Obstacles and Opportunities for Congregational Mission in the 21st Century

Thomas G. Bandy

Church growth leaders are a different breed. They have been described as entrepreneurs in a bureaucratic church; motivators in a complacent denomination; systems analysts in a debate among single minded agendas; and visionaries for non-ideological and non-dogmatic religion. They are the voice of the 21st century. Their numbers among clergy and laity are growing. And they are very frustrated with the traditional denomination.

One of them shared a cartoon with me. Picture a church committee of four people sitting around a table. The Minister sits with hands folded, and a look of combined sadness and bewilderment on his face. With him are two women and a man peering over half-glasses. The caption above the cartoon reads: "Pastor Bob submits his 'Vision for Our 21st Century Church' to his 20th century church board." Here are their reactions.

One of the women scratches her head with a pencil ("graphite technology")

and exclaims accusingly: "This proposal is printed on beige paper!" Surely there is some hidden motive about the color choice! The man peers condescendingly over his glasses: "Wouldn't a staple be better than a paper clip?" Somehow the group process or the educational technique just isn't right. The other woman turns her back on the whole group and passionately addresses the empty room: "Why on earth is it double spaced?!" The wasted paper has escalated office expenses, and is no doubt symptomatic of the assault on the rain forests by the military-industrial complex.

They have all missed the point. During the next week they will all complain to the Personnel Committee that Pastor Bob should be spending 20 hours a week visiting nursing homes, 20 ours a week marching on picket lines, and 20 hours a week taking advanced courses on group process. They will also complain that Pastor Bob is never in the office when they drop by unannounced to explain their grievances. And they will further complain that Pastor Bob is a poor role model for his alcoholic teenage daughter. On Sunday morning, they will all wonder why their church is declining.

I will sketch for you three paradigm shifts which will largely determine whether or not the mainstream church dies or thrives in the 21st century. I need to explain that I am going to be talking about church growth and decline. Such talk troubles a good many folk in the power networks of traditional denominations. They think church growth is simply about membership and property development. They think its merely about statistics and bricks. They think its shallow.

Yet church growth is not, and never was, simply a matter of statistics and bricks. Church growth means that a congregation becomes so alive to the presence of Christ in their midst, that they increase the participation of the community in their congregational life, deepen their spirituality, expand their programs, and extend their outreach. In order to do all that they may well have to buy and sell property, or construct and tear down buildings, but they will do that with an enthusiasm and recklessness that is a joy to behold, and perhaps a near heart attack to the capital holding companies of the denomination.

Unfortunately, the church will wither away in the 21st century unless we make three paradigm shifts that abandon the past, and embrace the future. A "paradigm" is like a filter or lens with which you sort out or focus the realities of God and world. A "paradigm shift" happens when you change the filter or lens to sort out the realities of God and world differently. It is as if a person wearing glasses found she was tripping and stumbling and repeatedly falling on her face. She blames the world for going crazy, or she blames her partners' slovenly habits, or she blames it on old age and prepares to die. Then someone gives her a new pair of glasses. Suddenly she realizes it wasn't the world, but her perception of the world that was at fault. It wasn't the Gospel, but her understanding of the Gospel; it wasn't the church, but her perspective on the church; and it wasn't Pastor Bob, but her expectations of Pastor Bob. Remove the glasses that were great for 30 years, put on new lenses, and suddenly instead of preparing to die, she is dancing down the street.

Paradigm Shift in Theology

Both sides of the theological polarization which has dominated the denominational agenda for two decades share the same theological paradigm. The "liberal" and "conservative" camps are not strangers from different worlds, but siblings from the same family. Their quarrel drains the energy of the church, and leaves many multi-cultural and seeker congregations marginalized.

The old paradigm looks like this:

Society is assumed to be a godless morass, and the average citizen to be a selfish, morally corrupt bum. Either they don't believe the right dogma, or they don't follow the right socio-political agenda. Either way, there is nothing they can do about it. Only God can do something about it. Self-affirmation is prideful and deviant. Self-sacrifice and the penitent response of absolute obedience to divine will is their only hope.

Definitions of "obedience" may follow conservative doctrine and ideology, or liberal doctrine and ideology. Either way, self-fulfillment is always "sinful" or "middle class", and self-sacrifice is always "holy" or "politically correct". On both sides of the polarity, the fundamental spiritual attitude of the believer is one of apology; the spiritual response is obedience to a specific agenda; the context of meaning is an abstraction of doctrine and denominational policy; the whole mission of the church is to attack society with the prophetic call to repent; and the model of discipleship is always self-denial.

