Unfreezing Move Six – Organizing around the DNA
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
Unfreezing Move Six – Organizing around the DNA
Easum writes that
“effective congregations discover that they are not organized to carry out their DNA and that their organzational structure has become a major road-block to ministry.” (p114)
Most established churches are structured around a committee based system that functioned well in the Christendom era. It was an era where many people had great commitment to serving on boards, and committees. This occurred not just in the Church but in many community organisation. Why did it work this way in the Christendom life of the Church? Was it because the role and place of the Church was different and therefore the commitees and boards were needed to run the organisation? Is it because there has been a shift in the way people are motivated and serving on committees is not seen in the same way? It seems to me that this was the way the world functioned in tha era and we are now experiencing a change in the way organisations are structured and people are motivated. The Church is a product of this culture like any other organisation.
Easum’s comment that “effective congregations discover that they are not organized around their DNA” (p114), is one that we discovered at Northern when we went through a process of creating the governance and management processes for our newly merged church. In exploring the New Testament for signs of how the New Testament church was structured and organized, we discovered that there was not simply one structure. Rather each time a new community of faith was planted as the gospel spread, the principle demonstrated was that it would structure itself around mission (or as Easum puts it DNA). There were a number of functions that were present but to us there was no descriptive way a Church was structured. The apostle Paul was not a franchiser when he planted his many churches.
This led to a sense of freedom to explore the best way we could structure
Easum writes:
“Someone once asked me why the Church of Latter Day Saints was growing so fast. My answer was swift: “they’re organized to grow. Everything they do is designed to produce more Mormons.” The key to restructering is the old adage “form follows function”. The mission of the congregation should determine how the congregation is organized. This means that no one organizational system will work for all congregations even if they are in the same denomination” (p115)
The challenge is to not to allow new structures to be set in stone and for our churches to become rigid organisations. So, how do we create a culture at Northern that doesn’t see its structures that have no been in place for five years (a short time for such change), as THE way or the only way? If our focus is to remain shaped and orientated around mission then we need to stay light on our feet and not develop structures that cannot be changed quickly and responsively.
At the same time, appropriate levels of accountability needs to be built in for a membership based system such as Northern – who have considerable financial assets. However, the management/leadership level of the Church (as oposed to the goverance level) needs to be light, flexible and reponsive to our focus – being the hands and feet of Jesus in the northern suburbs.
One of the tests that Easum has at the conclusion of this move is whether the Church refers to the Roberts rules of Order – I am sure there are some at Northern who have read these rules – I am not one. Maybe I should start a google search.