Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

If you’ve ever felt paralyzed by your congregation’s glorious past, or overshadowed by the prior rector’s legacy, consider the lot of the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the current pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA.

This past Sunday, just after a prior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - was honored with a memorial in Washington D.C., NPR did a brief but excellent interview with Rev. Warnock about how he balances Dr. King's legacy with the congregation's call to serve Christ today and tomorrow. A key quote: “People often ask me what it is like to stand in Dr. King’s shoes, but I am very clear that while I serve in the pulpit where he served, it’s not really my job to fill his shoes. I think the best we can do is stand on his shoulders and benefit from the insight and work that has gone before us.” 
Listening to this interview, I was struck by Rev. Warnock’s grace and humor as he navigates what must be a weighty legacy. And I found myself thinking that if he can do it, surely we can too!   

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Every organization needs a shake-up. 

Not all the time, of course. After all, constancy is valuable, as long as it’s not prized above all else. But organizations, like churches, diocesan offices, denominational centers and General Conventions, occasionally need a leader to shake things up.

A report last month by Bishop Stacy Sauls, the new chief operating officer of The Episcopal Church, did some shaking. He recommended a complete evaluation of the structures and financial resources of The Episcopal Church, with a keen eye on mission and ministry. His proposal set the blogosphere aflutter.

The prospect of change will do that. 

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The new youth minister is finally arriving!

I know it can feel like such a relief when the new person is starting after your church has spent months, and in some cases more than a year, searching for the perfect youth director. But before you hand everything over to the new guy or gal, there are a few things you should consider before throwing them to the wolves. And yes, that’s what it’s comparable to if you don’t heed some good advice.

First, the newbie needs support, and a lot of it.

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Here’s a set of numbers that should give us pause.

According to the 2010 Faith Communities Today Survey conducted by the Episcopal Church’s Office of Research, we are a conflictive church. In that survey 61% of Episcopal churches reported that they’d experienced serious conflict in the past five years, with 93% of that group saying that these serious conflicts had resulted in a decline in Average Sunday Attendance.

But it isn’t the high-profile conflicts over human sexuality that tend to lead to congregational decline. As Ward Richards puts it in his article Elephants in the Sanctuary, it’s more often the “day-to-day experiences, rather than ‘hot button’ issues, that are the cause of conflict in parish life, with new buildings and leadership styles leading the charge.” Indeed, in his summary of results from the Faith Communities Today Survey, researcher Kirk Hadaway notes that while human sexuality was the most frequently cited source of conflict, it is “conflict over leadership and conflict over finances that were most strongly related to decline in average Sunday attendance.”

As lay and clergy leaders, it is vital that we become better at addressing conflicts over leadership and finances in our congregations. While it isn’t easy to prepare for the next hot-button issue on the horizon, we can prepare for the conflicts that erupt over budgets, buildings, and poor leadership that are a recurring part of congregational life.

Here is a collection of articles to help us along the way:  

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How do you learn? How do you put your learning into action?

There is no simple or single answer. Much research suggests people learn in a variety of ways. Some are better at conceptualization, some in experimentation, yet others in reflection upon experience. Because adults have both accumulated and experiential knowledge, learning involves finding ways to integrate new information with what we already know. Finally, there is the question of how we act on what we’ve learned. How can we experiment with or consistently practice new behaviors that lead to the outcomes we seek?

I care about these questions because I want to enhance the ways ECF can serve you, the grassroots leaders in the Episcopal Church. In addition to sharing stories and resources through this website, can we create other learning environments to equip you in your ministry?

One intriguing idea is to foster peer learning communities. Sometimes known as “communities of practice,” this model invites people with shared passions or concerns to join a group for the purpose of learning together and improving their practice. On this website Peter Strimer has blogged about some of his experiences in a peer learning group. I’m interested to know if you’ve participated in this kind of a group, what made it most valuable, and, if proven effective, how we might do more of it across the church.

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Many volunteer youth workers are left with this question when their youth director/minister has been fired or has resigned unexpectedly. This time of transition can be sad, confusing, and frustrating. It’s often a time for grieving. And though every church going through transition needs to discern the issues leading up to the youth minister's departure, it’s not a time for panic. In fact, now is the time to reflect and contemplate. A time to re-evaluate and…breathe.

First, smart churches are honest and transparent churches. Mistakes have probably been made, and now would be a good time to debrief what led up to the youth director’s exit. Have an open and honest conversation between the entire youth ministry leadership team, the clergy, and other church leadership. It’s important to admit when things could’ve been handled differently, rather than simply blaming the departed.

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Updated 8/15/12: Please note that the 2012 date for Back To Church Sunday is September 16, 2012.

