BullardJournal

Is Your Congregation Committed to Change?

In the newest book by Ken Blanchard and a team of colleagues—Who Killed Change—is the following quote concerning the commitment of a congregation to change. I love it! Perhaps you will too.

 

“The congregation—made up of leaders and mangers—comes every Sunday. They smile, nod, shake my hand and then go out and behave any way they want Monday through Saturday. Academically, they understand that people are much more likely to buy in to a Change when they are involved in the planning and have an opportunity to influence decisions. The leaders and managers are just not, may I say, committed to consistently applying the knowledge.” [18]

 

How is that like what goes on in your congregation?

Posted via email from George Bullard's Posterous

Conflict is Necessary

In his book, Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict, George Bullard says the following about the necessity of conflict:

“Conflict is necessary. We could not live in a world without it. A church staff member in a congregation in which no conflict exists is probably in a congregation without strong Kingdom commitments. The book of Acts details how conflict was a necessary ingredient in the spread of the gospel.

Conflict is a necessary part of the Christian experience, as the old self comes in conflict with the new self. Daily we are in conflict to become more Christlike.

Therefore, we should not be afraid of healthy conflict. Rather, we should welcome it as an opportunity to bring forth positive spiritual and social change. We should meet unhealthy conflict as a challenge to the love of Christ, and the fellowship of the congregation.” [12]

See and purchase this book at TCP Resources Store.

A Spiritual Strategic Journey Is . . .

In my book, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation, I describe a spiritual strategic journey in the following way:

"A spiritual strategic journey is spiritual in that it assumes total reliance on God as individuals and as congregations. It assumes that unless the journey is of God, it is for nothing.

A spiritual strategic journey is strategic in that it focuses on those goals and actions that will make the most significant difference in a congregation’s ability to serve in the midst of God’s kingdom. It focuses on effective touch points.

A spiritual strategic journey is a journey in that it is ongoing. Philippians 3:12-16 talks about the journey of a Christian individual as being something that is never completed. Yet it is a journey into which we live at the level of maturity we have achieved today, knowing that we will achieve a higher or deeper level of maturity tomorrow. We never go back. We always press forward to God’s high calling.” [17]

See and purchase this book at TCP Resources Store.

Questions for the Spiritual Strategic Journey of Your Congregation

In my book, Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation, I offer several questions for congregations to consider as they launch a spiritual strategic journey:

• “What are the current signs of health and strength in your congregation on which you can build an excellent, effective future?
• Is your congregation currently traveling along a spiritual strategic journey? If so, what characterizes that journey? Does your congregation have Vision Plus Intentionality as part of its journey?
• What is the full Kingdom potential of your congregation? Is your current journey sufficiently spiritual and strategic to pull you forward to your full Kingdom potential?
• Who has made your personal journey possible? What are their contributions to your life and ministry? Who is your coach for your current journey?
• What factors make your congregation’s journey possible? What are the contributions of the past and present of your congregation that give you both heritage and hope in God’s future for your congregation? Who is your congregation’s coach for your current spiritual strategic journey?” [4]

See and purchase this book at TCP Resources Store.

Posted via email from George Bullard's Posterous

Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60

In a certain sense the essence of this book is described in its title and subtitle—Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60: Being Church for All Generations. Congregation who seek to be a church for all generations will certainly have fewer challenges around conflicts and differing visions between various generations.

It is obviously a book targeting primarily existing congregations who are at least twenty years old and have begun to experience a generational divide. It speaks ably to the conflict that arises when congregations feel the need to start a new type of worship service to keep younger generations from leaving and to attract families/households with children.

Authors Eddie Hammett and Randy Pierce themselves represent some of this generational divide. Eddie is a 50-something, long-term churchperson, and Randy is a 30-something long-term seeker who has now embraced a Christ-centered faith journey. They ably speak from churched and non-churched, modern and postmodern perspectives on how congregations can embrace all generations.

