Bishop Schnase: What is your system?

8/31/2012

Things happen as a result of the system that is in place to make things happen. That doesn’t mean that the result, or even the system itself, is intentional.

Missouri Bishop Robert Schnase began his talk about organizational systems at the School of Congregational Development by sharing a story by author Adam Stanley, in which Stanley described the system in his house for taking out the garbage. The system involved Stanley nagging his sons multiple times to take out the garbage, eventually getting angry and the sons finally do it. The next week Stanley carried out the garbage, and withheld the allowance without a reminder. The system changed, and then next week the boys carried out the garbage on time without a reminder.

“You have a system for getting the garbage taken out, but you never thought of it as a system,” Bishop Schnase said. “Our churches have systems for getting things done, and sometimes that system is not what we think it is.”

Bishop Schnase asked the leaders present to consider what the system is at their church for making contacts with people not in the church, and the system for invitation and assimilation that helps people become part of the church.

One way to confront the question is to consider where all of the new members in the church have come from in the past two years. If they are all transfers from other United Methodist Churches, the system may just be hoping and praying that a good United Methodist family moves into your neighborhood and finds your church.

“This system is entirely passive,” Bishop Schnase said. “We began with go-to instincts and have become a come-to church. We learned the passive system back in a day when it worked, the 1950s, when suburbs were growing and people were moving around, and the culture supported church attendance. The culture used to dump people off at our front door, and now it’s like a vacuum cleaner, sucking people out.”

Bishop Schnase told how not that long ago, having sports and other activities on Sunday was unheard of. Now as he travels to churches and spends Saturday nights in motels in preparation for the next morning, he notices that the motels are filled with families who are traveling to some type of tournament. And in a few decades, the culture has shifted from most businesses being closed on Sunday, to most being open on Sunday morning.

“Go to Starbucks on Sunday morning, that’s where the line is,” he said. “Waiting for people to show up at our churches on Sunday morning is passive. It will not work in the future, and will not help us in building the kingdom of Christ.”

Society is not only filled with children who have never been to church, but now in many cases their parents have never been to church either. There is no simple way to reach the unchurched; it takes a lot of work. Churches should have high-quality brochures, use big annual fund-raisers for invitation opportunities, have specific events to invite people to, and train people in the church who have a natural ability to greet others. None of these things may provide immediate results, but one may open the door for someone at some point down the road.

“It sounds like a lot of work to grow a church by a three or four people, but every time you see a growing church, they are going to that much effort and more,” Bishop Schnase said.

Bishop Schnase encouraged those present to cut out any bureaucratic hurdles and empower people to initiate new ministries they are passionate about.

“Lyle Schaller once said that when it comes to initiating a new ministry, only count the yes votes,” Bishop Schnase said. “That might sound undemocratic, but if you have a few people who are excited about a new ministry, it’s good to let them give it a try even if everyone doesn’t share their passion.”

Comments

1. Debbie wrote on 9/10/2012 1:06:38 PM
If you think people are not coming to church because of sports, you are being incredibly naive. While that may be partially true, I believe there is a much bigger issue at work here. The Methodist church has a very small group of people I like to call "movers and shakers". They have the power in a church and call all of the shots. They dislike and alienate anyone who asks intelligent questions or articulates any concerns about a church project. They also push back against anyone who tries to do something "outside of the box". I will give you two examples. At Manchester UMC, a very talented, dynamic woman started a Social Justice Ministry. One of the projects was fair trade coffee which later expanded into a fair trade market. It was certainly a very "outside the box" project at this very West County church and was never supported by the ministerial or lay leadership. The market has persevered despite these hardships but I left and I think the leader of the social justice ministry left as well. The next example involves Concord Trinity UMC where the church spent over $50,000 to send about 12 teen-agers and about 10 adults to an international "mission" trip to Ghana. (I use quotation marks because there was precious little mission work involved and I believe this was misleading to the congregation who contributed money) I questioned whether this was a cost-effective use of money (Were we being good stewards of our gifts?). I also questioned whether the kids were getting out of the trip what we wanted them to gain in terms of an awareness of poverty and its root causes,a passion for justice and charity toward the poor, etc. The reaction from the movers and shakers was swift and harsh. I was also surprised at the minster's reaction to my thoughts about starting a church chapter of the ONE Campaign. He said he didn't thing there would be much interest. How sad that Christians, of all people, would not be interested in working for justice for the poor. In retrospect, I am glad that all of this happened because I am one of the growing numbers of the de-churched. We are not unchurched as we were raised in Christian churches but we have left organized religion because we feel that it no longer has as its primary goal to follow the message of Jesus Christ. The church has become a giant "bless me" club, a "holy huddle" in the words of Bono. Throw a box of macoroni in the food pantry box, schlep over to the doughnut box after church and omit any intelligent discussion about global poverty and the role for Christians. Also, your thoughts about starting a new ministry with just a few people who are excited about it will only work if the ministerial staff supports and encourages it. In the examples I gave you, this most decidedly was not the case. While encouraging the unchurched probably makes sense, I think you should also be concerned about the growing numbers of de-churched. My husband and I were very active members in the Methodist church for a long time. I taught Sunday school, he was involved in the youth programs and we did lots of other activities in the church as well as supporting it financially. The leader of the social justice minsitry at Manchester was a young, vibrant member who, I think, received some type of award from the Mo. Methodist conference and she no longer is invovled with the church. I have run into others who have left denominations for similar reasons. As an involved member of the local ONE Campaign, I feel that I am closer to living out the Gospel message of helping the poor than I ever did being an active member of a Methodist church. In closing,I would like to ask you, Why is it that the Methodist church does not get involved with any of the great advocacy organizations that work for justice? Charity is a wonderful and necessary part of what Christians should do on behalf of the poor, but Jesus Christ also asks us to be a voice for the poor, to seek justice. I think there are people out there, especially Generation x'er's who want to make a difference in the world and the Methodist church could lead the way but the church is silent in this regard. It is going to take more than flashy videos, contemporary music and high-spirited dramas to get and keep people in your pews.