I’m not normally a fan of made-up national-something-days. They sometimes seem contrived, like National Uncles who Once Took You Fishing Day (and you can buy the card at Hallmark). But I might be willing to get on board with this one, especially if it means I get to promote the video.

I noticed on Facebook today this message: “Church … it really is all about relationship.” Intrigued, I clicked the link for the video.

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How would your vestry's work differ from current practice if the spiritual health of the congregation was its primary obligation?
One of the best kept secrets in the Episcopal Church has to do with the wide range of work that vestries can take on. In the following collection of articles, I've chosen to highlight a few cases in which the spiritual dimension of vestry leadership has been emphasized. 
Beware a Theology of Entitlement
Caroline Fairless has observed how a few members' sense of entitlement can spiritually disable an entire congregation, and highlights vestries' role in countering this theology of entitlement. "A young woman who has asked for a spot on a vestry agenda comes right to the point: 'I speak for those of us who don’t like the changes in the worship service.'”

The Lord Broke Through
Do your vestry meetings include prayer on the agenda? Richard Schmidt recalls tense meetings throughout his career as a priest in which vestries needed the Lord to break through. "Only in my last parish did prayer become part of the vestry agenda. That was also — and I think this is no coincidence — the parish where the vestry focused on mission and ministry rather than arguing."

Cultivating a Culture of Discernment
Blaire Pogue shares how St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN has invited vestry members to understand their primary role as a spiritual discernment team. “In order to enable our vestry to focus on the larger, more complex adaptive challenges our faith community faces, we raised up a management team composed of people in our church with expertise in business and human resources. They are able to take many operational items off the vestry’s plate so the vestry can focus on big-picture issues.”

Discernment: A Building Program About More Than Buildings
John Baker of St. Aiden’s in Alexandria, VA shares how a renovation project ultimately led to a rediscovery of St. Aiden’s core values. “For eight years our central question seemed to be: Will we be able to do these renovations? Today, the question has shifted...These days, we are busy learning to ask what God might be inviting in the life of our congregation. We are learning also that asking such a question means being open to answers we may not have expected.”

This week I’ll attend a big staff gathering where we’ll review statistics and trends about the Episcopal Church. I don’t like hearing the bad news about decline. It sucks my energy and can leave me with a “why bother?” feeling. But I have to admit that sometimes I need to return to the hard data and see that big picture. I need to be reminded of the challenges before us.

Through ECF Vital Practices we aim to tell good news stories about the Episcopal Church, and to equip ourselves to be bold, faith-filled, disciples who share the Good News with all in our midst. If we focus only on problems, we’ll have little reason to believe we can overcome our challenges. We need to spend as much time – or more – learning about success stories and the vision God is creating for us.

A leader is one who can balance the bad news and the good news. Good leaders can squarely face the facts of the present situation, inspire and invite others to act with purpose during times of uncertainty, and paint a vision of the future that is so compelling that people want to journey toward it together. It’s a hard balance to strike, but essential. Moses and Jesus – as well as many contemporary saints and leaders – provide excellent examples of how they helped followers (and critics) see and act in new ways.

Here are two resources that can help you see and act in new ways.

If you want to start facing the facts, start here with statistics compiled by the researcher for the Episcopal Church, C. Kirk Hadaway. Then dig into other research about your congregation and diocese. If you want to respond to this reality, especially if you are part of a congregation in decline or just holding on, consider joining the Rev. Tom Ehrich for a series of webinars (online workshops) focused on “Turnaround Strategies for Your Church” starting September 27. Sometimes Tom can seem like a voice crying out in the wilderness, provoking us to see and act in new ways. (His Vestry Papers article The End to ‘Business as Usual” generated a range of response from readers.) I have no doubt his webinars will challenge some usual assumptions, and I’m sure they will include solid advice on how to improve communications, raise up leaders, rethink stewardship, and make tough decisions. 

Whether you use these resources or others, the central question facing church leaders is the same: are we going to turn from death to life?

Nearly every weekend that I’m home I get out the flour, water and yeast and begin to make bread. Hearth loaves, baguettes, buttermilk currant loaves and more. What began as a hobby two and a half years ago has become a passion of mine, and I oftentimes can’t wait to get my hands dirty, to cover the kitchen with a thin film of flour, and fill bowls with sticky dough.

This past weekend, I was reminded of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13, the one where he compares the Kingdom of God to “yeast that a woman took and mixed with three parts flour until it was leavened.” As a bread maker and as someone who is deeply interested in vital congregations, this parable sums up what I’ve intuited at times - namely, that there’s a profound connection between rising dough and growing communities.

