Alban Institute skryf die volgende in hulle nuusbrief:

Q: Our congregation is struggling with several difficult decisions, some of which have caused quite a bit of controversy and emotional responses among some members. We are considering having a congregational meeting to see what the members think, “clear the air,” and make the decisions. What advice do you have?

A: 

Short answer: You could be asking for a lot of grief and much foggier air.

Longer answer: Nearly every congregation I work with has a story in their history about a congregational meeting “gone bad.” Remember watching political town hall meetings on such controversial topics as health care? Those experiences offer a pretty clear picture of why this particular format does not work well when emotions are running high.

Verskeie redes word in die artikel genoem waarom ‘n gemeentevergadering nie sinvol is in sulke omstandighede nie. Die artikel gaan dan verder en gee advies oor hoe om sulke sake te hanteer. Dit kom daarop neer dat ‘n proses van geloofsonderskeiding gevolg moet word waarby lidmate betrek moet word.

Lees die volledige artikel by http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9858.

Lees die artikel in Forbes by http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/09/12/the-ten-happiest-jobs/

Bogenoemde waarneming dring ons tot ‘n diepe selfondersoek!

(Lees die volledige artikel by http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9828)

Dat leraars dikwels uitbrand, is ‘n bekende feit gesteun deur baie opnames. Ek het al vantevore hieroor geskryf en die redes vir uitbranding gegee. Nou kom G. Jeffrey MacDonald en hy voeg nog ‘n rede vir uitbranding by: Congregations gone wild! Hiervoor help rus, ontspanning en vakansies niks nie: druk vanuit die gemeente om jou hoogste roeping te versaak.

Die leraar is geroep om mense te help om geestelik te groei en meer deernis te bewys. Maar wat verwag gemeentes van hulle leraars? Vermaak ons. Leraars word voortdurend gedwing om te kies as hulle luister na lidmate se wenslyste. Soos godsdiens meer en meer ‘n verbruikersondervinding word, word leraars ongelukkiger — en sieker.

Volgens Gallup het net 15% van Amerikaners in 1955 nie meer aan die geloof van hulle kinderdae behoort nie — in 2008 was dit 44%. Mense vandag proe hier en proe daar en beweeg dan verder as die leraars hulle nie tevrede stel nie. In die proses word die posbeskrywing van leraars herskryf. Hulle mag nie meer preke hou wat die gemaklikes ongemaklik laat voel nie.

So het ‘n kerkraad vir ‘n leraar gesê: beperk jou preke tot tien minute, vertel snaakse stories en verseker dat die mense wat die kerkgebou verlaat goed voel oor hulleself! Ongelukkig is meeste leraars nie vermaaklikheidsterre nie. Leraars glo hulle is toegerus om mense se lewens te verander — wat is reg en wat is verkeerd. Hulle leer lidmate om mekaar te dien; hulle leer hulle wat deernis is — veral teenoor die randfigure in ons samelewing. Hulle vorm ‘n geloofsgemeenskap.

Wat is die belonings van bediening? Ek beteken vir ander iets en integriteit. As hierdie afgewater word as gevolg van druk van die gemeente wat nie uitgedaag en geestelik wil groei nie, word leraars kandidate vir spanning en depressie. Leraars het lidmate nodig wat verstaan waarvoor die kerk bestaan: om mense se lewens te verander. Dan sal hulle weer vreugde in hulle bediening ondervind. Hulle vat weer vlam sonder die gevaar van uitbranding.

(Oorgeneem uit Leierskap, Nuusbrief van eKerk, 16/11/2011)

Die kerk is gedurig besig om te verander. Die oorgrote meerderheid van hierdie pogings het min langtermyn impak. Hoekom? Die bekende opvoedkundige en filosoof, Ivan Illich, is by geleentheid gevra wat die beste manier is om die samelewing te verander — revolusie of geleidelike hervorming. Sy antwoord het die mense verbaas: nie een van die twee nie. Sy verdere aanvulling behoort alle leiers weer te laat dink: As jy die samelewing wil verander, moet jy ‘n alternatiewe storie vertel. Dit beteken dat ons die heersende paradigma met ‘n nuwe een moet vervang. Hoe doen ons dit?

