Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

I love this expression. It conjures up times as a kid when I literally pressed my ear to the rocky soil listening for clues about what was going on beneath the surface. 

Years later, I often hear this expression in the context of what it means to be a good leader. Keeping your ear to the ground is a form of deep listening by which we discern the most important messages from the swirl of noise. (And there’s a lot of noise!)

With this in mind, I want to share a method for keeping one’s ear to the ground that I came across while reading Peter F. Drucker’s classic text Managing the Nonprofit Organization: Principles and Practices. In this book, Drucker advises organizational leaders to set aside time to reflect on and discuss the following three areas: 1) unexpected successes 2) demographic changes in the community you serve and 3) shifts in mentality in the wider culture. I’ve added my own thoughts to each of these areas below and hope you will share this info with your fellow congregational leaders.

Unexpected Successes
Last week, I wrote about All Saints of River Ridge, Louisiana whose annual dinner and recipe booklet was an unexpected success. What struck me about this story was that this led the parish leadership to have a deeper conversation about 1) what this might mean and 2) what to do about it. Ultimately, the Episcopal Church Women of All Saints created a nationally-recognized cookbook on Cajun Cuisine that has served as a longstanding source of income for their parish.

What have been some surprise successes of your congregation? Do these reveal a deeper need within your community? Can you design a pilot project to respond to that need?

Demographic Changes
About three years ago, I found myself speaking to the senior warden of an Episcopal parish during coffee hour. The service I’d just attended was wonderful – excellent music, sound sermon – but I’d noticed that there were very few people in the pews. When I asked him about this he sighed and lamented, “Yes, I know. It’s just that there aren't many Episcopalians in this neighborhood anymore.”

He was right of course. That particular neighborhood had shifted dramatically over the past ten years. But while the number of Episcopalians living there had dwindled, the neighborhood itself had seen a major influx of Latino and Haitian immigrants, college students, and un-churched thirtysomethings with kids.

Who has moved into your neighborhood recently? Who is moving out? Is your mission and ministry welcoming and supportive of these emerging communities?

Changes in Mentality
Talk about an umbrella category! While very broad, this strikes me as referring to shifts that go beyond fads; it's about those cultural changes which need to be taken seriously if a congregation is to thrive from one generation to the next.

For instance, I recently learned about the seriousness with which the Sierra Club took Robert Putnam’s landmark book Bowling Alone. Because this book chronicles the decay of American community and civic engagement, the Sierra Club realized it needed to start testing out new methods of volunteer recruitment. 

Two recent blog posts from ECF Vital Practices have also focused on shifts in mentality in the church and across generations: The Resurgent Church andTalkin’ About My Generation. 

What shifts in mentality do you see in the youth of your community today? How might your parish engage the growing number of young adults who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious”?