The Purpose:

In the belief that the Church must be continually reforming itself to fulfill its mission in relevant yet faithful ways within a constantly changing society, this site seeks to provide church leaders with assistance to prompt reflection, vision, decision and action within their congregations that these churches may become more vitally the Body of Christ for today's world.

The Rationale for this Purpose:

Quite simply, the Church and its people are both called to be always about change. Listen to the petition of this prayer from Ephesians which is for you. Read it as a prayer for you:

"For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner person, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God". (Ephesians 3:14-19).

The Christian faith is a never-ending journey of coming to know the fullness of God for every individual. From the Great Commission through to maturity in faith as disciples, we are to be about personal growth in faith. But it is also a never-ending journey for every congregation. Listen again to Ephesians.  Imagine how this description of the church fits your congregation:

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift...... for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for   the building up of the Body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ". (Ephesians 4.4-7, 12-13).

Congregations are to aspire to grow in both unity and diversity in their lives, that we might together fully express the completeness of the ministry of Christ. This too requires regular reflection, decision-making and determination in action... but this time by the whole church for the church. As individuals grow and mature in faith, the congregation will change as well. As the congregation changes together, its life has an impact of the life of each participant, encouraging them to change. As it says in the opening verse of Ephesians 4: "Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called" (Ephesians 4.1). 

The Church is a spiritual body, but it is also very much a human organization as well. It is our humanness which makes it so very hard to live up to these ideals.

Every human organization structures itself to fulfill two essential purposes. First, it structures itself internally --  through its organization and management -- in order to fulfill its mission / mandate / goal / function / purpose. Ford does this to make cars, hospitals do this to heal the sick, and churches do this to foster faith. Second, every organization structures itself externally for survival within the context of the wider -- and ever changing -- community in which it is found. IBM struggled through it's move from typewriters to laptops.  The forestry industry is shifting from exploitation to conservation. Hospitals try to learn how to do more with  less money. Many congregations are debating the inclusion of contemporary music in their traditional worship service. One's mission is intricately linked with one's environment. As the world changes, how you fulfill your purpose may have to change.

Churches, like all organizations, tend to move towards stability. Once things are organized in a way that survival is not an issue and the structure fulfills the purpose, most organizations tend to develop a sense of satisfaction, contentment, and even complacency. Churches which do this, like any organization,  can run into two dangers. 

First, the real purpose of the church can drift off the agenda. The focus can become the perpetuation of the structure and the ongoing management of the church. At best it is assumed that the structure fulfills the purpose, and so maintenance is all that is required. The problem is, however, that over time a collection of different purposes will surface,  and these can gain greater priority.  Fellowship can become a goal for its own sake without a church remembering that fellowship should foster Christian care and build faith. Budgets simply tend to be reviewed and corrected for inflation annually, without a church remembering that every dollar  represents a resource for   fulfilling ministry. Congregations rarely review their expenditures in the light of priorities for ministry in and by the congregation. People can set up programs for children modelled after those programs they grew up with, overlooking the fact that the children of today are different in so many different ways from those of a generation ago.  It comes down to this:   the mission of a congregation is lost too easily as people go busily about "doing church". 

Second, a church can lose touch with the changing community beyond its walls. A generation or two ago a congregation could get by simply through the expectation that any new Presbyterian in town would come to their church as a matter of course. Today there are about ten times more Canadians who say they are Presbyterian than actually have joined a congregation. The majority of Canadians no longer believe that to be a Christian you have to join a church. And yet so many Presbyterian churches do very little -- if anything --   to  address this new reality: they still await to service Presbyterians who may cross their threshold.  The steady decline in membership in our denomination over the past 35 years is the result.  So it also  comes down to this: congregations too easily lose touch with the wider culture of society, running the risk of being left in the dust of change.

How faithful are we being to these great aspirations we've read from Ephesians? Are we growing in faith?  Are we being built up, more and more,  as the corporate Body of Christ? Are we walking in the manner worthy of our calling? If you take the call from Ephesians seriously, then your answer is probably, "Yes we are.... but there are so many more changes we have to make". If you are taking this call from Ephesians seriously, then your congregation remembers its real purpose and calling, and reviews its life in the terms of this purpose regularly. If you are taking this call from Ephesians seriously, then your congregation is looking at the world as it changes and then asks itself, "How do we address this new world order so people will see our faith, the Gospel, and our group life as being relevant, meaningful and desirable?"

