With a number of proposals being presented at Virginia Conference this year, I’ve been giving some thought to “strategy.” The delegates at this and other annual conferences are being asked to consider responses to various challenges that our denomination is facing: membership decline, underfunded pensions, closing some churches and starting new ones. As this quote from Craig Van Gelder (Missional Church in Perspective) suggests, Americans have a profoundly pragmatic outlook on life, that leads us to seek strategies to solve our problems:
Interestingly, a continuous unfolding of movements focusing on strategy can be observed within U.S. churches during the past half century. These were generated largely by the church’s efforts to respond to continuously changing contexts. These movements, in focusing primarily on strategy, largely reflect a deep pragmatism within much of U.S. culture that tends to concentrate heavily on technique. This focus has led generation after generation of church leaders to search for fresh approaches to help the church remain successful within a changing context. These various strategies have typically focused on redefining the purpose/mission of the church as a way to get the church back on track in its mission and ministry.
Now, there is nothing inherently bad with identifying problems and proposing strategies to address them. That is a very essential act in any human organization. But it does raise one important question for consciously Christian organizations (like churches): On what foundation are we trusting to help us through our challenges? Is it possible for us, who live every day in a nation of passionate pragmatists, to rely too heavily on technique and strategy? And, as United Methodists, who have inherited our founder’s adept organizational acumen, can our emphasis on organization mask the deep spiritual needs of the people in our communities, and our pews? The strategies that we develop, necessary as they are, must be grounded deeply in our understanding of what it means for us to be the church in these rapidly changing contexts. The Methodist movement in the 18th century forced the Church of England to ask those deeper questions. The intense and rapid changes taking place around us today demand that we do the same, and effective strategies are only part of the answer. What do you think?
