The Congregational Consulting Group, organized in 2014 by former consultants of the Alban Institute, is a network of independent consultants. We publish PERSPECTIVES for Congregational Leaders—thoughts on topics of interest to leaders of congregations and other purpose-driven organizations. — Dan Hotchkiss, editor
The change of a calendar year suggests inspiration. The old year with its depleted reserves is behind us. For leaders especially, the new year calls forth optimism and imaginative beginnings—or it should. But what if you just feel empty? What can you do when fresh vision eludes you, when you have lost capacity to dream on behalf of the congregation you serve? Is it time to leave, or is there a way to recapture the passion and vigor of new perspectives?
Many congregations are seeing a decline in contributions and attendance. Most of them try to address the decline, usually by tweaking staff size and deferring maintenance. But I rarely encounter a church that is willing to consider one of the biggest and potentially most energizing changes: letting go of the building.
Innovation is a standard expectation for leaders who want congregations to attract and retain new members or reach out to the community in new ways. But many congregations, having never had to go beyond small programmatic tweaks, don’t know where to start. Based on recent experience with a major innovation at the faith-based nonprofit that I lead, I’d like to offer some suggestions.
Congregations love the drama of arriving at a vision. Unfortunately, most visions go nowhere. One way to avoid this pitfall is to use Appreciative Inquiry.
Those of us who are older cannot expect the church to stay the same to accommodate our preferences. Every church needs to change if it is to continue to be faithful, and the only way for that to happen is if each of us agrees to start with ourselves.
by Dan Hotchkiss It is not always easy to say what kind of planning a congregation needs to do at a specific moment. Nonetheless, dogmas abound. Some people think every congregation has to do a big, ginormous long-range, planning process every five or ten years. Only by taking a fresh, comprehensive look at everything and …
“I’m a little verklempt.” When hot topics come up in congregations, we know we ought to have a conversation. But instead, like Linda Richman, Mike Myers’s character on Saturday Night Live, we get all “verklempt” and change the subject. Throwing out a random topic, in effect we say, “Talk amongst yourselves.”