It has been common to hear for many years that congregations have taken on a "survival mentality".  As the society in general and communities in particular have changed over time, Presbyterian churches have started to feel the consequences of not staying in tune with what is happening around them. The responses can be:

• ignore what is happening, and hope it goes away.
• keep trying what used to work ("we need the younger women to join the WMS", "Let's start up Boys Brigade again", "Let's study together the book The Keys of the Kingdom"). Even though it doesn't bring the hoped-for response this can allow a church to keep on thinking that they are being faithful and help them feel satisfied that they are still trying.
• whittle everything in the budget down, dime by dime, so nothing can happen effectively, leading a congregation to "die the death of a thousand cuts".
• blame the world for what is actually the congregation's lack of responsiveness ("Young people today simply don't understand that worship is supposed to be quiet and somber. Church today is the same as when I was growing up, and I accepted it and joined! Why can't they?").
• look for something beyond the congregation to save them (eg. petition the General Assembly to reduce the cost of the Medical / Dental plan, or ask that the formula for Presbyterians Sharing be changed so "the big churches" pay more,  even though the real issue is the decline in membership of this congregation. Or, on a different note, expect the national staff of the denomination to come up with a sure-fired "magic bullet" fix that this congregation can implement so changes happen quickly and painlessly).

Imagine an elastic band being stretched by two hands pulling the band tighter. The longer a congregation overlooks its real purpose allowing other things to take priority, the more tension is created in the band. The longer a congregation ignores the changes in the culture beyond its wall, the more tension is created in the band. The more things get stretched, the greater the anxiety the church will feel when they consider change. The more churches put off change, the greater the potential snap of the elastic with the subsequent pain. And, as we know, elastics can only be stretched so far before they break.

And yet..... change in the life of congregations is both the way of faithfulness to God and a way of faithfulness to the church both past and future. It may not come immediately to mind, but your church has probably undergone great challenges and changes in the past in order to make it the congregation you appreciate today.  This was their legacy to you. A church is also always tending to its life for the sake of the congregation who will follow you in the future. This will be your legacy to them. Are you tending to  this "earthen vessel"  now for their sake -- as your fore bearers did --  or tending to it only your own sake? 

Change in congregations is never easy. Chapter 4 of Ephesians speaks of some of the values of community which are needed in any congregation wishing to evolve even more into the fullness of Christ,

"Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit..." (Ephesians 4.1-4a).

All congregations realize that their world has changed.  Most acknowledge that they have a need to renew their own life.  But still they don't change. Why?  Edgar Schein (The Corporate Culture Survival Guide. Jossey Bass Publishers, 1999) suggests that survival anxiety will motivate organizations towards change. But there is also what he calls "learning anxiety". To become something new, churches often have to confront their current reality, unlearning assumptions, priorities, and behaviours which have worked against them, and then learn new ones which will serve them better. It is this unlearning -- and the subsequent impact on the sense of identity of the congregation -- which brings the greatest anxiety, and impedes change. Often people want to change... it's just that they don't know how.  For others, they want to change but "better the devil you know...".  But if learning anxiety overwhelms the survival anxiety, then all a church can hope for is to somehow survive.  The "Survival Mentality" is the product of a congregation which has not had enough help and support in overcoming its learning anxiety.

As leaders of change, it is your role to reduce this learning anxiety. It is your job to find ways for people to imagine a new and better future. It is your job to help people find and use  perspectives, processes and plans to help people make the transition from the old to the new. It is your job to see that those in pain are cared for on the way. It is your job to encourage the journey... even if it means bearing some of the burdens of others yourself. By bearing those burdens you "fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6.2).

What I've said is quite to the point ("it is your job...").  Leaders have a role: to speak of the destination, to point out the road, to encourage the journey, to make it as easy for all to travel.  Now you may be feeling those twin anxieties. Now you may be appreciating the need for change, but you are stymied by the learning anxiety:  "How can I be a leader such as this?"  If you have succumbed to this tension, then the people of your church have as well.

This site is to help you with your learning anxiety as a leader.   We hope to post here many insights, examples, tools, perspectives, reviews, articles, and encouragements to help you so you can help your church.  In the life of faith the journey is always shared. We hope this site will become a community of leaders for leaders,

• that we might help each other see the destination more clearly,
• that we might help each other see the road before us with more definition,
• that we might help each other with the burdens, because they are never completely unique to you or me,
• that we might encourage each other when the road gets rough.

This site is for us who are leaders in the Church.

Still think this is all impossible?  I close with the end of the very first prayer from Ephesians that I quoted:

"Now unto Him who is able to do so much more than anything that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3.20-21).

We travel with the One who created the destination, who knows the road intimately, who is the greatest bearer of burdens, who is in the business of encouragement.

Rev. Peter Coutts, St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Calgary.   17 July 2000