In the old paradigm, that version of the church which is ideologically "right" fashions a "fortress church" around confessional dogma, while that version of the church which is ideologically "left" fashions a "minority consciousness" around socio-political policy. Either way, the church is always the adversary of the so-called "godless" society. Its role is always to criticize, never to appreciate; always to teach, never to learn; always to struggle, never to enjoy; always to lament, never to celebrate. As a result, the church in either version becomes increasingly impotent for cultural change and irrelevant in the greater quest for reunion with the divine which in fact is the primary goal of the public. The church becomes the club of the opinionated, rather than the community of the humble, and people under 35 simply won't take it anymore.

If the church is to thrive in the 21st century, it must surrender the old paradigm. The paradigm of the 21st century looks like this:

Society is not assumed to be a godless, materialistic morass, but is recognized to be desperately searching for meaning, and literally seething with the passionate desire for reunion with God. Reunion with God is not an arrogant impossibility. It is affirmed to be possible, legitimate, and the ground of all moral action. Self-affirmation and self-fulfillment are no longer ignoble goals, but central to personal satisfaction and responsible community.

In the paradigm of the 21st century, the fundamental spiritual attitude will no longer be apology, but yearning. The spiritual response will no longer be obedience to dogmatic or ideological agendas, but searching and self-discovery. The context of meaning will no longer be a mix of dogma and denominational policy, but the world itself permeated by God. The mission of the church will no longer be to issue calls for institutional obedience, but to proclaim visions of unity and meaning so rich that they can never be contained in a single symbol. Christ is bigger than any single definition, any specific ideology, any one institution, or any particular pastor.

In the paradigm of the 21st century, personal transformation will never again be separated from social change. Evangelism and justice will go hand in hand. People will no longer do righteousness because it is the right thing to do, but because they have been changed through a connection with Jesus Christ that they can articulate and share. They won't give a hoot about being on a corporate "journey", lead by committees of denominational experts looking for Utopia. They will give everything they have to be on a personally shared "journey", motivated by visionaries equipped with a Living Word, looking for the Promised Land.

The paradigm of "the Prophet" needs to give way to the paradigm of "the Sentinel". It is not the paradigm of struggle through the gray wilderness of barren secularity, but of visions declared from urban "watchtowers" that await their time. It is Habakkuk who points the way into the future.

Remember Pastor Bob and his Church Board? In order to thrive in the 21st century, they need to make a theological paradigm shift. The church of the old paradigm tended to be very conscientious, inevitably bureaucratic, perpetually guilt-ridden, often intolerant, always worried, and never ecstatically happy. The church of the new, "Sentinel" paradigm will be very caring, minimally managed, perpetually accepting, often humorous, always curious, and never dull. Pastor Bob's church board used to see the world as black-and-white, and suddenly they will see the world in living color. At first, it will come as a shock, but soon they will be filled with filled with joy.

Paradigm Shift in Leadership

In the old paradigm, since society was a godless morass and the average citizen a selfish, unethical bum, the role of the Ordained Ministry has been either to take care of people, or to set them straight. The former has been called "pastoral care ministry", and the latter has been called "prophetic ministry", and together they form the leadership paradigm of "The Enabler". The Enabler works one to one with laity for comfort, counseling, nurture, and healing; or for challenge, criticism, accountability, and moral guidance. Each person is "enabled" to be healthier and happier, or to behave better and wiser.

The paradigm of enabling is what motivates Pastor Bob to visit, visit, visit until he drops dead with fatigue. It also motivates him to become a member of the Kiwanis and Rotary, sit on the Board of the community Counseling Center and 12 social agencies, attend every committee of the church in the evenings, picket environmentally suspect industries on Mondays, counsel every couple wanting to be married on weekends, and build "habitats for humanity" in his "spare" time. He was called to make people healthier and happier, and behave better and wiser, and by God! he's going to do it!

Unfortunately, what worked in the past will not work in the future.

First, the church can't afford it. One enabler can only effectively work with 100 people, but with rising personnel costs and declining discretionary income, each 100 people can no longer afford the salary of one full time enabler.

Second, the covenant relationship begins to deteriorate into co-dependency. The enabler is motivated by a need to be needed, and the people are motivated by a need for someone to hold their hand and tell them what to do.

