HELP! CRISIS! now what.

June 18th, 2009

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 Leadership | |

5 Responses to “HELP! CRISIS! now what.”

Bosco Peters on June 19, 2009 3:14 am
I remember when you wrote on this blog to try and keep sermons under 40 minutes. It appears to me you are moving in the direction from a sermon-focused service towards liturgy. Liturgy is defined as the work of the people. It is a community’s action accompanied by some words. Most do think of sermon-focused services and hence we have liturgy degenerated to merely saying lots more words - this time out of a book! As I recently highlighted, the basic law of liturgy is, “Do not say what you are doing; do what you are saying.”

Blessings
Louise on June 19, 2009 5:52 am
Was there any greater ‘crisis’ for the church than taking a man who people believed was god incarnate, whipping him to within an inch of his life, dragging him through the streets before hammering his body to a tree and letting him hang there to die? Seriously is there? That was about 2000 years ago and the ‘church’ was in crisis way before then (check out Obadiah, Micah, Hosea). The same man overturned tables in the synagogue because the whole ‘system’ was in crisis. Paul chastised the Corinthian church because it was in crisis. People were persecuted, martyred, tortured, bought corrupt indulgences, went on crusades all in the name of “the church” which was and is and always will be in crisis. Nowadays, the current ‘crisis’ centres around this time and generation and whether church is relevant today. You have to stop at some point and think that if the church really is the body of Christ, and it has weathered these historical crises, then won’t it continue anyway? I don’t say this in order to sit back and do nothing or to recommend being grateful for what remnant of church is left but I get so cheesed at hearing “is church relevant? Should we move the timeslot? Should we change the format? Should we get beanbags instead of pews? Drums instead of an organ?” etc etc etc. This is a very shallow and cosmetic view of “relevance”. The question of relevance today strikes much deeper in the hearts of everyday people. It is not about whether church is relevant. The deeper question is whether “faith” is relevant. Nowadays many people feel faith and church are mutually exclusive. If we fail to recognise this as the fundamental question, we’ll just keep pumping out the same old message in swanky new venues with whiz bang technology and still be wondering why the congregation is shrinking.
Paula Wiseman on June 20, 2009 2:58 pm
You are so right. Crisis is opportunity. The models of ‘doing church’ have shifted dramatically since the 50’s or the 70’s when they were developed. We have the message people need, and must constantly ensure we have the credibility to be heard.
Patapon on June 23, 2009 5:15 pm
In one Anglican parish I used to belong to, the vicar’s wife complained (privately) if his sermon went much over ten minutes. I question how effective a sermon of 30 minutes or more can actually be… even people blessed with better concentration than I have will have trouble retaining it all and keeping track of the entire argument. It seems to me a lengthy exposition is better put into print or delivered in another forum.
Gordon on June 29, 2009 10:09 pm
I needed to read this right now like you would never believe. Thanks for writing it!

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