Alban Weekly from The Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, United States "PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS: Don't Wait Until You Need a Leader to Find One" for Monday, 19 September 2016PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS: Don't Wait Until You Need a Leader to Find One
Don't Wait Until You Need a Leader to Find OneIt started when I needed Bible class teachers in the Lutheran congregation I serve as an associate pastor.
The most obvious candidates had already declined. I opened the church directory to the first page and browsed through the names. I called a handful of people I thought might be a good fit. Once I had called my first choices, I went back to the beginning of the directory and started on my second choices.
It hit me somewhere around the letter M: there must be a better way to find leaders.
That moment of desperation inspired me to develop a better way. My idea was to put in place a process for identifying leaders before there is a need. I share it in the hope that it will help others identify, develop and dispatch leaders.
The key to this system is that it is person-based rather than need-based.
This is how it works: Long before there is a need, I begin by praying for God to identify leaders in the congregation. After spending time in prayer, I ask current leaders in the congregation to suggest names for potential leaders.
Once I have a list of roughly 15 individuals, I send them a letter introducing our leadership development process. I explain that I have been praying about our congregation's future leadership and that their names have surfaced as potential leaders. I invite them to pray about this as well and to consider being part of a future leader pathway.
Read more from A. Trevor Sutton »
Faith & Leadership
LAITY, ROLE IN CHURCH, CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP, LAY LEADERSHIP
A. Trevor Sutton: Don't wait until you need a leader to find one
BigStock / AleksGDeveloping a leadership pathway for people in his congregation helped an associate pastor avoid the last-minute scramble to fill open positions. The six-month process includes prayer, reading, discussion and discernment.
It started when I needed Bible class teachers in the Lutheran congregation I serve as an associate pastor.
The most obvious candidates had already declined. I opened the church directory to the first page and browsed through the names. I called a handful of people I thought might be a good fit. Once I had called my first choices, I went back to the beginning of the directory and started on my second choices.
It hit me somewhere around the letter M: there must be a better way to find leaders.
That moment of desperation inspired me to develop a better way. My idea was to put in place a process for identifying leaders before there is a need. I share it in the hope that it will help others identify, develop and dispatch leaders.
The key to this system is that it is person-based rather than need-based.
This is how it works: Long before there is a need, I begin by praying for God to identify leaders in the congregation. After spending time in prayer, I ask current leaders in the congregation to suggest names for potential leaders.
Once I have a list of roughly 15 individuals, I send them a letter introducing our leadership development process. I explain that I have been praying about our congregation’s future leadership and that their names have surfaced as potential leaders. I invite them to pray about this as well and to consider being part of a future leader pathway.
The pathway has three components: participants read a book with other future leaders, pray about the possibility of leading in our congregation and attend occasional gatherings of the future leaders group.
The letter notes that the timeline for this process is short -- roughly six months -- and the week-to-week time commitment is limited. And it makes clear that there is no obligation to take on a leadership role once the process is completed. I’ve found that if I send this letter to 15 individuals, typically five will accept the invitation.When the group is in place, I set aside sustained time to pray for the participants individually during my monthly half-day prayer retreats. I pray that God will be present in their personal lives, lead them toward spiritual maturity and provide whatever they need to thrive as leaders.
I give the group a book to read. My choice is “Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life,” by Henri Nouwen. Although this is not a leadership book, it is helpful for developing spiritually mature Christian leaders because it’s an invitation to be centered on Jesus rather than being fragmented by the chaos of daily life. (Others might choose another book to suit their needs.)
Once everyone has had a chance to read the book, we come together to pray, discuss the text and get to know one another.
Every person in the group is given the opportunity to share why he or she has decided to be part of this process. Participants can also share fears or concerns they may have about becoming leaders.
A month after our first meeting, I send handwritten notes to the individual participants letting them know that I have been praying for them. A month after that, I send a follow-up email to the group with a few more reflections on the book that we all read. Two months later, I begin scheduling meetings with each person to get to know them better, discuss the book further and talk about leadership in a more personal way.
This may sound like a lot of work for the group leader, but it really is not. The total time I need for the prayer, writing a few notes, and some meetings amounts to less than 10 hours.
The process is simple. Still, it’s often messy. Some people come to the end and realize that teaching is not a good fit for them. I have had others start out hoping to be Bible class teachers and end up serving on our governing board. Another person took two years to find a good place to serve.
