The Natural Order…

(Since early in 2011, several dedicated members of the congregation – Willie Burgess, Amy Long, Jeff Beardmore and Cris King, Central’s pastors – Jeff Cover and Bill Smutz, and consultant – Jerry Toomer, have formed the Structure Consultation Task Force. This group has been charged by Central’s Session with creating a structure that matches our three-point congregational vision, which is: 1) Changing Hearts by strengthen our connections to God; 2) Changing Hearts by strengthening our connections to each other; and 3) Changing Hearts to Change The World by putting our faith in action. Last fall the Task Force shared a draft-plan of a potential new structure with the Boards of the church – Session, Deacons, Trustees. Based on feedback received in these meetings the plan is now being revised, and will be shared with the congregation early in the coming weeks – stay tuned! As we move toward unveiling and hopefully embracing a new structure for ministry at Central, I thought it would be good for the congregation to hear directly from members of the Task Force about why a new structure is so important for Central right now. This week’s guest-blogger is our consultant, Jerry Toomer.)

Over the past several months, I have had the privilege of working with the project team chartered by Session to review and make recommendations regarding Central’s structure.

A premise that I have found to be valid over the years is that: for any organization or team to work effectively, structure is important but strategy must be in place first. The natural order of effective organization performance starts with strategy (where are we headed, and why?), proceeds to structure ( how do we organize ourselves to achieve our strategic objectives and fulfill our mission?) and then to staffing (who do we need in what roles in our team structure to enhance our success?).

Our Butler basketball team for example (with apologies to the Purdue community), strives to win basketball games while also developing the character of young adults and providing a rallying point for students and the community at large. The way Brad Stevens goes about setting his structure for offensive & defensive schemes, the number of type of assistant coaches he hires, as well as the frequency and focus of practices sessions are all aligned with the vision and the objectives for that season (note that these goals are not so much about “wins” as about player and coach development but rather “how our students play the game”). Said another way, how do we develop student athletes who discover lives of Purpose, Meaning and Contribution, in part through the experience of being on a focused, high performing team. If we play well and pay attention to how we play the game, the wins will follow.

So too, our work on structure at Central has stayed true to the overarching Vision, “Changing Hearts to Change the World” while adding specificity to what structural model will best support achievement of the Vision. The team has worked diligently to gain input from Session, Deacons, Trustees and the congregation via surveys and conversations last summer. More recently, the team has discussed and tested structural models with Session, Deacons and Trustees. The resulting recommendations are now being adjusted reflecting that input and implementation is targeted for March/April of this year.

These adjustments in structure respect previous approaches to getting things done in the church, ie, what has worked well at Central in the past and can be built upon…. as well as what can be improved. They are not ‘changes for change sake’ but rather adjustments that keep pace with a changing world and community while remaining committed to the Vision/Mission.

All parts of the organization play a key role in making the congregation function effectively. I am confident that the adjustments in structure will add value to Central as many of you in the congregation play key roles in helping it operate smoothly. You all play an important role in the Central community, no matter how formal or informal, or large or small the role may be.

“As Paul so accurately described, when one part of the body fails or is undervalued, all the other parts struggle. So it is with the system we call the church. ….we need to see all inputs for our ministry in the context of the larger system that is the body of Christ.”
John Wimberly in The Business of the Church.

Jerry is an Adjunct Professor and Executive Partner with the College of Business at Butler University and has over 30 years of human resources and organization leadership experience in both for profit and not for profit organizations. He also serves as an executive coach and organization consultant. Longer ago than he would like to admit, he received a PhD in Psychology from the University of Iowa and has also been named a Diplomate in Counseling Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology.

2012

What will 2012 bring?

Some among us believe that 2012 will bring the end of the world. Most of those who embrace this belief seem to be folks who like conspiracy theories and prophecies of doom, without being overly concerned about facts or reality. As I understand it, the fear or fascination surrounding 2012 as the end of time stems from the discovery of an ancient Mayan calendar in the ruins of a temple complex somewhere in Central America. The calendar, which is carved in stone, ends in 2012 because the carver ran out of space after carving December 21, 2012. I do not understand why some folks take lack of space to mean the end of the world, but they do. I want you to know that I’m already planning for a series of meaningful Christmas Eve worship services on December 24, 2012, and I hope you’ll join me here at Central!

Figuring out what 2012 means in more personal terms – in our lives, in our church, in our community and country and world – is no less challenging than worrying about the end of time. We can point to and anticipate certain dates – anniversaries, graduations, weddings, retirements, birthdays, etc. – but we cannot know or plan for all the twists and turns and opportunities and surprises that the year will bring. Some of these events and prospects will bring joy and hope, while others will certainly offer us more difficult and challenging feelings and emotions.

As I look to the coming year for our congregation, I see 2012 as a year that will invite us at Central to step into God’s future in bold and perhaps scary ways. As we all know, Central’s Session has had a task group in place for most of 2011; and this group has been charged with developing a new organizational structure for how we do ministry together at Central. After a feedback process with the congregation and church boards this fall, the details of our new structure are undergoing final revisions. In the first months of 2012 the plan will be put forward for approval by the appropriate bodies, with a hoped-for implementation date of the Congregational Meeting on March 4.