In what follows, I take Jesus’ parable (a bit too) seriously and spell out what I think it means for congregational leaders.  

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Can you be Christian all by yourself? 

If you never go to church and you never talk about your faith and you never mention Jesus in any of your relationships, are you a Christian?

I’m not sure.

To me, the living out of our Christianity requires us to be in relationship with others. These relationships are messy sometimes. They require self-sacrifice, generosity, humor, graciousness. Relationships need the fruits of the spirit – sometimes, most especially patience, but also joy and gentleness.

To bid adieu to summer, we gathered with the people of our church for a picnic and swim. Just in those few casual hours, with kids shrieking down the water slide and adults leaned back in camp chairs, we created new bonds, a new intimacy. I learned about camping trips and house renovations and what I have to expect (and fear) in the coming years from the mother of a teenager.

These weren’t deep and soul-revealing conversations, but they strengthened the foundation of our worshipping community.

Yesterday morning, during coffee hour after the service, conversation turned to the heartache of one family and the paralyzing despair endured by another woman. Throughout both discussions, I thought about the Gospel from Mark: “Who do you say that I am?”

I overheard a friend say the other day that she was going school shopping instead of coming to church.

“God won’t mind,” she laughed. And I did too, for a moment. But then I started thinking that yes, God does mind. God wants us to come together for worship not only to read Scripture and break bread but also to be in relationship with one another – to share our hopes, fears and joys with Christ at the center.

I’m sure that you can have faith without being a part of our worshipping community – but I don’t know if you can truly live it out.

As our congregation gears up for a very busy fall, I am struck once again by the dynamic of “being” versus “doing.” As a die-hard activist I always have to be reminded that our state of being is just as important as what we accomplish.

Matthew Fox, the former Dominican priest, came to visit my Third Ave. Community Church in Columbus, Ohio, back in 1990, and we had a packed, full house. Over 500 people were crammed into our church that had just re-opened as a community center. He was there to set the tone for our new way of doing church and after touring our facility and hearing the stories of over 20 different workgroups each with their own important mission, he had this to say. “You do a lot of things.”

Not a lot of “good” things. Not a lot of “important” things. Just, a lot of things.

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This blog post was originally written in Spanish and is available here. 
How many times in the middle of a major project have you asked yourself, “Am I being a good leader?”  
I believe it’s safe to assume that most of those who closely follow the publications, blogs, workshops, and resources offered by the Episcopal Church Foundation are leaders in some aspect or other of the church. We are involved in building the church of tomorrow.
Any leadership position gives authority and power. However, when talking about being a leader we can’t let the authority and power of the position we occupy take total control of our involvement in the process of building a new church. For example – and I should clarify that this doesn’t refer to any person or situation in particular – a congregational leader wants to make a major change in their congregation.
Say this person is in charge of a congregation that is financially dependant on diocesan support and they decide they’d like to change that. Eager to reach this goal, this leader forms a strategic planning team, to answer the following questions: Where are you as a congregation presently? What resources do you have? Where do you want to go? How can you get there? Despite this good start, however, this leader decides to take complete control of the process. They decide when to meet, construct the agenda alone, silence those who oppose them, and close the meeting at will. If such a person were to ask, “Am I being a good leader?” the only honest answer would be “no.”  
A real leader doesn’t control everything. A good leader would probably use something like the Strategic Planning for your Church tool from ECF and work with a team to systematically arrive at what would be the best path for the future of their congregation.  
Also, when you are a leader, sooner or later you realize any project you work on won’t necessarily be completed during your period of service. Why then would you want to cut corners and force a result? Your satisfaction should be in knowing that sometime in the near future your congregation will be able to accomplish its goals.
When we notice that instead of being good leaders, we are a being dictators, we must stop forcing the change and stop ourselves from taking total control of the steering wheel alone. We should use our influence to maintain the focus of the group involved in the process. We shouldn’t impose our personal ideas, but motivate everyone involved to contribute theirs, taking advantage of their experiences and education.  
A real leader is an advisor to those taking their initial steps in the leadership arena. We will be facilitators to the best of our capacities and participate in each step of the process. Finally at some point we need to foresee when someone else is the right person to lead the process and we need to follow.  
When doing a self-assessment as a leader, you need to ask “Am I facilitating, advising, participating and motivating?” If the answer is yes, you are on the right track to becoming a good leader.

An English translation of this blog post is available here. 

¿Cuantas veces te has preguntado estando en medio de una tarea larga y complicada si estas siendo un buen líder? 