The book offers win-win solutions. Hope. Realistic tactics for existing churches. Virtually every church that is more than 20 years old will confront this issue, and will either put in place a process to address it, or will divide over the generational issue and lose a significant portion of this vitality and vibrancy.

Implied in this look is an important message for churches less than 20 years old. These congregations may believe they are immune to a generational divide. If so, they lie to themselves about other things also. Look in the mirror. This could be you in a few years.

George Bullard, The Columbia Partnership, GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org

Conflict is All Around Us

In my book, Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict, I share the following about the presence of conflict:

“Think about the simple act of clapping your hands. If done as an act of praise it is a healthy action. If done to assume authority by clapping hard to get the attention of people around you, it moves into the grey area. If done to indicate you intend to slap or hit someone, it is an unhealthy action. However, the act of bringing your hands together is the same in each incident. The force and intent are different.” [11]

See and purchase this book at TCP Resources Store.

Congregations Without Conflict Are Dead

In his book, Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict, George Bullard explains why this title is true:

“Every congregation needs a little conflict. Why? Because congregations without conflict are dead or dying. Conflict is a typical, common component of life. A byproduct of conflict is energy and passion. Conflict forces decisions and action.” [8]

Periodically one of the seven reasons why congregations need a healthy intensity will be shared.

See and purchase this book at TCP Resources Store.

Adaptive Change for Mainline Congregations

[This review written by George first appeared at http://books.leadnet.org.]

Dick Hamm has written an informative, insightful, and inspirational book on congregational transformation for mainline Protestant congregations. With Dick's experience in the Christian Church [Disciples of Christ] as a pastor and denominational leader, he understands the dilemma faced by many mainline congregations. In this volume he effectively communications a pathway for these congregations to experience being recreated.

His efforts at applying the work of leadership guru Ron Heifetz [author of Leadership Without Easy Answers] on adaptive change versus technical change are powerful for many congregations. He effectively weaves the concept of the perfect storm to show how congregations in many mainline denominations have been hit by a perfect storm which makes it difficult for them to effectively navigate a path to continual transformation. He uses the metaphor of the perfect storm to describe the factors that have come together to form the need to recreate the mainline denominations and congregations in this postmodern age. The mainline church has turned toward maintenance and survival as opposed to mission.

Dick sees transformation not as a destination, but as a journey "a way of being every day . . . until that day when the reign of God is fully realized." [p.7] To get on this transformation journey, he suggests that congregations ask themselves three very simply, but powerful questions: What time is it? Where am I? What am I doing here?

Coupled with three other resources, this book makes a great guide for mainline and other progressive congregations to use to engage in a congregational and denominational transformational journey. These resources are,

Renew Your Congregation: Healing the Sick, Raising the Dead (TCP Leadership Series)

Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation (TCP Leadership Series)

Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60: Being Church for All Generations (TCP Leadership Series)

Have You Seen the New Book by Ed Stetzer and . . .

. . . Philip Nation? It is entitled, Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living. It is published by some of my favorite people--New Hope Publishers, a division of WMU [a Baptist missions organizations focused around women and girls]. I finished reading the book today, but will read through it again before I write a review for Books @ Leadership Network.

I was reading it on an airplane while traveling to Ohio. I was sitting in the exit row, the flight attendant had just come by to be sure we knew what to do in case of a crash landing [always a comforting thought], when I got to page 58 where Ed talks about being a hero while sitting in the exit row of an airplane. You've got the get the book if for no other reason than to read page 58!

Look for the review later. Check on the Leadership Network book site at http://books.leadnet.org. Hey, while you are at it, check out New Hope Publishers at www.newhopepublishers.com.

George Begins Writing Book Reviews for Leadership Network

Beginning this week George will be writing regular book reviews for Leadership Network. These will appear on their site called Books@LeadershipNetwork. Visit this site and check out what is going on. It is another great service brought to you by Leadership Network.

George's first book review is on The Church of the Perfect Storm edited by Leonard Sweet. To purchase this book go to Bullard Journal Book Store.