Design Thinking in the Church
If you are a student of “innovation” you’re probably familiar with the term Design Thinking. If you’re not familiar with the term here’s a link that can give you broad overview.
The actual process of design thinking is often attributed to IDEO, a product design company located in California. To make the story short, IDEO was doing a lot of business in designing products they were getting a lot of attention (the mouse for the first Mac computer among others). Nightline the news program did a very cool story on them and the unique process by which they designed their products. Many people we interested, and looked for ways to adapt IDEO’s product design process to tackling other non-design problems.
Over time, Tom Kelley and IDEO began to refer to it as Design Thinking instead of simply “design”. They realized that it has more to do with the way that you think about the problem and its solution than about the actual product. They also began to consult with many different companies on how to integrate this thought process into the common challenge of being innovative.
There are several books worth reading on the topic including The Art of Innovation, Ten Faces of Innovation, The Rise of the Creative Class, and A Whole New Mind.
In general the concept is that our society has moved to very left brain thinking. Left brain thinking is characterized by analysis, logical, and linear thought processes. Right brain thinking is more creative, adaptable, and innovative. The goal is to use both the right and left brain thinking abilities.
For the church, this makes great sense. For hundreds of years the message of the gospel and the story of Christianity was represented through art, creativity and the narrative. It is a recent trend that we have focused so much on the logical and scientific aspects of the faith. In denying our creativity we have denied a large part of who God created us to be. At the same time - simply being creative, without understanding the rational and logical truths of the faith- is also denying a large part of who we are. It is when those two parts are brought together that we can most resemble the functioning body of Christ.
Over the next few posts I’ll be going into more detail about Design Thinking as a process and how it can benefit the church. It is one of the core processes that we use at 218Consulting when we help churches overcome the obstacles they face.
Strengths Based Leadership
Here is the answer to the question we should have asked in the beginning. The newest book in the “StrengthsFinder” genre gives the “How do I lead with this?” answer to all the information that the other books have provided.
I was an early adopter of the StrenghtsFinder concept and have worked hard with my clients over the years to apply the information to the reality of everyday work. For a while it was a challenge just getting them to buy into the Strengths Based model. Now, they just want to know how to really benefit from it.
Strengths Based Leadership gives you (the Leader) the tools you need to see how to develop effective teams to move your church forward. The insight is in the grouping of the various strengths and how they relate to one another. It gives a great, clear and applicable approach to making the most of the Strengths knowledge base.
On the downside, you still have to purchase a book with a code to access this new info. On the upside, if you took the StrengthsFinders 2.0 recently - you can skip taking the test and just enter the code.
Changing the Church
I will never understand why people don’t understand why it’s hard to change a church. Think about it. The church has been in in existence for 1500 years. During that time it has changed very little. In some cases the changes are so minor that they shouldn’t really count as change. They would more appropriately be called a “tweak”.
Our current society values rapid change. Look how quickly your iPod becomes out of date. While the church is made up of visible people, it is driven by principles and dynamics that are invisible. The truth is that most people who are in leadership positions in the church choose that role because it fulfills their personal issues. Psychological studies of those who answered a call to Ministry show that many of those men and women come from a place of brokenness and/or insecurity. Within the walls of the church they find a place where they are loved and accepted and secure. Asking these men and women to risk all of that to bring change to their local church is more than many of them are able to do…
The irony is that the same deep-seated issues are often what drives them to be successful leaders and pastors in our churches. If you’ve ever spent time working in the church you have seen what I’m talking about. On the other hand, if you’ve ever spent time working in a church - you may be one of the broken ones and not be aware of the same deep issues within you.
There are somethings in the church that should never change such as the basic teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the methods in which we teach that message need to constantly change. I imagine everyone would agree that we do a better job teaching in our education system now than we did 50 years ago. It is foolish to think that the methods of teaching should always stay the same.
