Church Next

In this book Eddie Gibbs and Ian Coffey look at a range of issues concerning Christian ministry in the twenty-first century; looking at transitions "from living in the past to engaging with the present", "from attracting the crowd to seeking the lost" and so on. Inevitably they have a great deal to say in the area of decision-making and I believe that their writing in this area focusses on three key themes: networks, permission-giving and subsidiarity.

It is also worth taking note of their observation that post-modern culture has an impact on the way each individual understands their identity and place in the world: "Each individual has to create his or her own meaning and associate with others to increase his or her power base in a fragmented society of competing interests. Everyone is entitled to his or her point of view, because, for the perspectivilist, what you see depends on where you stand. The world of postmodernists is a world of image rather than of substance. They are concerned with immediate rather than with the long-term, because history is meaningless and the future is too scary and unpredictable to contemplate. Meanwhile, the present is lived out as a tumble of fleeting experiences." (p29) This has an inevitable effect on the way postmodern people engage with leadership and decision-making. In their list of transitions between modern and postmodern Gibbs and Bolger observe a move from "Change initiated at the centre" to "Change initiated at the periphery". The centre is no longer trusted but the margins can be significant if their voice is recieved by the network.

"In traditional and 'modern' contexts it was possible to engage in long-term strategic planning, either because society was stable, or because change was predictable and evolutionary. In the culture of postmodernity, however, change is discontnuous rather than incremental. It comes rapidly and without warning. This culture has been described as a 'plan-do' environment." (p 36)
A very different cultural context requires a very different approach to leadership. Those in leadership positions can no-longer be 'directors' with 'master plans' but must become 'permission givers' who work to release the potential in other people and create an environment in which co-ordinated but fluid action and response can take place. Decisions must be made at the level at which there is most knowledge, skill and relevance, but there is still a role for 'over view' or co-ordination - possibly within a network model.

Gibbs and Bolger note a couple of reports from the evangelical tradition which propose criteria for functional, growing or "missional" churches. These suggest a number of relational factors which would have a baring on decision making, for instance: "The church is a community that practices reconciliation", "People within the community hold themselves accountable to one another in love" (p 56), "A strong, high quality leadership" [?] and "A high level of involvement from skilled lay-workers" (p57).

When it comes to the issue of 'control' Gibbs and Bloger ask the question, "Do denominational leaders disempower others?" (p 73) They note that "Leaders operating within a hierarchical structure see their role as delegating and granting permission. People who function within a network empower and grant resources to those around them without trying to exert control. Controllers bring a mentality of suspicion and inhibit individuals from exercising initiative. They thereby deprive others of the opportunity to grow and mature through learning, through having their faith stretched as they reach for the unlikely and the seemingly impossible. Many valuable lessons can be learned only from failed attempts." (p74)

They observe that those churches who are most closely tied to a rigid hierarchy have suffered most during the twentieth century, but there is a "new reformation" taking place (p 75) which is affecting both new and old churches. This is resulting in significant changes to the way individual congregations are managed and in the way that churches and individuals relate to each other. They suggest, in fact, that traditional denominations are being superceded or suplemented by "new apostolic networks" (p 76) and parachurch organisations.

They describe this as "The age of Networks" (p 83) and observe that there has been a change in the way organisations are structured: "The network-based movement should not be regarded as a place where everyone is free to do his or her own thing. This would simply transform the network into a tangle that would rip itself apart. Rather, it represents a significant change in th edecision-making process. In the hierarchical pyramid, decision-makers are removed from the scene of action and delegate their decisions to the people responsible for thier implementation; but in the network, decision-makers are available when needed to ratify a decision. At the same time they resist the temptation to let decisions float to the top of an organization, emphasizing that each key decision must be taken and acted upon at the appropriate level... Conversely, decisions are often not made in isolation but are communicated to the network for input by anyone who can make a worthwhile contribution." (p84)