Third, the enabling leadership that started out humble and caring, ends up presumptuous and arrogant. The cry to "take care of us" soon connects with the claim "I know what you need". The cry to "give us moral guidance" connects with the demand to "do what I tell you."

Finally, enabling leadership becomes bureaucratic leadership in its old age. Unable to bring health, happiness, and ethical behavior to individuals, they try doing it with governance. Standing committees, ad hoc groups, and levels of government multiply, and the enabler goes off to attend group process seminars.

In the old paradigm, an estimated 27-33% of clergy or their families become victims of substance abuse; the cycle of complaint, guilt, and anger leads to rampant clergy burnout; pastoral covenants are in perpetual crisis; litigation and malpractice insurance become key issues for a denomination; recruits for Ordained Ministry not surprisingly drop off; and church growth rarely exceeds 250 members, even though the community around the church more than tripled. Congregations become chaplaincies and agencies, rather than real churches.

The paradigm for leadership in the 21st century will not be "The Enabler", but "Visionary Motivator". Visionary, motivating leadership will not try to take care of everybody, or set everybody straight, but it will proclaim persuasively and dramatically from the "watchtower" the vision that awaits its time, and so motivate people that even when they are running they can still see it. It will not try to take care of the people, but equip the people to take care of themselves. It will not try to set people straight, but let God set people straight, and accept the resulting diversity.

Leadership in the 21st century will not try to get people to do anything, but to be something. Instead of aiming to change behavior, it will aim to change the heart. More time will be spent making worship a transformational event, than an informational event. More time will be spent equipping laity to do ministry, than doing ministry alone. The primary role of ordained leadership in the future will be to point out the star, and shove people off. They may go east, west, north, or south; they may vote for any political party; they may pursue this cause or that cause. They may come down on environmental protection or job creation, and they may be conservative or liberal when it comes to public policy. None of that is the clergy's primary concern. Their concern is to help every person give birth to the potential for good that God has given them, and equip every Christian to follow the calling that Christ has offered them. Pastor Bob (or Pastor Roberta) is a midwife.

Remember Pastor Bob and the Church Board? Pastor Bob in the 21st century will be spending most of his time proclaiming the vision, sharing the vision, and building ownership for the vision. The pastoral care will get done, but it is equipped laity who will do it. The prophetic witness will get done, but it is equipped laity who will do that. All the visiting will be done, and all the community social agencies will be addressed, but not by Pastor Bob. He's not an enabler anymore. He's a visionary. He's not spending all his time among the churched implementing the vision; he's spending all his time among "strangers to grace", learning new futures for the vision.

Paradigm Shift for Church Life

Nevertheless, you can hear the rumbling of concern around Pastor Bob's kitchen table. The Board is getting restless. Just listen to their questions:

a.. Where are we going to find enough laypeople to do all those ministries Pastor Bob used to do? b.. Who's going to hold Pastor Bob accountable for potential crazy ideas? c.. If all those different people out there start coming to church, who is going to organize them, control them, assimilate them, maintain the heritage of our glorious past, and generally keep the lid on? d.. What will it cost and who will pay for it? Simultaneous to the paradigm shift in theology and leadership, there needs to be a paradigm shift in church life.

In the old paradigm, church life revolves around consensus and structure. Decisions must be supported by the broadest possible agreement, and the only way to achieve that is through layered meetings. Every task must have a committee, every cluster of committees must have an oversight committee, every cluster of oversight committees must have a management board, and so on and on, to the annual congregational meeting. Government for a church of 300 requires that at least 100 laypeople attend committee meetings, in one way or another. It will take at least three evening meetings, and approximately 150 total hours of lay energy to change the sign at the front of Pastor Bob's church building.

The corporate paradigm is not about creativity, but control. Spontaneity is always suspect, because individuality is less important than being a member. Continuity with the glorious past is always valued. Vision is expected to be generated by groups, which means that no vision emerges. Significant minorities always have the power to paralyze action. Personal trust is secondary to parliamentary procedure. The most common responses to a new idea are "No!", "It will never work!", "We've never done it that way before!", and "Let's assign an ad hoc committee to think about it, and bring a recommendation to the Annual meeting!"

In the corporate paradigm, perpetuating the body is more important than growing the body. Agendas must be carefully protected, group process must be painstakingly planned, nominations must be carefully controlled, and crazy ideas must be studiously sidetracked (especially if they occur in an annual meeting). Certainly no one should display too much emotion during the worship service. The goals of the paradigm are to maintain the in-group ethos, achieve debt freedom, and save, save, save against The Rainy Day.