Alan Hirsch (On the Verge) het die werk van Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) effens aangepas en op die kerk van toepassing gemaak. ‘n Paradigmaskuif bestaan uit vier stadia:

1. Struktuur/normaliteit. Ons begin met ‘n gevestigde paradigma — ‘n verbeelding wat vasgevang of geslote is. Hierdie paradigma domineer die huidige denke.
2. Afwykings. Mense voel dinge is nie reg nie — daar ontwikkel afwykings in die paradigma. Hulle begin besef dat die heersende paradigma nie meer al die probleme kan oplos nie. Dit is interessant dat dit dikwels juis die mense is wat die heersende paradigma bemeester het, wat uit hierdie konsensus uitbreek. Dink maar aan Einstein (wetenskap) en Calvyn en Barth (teologie). Ware kundiges is juis die eerstes wat agterkom dat daar probleme is.
3. Krisis. Meer en meer mense besef dat dinge verkeerd is. Uiteindelik word ‘n punt bereik waar die stroompie ‘n rivier word — ‘n krisis. ‘n Groep mense wat van die huidige paradigma verskil, kom na vore. Nou volg ‘n aantal nuwe teorieë — ‘n soeke na ‘n alternatiewe verstaan van dinge.
4. Oorgang/herstrukturering. ‘n Nuwe paradigma kom na vore. Diegene wat nog vasklou aan die heersende paradigma probeer keer dat dinge nie verander nie. Dit is die rede waarom denominasies nie sommer toelaat dat dit wat hulle glo, bevraagteken word nie — jy raak nie aan die heilige koeie nie.

Die groot les is dat dit nie help om strukture, stelsels en sisteme te verander, as jy nie ook die onderliggende storie (die paradigma) verander nie.

(Bron: Leierskap, enuusbrief van eKerk, 1/9/2011)

“Effective boards in every size congregation must tend to three types of work: fiduciary (tending to the stewardship of tangible assets), strategic (working to set the congregation’s priorities and seeing that resources are being deployed in accordance with those priorities) and generative (problem framing and sense making about the shifting environment of the congregation).”

Daarna bespreek sy verskillende grootte gemeentes en die voor- en nadele van groter of kleiner kerkrade in elkeen. Haar uiteindelike gevolgtrekking is:

“Most of us cannot imagine reducing our governing bodies down to 5 individuals, but the closer we can get to that number, the more effective our problem solving will be.”

Lees die volledige artikel by http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9591.

“If today you committed to never complaining about your congregation, how would your church be different in six months? I’m not talking about a general moratorium on complaining in your congregation; I mean specifically if YOU committed to never raising a complaint against the people God sent you to shepherd.”

Hy skryf dit na aanleiding van die volgende aanhaling van Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “A pastor should not complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.”

Walker skryf verder: “Bonhoeffer suggests that when you begin to raise complaints about your congregation, it is a sure sign that you are already alienated from the very people God sent you to care for. It shows you have begun to love the fantasy of what you think a congregation should be instead of loving the real people in your congregation. It shows you serve by a call of convenience rather than a call of surrender.”

“God entrusted you to lead his people; he didn’t send you to your current pastorate to assess the situation and then report back to him on how bad and stiff-necked they could be. He already knows their hearts; he already knows them intimately and now he wants YOU to know them intimately so you can care for them like a shepherd tends to his flock.”

“Bonhoeffer’s suggestion is not a ‘Polly-Anna’ approach, where we act as if everything is fine and never address the problems and issues in our congregations. Rather, Bonhoeffer is pushing us toward a Jesus-like approach where we wade into the nasty now-and-now of life and love our people with compassion that flows from the throne of heaven through our Savior and through our hearts into the hearts of those God has called us to lead.”