Gibbs and Bolger note that networking requires a different approach from those in authority. Relationships, rather than status or position, become more significant. "Individuals who can build strong relationships and expand networks of people are those who relate well to one another and who exercise incredible influence within networks" (p85) - but this has challenging side - "Leadership in a network is precarious because the authority of the leaders can be challenged at any time. Individuals and groups are free to sever their links and to start independent networks" (p85) - although in practice this may be difficult when resources are shared. "When network leaders over-extend their authority or lose credibility, they are likely to find themselves increasingly isolated. Knowing this, they tend to work with supportive teams around them. These teams function not simply as a workforce but as a mutually supportive group of people who affirm one another and relate informally." (p 86)

Gibbs and Bloger quote William Easum: "Relationships and the flow of information are the two most valuable assets of the permission-giving network... The sum of an organization is the sum of its parts plus the relationship between the parts..." (Sacred Cow pp 22-23)

All this requires a significant change in management and leadership style. Delegation needs to be replaced by permission-giving. Control needs to be replaced by mutual accountability. While controllers tend to be insecure and delegate responsibility with out commensurate authority (p87) permision-givers tend to be "secure" and exercise trust. They key facet of relationships between them and others in a network is "mentoring". Organization is fluid and permission-givers "are ambitious for the people working around them and are not intimidated by people more able than themselves. Permission-givers are in the business of growing people, not 'cloning' people." (p 87)

Other key aspects of network leadership are values, training and empowerment. Teams are "self-organizing" and imperminent (p 90). Organizations are decentralised (p 9-91) and only work if there is mutual-accountabilty rather than one-way. (p 91). Gibbs and Bolger observe that networks represent an "open-ended system" (p 91) and have unlimited potential for growth.

Further comments of note:
Team-building skills are an essential skill for professional ministers. (p 108)
"Entertainment is no substitute for participation" (p 162)

Eddie Gibbs and Ian Coffey, Church Next: Quantum Changes in Christian Ministry, Intervarsity Press, 2001.

Unit 1: Practical theology: context, practice and performance

I've just been looking at the guidance notes for unit 1 and am thinking about the kind of work I will need to do. Assuming that I'm focussing on collaborative leadership I should be able to build on work I did last year in my sabbatical but focus on this issue in a more systematic way. The guidance notes suggest that I will need to present a "critical review of the performance, ideas and methods of an established scholar within or associated with the field". This does sound worth while and will probably be good fun - if that's not being too enthusiastic. I suspect it will be best to identify the scholar after an initial period of reading around the subject, but potential suspects would include Robin Greenwood, Kevin Thew-Forester, Stewart Zabriskie or Fredrica Harris Thompsett. Alternatively, I would be tempted to focus on "Skills for Collaborative Ministry" which does seem to be well respected and present a good account of current thinking about good practice.
In the meantime, I'm going to start a systematic survey of the books I already have on my shelf and see where that takes me.

The Road to Growth

Bob Jackson has carried out a great deal of research about church growth and the factors that affect it. In The Road to Growth he looks at a number of reasons why churches have been in decline and makes a few suggestions about strategies for future development.
It could be said that he is obsessed by attendance as the principle measure of a church's success. There may be some truth in this assessment, but attendance could equally be regarded as a "proxy indicator" for a range of other less easily measurable qualities like vibrancy or health.

Team Ministries
Jackson regards team ministries, and LEPs, as one of the "own goals" that the Anglican Church has scored against itself. He notes that there was great enthusiasm for the setting up of teams during the 1970s and 1980s in diocese that had a "teams enthusiast" in their senior staff (p.17).
Unfortunately "it does not seem that there was any systematic attempt to monitor or assess their progress." In fact "stories of dysfunctional teams began to circulate." Jackson quotes data that seems to indicate that attendance in team parishes has declined by nearly twice the level of that in non-team parishes.
He suggests a number of reasons for this, including the tendency of teams to turn inwards and focus on internal conflicts, or the "ambiguity of relationships embodied in the team setup." (p.19) "Who is in charge of the team vicar's parish - the team vicar or the team rector who has legal charge and may feel entitled to tell the team vicar what to do?" (p.19)
This alone says something about the nature of decision-making in team ministries and the challenge of working in collaboration. Although other writers point out that teams were originally set up to include lay people (check reference re Andrew Bowden) the reality is that the challenge of collaborative decision-making in team ministries really concerns the relationship between the rector and the team vicars.
On a more serious level, Jackson suggests that multi-skilled clergy teams may actually disempower lay people. "A vulnerable vicar with obvious gaps in his or her ability or gifting may leave more room for the growing of lay ministry than an omnicompetent team able to turn its collective hand to anything." (p19) This has interesting resonance with Rolland Allen's concept of "retirement".
In team ministries the emphasis on collaborative ministry and decision-making is undoubtedly focussed on the clergy team rather than on the whole body.

