Many of us are familiar with the Alban Institute's classification of congregations into one these categories: Family, Pastoral, Program, or Corporate -- based primarily on church size. The congregation I serve hovers between Pastoral and Program, aspiring to be firmly in the Program size, because we believe that means we are "growing" and "healthy."
We've come to believe that people want an array of solid programs including:
- wholesome activities for their children and youth,
- hands-on opportunities like re-building Katrina homes and serving dinner at the local homeless shelter,
- multiple low-commitment projects like donating back-to-school supplies for homeless children in August and canned goods for the hungry in November, as well as assorted check-writing opportunities for "special offerings"
- an array of stimulating educational classes for adults
- excellent music offerings from concerts and musicals to weekly choral and instrumental performances
- "fellowship" activities from potlucks to progressive dinners, picnics to prayer breakfasts
Program churches have lots of . . . programs, and if the congregation is well-run, those programs are well-organized, well-attended, and therefore, successful.
Not so fast.
As our congregation's Program Year ends this summer and a new Program Year begins in September, it has occurred to some of us that a calendar full of programs sometimes has a negataive impact upon spiritual nourishment. A church that rushes headlong through the year from Fall Fun Fair to Silent Auction to Christmas Pageant to Mission Fair to Lenten Dinners to Easter Festival to Spring Carnival to Pentecost Concert to Vacation Bible School Week often finds itself burned out instead of spiritually renewed.
Or maybe it's just me.
A couple of us were talking the other night about looking back over the past program year and doing a Transformation Assessment on each of the program activities we accomplished, asking these questions:
- Were we spiritually fed by this activity?
- Did we observe others in our congregation being spiritually fed?
- Did we observe people outside our congregation being spiritual fed?
- How did this activity transform us/others/the world?
Never again do I want us to schedule an event because we have "always" done it. It's quite possible to program the spiritual nourishment right out of a community of faith. A good friend recently put it this way: his church is a well run faith-based organization, but there seems to be little or no spiritual growth going on.
I have a feeling his is not the only one.
Sculpture is The Prodigal by Heinz Warneke (1938) in the Bishop's Garden of the National Cathedral, Washington, DC.
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12 comments:
Huzzah! How easy it is to get trapped into a never-ending cycle of activities, classes and events that siphons off energy and leads to burnout for both clergy and layfolk. This is particularly true in small to medium size congregations where the same leaders are called on again and again.
I love the questions you will use to analyze and decide what to continue and what to set aside and would be very interested in knowing what your conclusions were.
Another good question: Is there an equivalent program being offered somewhere else in our community which our program is a merely a vaguely baptized version of. In other words, is this something we as a Christian community are uniquely gifted and called to offer?
Trust me. Your friend is not the only one.
Awesome article. I shared it with our staff.
The challenge is when you ARE a full-fledged program church, so the thinking goes, "this is what we're supposed to be doing. This is our niche."
Your friend is far and away not the only one. I get frustrated with our budgeting process both in my local congregation and in the Presbytery. "We funded it last year, let's just add 3% and that will make due."
What about the ministries that would be better served if we took some time to truly evaluate each program based on your criteria. I'm taking these to my CE committee meeting next week to see where we come out.
Thanks!
Amen! With your permission I would like to share this reflection with our staff, please.
Hi Serena -- You can use any and all of it. I'd be honored.
Helpful discernment for real transformation, Jan.
Thanks!
jan -
i like what your thinking and am grateful. i am going to ask our folks to use this simple question - what is transformative about this program? Reminds me, in a way, of that quote of Ghandi, "how will the next step I take effect the poor?" So we might ask, how will the next step - the next program, whatever - have any transformative effect on someone or some structure?
In my home congregation, as in many I know in this area, we share the same issue. Even in a parish that has only been around for fifty years, various programs become idols of sorts that can never be denied. Attempts to try and end them cause bad feelings, ecause they are always someone's pet project. To take the assessment out of looking at individual programs and look at all of them, and measure how they contribute to the spiritual, emotional, and financial health of the congregation and the world could take the "pet project" defensiveness off the table.
Brilliant!
Back to let you know I did share this and staff appreciated it. We all thank you!
serena sent me, and I agree... In fact, some years ago, there was an article about a church that decided to give up meeting for lent. (not quite the same as programs, but...I like the idea).
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