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Nashville Area: Strategic Mapping Team. LIVING INTO THE CHANGED MISSION FIELD : An Intentionally Messy Conversation. The Current Reality… Unsustainability. People Dollars Age
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Nashville Area: Strategic Mapping Team LIVING INTO THE CHANGED MISSION FIELD: An Intentionally Messy Conversation
The Current Reality… Unsustainability People Dollars Age Conclusion: We are currently living off of more and more money given by fewer and fewer people who are getting older and older.
THE MESSAGES OF “UNSUSTAINABILITY” • It is not about former leaders. • It is caused by a mission field that changed quickly but forcefully around us. • It is not a problem to be solved. • The opposite of “unsustainable” is not “sustainable”; it is “fruitful.”
There was a time… • …when the culture pushed people toward the church. • GI Values of joining • Membership as a tool of personal identity • Belonging and possessions told you – and others – who you were.
The Current Reality…A Deeply Changed Mission Field From Localto Global(space redefined) From Linear to Instant(time redefined) From We to Me (values redefined)
The Current Reality…A Deeply Changed Mission Field Theological “Post-Christendom” The Age of Faith: “trust in Jesus” The Age of Belief: “belief in Jesus” The Age of Spirit: “an experience of Jesus” Harvey Cox
The Current Reality…A Deeply Changed Mission field From:Protestant / Catholic / Jew (Will Herberg, 1983) To:White Protestant / Black Protestant / Catholic / Jew / Mormon / Eastern Orthodox / Muslims / Hindus / Buddhists / Agnostics / Atheists / Wiccans / “nones” (Mark Chaves, 2011)
But we have, quite naturally, been slow to change. • Receiving people in a low threshold organization makes us attend to satisfaction of members. • Norms outlive people.
The wilderness of deep change • When an organization or institution has lost its connection with its own environment there is only one choice: deep change… or slow death. Deep Change, Robert Quinn
The United Methodist Church is being reformed in the wilderness. How will we now be with God? How will we now be with one another?
A Simple Systems Model • Edwards Deming: Simple Systems Theory InputThroughputOutput (Outcome) Nouns VerbsThe difference to be measured Resources Activities
Non-Profit Dilemmas • Non-profits routinely do not know what they produce. • Systems that can’t measure their outcomes commonly measure their inputs and throughputs • In non-profit systems inputs are commonly mistaken for outcomes
The Shifting Paradigm The Old Paradigm Outcome: more members; satisfied clergy; satisfied congregations The New Paradigm Outcome: disciples(changed people who will change the world) Input: members, Clergy and congregations
Who is your client? The Old Paradigm Our churches, our clergy, our programs and activities The New Paradigm The Mission Field
The “Call to Action” • Vital Congregations • Metrics and Measures • Episcopal and Superintending Roles • Structure and Redirection of Resources • A Multiplication of Experiments
Making our map in the wilderness… “All who wander are not lost.” Bilbo Baggins “You will know the way you should go, even though you’ve never traveled this way before.” Joshua 3:4
What is the conversation that you want to take home with you to get started in the wilderness with your leaders?