A couple of weeks ago, when it looked like the Maple Leafs were about to crash and burn (again), their coach said what they really need to do was to simplify their game.
During a recent basketball game, when the Raptors were leading but being hard-pressed by their opponent, the commentator said they needed to slow the game down.
Simplify. Slow down. Good advice for a sports team under pressure. And good advice for anxious churches as well.
Anxiety makes things seem more complicated than they need to be. Where do we even start? One problem spawns a dozen more problems and we become paralyzed into inaction.
And anxiety makes us rush. This sounds ironic, since the church seems to move at a glacier's pace. But when we are stressed and afraid, the temptation is to run around trying to deal with everything until our heads are spinning. As one of my university professors used to say: "When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout." Slowing down, taking stock, praying, reflecting, are key disciplines in anxious times. Remember the old Mennonite proverb: "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get."
One way to help your church simplify and slow down is to invite people to paint a picture. Not literally, but figuratively. Invite them to come up with one central word picture or metaphor that expresses who they are and where they are. Post modern people respond to images more readily than abstract concepts, we're told. Yet what tool do we most often use to try to describe ourselves? The mission statement wordy, heady, abstract. Mission statements act like definitions, which invites endless arguing over word choice -- "I think it should say 'A caring community of faith,' not 'A community of caring faith.'"
A well chosen picture is an invitation. An invitation to enter into reality more deeply. An invitation to engage our imaginations. to be open to unsuspected dimensions of meaning. A good picture is "multi-valent" -- it works at different levels, allowing it to speak to multiple situations and experiences.
To those steeped in these stories, the ship invited them to go deeper in applying them to their own lives. To those new to faith, they were powerful teaching aids. "Why do you have a picture of a ship on the wall?" "Well, let me tell you."
Finding a good picture for your church and its mission is more the product of intuition than rationality. It's where the creative, right-brain folks in your church can really be helpful.
Here's a simple process that any church, no matter how small, can use to find its central picture.
1. Gather together. Don't ask a committee to do it. People need to participate in the process so they own it. It can be a specially called meeting, or something that's already happening, like your AGM. Always best to have food. Invite people to talk about some simple questions:
"Who are we? (Identity) Who ought we to be? (Purpose) Think of some words that describe us."
"What biblical story pops into your mind as we discuss this?"
"Think of a picture image that captures the essence of our discussion so far."
2. Don't rush! It might not happen in one sitting. Maybe you'll need to plan other opportunities to continue talking. Keep at it until something emerges that engages the hearts and imaginations of the people. You'll know when it does.
And don't move too quickly to the obvious, the over-used, the visual equivalent of the tired cliche. Rainbows, circles, trees can be powerful images, but not if they simply sit on the surface and don't take us deeper.
Don't be afraid to be playful or quirky. I heard about a church whose chosen picture was a flying chicken. They'd been reflecting on God's word in Isaiah 40 about "rising up on wings like eagles." They trusted that God could help them fly; but they knew they were clumsy and accident-prone, and not nearly as majestic as an eagle. So a flying chicken seemed to say it best!
3. Keep it simple. Resist the urge to say everything up front. The beauty of a truly profound image is that its meaning will expand over time. It has the potential to tell us things about ourselves we never suspected. There's a version of the "boat in the storm" story in Matthew 14, where the disciples see Jesus walking on the water. (Matthew 14: 22-33) I once heard someone ask, "So, if the boat is the ancient symbol of the church, where is Jesus?" I remember it hitting me. Jesus is not in the boat, he's outside the boat, calling to Peter to take one enormous leap of faith by getting out of the boat himself. What a transformative insight from a well-worn story.
4. Keep it biblical. For some reason, churches think they've outgrown Scripture, like they've heard it all before. Scripture is a bottomless well that will keep on nourishing us and refreshing us if we allow it to. Your picture should have the capacity to draw you into Scripture in fresh and surprising ways.
5. Keep at it. The problem with fine sounding mission statements is that we write them and then forget about them. Even if they're posted on the wall, they have no power to shape our life.
You can find a great image, but unless you let it work its way into your life, it will also be abstract and remote. You need to put that image at the centre of everything you do, not in a limiting and controlling way, but in an inviting and imaginative way. To paraphrase God's command in Deuteronomy: "Keep it in your heart. Recite it to your children and talk about it when you are home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind it as a sign on your forehead, and write it on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
In other words, take every opportunity -- in worship, in meetings, in small groups, at events -- to draw your congregation's attention to your defining picture, and encourage them to discover new levels of meaning in it that will shape your church's life.
This is a process that costs no money, that requires no complicated program, that can work in any church of any size -- in fact, it's probably easier to do in a smaller church.
Find your picture and let it guide you in your journey.
Thanks Paul for these always thoughtful and practical posts.
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