The paradigm for church life in the 21st century will not be the corporate paradigm, but the mission team paradigm. Governance will be reduced from nine standing committees to three; management will be reduced to an optimum 7-9 person administrative board; and small groups will multiply like rabbits as people are given permission to follow the star in whatever manner they feel called to do. Lay people will not waste their time sitting in meetings, but busy themselves doing ministry. Of the 100 lay leaders required to staff the committees of pastor Bob's 300 member church in the old paradigm, only 25 are needed now. The rest joyfully do all the pastoral ministry tasks Pastor Bob had been trying to do.

The mission team paradigm prioritizes creativity, not control. There is more trust, and less parliamentary procedure. Worship attendance is more important than voting membership, because regular worship is what unites people around the transformative experience of God and motivates their commitment to the vision. The key statistics that measure church life are not the number of infant baptisms and the strength of the children's Sunday School, but rather the number of adult baptisms and the strength of the Adult Faith Formation Groups.

A New Beginning

Pastor Bob's 20th century church board is now having a joint heart attack because they are unprepared for the 21st century. The old paradigm was fueled by the consensus of all, while the new paradigm is fueled by the vision of individuals. The old paradigm relied on the machinery of church office, while the new paradigm relies on the dynamism of inter-personal relationships. The old paradigm had 100 people on committees, and 20 people doing ministry, while the new paradigm has 20 people on committees and 100 people doing ministry. If ministry requires money, it will be spent. If ministry requires a wall torn down, it will be torn down. If ministry requires a new building, it will be built. All that matters is the Gospel . and everything else is just tactics.

Most importantly, however, the goals of Pastor Bob's church are changing. Instead of maintaining the in-group ethos, they will foster an ever-growing outreach. Instead of debt freedom, they will concentrate on sound debt management, having awakened to the fact that nothing kills a church faster than no debt and money in the bank. So instead of save, save, save for The Rainy Day, it will be risk, risk, risk because it's already raining outside.

These paradigm shifts for Pastor Bob's church will not come easily. The commitment of the church to the old paradigms is enormous. Pastor Bob will also be challenged by many voices in the mainline church for which church growth is frankly unwelcome. Many voices, both on the conservative "right" and the liberal "left", are so caught up in being "the righteous remnant", or "the minority consciousness", or "the lone prophetic voice crying in the secular wilderness", that, in fact, they are predisposed to encourage church decline. The smaller the church becomes, the more it seems to verify their self-image and confirm their theology.

The amazing thing is that despite the shock of Rev. Bob's 20th century church board, and despite the negativity from some voices in the mainline church, Pastor Bob remains the most optimistic minister in the denomination. He has good reason to be.

Pastor Bob knows that the public is receptive to religion. Motivated materialism has given way to a new quest for meaning. New immigration has opened a whole new dialogue about God, culture, and the purpose of life. People are ready as never before to talk about faith. Spiritual hunger has never been so profound. Christ has never been so relevant.

Pastor Bob knows that the resources are there. Gifted people are there, young and old, if only they can be turned loose. Money is there in abundance, if only it can leap over the artificial ecclesiastical boundaries, and become invested in the mission of the church instead of the mission of the banks. Ordinary Christians have spiritual gifts they have never used . and God is ready to give more spiritual gifts they never imagined.

Pastor Bob knows that for all the changes in contemporary culture, one thing hasn't changed. Human beings are still helpless to save themselves, and God is still absolutely committed to save them. Pastor Bob has surrendered even his own pride to the mission of Christ. He's not out to build a mega-church. He's not out to preserve a heritage church. He's really not even out to represent the church. He's simply trying to be in companionship with Jesus on the road to mission.

Pastor Bob is the most optimistic Minister in the judicatory, because he believes that God wants the church to grow. God wants the Ordained Ministry to grow. God wants the empowered laity to grow. God wants congregations to grow. Why? Because they are among the chief vehicles through which God spreads grace to the world. Growth means the increase of community participation in Christian ministries, the deepening of spirituality, the increase of mission, and the global outreach of even the tiniest church. Oft quoted words from the turn of one century, are still valuable for the turn of another century, says Pastor Bob: "If you think little, and believe little, and pray little, you will come out little. But if you think big, and believe big, and pray big, you will come out big.

(Reproduced here with Tom Bandy's permission) http://www.easumbandy.com/