intuitive planning; (2) direction and empowerment—management may establish the direction but everyone's input is valued; (3) friendly facts, congenial controls—contextual and factual information is welcomed because it allows decisions that anticipate change rather than just react to it; (4) a different mirror—habitual patterns isolate and entrench, but renewal leaders listen constantly to the best ideas available; (5) teamwork and trust, not politics and power—cooperation generates confidence and is more effective than competition and power politics; (6) stability in motion—renewal requires breaking old habits and empty patterns while maintaining stability through consistent beliefs, values, and vision; (7) attitudes and attention—renewal flows from attitudes and involvement that communicate attentive, confident optimism; and (8) causes and commitment—meaning in life emerges from a cause large enough to generate commitment by addressing human needs.
These early studies in leadership addressing both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors have been enhanced through the years by multiple authors and variations on the theme. Writers like Stephen Covey, Peter Drucker, Warren Bennis, Robert Greenleaf, Peter Senge, Margaret Wheatley, and Jim Collins (to name just a few) have continued to expand our understanding of the nature and significance of good leadership. Hundreds of millions of dollars are made annually by those who become the best-known authors and publishers in this field, and surprisingly (or maybe not) almost of all of them recognize that things like humility, ethical lifestyles, character, and a servant's heart, along with vision and passion about life, are critical ingredients that make the difference when it comes to leadership.
Jim Collins, one of the best-selling authors and most sought-after speakers today on leadership, comments in his book Good to Great: "Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice." Collins goes on to describe the essence of the kind of leadership that makes the difference: "Good to great leaders seem to have come from Mars. Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy—these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are more like Lincoln and Socrates than Patton or Caesar."
Another leadership and management guru, Ken Blanchard, who coauthored the bestseller The One Minute Manager and over thirty-five other books on leadership, joined with a lifelong friend Phil Hodges in 2005 to package the greatest lessons they could find from "all time" and described them in their book Lead Like Jesus. The focus, like many other newer books on leadership, shifts toward being a "servant leader." The authors write: "To lead like Jesus, we must come to understand the spiritual dynamics of our relationships as both leaders and followers so that we may be agents of grace."
Although some of these studies generally seem more couched in the language of business and management, the issues addressed are in many ways common to any human endeavor. Turning around a struggling congregation of Christ's church is certainly more than merely renewing or producing a good or great organization, but it is not less. Several of the themes described as renewal and revitalization strategies for businesses and corporations show up again in studies of revival and renewal movements in the history of the church, as well as in local congregations.
From Church History
One of the excellent studies of renewal movements throughout church history is Signs of the Spirit: How God Reshapes the Church by Howard Snyder. In the introduction Snyder reminds his readers "that every renewal movement is, in some way, linked to others in history, and that somehow both sociocultural dynamics and the Holy Spirit are at work down through history." His analysis begins with the late second-century First Charismatic Movement or New Prophecy Movement later called Montanism. The spiritual vitality and boldness of those involved challenged the authority and control of the established church. Conflict was inevitable. But conflict is almost always inevitable when the fresh wind of a turnaround movement is blowing.
Although Snyder takes a brief look at several other movements from the early centuries of the church, and offers an enlightening chapter on the theory of revitalization, the larger part of his work focuses on three later movements: Pietism, Moravianism, and Methodism. Aside from his own background, part of his interest in these particular movements is that they "were movements within large established church communions. These movements did not intend to start new sects, but to revitalize the established church."
Gleaning the best lessons from these earlier movements, and hoping to offer a model of renewal for our day that "brings new life to the larger church without either compromising its own validity or causing a split," Snyder concludes his work with chapter 9: "Building a Renewal Strategy for the Local Church." He writes:
The first and perhaps most critical beginning point for renewal is to understand that the church has an inborn tendency to grow. Growth is in its genes. Whatever its pathologies, every church has a vital urge toward its own health and renewal. The reason for this is simple, and simply profound: The church is the body of Christ. The very Spirit of Jesus is at work in his church, always prodding and drawing it toward life and renewal. The key to renewal therefore is always a matter of identifying and removing the hindrances to vitality, never a matter of simply finding the right method, program, or success formula.
While continuing to emphasize this inherent life force approach identified repeatedly in history, Snyder identifies ten strategies leaders need to practice when working for renewal in local churches:
1. Begin with life. Recognize and affirm the life and vitality already present in both individuals and structures. 2. Don't attack entrenched institutional patterns. If possible, bypass them and build new relationships and structures of renewal. 3. Seek to pastor all the people. Even those most opposed who resist persuasive argument can often be won over by demonstrated caring. 4. Build a balance of worship, community, and witness. Healthy churches reveal these qualities, and healthy churches grow. 5. Provide small groups and home meetings. The form may vary, but small groups meeting weekly are a critical ingredient for developing commitment to serious Christian discipleship. (Continues...)
Excerpted from Turnaround and Beyond by Ron Crandall Copyright © 2008 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.