Creo que tengo razón al suponer que los que seguimos de cerca las publicaciones, blogs, talleres y recursos que ofrece la ECF Vital Practices somos personas que participamos de lleno en el proceso de construir la Iglesia del mañana.  

Toda posición de liderazgo tiene elementos de autoridad y poder. Sin embargo, cuando hablamos de ser un líder no debemos permitir que esos elementos de autoridad y poder tomen el control total de nuestra participación en el proceso de construir una nueva Iglesia. Por ejemplo - y debo aclarar que esto no se refiere a personas ni a situaciones específicas, sino que más bien un compendio de mis experiencias personales – supongamos que alguien tiene una feligresía que depende financieramente de recursos diocesanos y que esa persona desea cambiar eso.Para alcanzar ese objetivo, esa persona forma un “Equipo Visionario”, o de planificación estratégica, cuyo cometido será evaluar lo siguiente:

¿Dónde están? ¿Qué tienen? ¿Adónde quieren llegar? ¿Cómo llegarán? 

Sin embargo, esa persona toma el control total del equipo y decide por sí sola cuándo se reunirán y cuál será su agenda. Además, esa persona impone sus ideas, no permite que nadie se oponga a ellas y da fin a la reunión cuando le da la gana hacerlo. Si esa persona se preguntara honestamente si está siendo un buen líder, la única respuesta válida sería que no, que lo que realmente está siendo es un dictador.  

Un verdadero líder no controlaría ni querría controlar todo, sino que emplearía la herramienta Planificación estratégica para tu feligresía de la EFC y se limitaría a orientar al equipo para que determinara cuál sería su mejor opción para el futuro y la mejor manera de hacer esa opción que se convirtiera en realidad.  

Además, tarde o temprano esa persona se daría cuenta de que no todos los proyectos en que trabaja se completarían durante el tiempo en que estaría en esa feligresía y que, por lo tanto, carecería de sentido apresurarse, hacer las cosas a medias y forzar un resultado, en lugar de tener la satisfacción de saber que su feligresía alcanzará muchas metas en el futuro cercano.  

Cuando nos damos cuenta de que en lugar de ser buenos líderes somos dictadores, debemos dejar de tratar de forzar el cambio tomando el control total del timón. En lugar de ello debemos emplear la influencia o la persuasión sólo para hacer que los que participen en el proceso permanezcan concentrados en su labor. En lugar imponer nuestras ideas personales debemos fomentar y facilitar que todos los que participen en el proceso expresen sus ideas y que sus destreza y conocimientos se aprovechen al máximo. Un verdadero líder asesora a los que dan sus primeros pasos en el ámbito del liderazgo. Pone el proceso en marcha según su mejor capacidad y participa en todas las etapas del proceso. Finalmente, en un determinado momento debe ver cuál es la persona indicada para liderar el proceso y seguirla.   

Cuando deseas autoevaluarte pregúntate lo siguiente: “¿Estoy facilitando, aconsejando, participando y motivando?” Si te respondes honestamente que sí, estás encaminado a ser un buen líder.

Although we are still in the dog days of August, congregational leaders are starting to gear up for September and the start of a new program year, planning ministries and other activities including worship, music, Christian formation, and outreach. They are also starting to ask the same perennial questions: Are members caught up with their pledges? Are we anticipating a deficit by year end? How are we going to handle the stewardship campaign for 2012? Do we need to do any major repairs before winter sets in? How are we going to recruit new members of the vestry and other parish committees? And, how can we attract new people to church especially young families?

The answers to these questions are usually expressed in terms of just needing “more” – if we had more people and more money everything would be just fine. I would suggest, however, that rather than needing more, what we really need is something different. The practical issues raised by these questions do need to be addressed but there will never be effective or even satisfactory responses or solutions unless and until congregations address the more fundamental issues: Who are we? Why do we exist? What is God calling us to do? And how and who do we need to get there?

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Bring on the routine. 

In 12 days, the kids begin school for the fall, and our family settles into a regular schedule. Homework, dinner, a little TV. Piano practice, art lessons and for the first time, maybe karate.

I say maybe, because the nearest karate class in our small town is offered on Wednesdays – the same day as our Saints Alive dinner and formation programs. If we don’t sign up for this class, it means a drive of 25 minutes to the next town.

Scheduling our lives around our priorities isn’t easy. Even for me, a priest’s spouse and a church employee, sometimes I consider convenience over obligation.

I think this is one of the great challenges facing our churches: How do we get people back into the routine? How do we compete with soccer practices and drama club – and karate lessons?

Part of it requires a willingness to put God first. Why should learning how to tackle or launch a crisp spiral throw take precedent over an evening of fellowship and Scripture? We know in our hearts that it shouldn’t, but it’s easy even for those of us committed to the church to relegate Bible study or weekday worship to last on the list. After all, God will understand. Right?