Generally after four to six months, people’s skills and passions emerge. For instance, one person realized that he was often sought out by co-workers to talk about Christianity. We recognized that he was skilled at being a Christian in the workplace, and he’s now teaching a Bible class on that topic.
I’ve been using this process for three years now, and it has been incredible to see how God works through it.
One woman had begun the process with a vague sense that there was something missing in her life and God was calling her to do something new. After praying about this and talking with others, she had a steady realization that she needed to do something with women’s Bible study.
Meanwhile, I had noticed a need in the congregation for an evening women’s Bible study. When I asked her to lead it, she began to weep. She told me that this opportunity was an answer to her prayers. And it was clear that God had put all the pieces together.
What would it look like for your congregation or organization to develop leaders before there is a need? The system you use may resemble what my congregation does. It may not. But regardless of how you develop leaders, if you begin the process long before there is a need, you’ll be able to skip the frantic search through the directory.
Waiting until you need a leader is the worst time to find one. Develop future leaders by praying for them, praying with them and discovering the gifts God has given them. Develop your leaders first. And then find a place for them to serve.-------
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: SUCCESSION PLANNING
Take Advantage of TransitionsInstitutional and congregational leaders and their colleagues can use the energy unleashed by a transition to encourage positive change. What processes can you put in place to make a difference?
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Faith & Leadership
MANAGEMENT, CHANGE
Take advantage of transitions
Institutional leaders and their colleagues can use the energy unleashed by a transition to encourage positive change. What processes can you put in place to make a difference?
The Sunday before Christmas the three pastors at First Baptist Church resigned without other jobs -- just months after I had led a team-building process with them.
Upset at this devastating turn of events, church leaders summoned me immediately after Christmas to discuss what had happened. I was bound by a confidentiality agreement and squirmed through 30 minutes of questions I could not answer. In exasperation, one of the leaders said that my opinion was of little consequence; this sort of problem had occurred between previous ministers. She wondered whether the church, and not the ministers, was the problem. She asked, “What should we do to correct our problems?”
This crisis had revealed a pattern of behavior that had been largely hidden from public view. No one could deny the problems any longer, and church members committed to each other and to God to behave differently.
Most of us resist change, especially if the change is forced by others, seen or unseen. Most congregations and other organizations maintain a balance that holds the forces of change in check. Transitions disturb that balance and make change easier. The more public the transition, the more opportunity it presents.
For generations the interim between pastors was considered lost time. It was a period to be passed through as quickly as possible. In the 1970s, Loren Mead and colleagues at Project Test Pattern studied the conditions under which congregations experienced renewal and were surprised to find that the interim time between pastors is the most opportune time for a congregation to deal with problems.
Mead told me recently that this insight came as a complete surprise to him. As Mead and colleagues organized the Alban Institute(link is external), Roy Oswald created a process to take advantage of the insight by developing a training program for interim pastors that eventually became the Interim Ministry Network.
What are the transitions happening around you? How can you and your colleagues use the energy unleashed by a transition to encourage positive change? What processes can you put in place to make a difference?
Any departure of a colleague, supporter or member is a transition that presents an opportunity to review the system, consider the appropriate role and make changes. Any increase or decrease in funding is a chance to review priorities. Any conflict is an opportunity to consider the methods used to achieve the goals.
One of the challenges is that some communities are in so much transition that leaders need to choose when to stop and take advantage of a transition for a period of intense reflection and when to keep moving. In my experience, a series of transitions is a clear signal that a period of reflection is needed. Once that period is done, the lessons learned can guide through years of additional transitions.
It is not sufficient to announce that one is taking advantage of a transition. In order for it to be a learning experience, the organization needs a plan.
Mead and his colleagues identified five developmental tasks of a congregation in the interim between pastors. Oswald led a team in developing training programs to provide tools to lead the congregation to engage the tasks. The process has been adapted over time, but the larger lesson is that a road map is required. Time limits are needed so that a group can measure progress. I have met many people who understand that a transition holds the possibility for learning, but they are nearly paralyzed because they don’t know how to start a learning process.
Processes that provide structures to deal with adaptive change, strategic planning and conflict resolution all provide the sort of maps that give steps to the process. Choose the process that seems most comfortable or for which you know a skilled facilitator.
