Walking Away from "No Energy" Programs

Part of Congregational Cycles

By Renee Ruchotzke

How many of our congregations offer programming that isn't working, or has only a very small group of the "usual suspects" participating? In a recent article in The Christian Century, LeeAnne Watkins. Titled This Just Isn't Working: When People Don't Show Up, the article describes how her congregation has tried different ways of offering programming:

Over the years I’ve found myself seduced by whatever the latest idea is for getting people to flock to church. And every single time I’ve been disappointed. What’s more, in the last few years I’ve developed some inner snarkiness toward the people who don’t show up, even though I otherwise adore them. I worry that I inadvertently pass this resentment along to them. Great—as if what people really need is more shame about the status of their spiritual lives.

Finally, she realized that--instead of resenting the people she was serving--she needed to be honest with herself about the changing context of congregational life. As much as she was attached to what her vision of programming should look like, the reality was that--in her church community--mid-week activities had gone the way of the dinosaur.

In another post I talked about how leaders need to pay attention to their mental models, and this is a great example. Identifying and engaging with our mental models is only half of the challenge. The other half is responding. These challenges are adaptive challenges, that is, they are challenges that don't have technical fixes.

(Ronald Heifetz explains the difference in the video in the sidebar.) One part of an adaptive strategy is designing low-risk, high-learning experiments. If people aren't showing up in the building during the week, perhaps they might be interested in a webinar format where they can participate from home. Maybe they would like to have a discussion in a closed Facebook group. Try something, and if it doesn't work, try something else. And even when something does work, be prepared for the reality that it may stop working in a few years.

About the Author

Renee Ruchotzke

Rev. Renee Ruchotzke (ruh-HUT-skee) is a Congregational Life Consultant and program manager for Leadership Development.

For more information contact .

empty

Ron Heifeitz: Adaptive vs. Technical Challenges