While putting together a new structure has involved a lot of hard work for the task group and others, the real challenge, as I see it, will be for all of us as a congregation to embrace new ways of doing ministry together for this day and age – for 2012 and beyond. Change is hard and often times scary. Most of us don’t care for change, because it takes us out of our comfort zones, and means we have to learn new things and possibly have to think and act differently! And yet without an openness to change, a church quickly ceases to listen to the whispers and callings of the Holy Spirit, who is forever inviting us into God’s future. Without an openness to change, the worship and fellowship and education and caring and mission that we so value in our church is put at risk as we fail to stay connected to the changing culture around us, and other people become less and less interested in what we say and do. (challenge of change)

2012 will be both exciting and scary in ways we can anticipate, and in ways we cannot foretell. I believe that regardless of what is to come, our individual and corporate life is always and only possible because of God’s loving presence with us. We know this presence most personally and most completely in the earthly life of Jesus Christ, whose birth we’ve just remembered and embraced once again. As we prepare to exit one year and enter another, let us make sure that Jesus is our continuity – for in him, all things are indeed possible.

See you in worship in the New Year!

‘Deep In My Ordinary Heart’

J. Barrie Shepherd – faithful disciple, Presbyterian pastor, poet, and Scotsman…among other things – has authored a wonderful series of Advent meditations, written in the form of prayers, in the book A Child Is Born. I find his reflection on the Christmas story offered in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2.1-20) to say everything I would want to speak to you here on the eve of another Christmas celebration…so I share it below.

My prayer for you, and for me, and for all of God’s children, in this expectant season of new possibilities, is that we allow the love of God to fill us to overflowing…that in love, and with love, and through love…we may join Jesus in changing the world!

Merry Christmas,

Pastor Bill

“For all the marvel of these blessed, cherished, and well-rounded verses of Saint Luke; for all the magic that I never fail to feel when I hear them read aloud in church on Christmas Eve; they tell, at least until the angels come upon the scene, of totally mundane and commonplace events.”

“New taxes may be newsworthy, but they are hardly information one would hand down over centuries. A weary couple traveling far from home because of government regulations, even an expectant girl without a place to lay her head, these are not the stuff one might expect to find immortalized. And this birthing of a first-born son, the wrapping him in covers, the laying of him in a feed box for a bed: this has happened since the birth of time itself.”

“Death and taxes, birth and taxes, things one can be sure of, can rely on to endure upon this human scene… Why do we make such a fuss about it all, Lord? What is there in these every day events to justify their annual remembering, rehearsal, repetition?”

“Might it be that in the very ordinariness of your Son’s birth there lies the first disclosure of his message, of the great good news? Might it be, this very night, that you are telling me to look for meaning, mystery, and miracle right here inside the matter-of-fact problems, pains, potentials that make up the daily round?”

“I pray this may be so, Lord God, because the miracle of Christmas that I need will not be found in far-off Bethlehem, or even on the decorated altar of the church, but in the birth of hope and trust and love deep in my ordinary heart. Amen.”

J. Barrie Shepherd, A Child Is Born; The Westminster Press, 1988.

Challenge of Change

(Since early in 2011, several dedicated members of the congregation – Willie Burgess, Amy Long, Jeff Beardmore and Cris King, Central’s pastors – Jeff Cover and Bill Smutz, and consultant – Jerry Toomer, have formed the Structure Consultation Task Force. This group has been charged by Central’s Session with creating a structure that matches our three-point congregational vision, which is: 1) Changing Hearts by strengthen our connections to God; 2) Changing Hearts by strengthening our connections to each other; and 3) Changing Hearts to Change The World by putting our faith in action. This fall the Task Force shared a draft-plan of a potential new structure with the Boards of the church – Session, Deacons, Trustees. Based on feedback received in these meetings the plan is now being revised, and will be shared with the congregation early in the New Year. As we move toward unveiling and hopefully embracing a new structure for ministry at Central, I thought it would be good for the congregation to hear directly from members of the Task Force about why a new structure is so important for Central right now. The first guest-blogger is Elder, Jeff Beardmore.)

The ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, is credited with the statement “change is the only constant.” Few things in our lives avoid changing on a regular basis. Some changes are readily visible, others are much more subtle. Within our body, many unseen life-sustaining changes continuously occur. Without these changes, our body would quickly stop functioning. Time offers an ability to look back and better recognize change. As we look back, we more fully comprehend the magnitude of the changes that have occurred in each of our lives. As unsettling as change can be, it also represents an opportunity to use our knowledge of the past to better prepare ourselves for the future.

Over the last 12 months, Central has been reviewing our current structure and working on ways to revise that structure to enable us to better respond to and prepare for change. Some might question the need to go through such an exercise. Central has a rich history. Our church is one of the larger churches in Wabash Presbytery, has a wide variety of programs and is noted for its community involvement and mission work. Why consider change when so much is going well?

