Bill Easums Observations

 Friends,

In a subsequent consultation, we encountered a classic mistake made by so many established churches. They mistake “property rental” for “Christian Mission”. (see my book “Moving Off the Map“) Churches assume that by renting or giving away space for community use, they are actually doing evangelism. They do not realize that authentic evangelism is about relationships, not property use.

It is an obvious dodge to avoid personal investment in hands-on mission. This mistake is usually compounded by an obsession with “depot” ministries (clothing depots, food banks, and other forms of “collecting things”). Church people think they are doing mission by warehousing goods, but they never actually come into contact or build relationships with the needy people they say they want to help.

Another manifestation of this mistake is the belief that hosting Boy or Girl Scouts, or housing non-profit organizations, is also Christian mission. It is as if the Cancer Society should decide the best way to use their facility would be to rent it out for pot luck suppers. The Cancer Society volunteers would have no place to meet and train, but, gosh, what a lot of fun and fellowship they could have!

Ironically, the mistake can be easily remedied. Leaders are trained to use space only in ways that 100% align to the mission of the church and nothing else. And they have a church policy that states “No property will be rented or used by outside groups unless a team of church members is actively involved in the planning and implementation of the program. Never rent property without sending a team. Relationships are the key. Now the team can shape the planning and implementation around specifically Christian mission. If the outside organization doesn’t want that (which is almost universally true for Boy and Girl Scouts), then the church does not offer property.

Tom Bandy

 Friends,

Swept away by travel and consulting, I’ve been remiss about posting from the mission field. Thanksgiving allowed me to catch up. This is from my notes …

A persistent question from would-be transformational leaders is this: Is it really possible to change the consumer, “Me First”, attitude into an authentic Mission Mindset? (see my book Fragile Hope).

My answer is yes, but it may take seven years of doggedly persistent and opportunistic leadership. This alone is hard for many established churches, because many pastors have no intention of staying that long. They are, in fact, driven by personal decisions (family expectations, school systems, retirement plans) or by career decisions (appointments by a bishop, moving up the ladder of success). That very reality reveals that the biggest difficulty about transforming a church attitude lies in the unwillingness of leaders to transform their personal attitude.

However, praise God that there are leaders ready for the challenge. They still ask: Can it be done?

My answer is yes (again), if you rigorously pay attention to the following leverage points and do not allow yourself to be sidetracked. The list is not intended to be exhaustive, but it includes:

v      Begin by mentoring leaders;
v      Hold leaders accountable for mentoring volunteers in there sphere of influence;
v      Preach it;
v      Upgrade training for newcomers and all leadership teams (beyond skills to train attitude);
v      Clarify vision, mission, and core message;
v      Intervene to break control;
v      Seize opportunities or “mentoring moments” to illustrate the mission attitude;
v      Have courage, and build personal support, to endure stress;
v      Develop a profound, visible, prayerful, personal spiritual discipline.

The real key to changing attitude is not program development … unless we think of specific continuing education or mission action. It’s really about taking relationships to a deeper, riskier, level. The word “accountability” does not begin to cover it. It is about “intensity” more than “intentionality”, because it is the intensity of eye contact, behavior modification, personal reinforcement, and modeled self-sacrifice that is important. In the end, you need to embed a kind of “Ur” story … a paradigmatic story-line of death and new life … in the hearts of members.

Tom Bandy