[Today's second reading is from Moving On From Church Folly Lane: The Pastoral to Program Shift by the Rev. Robert T. Latham. Rev. Latham is a consultant to Unitarian Universalist congregations, and his book addresses what happens when a "pastoral" congregation, of around 100 weekly attendees, becomes a "program" congregation with 200 or more. The latter, he says, is too large to consist of a single core "cell" of people who know each other -- it must have multiple interacting cells.]
"The religious mission of the congregation must be clear and inspiringly stated. It must be elevated as the first priority of every agent of the congregation's ministry. It must invoke commitment to a commonly held 'outside our own skin' nobility that transcends personal or small group agenda. It is such a purpose that empowers a profoundness of bonding that survives the fragility of ego need and the competitive spirit of lesser agendas. Without this kind of mission orientation the Program Congregation may fragment into a multiplicity of self-focused and value inflated groups competing for the congregation's attention and resources."
"Indeed, the longer the issue of purpose goes unattended, the stronger will grow the sense of independence of these cells from the congregation's mission. They will gradually assume the notion that they exist for the sake of themselves. And, given time to solidify into this state of independence, they may never be willing to reenter the congregation's transcendent mission. When this happens the capacity of the congregation to engage a sense of profound community is significantly diminished, because this profoundness is directly related to its various cells seeing themselves as a synergistic part of a greater whole and grander purpose."
"The Program Congregation must deliberately design what it does in order to address effectively the issues of cell division and community. Otherwise, it becomes a consumer-oriented religious corporation dependent on designing program product that elicits the loyalty of satisfied customers. In so doing its mission to transform the world is lost to the singular focus of pleasing the private agenda of its individual members and addressing their momentary whims."
From Moving On From Church Folly Lane: The Pastoral to Program Transition, page 36.
Last modified 7 July 2008