The two foundational Unfreezing Moves
We are continuing our look at the book by Bill Easum - Unfreezing Moves - Following Jesus into the mission field
The other posts in the series can be found here
The two foundational Unfreezing Moves
Chapter six of the book argues that there are two foundational unfreezing moves for Churches and seeks to help Church leaders discern which foundational unfreezing move they should embark on. The process of dicernment relies on a list of questions that form a ranking for your Church.
Unfreezing Move One – A solid community of faith
Spiritual Strength:
The first set of questions for this unfreezing move attempt to rate the spiritual strength of the Church’s leadership. There is obviously a danger in attempting to qualify such strength, particularly given the differences in emphasis on what is considered to be ‘spiritual strength’. The questions are fairly broad and cover topics such as prayer, engagement with the scriptures, leaders demonstrated accountability through smaller groups, the functioning of the leadership team and the skills evident in the team.
Trust:
The second set of leaders determines how much trust resides in the Church’s leaders. It seeks to discern the type of leadership structures and operation within the Church. Again, it is obviously subjective but the questions attempt to rate the culture within the Church.
Major, Ongoing conflict:
This set of questions is designed to see if major conflict and ongoing tension is occuring within the Church. The belief is that ongoing conflict will create an environment where new ideas and ventures will not succeed. I resonant with Easum when he says that ‘people walk on egg shells when certain people are present’ (p83) during a conflict situation.
A desire to connect with the world:
Are people in the Church concerned with connecting with the world outside is the question that is tested with this set of questions. Does the Church have heart for mission? Is the Church currently doing anything to connect with those in their community?
Unfreezing Move Two – Discovering and Articulating the DNA
This move deals with understanding how discovering the DNA of the Church or discerning the purpose of the Church is critical for unfreezing. The section on the process that you would undertake to discern the purpose of the Church was fairly light and centered around the pastor. I think there is room for more discussion on this topic – about how a Church can follow a process that will cultivate discussion and decisions around their own DNA. It is a tough issue for leaders, as many Church people believe that the current DNA is the ‘right one’ and change is almost anti-Christian and non-Biblical. It is a theological task as much as anything to cultivate an environment where a discussion around the DNA of a Church can take place.