ideas, resources, and conversation about the joys and struggles of ministry January 2006

The Language of Decision-Making

It sounds violent.  They talk about “bringing in the big guns” and “rallying the troops.”  Sometimes people get “shot down” or “blown away,” and when things don’t go well, they talk about a need to “fall back” or to “retreat.” 

And they are not talking about a recent engagement in Iraq.  They are describing what takes place at a church council meeting or other gatherings of church people.

Admittedly, the language isn’t unique to the church.  It is borrowed from the boardrooms of America, where often the talk is about how to “attack” a problem.  Battle language provides convenient metaphors to describe the process. 

But the language may also influence the way we look at things.  If reaching a decision is approached as a conflict, there will be winners and losers.  It will be viewed as a confrontation between right and wrong, maybe even between good and evil.  If that is what the struggle is about, then participants in that struggle will be convinced of the need to prevail.  No wonder, then, that to come out on top in such a conflict provides a great feeling of success, and that to lose creates such a feeling of despair.

What seldom is grasped is that once a decision-making process has been framed as a battle, a series of disastrous, if unintended, consequences are bound to follow.  In effect, you have established the rules by which your church will function.  You have created a culture of blame.  If there are to be winners and losers, good people and bad, then of necessity people need to protect themselves.  They become reactive and defensive.  Creativity becomes one of the first casualties.  Why risk sharing innovative ideas if it means that you will become the target of “pot shots”?  Positions become hardened and polarized.  People fight back using innuendo, stonewalling, delay, and sabotage. Factual information becomes scarce.  Gossip and rumors flourish.  To line up people on your side becomes far more important than considering alternatives.  All of these “rules of engagement” typically continue in a system long after the initial battle has been concluded.

In fairness, most clergy don’t start out to create a combative climate.  They begin with high idealism, with visions of the good that will be accomplished.  But seemingly out of nowhere, come criticisms, resistance, and accusations.  I suppose it is only normal and somewhat human to respond both defensively and offensively.   But this soon becomes something like a contest seeing who can pile up the most rocks to defend their position ---only to realize too late that they are both standing in a boat.  The winner loses. 

What if, instead of “attacking” a problem, we chose to diagnose it?    What if instead of “taking a shot at it”, we chose to address the issue?  What if instead of “coming out on top” we chose to dialogue?  Admittedly, “diagnose,” “address,” and “dialogue” don’t quite stir the blood like the battle metaphors, but they seem more appropriate to congregational life.  “Diagnose” implies to “know thoroughly.”  Instead of looking merely for information that supports our ideas, we are open to getting as much information as possible from as many different sources as possible.  “Address” implies both “speaking to” (rather than “speaking against”) as well as “defining a location” as a prelude to opening communication (as opposed to “avoiding” an issue).   And, of course, “dialogue” has a long history in churches and provides the picture of “talking through” a problem by listening to different sides.  All depict that the church is a community of believers, that God’s Spirit dwells in each one, that together they are the body of Christ, that the body functions best when each part is involved, that the body in its entirety responds to problems, and that, like any living organism, it will automatically adapt, change, and grow in response to the changes in the environment once those changes have been identified. 

It’s not a war.  It is more like biology.

Bird Flu Comes to Church

Yes, it’s coming.  If not the current Avian flu, which is bringing about significant expenditures of federal funds in a struggle to be prepared, then at some other time in the future.  Pandemics have been known to happen on a somewhat regular basis all throughout history.  There is no reason to suspect it won’t again.

And what has your church done to prepare?  Have you thought about how it might affect “business as usual”?  Have you considered what you might need to do to carry on ministry in the midst of a pandemic?

Here are some facts you need to know:

• Influenza is a respiratory disease.  Approximately 30,000 people each year die from it.  Those numbers would significantly increase if the flu strain is one in which 1) most individuals have no natural immunity to it; 2) it is a particularly virulent strain (with Avian flu, from 50% to 80% of those who contact it die; and 3) it is easily transmitted from person to person (not just from animals to people, as is currently the case with Avian flu). 
  
• Despite being mid-continent, Nebraska could be an area of the country where bird flu might first appear.  Why? We are on the flight path of migratory birds that have contact with birds from Asia and Russia.
  
• The greater mobility of people today might increase both the rapidity and the severity of a pandemic.  On the other hand, the improvements in public health and the ability to communicate information might decrease the severity of a pandemic.
  
• According to a computer projection, in a worst case scenario, there could be as many as 400,000 infected, and 14,000 hospitalized in Nebraska.
  
• Most likely, a voluntary quarantine would be put in place.  People who are ill would be strongly encouraged to stay home.  Large events, including major sporting events, would either be cancelled or postponed.  Schools, churches, and businesses might choose to close.  A pandemic would last from two to eight weeks.
  
• The best way to protect oneself is the same precautions exercised for normal flu: hand washing.

 So, what have you done to prepare?

• Would you cancel worship services?  Have you thought of how you might use e-mails and iPods to provide your members with worship materials?
  
• What changes, if any, would you make in celebrations of Holy Communion?
  
• Do you have on hand n95 surgical masks and anti-bacterial hand wash for use of those who may be ministering to those who are ill?
  
• Do you have medically trained individuals in your congregation whom you could utilize and/or support during a pandemic?
  
• How could you minister to your community, not just your congregation during such a time?
  
• What backups are in place if you get ill?

(note: if you would like additional information and resources, check out the PowerPoint presentation about Avian flu for lay people at http://www.bioprepare.org/avian-flu.htm)

Upcoming Disaster Training Events

(both will feature general information about disaster preparation for your congregation as well as information for those interested in sending teams to assist with the hurricane recovery efforts):

January 21 8:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran, Scottsbluff
Contact Connie Sigrist to register 308-436-4375; csigrist@earthlink.net

February 4, 9:00 a.m. to noon at Lord of Love, Omaha
Contact Chaplain Frank Philipp for more information 608-290-7242
philipp@huntel.net

In Christ’s Service,

Roger Kruger

rkruger@lfsneb.org

(402) 978-5670 (direct line and confidential voice mail)

This e-mail newsletter is an endeavor of Partners in Caring, Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska, Inc. I envision it as a way to share ideas, resources, and conversation about the joys and struggles of ministry. I welcome your input. Feel free to pass it on to friends. If you wish no longer to receive copies of this newsletter, please reply with “unsubscribe.”