Participants in the church’s primary parish development training programs usually hit a point in their learning process that goes something like this – Okay, I’ve learned dozens of theories, models and skills, I feel a bit overwhelmed, where do I start? How do I begin to revitalize my parish? What are the steps for my parish to become an even healthier and more faithful community?
The first year of Shaping the Parish wrapped up this past Friday. Participants shared significant learnings with one another. Many identified a model or theory they found especially useful in seeing and understanding some of the more hidden dynamics of parish life.
All the major training programs draw on the disciplines of ascetical theology, organization development and organizational psychology. These fields are totally new for many participants. So, they’re learning new language systems and behaviors. That can be both exciting and disorienting.
I found myself wondering. What is it that I draw upon frequently? And what do I think should become part of the common language of a parish church? So, pick two of each I said to myself!
What I draw upon
As I look back over the years there are two theories I use frequently. There are many others that come to mind as needed to address particular issues and circumstances. But it is Intervention Theory and the Shape of the Parish that have grounded my approach most often.
Intervention Theory
Chris Argyris’s “Intervention Theory” brings together three concerns that I have strong values about — ownership, freedom, and truth. Maybe I call upon the theory so often because it matches my sense of ethics. It also focuses my attention on process, on the way in which a group makes its decisions. And finally, it offers an integrated system that brings the three elements into relationship.
The short version goes this way:
• Some decisions need a high degree of internal commitment. There are also many decisions that don’t require such commitment.
• If it’s important that a particular decision hold over time and under stress then you want to give special attention to the way that decision is made. How do you get a high level of internal commitment? What are the building blocks?
• It seems obvious that if people have experienced the process as one in which they have explored options and felt free to speak and explore, and that in the process they had an adequate amount of relevant information— they will have a stronger internal commitment to the decision.
There you are. If you want significant internal commitment you need to maximize free choice and doing that requires valid and useful information.
(More - an Intervention Theory one page handout, a video presentation, also see a section on Intervention Theory in chapter 1 of Nothing so Contagious as Holiness)
Shape of the Parish
Every priest knows how varied the spiritual life of parishioners is. Some are disciplined, humble and devout; others are careless, certain, and afraid. Many we only see at Christmas and funerals. Some will come to daily Evening Prayer in the chapel or on Zoom most days of the week.
There are a hundred different stories. Every journey is different, and each soul requires respect in their uniqueness. Some accept responsibility for their spiritual life. Others have never had such a thought.
So, the priest listens and reflects. And in time develops a pastoral strategy. The Shape of the Parish model has served me as a central aspect of my approach for the last 41 years.
Here are a few pieces of that strategy:
• Give a lot of attention to the Apostolic Faith people and those Progressing toward that. Some one-on-one time as needed, as friend and/or coach. Mostly in providing those parts of parish life that nurture them — the Daily Office (daily), quiet days, sometimes weekend at a retreat house, shaping an apostolic parish climate. A strong apostolic core will be the primary source of an apostolic climate.
• Do not get caught up in chasing those within the parish that are on the edges. You will end up with no time or energy to attend to the truly important and strategic matters. (See “Making time for developmental matters” in chapter 4 of Finding God in All Things and Pastoral Leadership Today)
• Remember that the vestry is not the apostolic core of the parish. (See Building an Apostolic Core: The Vestry is not the Apostolic Center)
• Make use of an Adult Foundations Course approach to adult education. It can serve those on the edges in their uncertainty and tentativeness, provide structure for those experimenting, and offer grounding and a pathway forward for the more stable Sacramental Christian. And if we don’t dumb down it will serve the Apostolic. (More on Adult Foundations Courses in chapter 7 of Nothing so Contagious as Holiness)
(More - A handout on Shape of the Parish, a video, also in Fill All Things, chapter 4 and in A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery, chapter 3)
Those who are new at this — be patient and persevere. Use what you know and for the moment don’t fuss over what you don’t know. Are there two or three theories or models that guide you? Learn more about them. When I was first learning about group and organization development I became fascinated by Jack Gibb’s Theory on Trust Development in Groups in read everything I could on it, I taught it in classes and made adjustments that I thought would help people grasp the theory, I included it in my MA thesis, and in time I developed my own trust development model.
