 Where
We Go from Here – IV
People who
study these things talk about two kinds of challenges. Technical
challenges are a matter of doing what the experts can tell us works.
The problem is well-defined, the solution is clear, and making things better
is a matter of doing things (however hard) under the guidance of the
experts. Think of going to the doctor to have a broken bone set.
The other
kind is adaptive challenge. Here the problem may not be clear at the
outset, there may be no known “best way” to deal with the problematic
situation, and any “experts” are at best coaches – one has to do most of the
work of meeting the challenge oneself. Think of trying to lose weight.
Churches
face these two kinds of challenges in trying to fulfill our mission from
Christ. For example: People have to be able to hear the Word of God in the
church. So we turn to the experts for advice on what sort of microphones,
speakers, and the rest go into making up a suitable amplification system for
people’s voices. There are experts, and they do the work of designing and
installing the system. Then tell us how to use it properly. If we follow
their advice, we’ll get the results we want. Having people hear the Word of
God in this sense is a technical challenge.
But what
about having people hear the Word of God not just with their ears, but with
their hearts and souls? What about having people who aren’t in the church
building hear the Word of God? What about having, for example, young people
(especially ages about 13 through 30) hear the Word of God in a way that
makes sense to them so that they respond to it? This isn’t a technical
challenge: there aren’t any experts, and if there were a guaranteed way to
do this well, every church in creation would be doing it. But even the
churches that put the most resources into youth ministry have only meager
success. I saw a study recently that claimed that youth leaders in
evangelical churches – ones complete with elaborate youth ministries –
anticipated that their “success rate” (which they defined as young people in
their programs being committed evangelical Christian believers at age 35 or
so) would be – about 3%. Handing on the faith to the upcoming generation in
our new cultural situation is an adaptive challenge in spades.
If that
three percent figure is surprising, it may be because we too often confuse
activities and outcomes with impacts. We adults
sometimes see or hear of churches that have “a lot going on for youth.”
That’s no bad thing in itself, but it describes only activities which
may or may not have any good consequences. Or we may be satisfied when we
see hundreds of people receive a sacrament like Confirmation after a good
preparation process. That’s an outcome, and again it may be no bad
thing. But what difference does it make in the lives of the young people?
(An informal survey in our own parish a few years ago showed that the
percentage of the recently-confirmed who attended Mass on a given Sunday was
– interestingly – 3%.) Activities and outcomes are only
useful if they have the impacts – the long-range results – we want.
Otherwise they’re a waste of time and energy and money.
There’s some
good research on what creates desirable impacts for churches in our present
situation. It points to one key factor that is within the power of
congregations to affect: member engagement. (Churches often grow or decline
based on factors out of their control, such as demographic or economic or
cultural shifts. It’s useless and frustrating to try to affect the results
of those; that’s why it’s so important to focus on what we can control and
what holds out the promise of having the impact we want.) That one thing we
can affect, in three words, is deepening member engagement. That’s
why it’s important to get expectations clear – having clear expectations
deepens engagement. We’ll let you know the results of this week’s survey
after the summer, and I’ll have more to say about priorities and
expectations and engagement then.
This is my last column until
September. Have a great summer and, until then, peace. |
