I am reminded of a title of a book by Marshall Goldsmith. What Got You Here Won't Get You There, and while stuffed full of leadership wisdom, I just want to focus on the title of the book. Let's just pick the last 30 years here and apply the title to what we know. What got us Here—to 2016—won't get us There—our destiny, our aspirational future. So what's next? This is your church. It will be your church after I am gone. What is your future? How will you shape your destiny? How will you get to There? The one thing I can say for sure is that you will not get There doing the things that got you Here (a.k.a. "We've always done it this way.") So, I prepared a guide—an assessment (click button below) to help you. When I came in September, I made a promise to you all—to care for you. This assessment is just one of those ways of caring for you, and of acknowledging that you are my life's work and the church is yours. Let's take a peek via the Executive Summary: An Executive Summary with nothing but questions? Yeah. How Unitarian. Come in and have all your answers questioned.
Engaging these issues will help you become more attractive to the professional religious education talent that you will seek next year and lead, I believe, to a fuller expression of your mission: “Connect. Inspire. Serve.” Some of these issues, leadership is already working on; some are new conversations. All life is Interim. What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? What's next? How can I help? Steven Mead Interim Director of Children and Youth Ministries
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To be held in the embrace of this church. You will hear me use this phrase often―be held in the embrace of this church. There's an intimacy in this act. And that act requires risk. Yes, we have the greeters, the committee; yes, staff follows up with newcomers if they feel comfortable sharing their contact information. But that alone won't create an embrace. That's your job. Not a committee's. Not a greeter. Not a staffer. Are you doing it? How are you doing it? Do you wear your name tag? Say, "Hello?" Really engage in conversation? And how do we embrace those who are already here? Do you say, "Thank you!" to the people who made coffee or set out hospitality food? What is jeopardized if we don't "do friendly" well? Stay in right relationship? Stay in covenant? Our choice. Choose friendly. We Need to Grow!? I get very leery when church leadership say they want to "grow our church." I immediately ask, "Why?" If the word grow is not in the mission statement, then it is not a fundamental goal of this church. The difference we want to make in this world is not to have a bigger church. Will more people help us balance our budget? Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. In order to grow a congregation, in order to become more diverse, start with friendly and really pay attention towhy you gather together in this Special Place. When you know that why, then with all your might and all your resources do that why with everything you have. Then people will come and they will stay. Do not grow; rather, engage. What does it take?
See you in church. Wave and say “Hello!” Steven Mead Interim Director of Children and Youth Ministries Excerpted from In the Interim, a congregational assessment. |
Steven Mead
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