Any transition can be the occasion for slowing down; deeply listening to God, one another, constituents and the community; and discerning next steps.
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Heirs to the ThroneSuccession planning is not about identifying a single person but cultivating teams of people who are capable of leading a congregation or institution, writes the managing director of Alban at Duke Divinity.
Read more from Nathan Kirkpatrick »
Faith & Leadership
MANAGEMENT, CHANGE, TEAM MANAGEMENT
Heirs to the throne
Succession planning is not about identifying a single person but cultivating teams of people to lead.
During the wait for a birth announcement from the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London, television news anchors around the world filled hours of live broadcasts with trivia and commentary on the history and importance of royal births.
One of the more interesting bits of trivia was that, across centuries in British history, there was some worry that there would be a “Prince and the Pauper”-like switch of newborns, that some unscrupulous or desperate “commoner” would substitute his own child for the royal baby and the monarchy would be irreparably undermined. And so the British Home Secretary was obligated to be in the actual delivery room to witness the birth of the heir.
By the late 1940s, this fear had subsided, and Home Secretary Chuter Ede learned of Prince Charles’ birth by phone. I imagine Ede was grateful.
The contrast is striking between how carefully some institutions treat matters of succession and how casually others regard the same subjects (granted, few institutions have the kinds of blessings or bedevilments of the succession plan inherent in the hereditary monarchy). In recent years, an increasing number of Christian institutions are attending more carefully to these matters as leadership passes from one generation to the next.
Even so, many institutions (especially congregations) find themselves stymied by the prospect of leadership transitions. In some settings, it is denominational or organizational structure, custom or practice that complicates the ability to plan. In others, succession planning would seem to violate certain etiquette about respecting the ministry, service and tenure of an incumbent. In still more, such planning might feel premature and, therefore, unnecessary. Whatever the source of hesitation, many Christian institutions could be caught unprepared when a leadership transition arrives.
This is part of the reason why John Perkins’ insight in his conversation with Faith & Leadership is so important. Perkins says that real succession planning is not about the identification and development of a single, talented person (apologies to the monarchy) but, rather, the development of groups of people who can lead.
This idea should resonate well with senior leaders, institutions, and governing boards and bodies alike.
After all, this ongoing task -- cultivating the capacity of whole groups of persons within an institution -- is not a separate or discrete responsibility from the rest of what leaders do; rather, it is already central to helping an institution perform at its best.
By reframing it, though, Perkins underscores the importance of developing our people, and even the most reticent organization might find some permission to engage in succession planning if it looks more like the cultivation of teams rather the identification of individuals.
This will obviously not reduce all of the challenges involved in leadership transitions in today’s complex institutional climate. Yet, engaging in some form of succession planning and team development are ways of providing for institutional sustainability. They ensure continuity of mission and vision. So, call the Home Secretary in your institution, and tell her that there will be multiple possible heirs to the throne.
UPCOMING: THE CHURCH NETWORK TELEWEB
Compensation: It's More Than a Paycheck
A Church Network Teleweb with Elaine Sommerville
September 29, 2016, at 2:30 p.m. EDTWhile most employers and employees tend to focus on a paycheck, compensation is more than just the paycheck. Compensation requires thoughtful planning in order to provide the greatest benefit to the employee at the least cost to the employer. Additionally, churches must consider additional rules regarding reasonable compensation and documentation that are not as crucial in the normal business environment. Failure to work within federal law can result in penalties to the employee as well as a threat to the church's tax exempt status.
Learn more and register »
FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
Transitional ministry can be tremendously helpful for congregations in times of change, and yet, to be successful today transitional ministers and churches need to take into account the major changes in the religious landscape. From the decline of mainline churches to the rise of those who don't identify with any religious tradition, the religious scene has changed dramatically since transitional ministry began three decades ago, and to remain vital today, the practice of transitional ministry must change as well. This book provides transitional ministers and congregations with essential information on rethinking transitional ministry in ways that take the current religious climate into account. Ten experienced authors -- including seasoned practitioners of transitional ministry and those who oversee transitional ministry denomination-wide -- propose new ways to approach transitional ministry today.
Learn more and order the book »-------
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Alban at Duke Divinity School
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