I think it becomes our responsibility to model priorities – to keep sacred our Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights – or whatever time your congregation gathers. This may require sacrifice and inconvenience but it’s a witness to our community that faith matters.

At the same time, I’m cognizant that not everyone can or will make the same decisions. And that’s where we also need to be flexible and creative. A church in my diocese will offer WEBible classes this fall, an online Bible study. They’re using WebEx, which allows for video, audio and shared documents or screens, so the class will be interactive while giving people the option to participate at home, on the road or at the church building. Our diaconal program, now shared between three dioceses, will also use the system. Their weekly formation gatherings will be virtual, with in-person meetings throughout the year.

How is your congregation managing the balance of routine and flexibility? In what ways are you modeling priorities -- and how are you developing programs that accommodate the frenzy of fall schedules? Share your creative solutions here.

I’ll read them after checking on the kids’ progress waxing the mini-van. If they can’t take karate lessons, pointers from The Karate Kid will have to do. Wax on. Wax off.

As I mentioned in my post last week, summer is novel reading time. I recently read the first two books of Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, a popular and unnervingly dark young adult novel. In this series a violent society pits starving teenagers against one another in the ultimate zero-sum game, a reality show where friends must turn on one another if they are to emerge as the sole survivor. The victor of these annual games wins food and wealth for her/his family.

Scarcity, survival, competition for limited resources - the core themes of The Hunger Games were very much on my mind last week, and not only because I stayed up late reading these books! Twice last week I found myself reflecting on how scarcity can lock us into a white-knuckle struggle to survive, oftentimes at the expense of more imaginative solutions and potential partnerships.

The first of these moments came when I learned that the stove had broken.

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I am five months away from the first sabbatical of my 30 year priesthood, not too early to start planning for my leave time and what will go on at the parish while I am gone. I am very blessed to have two of my priest associates on board to take over responsibilities for the four months I’ll be away. Presently one works 12 and one 15 hours a week and the parish plans to add five hours more a week to each of their schedules. So it is up to me (and them) to decide how to divvy up the responsibilities.  

To get ready to take my leave, I needed to figure out what it is I do day in and day out so I can pass my assignments onto my colleagues. A brief, unscientific survey of how I spend my time offers some surprises as well as some predictable roles for the rector of a large Episcopal Church.

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It’s tough being a volunteer or lay leader.

Volunteers are often under-appreciated, over-worked, and mis-managed. It can be equally difficult when a volunteer drops the ball. Sometimes volunteers don’t show up because they had something else to do, they forgot, or are simply burned out because they took on too much. Some volunteers get proprietary over “their” ministry because they are certain nobody can do it as well as he or she can. Why is this a major problem? Due to a number of reasons including the down-turn in the economy, many churches are being forced to cut paid positions such as sextons, administration, and even clergy. More churches are relying on volunteers more heavily, so it’s important that churches practice good habits concerning volunteers. A few practical steps can ensure that volunteers are nurtured and valued, but are also held accountable.

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It's not easy to share my husband.

The call came about an hour before we planned to leave for a short-but-much-needed vacation. An elderly parishioner died, and the family wanted the funeral on Thursday, smack dab in the middle of our four-day retreat.

When your spouse is a priest, your time is not your own.

Sure, there are days when he can leave the church early to pick up the kids or take a long lunch to catch a movie. But people don't die at convenient times.

For four consecutive years on his birthday, my husband gave last rites. Once, the police came to our door in the middle of a birthday party. A man had been discovered in his trailer. No one knew which day he had died, but the police asked if my husband would come and provide some final prayers.

The guests and I waited.

On our first family vacation to Disney World, a call came. Parishioners had lost their baby. She was seven months pregnant and had to deliver her stillborn, first child. We cut short the trip and headed home. On another evening, we had just cleared the table to begin a wicked game of Euchre with friends, when the phone rang. A body was at the funeral home. Could he come and be with the family?

This is part of life, part of God's call to a priest, to be with the flock as they mourn. It is both a great privilege and an immense responsibility. But it isn't always easy.

As a spouse, it's hard to manage the conflicting emotions. It's like being held up in traffic because of a terrible wreck. In your heart, you know that it's much worse for those involved, that they never intended for this to happen, but in your mind, you're still frustrated.

Most of the time, I'm able to squelch that selfish disappointment about plans gone awry and empathize with the pain and sorrow of those dealing with loss.

But these are the moments that flash through my mind, especially when I hear the old, tired saw about priests working only one day a week.