Your church’s self-understanding is comprised of three
components: beliefs; language; and practices. These three elements combine to
create the organizational culture of your congregation. The beliefs are the
motivation for action and ministry, the interior or “heart” drive for why you
do what you do. The language is how you express those beliefs and how you
communicate with each other. Your practices are the lived behaviors that
support your beliefs and are encouraged and supported by your language choices.
The problem comes when you begin to realize that you are actually struggling
with two competing cultures in your congregation. You find yourself in the
tension between the stated culture and the shadow culture.
Your church has a stated culture. The stated culture is made
up of those beliefs, language, and practices that are affirmed in meetings and
official gatherings. This might include the promise to welcome, love, and
respect everyone regardless of gender, race, or other social differences. The
There is also a shadow culture in your congregation. There
are beliefs, language, and practices that are lived that overwhelm any formal
affirmation. Your mother was right when she said “it doesn’t matter what you
say, people know you by what you do.” While stated beliefs may affirm inclusive
ministry, behaviors in and out of church demonstrate whether that is a real
part of your culture. While formal language speaks of love and acceptance,
insider language with barely veiled innuendos related to who is “in” and who is
“out” convey the heart of the church. While stated practices encourage
welcoming everyone to the table, covered dish dinners that exclude newcomers
and push them to tables to sit by themselves speaks volumes to the shadow
culture that is really part of your organization.
Inform; Internalize; Integrate
So how do you bring the shadow culture into the light and
create the aspirational stated culture that you really want to see in your
congregation. The process has to be intentional, it won’t happen just because
you state it over and over again. If it would, it would have already happened.
How do we move our stated culture from fancy mission statements hung on the
wall to actually being lived down the hall? Like with most behavioral learning
it is a three-step process: inform; internalize; and integrate.
First you have to step back and actually admit the truth,
and then you have to share the truth. The key to overcoming shadows is to bring
them into the light. Look for times when the shadow culture is sneaking in
around the edges and then use them as illustrations in leadership gatherings
Information is a great first step, but knowing and living
are very different things. If your church simply lived the truth they already
know the world would be a different place. The next step is to internalize the
knowledge into your leader’s lives. This means that you go first, and then you
invite those in leadership to go with you. If you want to be an inclusive
congregation, you have to live a life that invites people into your life, into
your home, that are outside of your normal homogenous group of friends. It is
very easy to talk about inclusive ministry with a group lf people that all look
alike, it's a different world when you invite those normally outside to come
inside your life and your home. If you want only affirming language to be
spoken, then you have to be the first to find places to be affirming. Leaders
go first and internalize the stated and desired culture into their lives and
then invite others to come along.
The final step to living out your stated culture rather than
your shadow culture is to integrate the desired culture into your ministries
and missional priorities of your congregation. Once the leaders “get it” they
are responsible for sharing it through their words and actions (only God knows
their heart). They have to act as agents of correction and redirection, not
being willing to silently acquiesce when the unhealthy shadow culture begins to
slip in around the edges. They have to seek out the negative and bring light to
cast out the shadows. As Jesus stated in Matthew 5:14, you are called to be the
“light of the world,” so shine.
Lastly, cultures do not change easily. In most of the
organizations I have worked with the shadow culture has deep roots in the
history of the church, often going back to its founding. When I do workshops I
remind those in attendance that “small churches are small for a reason” and I
believe that the reason is not the pastor, the location, or even the number of
parking places available, the reason is the culture. Once a culture is set it
is like concrete, it takes a lot of effort and patience to change it, but in
almost every epistle Paul reminds us to persevere because the “glory of that
day is not worthy to be compared to the trial you face today.”
Gracious God give us
the passion for moving people closer to you and the perseverance to endure and
to change the culture of our congregations to be aligned with your desires for
our churches and not be bound by shadow cultures that reflect the heart of the
evil one. Amen
Consumed by the Call,
Marty
