Nothing Is Not The Answer
by Mark Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader
Sometimes it is. Sometimes in church life it is time to do nothing, waiting for the Lord.
But not this time.
During the Fall Ministry season, we are hearing many churches and their leaders asking what their next steps may be as they emerge from two years of great volatility. Churches are asking their leaders, lay leaders are asking clergy and church staff, and clergy and church staff are asking us and others. What do we do now?
“Nothing,” is not the answer.
Savvy church leaders recognize we are in a liminal time, transitioning church-as-we-have-known-it to church-as-it-is-becoming. These leaders recognize adaptation is the primary move we need to make, seizing the transformation opportunities while they are hot. Yet some of these leaders mistakenly believe this largely means doing nothing. “Because we don’t know what the next expression of church looks like, that means we can’t do anything but wait for it to arrive,” so the thinking goes.
I can understand this. It can seem like our role is to wait and watch.
But our calling as church leaders is far more than that. This is the time for action. And here’s what we are trying to do, with Holy Spirit guidance:
“Cultivating church cultures of mission-congruent adaptation”
We don’t need to know what to do, but we do need to strengthen and develop our churches so they can seize each mission-congruent opportunity.
Besides, when churches ask what’s next and church leaders respond with a “nothing” type answer, those churches will create a more satisfying answer themselves. Humankind doesn’t tolerate a vacuum for long, filling in the space with something. Our churches need something to do – and this is the perfect time to guide our churches into proactive, mission-congruent, adaptive transformation.
To that end, here are five options to consider:
Identify your church’s BHAG – Remember Jim Collins, author of Good To Great and Beyond Entrepreneurship? Though he didn’t coin the BHAG saying, Collins did popularize it in the 1990s – Big Hairy Audacious Goal. We at Pinnacle are entering a visioning process in our organization, having identified a stretch-goal for 2023-2025. It’s challenging, yet invigorating, too, (will share more another time). What’s your church’s current BHAG? One suggestion to innovate with that mentioned above, “to become a church that pursues every mission-congruent opportunity God brings our way.” Imagine how that might unleash the Holy Spirit and innovation in your local body of Christ.
Engage in a process which guides your church into adaptation – I don’t often mention our processes in these articles, but I have to say the Reshaping Church Process, provided in collaboration with Central Seminary and largely funded by the Lilly Endowment, is an excellent way to move forward with support and guidance in a Community of Practice. Learn more here https://www.cbts.edu/reshaping-church/
Learn to lead adaptive transformation – There are plenty of good books serving as foundational resources. We are providing lots of seminars and presentations right now in adaptive transformation. We are working to produce more materials (books and online courses) all the time. The most helpful approaches are to join one of our offerings that combine learning and coaching groups. Get in touch to explore possibilities.
Secure a coach who understands adaptive transformation. Period. That’s all on this one.
Stay in touch with us at Pinnacle. Since we began in 2008, adaptive change and transformation has been our focus. Early on, churches and their leaders weren’t so sure they believed our call to transformation was necessary. The volatility of the last two years changed that mindset among many. Now more than ever, we are proactively investigating and exploring the intersection of God, church, faith, and culture… eager to participate with the unfolding story of God’s church here on planet earth.