Dear Blooming Glen Friends,
“When you focus on problems, you end up with more problems. When you focus on opportunities, you have more possibilities.” – Zig Ziglar
At the heart of my work over the last seventeen months as your intentional interim pastor has been the desire to provide Blooming Glen with an invitation to make a significant shift in the ways we approach congregational life. Is congregational leadership primarily a process of problem solving? Do we identify problems, analyze the problems, create possible solutions to the problems, and then create, implement, evaluate, and update the plans to treat the problems? In short, do we focus as a congregation on doing less of that which we do not do well? It seems to me that since, like many congregations, we do not deal well with disagreements, that we may, like other congregations, spend precious time and energy in avoiding disagreements, either through denial, or avoidance, or undermining efforts.
Could we instead reset our approach to appreciating what is working, and do more of that? That will require of us a mind-shift to identifying what we truly value as a congregation, then envision what might be because of what we value, with engagement in dialogue about what should be, given our values, and then embrace the trial and error of creative destruction and innovation to get to what will be – the fruit born of our commitment to common values.
The Post-Christendom loss of our Gospel narrative coherence and our institutional capacities, along with the socially polarizing effect of chronic COVID, and topped off by the ongoing swamping of wisdom with easy and not always accurate electronic flood of information often put us in a defensive crouch as the church. We find ourselves trying to solve problems without working to improve together what we do best.
So, friends, what does Blooming Glen do best as a church? Every congregation has its charism. Every congregation does something well.
Given what we do best, what are our opportunities? What might we begin to do more of … and do it better?
When was the last time you had a conversation with someone from Blooming Glen about how you would conspire to do more of what we value and do it better?
When was the last time you thought of a possible experiment to innovate based on what we value? What’s stopping you from that experiment?
All these activities require from us the continuing practice of radical candor: to care deeply for one another and to challenge one another directly.
Problem-solving is an inherently deflective behavior – it seeks to place blame and reprimand for failure in meeting expectations. Appreciative inquiry and radical candor are inherently attractional and incarnational behaviors – they draw us together despite whatever our differences are toward experiments in the opportunities we have with a defined common good.
Which approach do you want to participate in over the next year?
Love you, Church!
Pastor Jeff
jeff@bgmc.net
PS – I’ll be back at the A&N diner on Monday, July 10, 7:30-8:45am. If the A&N is still closed for remodeling, then I’ll meet you at Royann Diner. On Friday, July 14, I’ll be at the Broad Street Grind from 3:30-4:45pm. As always, the purpose of these gatherings is for me to listen to whatever is on your mind.