I have been thinking a lot about the
I read recently of a hospital that was trying to drastically improve their patient care by focusing on how it felt to be a patient. Here is what they did: They put someone on a gurney with a video camera and had them record what it felt like to be a patient. Doctors and nurses and technicians were a bit startled to see that perspective. Lying down, looking straight up, all the patient could see was lights and ceiling ties. Winding around corners, down halls, and up and down elevators was amazingly discombobulating. Often the patient was left in place while unknown people moved by. All around were disembodied voices talking in technical jargon. Occasionally, a head would pop into view to ask a question. People who saw this video become much more intentional about what the patient was experiencing. They were clearer to the patient about where they were going and what was going on and more regular about getting into the patients field of view.
This reminded me very much of my first few times in a church. What we forget is that people who are not Christians do not know what to expect and do not know what is going on. There is a lot of fear and anxiety. For me, everything moved a little too fast and I felt incredible self-conscious and out of place. From where I sit on Sunday morning, I see that look all the time from new people. They walk through the doors of the sanctuary and they look confused and trapped. There is no clear indication of where they should sit. Often they have to look around to find a seat and then fight their way to it. Too often, that seat is not on the end of an isle. Only a person who has gone to church many years would think that it is ok for a new person to have to ask someone to move. Had that been me the first time, I would have left.Our mission as a church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Part of that mission includes inviting and welcoming people who have had no previous relationship with Christ. I invite you, the next time you are in church, to ask yourself, “Can I see through the eyes of a seeker?” Look at the church from the parking lot to the sanctuary and back out again as though you knew nothing about Christianity and nothing about the people of our church. Pretend you don’t know where we worship or what a narthex is. Walk into the sanctuary as though you know no one and nothing about the service that was about to take place. Pretend you don’t know that you need a bulletin or that our songs are in something called a hymnal. Pretend you have never “passed the peace” or sung a doxology or had an offering plate placed in your hands. Pretend you have never even heard of communion. Would you feel safe? Would you feel welcome? Would you be clear about what was expected of you? Would you come back again?
Can you see through the eyes of a seeker?
will
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in creating flood buckets for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Thank you to those of you who gave supplies and money and to everyone who came out yesterday to put them all together. A big thanks as well to everyone who drove around looking for buckets and buying bulk supplies. This was a huge effort!
The first letters spell success... really cheesy, but it works. Check it out if you want people to remember what you are communicating.
Happy reading!
peace,
will
In the past, we have assembled flood buckets for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). You can learn more by searching "flood bucket" in the search bar on the top of the weblog.I actually read it as part of the project I am writing for my ordination process. (See more details are in a previous post "Where is Pastor Will's Stole... And Where is Pastor Will?") The book really supports what I am writing about and what I have been talking about in different team meetings in the church, our need to take a more systematic approach to making disciples. As I say over and over, the church as a whole has forgotten about what happens to Christians after they make the initial decision to accept the grace the God offers them. In theological terms we talk of the grace that calls us into relationship with God prevenient grace. We talk of that moment (or moments) of "conversion" where we see who we are, accept our need for God and turn our hearts toward God as justification and speak of God's action in that as justifying grace. Practically, we are all pretty clear on that. However, John Wesley believed that God's work wasn't over. It is God's sanctifying grace that continues to work in us moving us on toward perfection in love, on toward re-creation in the image of Christ. Wesley believed that God did this work, but there was work we should be doing in the process, like praying, receiving communion, studying scripture, and meeting in community.
This is where I contend the church has lost some direction. This is where we need to follow Wesley's desire to have more systematic approach to helping people move on to and through this next stage. This is where the "ocean diagram" I bring up in just about every meeting we have comes in. It is simply a graphical way to see that they journey is not over when someone joins the church.
Anyway, this is some of what is going on in the book. As you can see I am pretty deep into this project, so I can't stop writing about this stuff. The book is really great though. It is a book I wish some other people were reading and asking about. If you are interested in how the church is evolving and changing to make disciples, give it a read and let me know what you think.
peace,
will
I finished reading Jim Collins' Good to Great a couple of weeks ago and am just getting around to writing about it.
This is a fantastic book and I think it is one secular book that should be required reading for all who consider themselves leaders in the church. Over and over we get people telling the church to acts more like a business in one way or another and most of those models fail. The church is not a business. However, this book does not lay out another "fad" for building a better business, it simply looks at what makes great companies great. The book is the product of a fairly insane amount of research into companies who made a transition from poor or mediocre performance to a place where they consistently outperformed other companies in the same sector with similar situations. The author and his team looked for things that these companies, from a wide variety of different industries and service sectors, had in common. The results were remarkable clear.
The consistently great companies held in common:
I have oversimplified this all a bit just to give you a little taste. What I love about this book in terms of thinking about the church (and I am talking about churches in general) is that, as I have said before, I think that churches don't think much about being great. I think that is unfortunate. I know some people don't like my way of thinking and believe that it is inappropriate to think of church in these terms. However, I think that the institutional aspect of the church should be the BEST institution. We should do a better job than any other type of organization in sharing our message because our message is vitally important.
I apologize in advance for this comparison if it offends you. Gillette from 1980-1995 outperformed the general market by over 7 times. The study showed this was due to all the characteristics I listed above. They were selling razors. Nice, sharp razors with multiple blades are really nice, but they haven't really changed the world. The mainline church in America, which can share a message of grace and salvation that can change the world is on the decline.
If the church really wanted to reach as many people with the message of grace and salvation as possible, it wouldn't need to follow a business model, but it would need to decide it wanted to be great and think about getting the best people on the team (clergy and lay people) think about facing the brutal facts, consider what aspect of sharing the gospel or building the kingdom each individual church was best at and had a passion for and do that, be disciplined and use technology to accelerate a clear mission.
If you are still interested, read the book. I would love to hear your thoughts.
peace,
will
I just think Robin Cook books are fun. They are about one step from watching TV. Cook always tries to weave some current controversial theme into his books and, because he is a doctor, they tend to be medical. This one, in the midst of a good story, took on health care specifically the concept of concierge medicine. Concierge medicine is a fairly recent movement in the health care business to enable people to have better access to a physician by paying a retainer. (There is a quick article on the topic from Newsweek here: House Calls)
That's all the review you get on this one. You'll find some more depth in some of the other books on my stack as I continue to clean off my bookshelf.
peace,
will
