Transforming faith communities

By Jonn Lavinnder

photo jonn lavinnder

DISCERNMENT JOURNEY — The Rev. George Meier, United Church consultant, conducting warm-up exercices for St. Saviour’s, Nelson, at their "Discernment Journey Together."

St. Saviour's, Nelson, has been looking at itself in a mirror with the help of the Rev. George Meier, a United Church consultant. The first meeting took place at St. Saviour's in May 2009, which began with "Warm-up Exercises for our Discernment Journey Together."

At the preliminary meeting 18 members of the congregation attended. George Meier said it was a good segment of the church population for his initial work. Each participant completed a questionnaire, "Understanding Your Congregation As A System."

The next meeting in July reviewed the scores and revealed how the participants perceived St. Saviour's, as a congregation. For homework the participants read, "Behold I Do A New Thing: Transforming Communities of Faith" by C. Kirk Hadaway.

This book is in the same genre as "Christianity for the Rest of Us" by Diana Butler Bass, which addresses the "emerging church." However, "Behold I Do a New Thing," helps analyze church models, and suggests possible directions a particular model could move toward to become transformational. In other words, to move toward their reason for being church.

The questionnaire completed by the group was very much like a Myers Briggs personality test, except it was for an institution rather than an individual. The scoring aspect covered areas such as Strategy, Authority, Process, Pastoral Leadership, Relatedness, Lay Leadership, and Learning. Each category could be rated. For example, the definition of "Strategy" stated that it was the way congregations put their vision into practice. This dimension might also be called "planning" or "mission." The questionnaire helped define where the congregation operated, between "planned" to "spontaneous." If a congregation was too much weighted toward being "managerial" in its Lay Leadership, and if the Pastoral Leadership were more "transformational" then there might be a conflict between laity and clergy. As with personality tests, there were no right or wrong answers but achieving a balance would indicate a healthy congregation.

“Behold I Do a New Thing” defines congregational models with questions such as, “Is your congregation an Incarnational Community, a Corporation type, a Club or Clan, or does it have a Charismatic Leader and Followers?” Anglican churches frequently fall into the category of a Club or Clan. Hadaway gives information on the behaviour of a particular congregational model and gives directions on making positive changes. Another chapter of the book informs the reader about "Formation and Transformation in a Community of Faith." It outlines the transformational process. It seems that making meaningful changes in a congregation can only take place slowly.

Hiring a dynamic and charismatic leader is not the answer for a club style church. Rather, it is important for a congregation to clarify their identity, and then try to achieve something together that everyone can support. This is what George Meier intends the congregation at St. Saviour's to do.

After in-depth self-analysis determining the congregation’s identity, the next step is to agree on a "code of behaviour." Christianity already has a built in way of behaving; however, we rarely practise loving and forgiving one another.

George Meier lives in New Denver, BC. His mandate is to empower churches and nonprofit organizations to live their tradition and embrace their future. After leaving university, he practiced business litigation and was Special Deputy Attorney General for the State of Idaho 1988-89. He entered the ministry and was Pastor of Pioneer Congregational Church, Sacramento from 1992 to1998. In recent years, he has been a consultant for enabling congregation toward church renewal.