My church is doing the New Beginnings Assessment, and so we have been learning about organizational life cycles. One version displays the life cycle as a hill. Churches start at the bottom with lots of energy, and they climb by building significant networks of relationships, which give birth to programs, which, of course, require administration. On the decline side of that hill, things fall away in the exact same order; energy goes first, then the relationships, then the programs. In the end, administrative structures are all that’s left.
I’ve been part of new churches and established ones, and this setup seems right.
My far-sighted colleague observed to me that, at our church, we spend most of our efforts on relationships and almost none on energy. We’ve said for a very long time that administration needs to support programs and that programs are only valuable insofar as they incubate meaningful relationships. And we’ve stopped there.
What about energy, then? Where does energy come from? If a people is tired, how do they get rejuvenated? Surely this is a work of the Spirit, but, just as surely, there are things leaders can do to create energetic conditions, right?
15 years ago I was part of an “emergent” church before that’s what they were called, and that place was bursting with energy. Most of the participants were in their 20’s and 30’s (there was a nursery but no youth group), and the pastor was a terrific, thoughtful, musically talented guy. Every gathering created a kind of buzz that took a few days to wear off.
Is that the key? A demographic? A dynamic leader?
Is the creation of energy a leadership competency? If we don’t have it, where do we get it?
In my experience, energy in relationships comes from several places: getting results (which means we have to be clear on what we’re after and evaluate what we’re doing), celebration (which we don’t do enough of in the church), conflict (which we often avoid rather than channelling the energy).
Maybe demographic… Maybe “newness”? Once a program starts to exist simply to self-perpetuate, it starts to drag. This could be new programs, new people joining, etc…
All very good questions. Being where our church is at id be interested in the answers. Mom
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Doesn’t energy come from God? What are the qualities of God that a church can embody and foster?
Surely energy comes from God. But are there habits that create and sustain conditions that conduct God’s energy?
my answers are all individual. Prayers, gratitude, love. Openness to following the spirit’s lead in choices small and large (start with small).
How does that individual practice change in a community?