Tuesday, November 20, 2012

 

Only 1 of 7 matters

Ron Edmondson lists "Here are 7 enemies of organizational health":
  • Shortcuts
  • Satisfaction
  • Selfishness
  • Sinfulness
  • Sluggishness
  • Stubbornness
  • Structure
OK, it's cute, and each of those things is an issue, but do they really matter?

When I look at that list - I see "sinfulness" and the rest of the list simply disappears. We are dissatisfied becasue we are sinful. We are certainly selfish becasue we are sinful. Sluggishness is but a symptom of sin.

Our sin lies at the root of all things problematic.

It has been my experience that while there are problems running a church, and some structures are better than others - they only thing that can produce total failure is people. For example - I absolutely think the Presbyterian system is the best system for running a church - but it is a system that requires because of the amount of power it places in the pews a deeply committed and reasonably large core of people in the church who actively seek Christian maturity. I generally dislike the more top-down pastor personality heavy approach of the Pentecostal and Baptist churches. Much of my distaste is born of the incredible abuse I have seen flow out of those systems.

However, those preferences stated, there are some beautiful top-down churches and most Presbyterian churches are failing as we speak. Conclusion - the system is secondary to the people that operate it. The health of an organization is largely measures by the health of the individual comprising the organization. That does not mean just physical health, it means spiritual health.

A bit more focus on that and a bit less on body counts and organizational charts and I thin the church just might get back to the business of changing the world.

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