Lay Leadership
Although Jackson is negative about team ministries, he is very positive about lay ministry. "Around the world, churches without professional leadership have better growth trends than churches with it. Those who take an active part in church leadership and ministry tend to grow in commitment, confidence and stature as a result... it is no surprise that churches that have been changing in the direction of increasing the involvement of lay people in their running and leadership have also tended to grow numerically." (p70)
Jackson quotes statistics that demonstrate growth in churches that have positivley involved lay pepole. He mentions a process in Lichfield in which churches grew when at least half the PCC were involved in day conferences "- the lay leaders were seeing the issues and making decisions together with their clergy." (p71)

Local Ministry Teams
Although Jackson is positive about lay leadership in general he has some challenging things to say about the kind of local ministry schemes that have been set up in some dioceses. These have involved teams of lay people who have been trained over a two to three year period, often with a locally ordained minister as part of the package. He notes that in one diocese they were succesful in setting up twelve pilots, but attendance dropped by 25% during the period of implementation. (p142) Another diocese invested heavily in 'mandated ministry teams'. "Attendance in 98 churches with such teams fell over 18 per cent over a five year period while attendance at 353 churches without such teams fell only 16 per cent." (p142)
Jackson has a number of suggestions to explain this: "First, the group of lay people set aside for training usually contains some of the most effective and committed leaders in the church." This creates "gaps and weaknesses" which were not there before. Secondly, Jackson suggests that these people may actually have been more gifted for their previous areas of work.. Thirdly, Jackson suggests that "clericallizing a few of the laity" may be unhelpful. "Lay ministry schemes may be more a way of avoiding real change than of brining it about. The structures of church life can continue as before because the gaps have been filled - a group of square pegs have had some carpentry attention to make them fit into the round holes vacated by the clergy." Finally he suggests that teams often focus on the internal workings of the church rather than on mission, although he does quote on church in which a three year decline was followed by a period of growth. The vicar in question said, "Those were the years we were training our ministry team and our focus was all inward looking. Now the team is trained we are trying to look outwards again and hoping to grow." (p146)
From the point of view of this study, it is significant that collaborative ministry and decision-making often move from the exclusive domain of the clergy to the slightly more collaborative domain of the team - but this does not imply "leadership as a body" as Gibbs and Bolger put it in Emerging Churches. (check quote)

Networking
Perhaps the most significant thing that Jackson has to say about collaboration is this: "The realities of how to grow churches are not invented by experts, they are discovered by the churches themselves." (p147) Jackson notes that churches who's leaders are part of networks in which stories are told and ideas are shared are more likely to be growing. "The answers to the growth of the Church are laready out there - in order to turn the whole national Church around it may be enough simply to expose the churches to each other in networks of mutual learning and sharing." (p147) This is worth comparing to material on mass collaboration in Wikinomics and The Wisdom of Crowds, etc...

Bob Jackson has some invaluable data that can help us asses diferent approaches to collaboration in terms of its affect on church attendance. It seems to me that when these approaches focus on clergy or clericalisation, the effect is usually negative, but when collaboration arises through decision-making processes or organic development in response to missional needs there are usually positive results. Networking is good, as is the creation of space in which lay ministry and leadership can develop. The trick is to create the structures in which this can happen.

Jackson, B, The Road to Growth: towards a thriving Church, Church House Publishing, 2005