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Program or Pastoral – What is the question? By now, most of you have some familiarity with the terms
pastoral and program churches. It makes a big difference to what kind
of church we want to be, and it’s a decision critical to our search
for a new minister.
Which UUSB do you want? We will be drafting answers to that question at our congregational retreat October 27-29, 2006, at Ferry Beach Camp and Conference Center in Saco, Maine. It is critical that we draft proposals now and make a decision at a future congregational meeting as we form a search committee to call a new minister. The size of a congregation affects the ability of clergy to minister effectively. The skills and attitudes that are successful in one sized congregation are different from those that will lead to success in another. Thus, we need to know whether to call a pastoral or program minister. There are those who ask, "can't we stay where we are" - a hybrid between a pastoral and program model. As Alice Mann writes in her book Raising the Roof: The Pastoral to Program Size Transition a church in transition is a very uncomfortable place to be. We are a church of too few trying to do too much with too little. We want a program church agenda (summer camps, retreats, folk festival booth, music program, full time RE, social justice, small groups, adult RE, OWL, youth groups, caring for our building, improve accessibility, intern ministers, etc., etc.), but only have a pastoral size congregation to implement this diverse array of activities. This burns out church leadership, staff, and ministers. Our budgets strain. We have to make a decision and develop strategies to pursue either the pastoral or program model. Our interim minister can help us begin the transition to whichever model we choose. If we offer all these programs why isn’t UUSB growing? Again, Alice Mann provides the answer that churches in transition from pastoral to program experience barriers to growth and attendance/membership will plateau. UUSB is a textbook case. Come to the Ferry Beach retreat to learn about the barriers we’ve identified and let’s discuss what to do about them. Do we just vote pastoral or program? No, the decision itself is important, but the commitment we subsequently make to our church and our shared vision that is the most important outcome. In The Church Growth Handbook William Easum said, "The basic law of congregational life is that churches grow when they intentionally reach out to people instead of concentrating on their institutional needs." Carver McGriff in The Passion Driven Congregation describes a "passion driven" congregation as "one moved to share the suffering of others, compelled to action, and stirred to the depths by love." Perhaps the most important lesson of this book is "it is not about how any people come to church, but about how many people go out from the church to transform the society around them." That is a lesson no minister or congregation should ever forget. We are uniquely positioned to inspire our church to more effective
ministries. We as UUs don’t often hear that we need to “live
our faith,” but if we want to grow we will have to. We’ve
invited members of the Allen Avenue Church in Portland to share their
amazing growth experiences. They are spreading the liberal UU zeal outside
of their church and are transforming their community. As Carver McGriff
predicts, a passion-driven church will grow. |