This is the second post in the “Of Mouse and Church” series. It’s my reflections on sharing in the Disney Institute‘s three-part professional development courses. I hope you are inspired with their content as much as I am! I encourage you to find out more about the courses at their website: www.disneyinstitute.com.
The focusing question of this series is this:
What would it be like for people to have a faith formation experience so extravagantly welcoming; with such radically inclusive hospitality; and so deeply Spirit-centered in God’s love that they were already excited and planning to return for another experience before they left the building?
Or to reframe the question in a quick sound-bite:
What if churches did ministry like Disney does entertainment?
I remain convinced: there’s a lot of wisdom contained in Disney’s guest-centered focus that can help churches live out Christ’s Way of welcome.
Before we get into the core content of the Institute’s three focus areas:
Leadership Excellence;
Employee Engagement; and
Quality Service,
I wanted to address the topic of using corporate business models within faith communities. This has been a pretty hot debate over the last two decades. And if we want to read the church’s whole history, truthfully a lot longer!
The Business of Church: the Books
I will start with this disclaimer. The Christian Church a lot of different leadership models in our faith communities over the years. From the three traditional church structures: Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational; to the Military Hierarchy model of the post-World War era; to the Top-Down Business Hierarchies of the 1970s and 1980s; we’ve organized ourselves in many diverse ways. And in each model, there were successes and there were failures. And this I believe is because of this truth: Business Leadership and Faith Community Leadership are NOT the same thing.
There’s a ton of books out there that posit this idea, though: that churched can be run “like a business.” I read ones with this philosphy when they came out 20+ years ago. Books like Jesus, CEO; The Leadership Lessons of Jesus; and Jesus on Leadership were the vogue. I do not diminish these authors’ convictions in their books–they speak their thesis well.
The answer I read from these books was the intrinsic success of the “business” of church. Attendance, and mission collections, and online click-throughs and website views are important data to consider. They can tell you whether the weather was bad on a Sunday, and if people stayed home because of the Super Bowl. They can show if your social media and website are working to welcome potential guests (and if its worth the investment to redux the page). And they can give data on if you’ve made your case for that new mission project. What they cannot help you discern is what people feel when they are to be part of the faith community.
I offer this challenge. What is it that brought you to match a success-focused business with being a strong community of faithful people?
The Challenge of “Consumer Churches”
The business of being church is something different.
Eugene Peterson shared an excellent witness on this in The Jesus Way. He spoke of “the American way,” looking at the peculiar tendencies of American Christian churches to become “consumer churches.” Here’s a link to an excerpt at Eerdman’s.
Now, I would not be honest if I didn’t say I find inspiration from these books. I do love the organizational management wisdom of Patrick Lencioni. I have used his work in managing the business side of congregational life for many years. (Death by Meeting being a favorite!). I embrace the soft-but-firm guidance of Margaret Wheatley, and her call to embrace each other in collaboration. Spend some time with Turning to One Another, or her latest Restoring Sanity.
Yes, their work is also used in business leadership. But there is a difference. Lencioni and Wheatley, and their peers in thought, focus on the interpersonal to meet their desired outcomes. And I find this more authentic to Jesus’ call to the Disciples. Yes, it’s intangible. Yes, it’s emotional. And here’s a hint: It’s all about relationship!
The Business of Church: Relationships
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
Walt Disney
I believe that faith communities that are centered on a vision that builds Relationships is the answer to our question. Let’s start with this as a first premise. This is where the fire of Spirit-excitement to return is fueled.
And for a second premise, I believe this is from where our successes should be scaled. This isn’t a numbers game of tithes and offerings, or a weekly filled seats-in-the-sanctuary counting. Those measurements are helpful marks, yes. They are secondary indicators, though. They measure the health of the community’s center: its relationships.
Benjamin Cremer said this of the value of those relationships in Matthew’s Gospel:
Matthew 25 tells us that when [the son of man] returns and judges between the righteous and unrighteousness, he doesn’t judge them based on their orthodoxy, their patriotism, or their individual definitions of morality.
[They] judge them based on their compassion towards vulnerable people.
Benjamin Cremer
Compassion, being vulnerable with the vulnerable in our society. Cremer’s got it. “When did we do this?” “Whenever you did it to the one in need,” is the answer we receive. When you engaged in relationship.
I also believe that we need to learn from the values knitted into our history and traditions. They’ve brought us to this time and place. It’s the “This is the song we sing every year on All Saints’ Day.” And it’s the hot wax of Christmas Eve candles on our fingers. It’s knowing that our old Sunday school teachers will be there when we come back from college. It’s the sum of where our faith community has been that brings us to today’s moment in ministry. Lots of decisions, lots of engagements, lots of relationships–all leading to now.
The church today does embody the founding principles of the Gospel. And it also holds the apologetics of the Epistles, and the generations of Christian theology in everything we do. I take that as granted. And we, the body of Christ right now, also embody a living, growing Spirit, inspired to live out those values in light of today’s realized experiences.
It takes us, the people, to make the dream a reality. It takes relationships.
What’s Next?
I invite you to join me in prayerful discernment on how God is calling us to understand our Leadership, Engagement, and Service. And I invite you to help form the language that best speaks about these areas from our heritage and values.
This series will be posting out over the next week. I’d love to hear what you think about seeing the church through Mouse-shaped glasses. Do leave a comment and add to the conversation.
Until next time, friends. Hope to see you real soon! -HEF