(In Your Holy Spirit: Shaping the Parish through Spiritual Practice and chapter 5 in Finding God in All Things)
So, start where you are able and know that over time a few theories or models are likely to emerge as primary guideposts for your work. And be sure to know another dozen that you can call on as needed.
Common language for the parish
Developing any organization includes establishing a common language of skills, theories, stances and models. The common language helps stabilize the parish culture and provide a way of focusing energy. (See in Fill All Things in chapter 5 “Congregational Development Strategy: Some Hints”) You want to create a critical mass of members who share that common language.
There are two mistakes clergy make around this task — they overdo or underdo it. Some have never thought about the reality of a common language. But individuals have their language systems that help them make sense of things. Some bring the language of business or mental health and reinterpret the church’s life through those frames. Some come from a Baptist or Roman Catholic background and the mental models of those traditions are used to define what they are seeing. I’ve heard a number of clergy talk about the confusion and, at times, tension in the congregation as these various sets of mental models run up against one another.
The task is to be respectful of those other systems while being clear about how the Anglican tradition comes at it. The Christian Life Model has been used as a way of touching upon some off the standard ways of talking about the sources of authority, the issue of balance, the relationship among doctrine, prayer and action, and the Prayer Book Pattern of Prayer. And the In Your Holy Spirit model has been used to note the values of five parish life elements: Eucharist and Office, Reflection and Community, and Service. The two models might be useful in basic orientation work with new comers. Something to introduce while not dwelling on them; have the two images on a notice board someplace and have a few copies of the related books in the parish library. In the meantime, save the history of Anglicanism and the Six Wives of Henry for another time (or never).
There are times when we need to adjust and balance the parish’s common language. I attend a parish that has an excellent take on love — “love always wins!” It matches St. Paul’s “the greatest of these is love.” Then we had the experience that several of our members had become love fundamentalists. When on two occasions it was necessary to remove people from the parish’s life a few members were bewildered. They thought we should simply forgive them and move on. They had an inadequate and naive understanding of Christian forgiveness. So, maybe some sermons about forgiveness night be needed.
The overdoing-it-mistake seems to emerge when the priest thinks that the way to do parish development is to teach the congregation all the theories and models they were exposed to in a training program. It goes along with the logic that because I learned methods of engaging the Bible using historical and archaeological resources and found that fascinating, I should stress that in my preaching and teaching. And in time I discover that I’m overdoing things. While my parishioners are fine with an occasional reference from a more academic approach their practical need was more along the line about how to use the Scriptures in prayer, for comfort, and ethical thinking.
You’re excited about what you’ve been learning, so you want to share it. Natural enough. Well, curb your enthusiasm. Your task is to offer a few ideas and practices, over time, that will assist parishioners navigate in their spiritual life and their participation in parish life.
What are the few common language elements that you’d like 70% of your active members to know and be able to use routinely? For our purposes in this article, I’ll name two that have been central in my experience: the Renewal - Apostolate Cycle and Listening Processes. But please hear this – the circumstances of your situation might point to other models. You need to think this through yourself.
Renewal – Apostolate Cycle
The Renewal - Apostolate Cycle is the model most often mentioned as a useful way for many to understand and accept responsibility for their spiritual life. It becomes a richer and more accurate description of what the person is experiencing. It places your prayer life in relationship to your whole life. Many, but not all, find models and images useful in understanding the spiritual and organizational dynamics they experience. For them the Cycle connects their religious practices with their daily life. For more on the Cycle see Fill All Things and An Energy Not its Own: Three Cycles of Parish Life and the Purposes of the Parish Church.