“In other words, rather than complaining about the congregation, we speak the truth in love. We confront and we allow others to confront us as we all grow up to look like Jesus.”

“Our congregations, like grace, are a gift from God, and when we understand this, we will see them the way Jesus sees us. Consider how Jesus modeled this:

• When Jesus had a problem with someone in his ‘flock of disciples,’ he confronted them directly (‘Oh you of little faith’). You never find Jesus complaining to others about his flock.
• When Jesus talked to the Father about his ‘flock of disciples,’ he affirmed them to the Father. He did not accuse them before the Father.
• When Jesus talked to the Father about his ‘flock of disciples,’ he spoke in terms of a gift. ‘These that you gave to me.’ (John 15-17)”

“This week ask God to restore in you the sense of wonder and awe and gratefulness you knew when he first called you to your current congregation. And pray that you will serve them obediently and lovingly, in spite of your own faults and weaknesses.”

Lees die volledige artikel by http://www.pastors.com/blogs/ministrytoolbox/archive/2011/03/22/complaining-about-the-congregation.aspx.

Barbara Blodgett skryf op Alban Institute se webblad dat dit kan help as predikante mekaar ondersteun en gereeld bymekaarkom om oor die bediening te praat. Lees gerus haar raad by http://alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9520.

Ek haal graag ‘n paar dele van die artikel hier aan:

As a church leader and writer, I often feel I’m in the midst of converging streams, trying to sort out the flowing torrents. The currents course so quickly that I find it hard to keep up with it all. Technological changes, generational dynamics, environmental instabilities, and philosophical understandings pulsate, making these realities difficult to frame. And yet, in this exciting and hope-filled time, I cannot resist trying to capture the movement.

During the last few decades, we’ve watched the attendance wane in many downtown mainline congregations as demographics shifted. White people moved out to the suburbs, leaving behind many predominately Caucasian congregations that did not know how to reach out to their new neighbors. Evangelical megachurches sprang up on the outskirts of towns, swallowing many of the mainline transplants.

But that doesn’t seem to be working any longer. As megachurch members age, worship as entertainment seems to be losing its luster…. The children who were raised in megachurches are becoming irritated with the bigger-is-always-better attitude. Frustration with the megachurch model is growing,

Yet, as many mainline churches move farther and farther to the sidelines of our culture, as megachurches lose their entertainment value, and as denominational leaders look to the next generation, there is a great deal of hope waiting to be kindled.

When we consider the progressive political leanings of younger generations, we realize they long for spiritual communities that care deeply about social-justice issues—the same issues that our denominational congregations have been organizing around for hundreds of years. There is a deep spiritual yearning pervasive across generations, yet we know people will no longer settle for one-way preaching and entertaining services. They want meaningful worship, an empowered lay leadership, and a spirituality that leads to action. Again, people are longing for the very things that many denominational churches have been cultivating for decades.

Finally, the coming of age of the Millennial Generation (those born between 1982 and 2001) bodes well for our denominational congregations. Not only is this generation much larger than those that preceded it, Millennials are also much more community focused and institutionally minded than the generations before them. Generational sociologists Neil Howe and William Strauss believe the influence of the rising generation will cause “every arena [to] become more mannerly, structured, and civic minded.” With regard to religion in particular, Howe and Strauss suggest, “Millennials will favor friendly rituals and community building.”

If we begin to reframe the important work of our spiritual communities, taking care to understand the shifts occurring in our culture and to respond to them faithfully, then the years ahead can be extremely fruitful for us. If we realize and welcome the changes that will come, if we can be open to what new adaptations will bring to us, if we can begin to sense the Holy Spirit moving, then we will be able to sense vitality in a new generation.

Lees die volledige artikel by http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=9436.

Volg die skakel hieronder:

http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-how-to/147349-vision-and-strategy-trends-for-2011-and-beyond.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Update