A trip to the sanctuary basement offers an example of how changes can drastically alter programming and resource use. The basement houses a wide array of equipment that was once an integral part of our youth programming, drawing large numbers of eager participants. Changes in time demands for our youth, program leadership and power tool safety requirements led to this once vibrant program becoming a part of Central’s past. I suspect many in our church and community have fond memories of their participation in our program and wish we could once again return to those days. Could any of today’s program offerings suffer similar fates?

Discussions with our church leaders and congregational surveys indicate significant concern about how we will be able to address future challenges. Change is difficult and our present structure is not very nimble in reacting to problems. Opportunities exist to improve efficiency and to more effectively coordinate our vision with our activities. Our present structure uses small numbers of members in leadership roles, sometimes with those leaders directing multiple program areas. Meetings are abundant. As a result, burn out occurs as more and more time and effort is required. Leadership training and succession planning can be more robust to make our volunteers more effective and have more help in carrying out their work.

A new structure has been developed that strives to offer better coordinated, more efficient use of the effort and resources which support our church’s overall vision of building connections to God, building connections to each other and changing the world. Over the next two months, this new structure will be shared with everyone. Tweaks can occur based on your feedback. Our new structure is targeted to be in place following our March annual meeting. However, work to improve that structure will be ongoing and Central’s structure will continue to evolve to better meet the challenge of change.

Your patience, understanding, thoughtful suggestions and prayers for how our new structure can allow our congregation to fulfill God’s will for Central and our community is, and will continue to be, crucial to the success of this project.

Tenacity

During a recent, early morning walk, a heavy frost lay on the ground. At first glance, the grass beside the trail looked as if it had been covered by a uniform layer of silver icing. But as I peered further, I noticed that the uniformity was repeatedly broken by something spiking up from the ground. Upon closer examination I discovered that these ‘spikes’ were frozen dandelion stalks ready to offer up their seeds to the wind. That this tough little plant, or weed depending on one’s perspective, continued to grow and even thrive in the cold of early December was amazing. I was impressed by the dandelion’s tenacity!

Tenacity is a quality that I think we are going to need at Central as we begin to move into a new structure for doing ministry.

The Structural Consultation Team has been and remains hard at work on creating a new structure for our congregation. With the help of our structural consultant, Jerry Toomer, the Team has been building a structure model that will allow us to fulfill our three congregational goals – 1) Connecting with God through worship and education; 2) Connecting with each other through fellowship and mutual care; and 3) Changing hearts to change the world through reaching out to the people and community around us in mission.

The initial draft of this new structural model has been shared with the Session, Deacons and Trustees, and is now being tweaked based on the feedback received. In the early part of the New Year the revised model will be ready for further review, and hopefully implementation will begin in the spring!

Dandelion-like tenacity will be important to us as we embrace and live into a new structure for doing ministry, because as we all know change is hard. Doing new things, organizing ourselves differently, letting go of familiar habits and meeting patterns, saying goodbye to old traditions, starting new traditions, being the disciples of Jesus Christ that God needs for this day and age – all of these steps are challenging, and will not be accomplished easily.

When doing new things, when thinking in new ways, it is so easy – especially the first time we meet any resistance, or don’t like the new thing – it is so easy to want to return to doing things ‘as we always have’, in ways that are known and familiar and safe. But in my experience, new things need to be given a chance. New practices and new structures need to be tried for a year or even two before they begin to work. In other words, if we at Central want an organizational structure that is going to match our vision, and help us carry out our vision, we’re going to have to be tenacious in embracing the newness. We’re going to have to be like dandelions that poke up through the frost that is trying to kill them, so that they may live. Jesus doesn’t invite us to the safety of discipleship. Jesus invites us to pick up a cross and follow him, so that we may discover the abundant life of God’s Kingdom! Following Jesus takes tenacity!

Following last week’s blog post in this space about “The Gap”, Central member, Terry Phillips asked me to explain myself a bit better. I appreciate his question. Terry lifted up two sentences from the post – “Churches that are going to survive and thrive in the 21st century need to be nimble, and make faithful choices more quickly. Churches that are going to function well in the 21st century will employ a decision-making strategy that is less-formalized and relies on trust and consensus building.” — ‘How can a church be both nimble and consensus building, he asked’.

Here is my answer:

I believe the Session of a Presbyterian Church needs to be more nimble in its decision making. A Session needs to be continually looking at the big picture, and making vision decisions – how and where is God calling our church into the future. These ‘big picture’ decisions must be made at the speed of our culture. As the pace of change in our culture accelerates, we as a congregation must keep up or we will slide into irrelevance. Nimbleness is a must.

At the same time, smaller groups of church members/friends who desire to take on a particular common ministry, must approach their agreed-upon task together. They need to have common agreement on what they are going to do, and they must trust each other to carry out their common commitments. Trust and consensus are always important; and even more so, I think, when we work together on common projects.

Terry, I hope this answer is of use to you and others. As always, I appreciate the questions and the continuing conversation!

See you in worship this Sunday, where we’ll light the third candle of Advent, and work at being the tenacious disciples that Jesus invites us to be!