Leadership
In the introductory article to this series I mentioned several measurable factors as related to the overall health and culture of a church, one of which was functional or effective structures. In the series I am discussing eleven elements that make up the functional structures of a church:
- Constitution and Bylaws
- Branding and community identity
- Personnel and volunteer selection policies and procedures
- Explicit and implicit policies
- Official and tacit influencers
- Schedules and calendars
- Programs, silos, and turf mentality vs. collaboration and empowerment
- Confining mental models
- Procedural practices such as how meetings are conducted
- Buildings, facilities, property and how they are managed
- Leadership training and meetings of deacons, elders, and teachers- (what goes on at the meetings?)
This article is #8 (including the introduction) in the series on Improving Your Church’s Culture and is offered in an effort to assist leaders in developing more effective administrative structures. Don’t underestimate the effects of these culture-scaping structures as you are building an exceptional ministry. They serve to form the frame on which the ministry is built. Links to the previous articles are listed at the end of this article.
ASSEMBLY-LINE-DISCIPLE-MAKING
Henry Ford did not invent the automobile but he was a pioneer in silo development- namely the assembly line. His genius may have given us the ultimate expression of silos. Visualize one person installing just one part of the automobile all day long on as many as 100 vehicles on the line. Perhaps they become an expert in installing steering wheels and nothing else. Installing steering wheels becomes his silo to which he is restricted unless he makes a lateral move over to installing transmissions. However, before he can do that he must go to transmission installation school. While the worker may devise a better way of doing the job, his new method may not fit the production process and schedule thus stifling his creativity.
My Dad recently experienced a serious illness and spent a week in a large hospital. He had at least four different specialist doctors attending his case…a pulmonologist, neurologist, gastroenterologist, and a cardiologist. I have a strong medical background in clinical and administrative medicine and I expected a different care plan than was delivered. Each physician appeared to treat only their area of specialty as related to my Dad’s illness. While the four doctors may have conferred, I heard nor saw any evidence of collaboration. The pulmonary doctor came in, listened to his lungs and left; the neurologist came in and did some examinations of Dad’s motor skills and left; the gastroenterologist asked about his eating habits and listened to his stomach; and the cardiologist came in and listened to his heart and departed. In the course of eight days I never received a briefing which took the whole man into consideration. It was as if each specialist treated the lungs, brain, stomach, and heart respectively without looking at the whole context.
These examples may sound absurd as related to church organizational development, but the 20th century church perfected “assembly-line disciple-making” using the program delivery system which resembles a silo assembly line. By program discipleship I mean a delivery system that has independent classes that may be disjointed and not connected from one unit to the next and with little collaborative development or planning. The program leaders along the disciple-making-assembly-line drive the bolts of information to their respective classes with little change from one group to the next. The larger the church…the less personal attention is given to individuals…and the more programming can be delivered to the mass of people. The assembly line and programming of many churches are designed around economics…delivering as many Xs to as many people as possible for the least cost and the greatest efficiency. Over time the disciple-making-assembly-line also became compartmentalized which leads to the leaders developing a turf mentality as related to their specific part of the overall job. Each leader may also develop the thinking that their specific part of the disciple-making task is the most important part of the overall process. As related to silos, Gulati says that silos create internal organizational boundaries or firewalls. The firewalls prevent collaboration and innovation but they also make it difficult for the people to access resources as needed since the needed resources are wrapped within the program package. Programs are designed as an all or nothing delivery system (Harvard Business Review, “Silo Busting,” 103. With the program delivery system of discipleship, the leaders look at their respective part of making a disciple and they seldom evaluate the final product as a whole.
ONE TO ONE DISCIPLESHIP IS THE JESUS WAY
Silos are an unintended result of the need of churches to deliver discipleship at the lowest cost and with the greatest efficiency- the least one-to-one mentoring time. Assembly lines may be cost effective and efficient at producing widgets but not when producing disciples. Only the Holy Spirit can mass produce growing disciples. In fact, Jesus himself only focused on 12 people for intense discipleship for three years. One to one or one to a few discipleship is not economical or efficient by man’s production standards, but it is the Jesus way of disciple-making. Yet out of over 100 churches I worked with so far in 2010, perhaps only three of them use one to one discipleship consistently. In effect the church has depersonalized disciple-making.
PLASTIC DISCIPLES vs REAL DISCIPLES
It takes a great commitment and investment of time to restructure disciple-making and most pastors are busy just
keeping their church systems up and running. Another thing that maintains the inertia are the constant release of new programs and the mental thinking of leaders as they look for the next big thing that will grow their church. The short tenure of pastors also contributes to an unwillingness to make such a drastic change. It is easier to display pretty plastic unblemished tomatoes than to take the time and effort to grow real tomatoes. Implementing a paradigm change such as Simple Discipleship definitely requires commitment to a new way of thinking about making disciples.
In the summer I enjoy growing tomatoes on my patio and a recent invention caught my attention. It’s called the topsy turvy tomato planter. I tried it and while it does work, I have achieved better results from the traditional vertical growing method. It just strikes me as unnatural to grow tomatoes upside down. Likewise, growing disciples in an unnatural or method other than Christ perfected seems to go against his established pattern that will get the best result. We seem to prefer trying to perfect making topsy turvy disciples. The Jesus way always works better for making real disciples. The Jesus way of disciple making empowers more discipleship.
Helpful resources:
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins
Simple Discipleship by Tom Cocklereece
Church Administration by Robert H. Welch
The Church Organization Manual: Policies and Procedures for the Local Church by Robert H. Welch
Harvard Business Review on Collaborating Across Silos chapter by Ranjay Gulati, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2009
Simple Discipleship: How to Make Disciples in the 21st Century was published and released by Church Smart Resources in November 2009. It is not a self-published book. To learn more about Simple Discipleship and to order the book, follow the link below:
http://www.simplediscipleship.com
Series Links:
https://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/improving-your-church%E2%80%99s-culture/
Would you benefit from having a ministry coach? I use GoToMeeting for online distance sessions.
Coaching sessions and our relationship are confidential but your success will be visible to all. You may choose Simple Discipleship, ministry, or personal development coaching or a combination. Contact me for a complementary session at drthomreece@bellsouth.net . At he very least we may pray together!
Simple Discipleship Blessings!
Dr. Tom Cocklereece
Simple Discipleship Blog 
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