Finding the Right Tool to Fix Your Church . . .
There have been lots of tools offered to pastors and church leaders for fixing their churches through the years. In fact, it seems as if we’ve been spectators at a parade of solutions designed to solve the problems that afflict the local church.
The parade began about 30 years ago, when the Church Growth movement beckoned us to hop on their bandwagon. Many of us climbed aboard. Then came a dynamic Drum Major twirling his baton, announcing that our churches needed a vision, lest we perish like the proverbial Frog in The Kettle. The beauty queens, with their sashes and glittering tiaras, followed. Riding along in gleaming convertibles, they carried signs encouraging us to make our services more seeker friendly and “culturally attractive.”
Other floats paraded past, smaller, but just as compelling: One promoted cell groups, another church planting, still another elder-led vs. congregationally led church governments. Then came the marching bands trumpeting big churches, big worship, and big personalities. Toward the end of the parade, the whole entourage decided to go multi-site and take the spectacle to other communities.
Finally, we hear a fire engine’s siren signaling the end of the parade. However, a banner draped across the truck’s back end calls us to consider afresh the importance of discipleship. We have been catalyzed, missionalized, and mesmerized by this dynamic parade of programs, all designed to “fix” the local church!
The “Bob the Builder” Mentality
Can biblical backing be found for the programs we’ve seen come and go? No doubt. So, what’s the problem? There are two latent problems in applying what I would call a “Bob the Builder” mentality to the Bride of Christ (Can we fix it? Yes, we can!).
First, we have to ponder how much of this “fix it” mentality flows from our culture. American individualism, entrepreneurism, and pragmatism often gets vigorously applied to the church as if it were purely a business organization rather than a spiritual organism. This dangerous practice is often at odds with the eternal results we seek. Maybe instead of us trying to “fix” the Bride, we need to ask the Groom to heal us instead!
Second, we may have actually been trying to “fix” the wrong things and in the wrong way, like nailing a board to a broken leg, or sandblasting a ruptured appendix. In churches where underlying spiritual and relational diseases exist, it is unrealistic to expect God to bless our “programs” geared to fix things when we need a Great Physician to heal them supernaturally. No amount of change, at least at the program level, will heal systemic health problems churches carry.
Process vs. Program
Systemic problems have less to do with what we do and more to do with who we are and have been historically. Indicators of how well a church functions on a systemic level include healthy communication, spiritual growth and reproduction, trust in leadership, and whether a church’s overall spirit is joyful or not. Interactions in these areas make up the process of healthy living in community. If things on a process level are not healthy, all the structural, organizational or programmatic changes we implement will fall short of “fixing” anything.
How do you know if you need to address underlying systemic health issues before trying another program oriented solution?
Consider These Indicators
- Are there painful issues that seem to cycle over and over in your church’s history? Unhealed corporate pain will spread infection throughout a church’s relational system, producing all kinds of systemic problems. (See 1 Cor. 5).
- Have you done your best to apply some kind of “church growth program” with little fruit to show for your efforts? God may be disciplining your church body over an unwillingness to listen to Him about something and no amount of programmatic ingenuity will free up your ministry. Only corporate healing can do that.
- Has your church faithfully implemented church discipline in the past? This is the one “body process” we all know about, but few churches do well. Blessing Point’s ministry would dry up if churches courageously addressed such sin in their bodies in a biblical way.
I hope you’ll take a few moments and visit our free online survey to get a picture of your church’s systemic health. If you uncover weakness in this area, it may help you discover the right tool to help you heal your church.
How does a systemic perspective change the way you view your church’s struggles?
Rev. Mark Barnard serves as President of Blessing Point Ministries. Blessing Point works to heal congregations that have been wounded by internal crises. Barnard is the author of several books and coauthor of The Eighth Letter – Jesus Still Speaks!