The church itself expects people’s actions to change quickly once they embrace the teachings of the church. But at the same time the church itself refuses to change its actions. Either you believe in change or you don’t.
Change can come to the church. The challenge is finding healthy leaders who are willing to take a stand, and make the needed changes (and get good counseling!)
Post Christian America
In a recent article in Newsweek it is reported that the percentage self identified Christians has dropped by 10 points in the last 20 years. Throughout this article the implication is given that the Christian influence in United States is headed towards and end. The article is entitled The End of Christian America.
I don’t want to get into the semantics of whether or not this was ever a Christian country, but it doesn’t take much research to see that this nation was founded on Christian principles.
The 3 C’s of a Church
Each and every church operates according to the 3 C’s. Most of them just don’t know it. The dynamics of each C determine decisions and results - but most leadership teams have little knowledge of how to utilize this information to align their vision and resources. Here they are:
1. Concept: The future (or vision) is simply a concept that exists within you and your church about what the church sh/could look like. Like most concepts, there are always challenges to making them into reality.
2. Context: This is the reality in which you and your church exist. This has to do with everything from the socioeconomic makeup of your community to the Spiritual gifts that God has placed within your congregation.
3. Content: This is the way that you will go about programing and resourcing your vision. It is the area where most leadership teams like to focus after the vision is cast. That is a mistake.
In order for the local church to really have an impact, it must get it’s C’s in order.
1-2-3
Concept - Context - Content
If your leadership team is struggling with getting this right, let our team help. That is why we are here!
Contact 218Consulting
Pastor, Preacher and Leader
The burnout rate for those who lead churches is very high. I believe the core of this problem is based in the three headed monster that we have allowed our churches to create.
Pastors today have the challenge of fulfilling an impossible task.
The demands placed on the pastor are simply too diverse to meet. Traditionally the role of pastor has been one of “caretaker” of the people. In fact many answered the call to full-time ministry from a place of compassion and caring for the people. It was the desire to comfort, counsel, and to care for people that in many ways that drew them into the profession of being a pastor. The title “pastor” is synonymous with caring. Part of the role of the pastor was to preach to the people that in the church.
Within the last couple of decades a change has taken place. There is now a distinct difference between being a pastor and being a preacher. A preacher is one who has the ability to communicate God’s Word to groups of people in an effective way. A great preacher is a great communicator. A great preacher holds people’s attention and inspires them to action. With this growing difference between a pastor and a preacher, we have discovered that many of those who fill our pulpits are either one or the other. The very gift-mix that makes someone dynamic from the pulpit, does not lend itself well to being compassionate and caring on a personal level. For many years churches were willing to put up with a mediocre communicator because they appreciated being cared for. That has changed. Through technology, our church members are constantly surrounded by dynamic communicators. They now expect the same from their pastor.
The third part of this monster is the role of leader. Many small churches are now closing their doors, and it is only the growing churches that will survive. It is vitally important that these churches have a solid leader. If we are limited in the number of people who can be both an effective pastor and preacher, we are almost nonexistent when it comes to the pastor, preacher, and leader combination.
Unfortunately, we have too many people trying to be all three, and doing more harm than good for the local congregations in the process.
The correct challenge for pastors is not trying to have all three heads, but to determine which head you already have. Once you make that determination, embrace it and excel at it. If you are a preacher then preach, but don’t try to pretend to be an effective pastor and leader. Preach well, but also surround yourself with people that can take care of your congregation. Preach with passion, but also empower other people to lead.
If you are a great pastor, get out of the pulpit and let someone else be the dynamic communicator. Let them use the gifts that God has given them to bring His Word to His people. Find a leader who can set the direction and rally the people to a great vision and future.
If you’re a great leader, you may be OK in the pulpit, but you’re probably a lousy pastor. You need to quickly find someone who can be compassionate and caring for the people you’re leading.
Answering God’s call to ministry is fairly simple - the challenge is not letting the “systems” of the past determine how you answer that call.