Listening processes
One of the most powerful interventions I’ve offered as a consultant and a vicar is to establish a set of listening processes within a parish church. Done properly it tends to increase the information flow, democratize the system, increase the internal commitment of members, and create a parish climate that is more humble and gentle. It also tends to set off resistance among some members used to having the most influence in the parish. The work also requires parish leaders to pay attention to the issue of readiness, is this parish ready for this at this time? Listening processes include going around the room, small groups, testing process, gathering people by raising an arm or ringing a bell, exploring options, exploring optional future possibilities, the use of newsprint pads, and 3 or 4 parish community meetings each year. You’ll find more information on such processes in Fill All Things, especially in the chapter of The Benedictine Promise and in In Your Holy Spirit: Shaping the Parish Through Spiritual Practice, see the chapter on community.
Developing the common language
Repeat, repeat, repeat
• Make use of the listening process methods and skills all the time. In every meeting of the congregation or vestry. Use them in every adult class. As appropriate, use them with the children of the parish.
• Have a three session formation offering on the Renewal - Apostolate Cycle. Make it a module of an Adult Foundations Course.
• Intentionally tie it into several sermons each year. Make the connection explicit.
• Have a one page card on the Cycle in the tract rack and posted on a notice board. Include it in the Sunday bulletin a couple of times each year.
• Make use of it in spiritual guidance work with individuals and groups
• Make use of the Sanctification of All program in Nothing so Contagious as Holiness, chapter 5.
The spirit is truly ‘in its own realm’ if it can confront the world that is unlocked to it, give itself to this world, and in its relation with it save both itself and the world.
It’s a quote from Martin Buber in I and Thou. I first read it in the fall of 1966 in an introductory theology course. It came with more impact a few years later. I was doing an intern year at St. Mary’s Hamilton Village and the Episcopal Office at the University of Pennsylvania. One of my tasks was to develop a relationship with the students engaged in social justice and service efforts. I became friends with Ira, Molly, Alice, Jeanny and Robert. Jeanny gave me a copy of This is the American Earth for my birthday. I still have it. Her inscription inside the cover was Buber’s quote. I have always felt there was something she wanted me to hear in Buber’s words. We never talked about it. She died soon after of some rare disease. What I finally make of it is captured a page or so prior to the quote she offered.
“He does not become a babbling enthusiast; he serves the truth which, though supra-rational, does not disown reason but holds it in her lap. What he does in communal life is no different from what is done in personal life by a man who knows that he cannot actualize the You in some pure fashion but who nevertheless bears witness of it daily to the It, defining the limit every day anew, according to the right and measure of that day—discovering the limit anew. Neither work nor possessions can be redeemed on their own but only by starting from the spirit. It is only from the presence of the spirit that significance and joy can flow into all work, and reverence and the strength to sacrifice into all possessions, not to the brim but quantum satis—and that all that is worked and possessed, though it remains attached to the It-world, can nevertheless be transfigured to the point where it confronts us and represents the You. There is no back-behind-it; there is, even at the moment of the most profound need—indeed, only then—a previously unsuspected beyond-it.”
I think she saw something of me in that – my pragmatic orientation, my inclination toward quantum satis (just far enough), my own struggling and growing. She was saying “I see that in you” and at the same time, “Be more.” She was a young woman committed to finding significance and joy in her life and she wished it for her friends.
It’s a way of understanding what we are up to in parish development. All the theories and methods are of value if they are used in the service of what is significant and joyful.
This abides,
Robert
The Feast of Saint Alcuin
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Related
Where should I begin?: Readiness and Gifts
A love story : The need not to run away, the need to be open to change, the need to listen
I don’t have the time : Subtract - Add – Focus
Readiness - “Readiness” is the parish’s ability and willingness to change from some current way of doing things to a different way. An adequate level of ability and willingness are both necessary. See chapter one of Nothing So Contagious as Holiness: Developmental Initiatives for Increased Parish Vitality Grounded in Spiritual Practice