George Bullard's Journey

Just How Important is Process?

In making a decision in a congregation, how important is the process used? On a scale of one to ten with ten being high, how high would your rate the importance of process? How high the importance of outcome or decision? How high the importance of impact or application of the decision?

When calling a pastor to a congregation, how important is process? Does it matter what process is used as long as the congregation gets a new pastor? How important is the process in terms of including the congregation in prayer support, information gathering, and decision-making about a new pastor? How important is the background research and the actual dialogue with the pastor and family? How important is the process for entry of the pastor into the life and ministry of the congregational community?

If the process used to call a new pastor is open, healthy, thorough, careful, warm, inviting, and involves building a deep spiritual relationship, then it was probably a great process and may be the beginning of a effective ministry. If the process was closed, unhealthy, highly political, sloppy, and does not build a deep spiritual relationship, what are the chances for an effective ministry by the new pastor?

Explosive Crises Call for Great Process

Many congregations are unprepared for explosive crises. They are especially unprepared for theological and moral crises. Both of these crisis categories often cause emotional reactions from congregational leaders. Leaders, who otherwise express great spiritual wisdom, move from acting out of typical stress to acting out of distress when controversial theological and moral issues become the primary agenda in their family, congregation, denomination, work place, and nation.

Explosive Crisis at Hillside: An Unfinished Story was written as a fictitious case study of a congregation that had never learned how to deal with significant crises in its history, and then is faced with a moral and theological crisis of significant proportions.

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Congregations face various crises throughout their life and ministry. Some are manageable. Some are not. I wrote this piece to show several things. First, some crises in congregations become unmanageable because congregations never learn how to deal with mild or healthy conflict. Second, many congregations are not prepared to deal with really severe crises and wait too late to engage external assistance. Third, one current explosive crisis in many congregations focuses around homosexuality. Fourth, the best solutions to this particular crisis may be one offered by readers of this story.

Getting Them In, Sending Them Out

Download: Getting Them In, Sending Them Out. An outline from workshop presented at Disciples General Assembly in Fort Worth, TX, July 23, 2007.

Special Post for Disciples Conflict Ministry Awareness Seminar

Download: Conflict Ministry Awareness Seminar for Disciples

Download: Intensities of Conflict Chart

Download: Life Cycle Chart

Beyond Closing the Gap?

Is your congregation reaching it Full Kingdom Potential?  Or, is your congregation simply trying to close the gap, fix problems, be faithful, experience success, or show growth?

If your congregation is simply trying to close the gap, it is engaging in transactional change and not transformational change. It will not be able to reach its Full Kingdom Potential since this requires a leap of faith into the arms of God before you can clearly see these arms.

Beyond closing the gap, living into your congregation's Full Kingdom Potential requires continual actions to fulfillment the spirit and content of your congregation's future story of life and ministry. These actions themselves are always open to the transforming power of God, and are not just tactical transactions.

If you congregation is seeking to reach its Full Kingdom Potential, what evidence do you see of its transformation and fulfillment of God's vision?

Getting beyond Closing the Gap is one of the themes in my book, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation.

Heritage and Hope for Your Congregation

What factors make your congregation's spiritual strategic journey possible? I suspect some of them focus on the past and present of your congregation, and not just on the future of your congregation.

What are the contributions of the past and present of your congregation that give you both a heritage and a hope in God's future for your congregation? God was present and active in the past within your congregation. God is present and active today. God will be present and active in the future.

A strong, positive, meaningful heritage provides a significant foundation for a spiritual strategic journey. It provides overwhelming and empowering hope for the future. A spiritual strategic journey is not one dimensional. It is three dimensional. Therefore, heritage is essential. Current health is essential. Future promise is essential.

Achieving the Full Kingdom Potential of your congregation requires a community effort. It is not just an individual effort. It also requires an ability to see all the time dimensions of God's presence in the life and ministry of your congregation. Seeing all the time dimensions of ministry requires a community of people with perspectives on the heritage and hope of your congregation.

Often people connected with your congregation who are older in age and longer tenured in membership are afraid the heritage of the congregation will be lost in the projection of a new future. This will not happen as long as each of us remember that hope is impossible with a deep appreciation for the rich heritage of the congregation.

Heritage and Hope is one of the ideas in my book, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation.