Preventing Ignorance, Indifference, or Arrogance

by William Cowles

You can stop growth-choking attitudes before they start in your church.

In my previous blog, I looked at three attitudes that signal that a member-church relationship may be in trouble – that the journey isn’t going as smoothly as the initial alliance promised. Church cultures are heavily populated by occasional participants and volunteer leaders, and a broadly based attitude change can sneak up before it’s ever noticed.

For each of those dangerous attitudes, then, here are some ways that healthy churches can help themselves avoid these traps:

1.       Ignorance – They’re clueless. When member attendance starts slipping, when giving starts to trickle down, when participation becomes less and less frequent – church leaders, staff, and pastors don’t notice. This may be the most dangerous of signs because it develops slowly and subtly over a long time, and people who have created that unawareness, just can’t see it. 

• Repeat yourself, over and over. Restate your vision each week. Remind everyone of the church’s purpose.
• Assume nothing. State the basics regularly. Don’t take understanding for granted.
• Diversify your messages. Don’t rely on one medium – use them all because people learn differently. Use print, use digital, use speech, use drama, use art, use music, use participation.

2.      Indifference – They’re care-less. When attrition starts accelerating, they chalk it up to external factors they don’t think they can control. They rationalize – some people always move away for better jobs; some people die; some people just can’t be happy anywhere. This sign shows a lack of accountability by people who are good at pointing the other way.

• Don’t settle for ‘”good enough.” It’s too easy to get used to mediocrity or less because what becomes familiar and comfortable, eventually becomes “right.”
• Empower and equip the “people people.” Put gregarious people in position to greet and engage others. Put great communicators on the platform. Give social people social  power.
• Reward results. Celebrate individual and group accomplishments. When lives are changed, rejoice. When projects are completed, applaud. When people achieve new or greater things, pat them on the back publicly.

3.       Arrogance – They’re thoughtless. When all the planning and participation is done by just a few well-placed people – leaders, staff, or pastors – that defines a church that has fallen in love with its own power and purpose, and outsiders just don’t matter to them. New people are not allowed into the inner circle, so they never get challenged and never grow. This is the most obvious of the three signs, because its perpetrators love to show off their wisdom and skill at running the church.

• Shift the power base regularly. No one should sit in the same seat of power for more than three years. It either stagnates or burns them out. It offers no room for others to grow. Make it a policy to re-upholster the seats of power and then stick to the plan.
• Apprentice new leaders. The main job of each leader is to find his/her replacement. Make it a priority goal for each and every leader to find and bring the next leader from the ranks of non-leaders, then let them walk alongside.
• Encourage the opposite points of view. Some people are way too good at pressing their own ideas and agendas in forceful and convincing ways. Make it a practice to always present and weigh the opposites before making decisions.

Yes, some of these are harder than others to get done, but your results will be spectacular even when your church has slipped into disrepair.

Instill these strategies and you will create a culture of openness, acceptance, and energy among your people that will keep them fully engaged in the life of the church. It’s way too hard to slip into harmful attitudes when you’re accomplishing great things for God, nurturing others in faithful service, and having some fun at the same time.