Is Your Congregation Being Disruptive or Disrupted?
Photo by Martin Adams on Unsplash
This post was originally written for Ignite the Church, a grassroots church renewal movement. Learn more about Ignite the Church on their website.
When I was getting ready to begin seminary in the fall of 2011, a mentor of mine said to me, "Eric, seminary will be great. You will learn a ton. Just understand that the Church, as it is currently, is built for a world that no longer exists."
This was not a critique of seminary education but a recognition that the changing world was disrupting congregational life and yet, in many contexts, there was a strong desire to maintain the status quo. It would be necessary to understand the foundations of that status quo in order to lead and care for people in the midst of that disruption.
Over ten years later, the disruptions have intensified. Congregations that did not adapt to the disruptions have grown increasingly fragile or have closed entirely. In declining congregations, the anxiety about the future is palpable.
However, I'm reminded of the old saying, "You're either the hammer or you're the nail."
In the context of congregational disruption, leaders have two options:
1. Lead in a manner that disrupts the status quo that is going to be disrupted by culture anyway or,
2. Allow the disruption to determine the future of the congregation.
One option is "the hammer." The other is "the nail."
At the 2020 Ignite the Church Conference, Pastor Joe and Deacon Jess Liles of The Neighborhood Church in Bentonville, AR offered attendees a process for beginning to be disruptive:
1. Name, and then question, the status quo.
2. Observe growing and vibrant churches.
3. Network with organizations that create change.
4. Pursue small, fast, and bold experiments.
5. Listen to complaints, respond, and innovate.
For example, a declining congregation identifies that they rarely receive visitors coming to check out their worship life. Like many established congregations, this congregation lacked intentionality around promoting personal invitations to worship. As leaders question why that is, they learn that, while many in the congregation come to worship out of habit, the experience has grown stale. Sunday worship is no longer an event members feel would be attractive to their non- or de-churched friends.
In response to this, each member of the leadership commits to visiting a growing and vibrant church in the community for Sunday worship and reporting back their observations. When the leaders regather, they find that, in each case, these churches, which varied in worship style, have invested time, energy, and resources in making sure the experience of worship was characterized by excellence.
The leaders of this congregation reach out to a local college's music department and recruit students to help raise the level of musical excellence in worship. New liturgies are crafted and the pastor experiments with different styles of preaching. Rather than preaching from the lectionary, she launches a sermon series on a topic close to the heart of many in the congregation. Even communion gets a boost as volunteers bake bread to serve instead of the dry wafers the congregation has used for years.
Armed with confidence brought by the refreshing of worship, leaders challenge members to give professional-designed invitation cards to their neighbors and talk about their own experiences of the benefits of church participation.
As these changes are made, the leaders begin to hear grumblings about the various changes. A certain portion of existing members found comfort in the previously-used liturgies and so some of those elements are brought back into worship while maintaining some of the other innovations. Other members valued the rhythm of the lectionary, and so, when Advent rolls around, the pastor builds a sermon series based on those texts (you can find a great resource for lectionary-based sermon series here).
In this example, the congregation begins to reverse its decline by providing meaningful worship that attracts invited visitors while honoring some of the desires of those already present. The leaders have acted disruptively rather than simply allowing the congregation to be disrupted. They have chosen to be the hammer instead of the nail.
That is a choice you likely face as you lead your congregation through disruption. If so, here are some questions to consider:
1. What is the status quo in your context and why?
2. Who around you is experiencing growth and vibrancy in ways you are not?
3. Who can help you experiment with ways that are disruptive?
4. How will you handle the complaints and accommodate those struggling with change?
If you aren't sure how to answer these questions, the team at Ignite The Church stands ready to walk with you in discerning the answers. Send me an email and sign-up for our email list.
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