My Key Concepts
The purpose of this blog is to promote discussion of some ideas which I think will promote
the development of first world churches, and through debate to improve those ideas. To follow the flow of my logic, read forward
from the first entry;
entries which form the cornerstones of my thought are flagged with "KEY--", and are listed below with a short summary of the key idea. Kindly share your suggestions and improvements with me, and I will adjust the contents accordingly.
Thank you for your participation! (Direct email contact is also welcome.)
- KEY--Why are congregations weak?
(Mostly due to defects in the culture of the judicatory: unclear mission/vision, ineffective structures, misaligned incentives, and lack of support, all of which lead to a low quality "product".) - KEY--Correcting diocesan weaknesses
(A summary explanation of what is involved in correcting those defects.) - KEY--Correcting the weakness of congregations
(How to move away from a "laisser faire" leadership style at the diocesan level in a way that has organisational legitimacy.) - KEY--Setting Targets (Overview)
(Dioceses now measure mostly finances and attendance, if they measure anything. Some suggestions on better measures which should have a cause and effect relationship towards wholistic growth, a Balanced Scorecard.) - KEY--Sample Benefits from a Balanced Scorecard
(Illustrating what wholistic growth would look like: much more than just more money or more people in church!) - KEY--Cause and Effect for Laurentian Congregational Revitalisation
(Shows the linkage between the different strategic activities in Laurentian churches, and growth in organisational, spiritual, financial and participatory health.)
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Tools for Assessment (1)--Text description
To assess a congregation requires asking the right questions. We decided to focus on a summary of the key issues:
- The mission of this congregation; this could be a summary of the vision statement, or a short mission statement, or simply a summary of what seemed to be motivating people. If there isn't much there, we want that to show. If there is something, we want it to motivate the members and the leaders and to guide their every decision!
- Areas the leadership of this congregation is most interested in improving right now, i.e. their top priorities.
- The specific objectives they have set themselves, with a quantifiable target. This was developed before the Balanced Scorecard came into being, and might be dropped. On the other hand, few congregations will be able to focus on more than 6 key measures from the BSC, and this would be a way of selecting the most important ones.
- The Strengths, Weaknesses (both internal) and the Opportunities and Threats (external) specific to this congregation.
- Recent activities: what did they do in the last year that provided major support for their mission? If nothing, it is helpful to know. If what is presented is feeble, the person working with the form will see that, and may be spurred to do better in the future.
- Culture: Current and Desired. We hope that a description of the desired culture will permit the leadership and the membership to know what they are building towards. It is like a vision statement (5-10 years into the future), but describing more specifically the culture of the congregation.
|
Copyright 2005, Mark Gibson (email at markagibsoncan@gmail.com) |