A bit of crisis now and then is a good thing

There is no true change without crisis. Developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson states that we move through stages of development and that maturity comes from moving through the various stages. To mature to the next stage we need to experience a crisis, something that challenges our usual approach to life. With this understanding crisis = opportunity. Opportunity to improve, to mature. But it doesn’t comes easily. We might need to let go of something cherished, a security, a comfort, so as to move on.

The same applies to the church and to ministries: to change requires a crisis of sorts.

For very understandable reasons those in ministry establish methods and approaches and stick to them. Any change is minimal and carefully managed. It is rare to see major shifts. Most churches continue to use the same approach on a sunday that has been used for decades. Each denomination has their version and each church their local interpretation, but most churches all basically follow what they are used to.  The question is, Is it still relevant?

Let me spend a moment on the sermon: for most people the idea of sitting still for 30 to 40 minutes and listening to one person speak is quite foreign. Adults learn through being involved, not by being talked at. Well regarded research by Bob Pike states that you remember:

- 10% of what you read.
- 20% of what you hear.
- 30% of what you see.
- 50% of what you see and hear.
- 70% of what you say.
- 90% of what you say as you do (e.g., orally work out a problem)

The key to connecting with adults is to actively involve them. And yet the standard approach in church is to sit still and listen. What if we involved people in the sermon? We got rid of the monologue and embraced a conversational approach? This may well cause a crisis of sorts for some churches. And who wants a crisis?

Another area where the church has mostly avoided a crisis is in the area of communication, of making use of contemporary communication methods.

Richard Chartres Anglican Bishop of London, states that,

…changes both technical and financial in the media of communication always lead to a crisis for established institutions. We have experienced a radical diversion of the channels of communication but the church as an institution has largely failed to adapt or to discover the appropriate strategies for presenting faith in our media.

He goes on to say,

Too much of the education of ministers of religion is dominated by learning the communications techniques of the day before yesterday in yesterday’s world. We may be able to write treatises to confute Cardinal Bellarmine but the ability to put a message on a blackberry; to enter the nous-sphere of 18-30 year olds; to produce a two minute video artfully shot with consummate professionalism to simulate the naivety and the believability of a home movie; to deliver a “mighty atom,” a message or a story which gets under the radar and reverberates in the inner spaces of people who are programmed to turn off as soon as you say “I take my text from the Prophet Haggai”; – all these things should be part of the formation of Christian communicators today. ( CLICK HERE to read the full speech on the THEOS Think Tank website.)

To answer my question above, I want a crisis! Crisis heralds a period of frank self reflection, of seeking to understand the contemporary reality, and ultimately of making bold changes to meet that new reality.

Right now many churches are experiencing a crisis, with dropping attendance and a loss of voice in the community.  I would vouch the time has come to embrace the crisis as an opportunity to change  - may the reflection and understanding the contemporary realities begin.

 

Filed under An oldy but a goody, Leadership, resourcing | |