Doing the Math on Church

Was there a time when being the Christian community seemed to "add up?" I do think there was an era for the church in North America when the math made sense. Conversations with my late father and late father-in-law convince me that their ministries, post WW2, were filled with positives -- growth and building and upward trajectory. They were still active in the 1970's and 1980's when decline was well underway for mainline churches, but by the mid to late eighties they were wrapping up pastoral ministry.

I began ministry in the early eighties and while I have served active and at times thriving congregations there have always been people who wanted to wax nostalgic about the fifties and sixties. The landscape of the church in Canada is certainly not what it was when I was ordained and the horizon seems to be murkier rather than clearer. I came across a book title called Doing the Math of Mission: Fruits, Faithfulness, and Metrics by Gil Rendle, an author whose research and insight I have appreciated through the years.

Thanks to online resources I could peek at the book and Rendle's observation that there are no “right ways” for a constantly changing church landscape, only “appropriate ways” to establish God’s purpose for each situation. This rings true for me, as does the phrase “conversation is the currency of change.”  This is much harder than it might sound. Many people want to reminisce, or tinker, or "get 'er done" without talking through the appropriate ways of responding to current circumstances. I like the six questions Rendle has borrowed from another book entitled The Advantage:

Why do we exist? The underlying reason for being, our core purpose

How do we behave? The set of principles that guide behaviour and decisions,  preserving our essence

What do we do? Our organizational or congregational  definition
How will we succeed? Strategy –the collection of intentional decisions in order to thrive
What is most important now? Establishing top priorities to overcome organizational “monkey mind” & silos
Who must do what?  Leaders must clarify & unambiguously stipulate respective responsibilities

The Advantage Patrick Lencioni -- Six Questions for a Healthy Organization

It seems to me that if congregations developed the focus and the stamina to address these questions they might have a hope.

What do you think? Why do we have such difficulty having the conversations which are appropriate to our circumstances? Has God left the mainline building, or is there still hope?