2
Defining Reality
WHERE ARE WE?
„I’ve belonged to churches where I felt like I was in the
dark, and nobody knew where the switch was. We didn’t
dare try to move ahead because we didn’t know which way
was ahead.“
Calvin Miller, The Empowered Leader, p.62
„I happen to believe that the first duty of a leader is to
define reality.“
Max DePree to Peter Drucker
„The church today hungers for visionary leaders whose
dreams are tempered with genuine understanding of the
way things really are.“
Calvin Miller, The Empowered Leader, p.63
• Many leadership studies focus on vision
• Many others deal a lot with the concept „reality“
Vision or reality?
• My reality begins with the people I’ve got: people I’ve
been called to serve
• Story: Before going to my first appointment in Pärnu
UMC...
The people I’ve got
„Do you love them?“
„Open my heart to love the people you have placed in my
life.“
Bishop Robert Schnase „Forty Days of Fruitful Living“
Pray
Pärnu UMC in
worship: mid-1980’s
My first reality
• Is this the whole reality?
• Another reality revealed itself: visiting the homes
• I learned to know their children and grandchildren...
• I learned to appreciate the prayers of the grandmothers
• I learned to acknowledge their children as mission fields
Look again!
• Before...
•
•
•
•
...deciding where to go
...deciding on strategy and methodology
...identifying our resources – necessary as well as available
...starting the training
• We have to agree on where are we as a church
Where are we?
• It is not a matter of an individual
• It’s not for a leader to tell others where we are
• Individual perceptions are subjective and may be
deceptive
• I felt my congregation has sufficient information, the people
perceived it as not adequate
• It is a collegial matter - it’s about teamwork
Where are we?
• Video
Watch this carefully!
• Share with your neighbors: What did you see?
• List 3-5 things that caught your attention
Discussion
• We see different things
• We prioritize things differently
• Different things seem important to us
• We call the same things differently
What do we see?
• We need everyone’s eyes to have a true 3D image of the
reality
What do we see?
• We define reality always in reference to something
• We use a mental frame to identify the reality and compare
what we see with what it should be
• We may compare current reality to what it used to be
(highlights of the past)
• My experience...
Frame of Reference
Crowds behind the
windows because the
church was packed full
[Photo not related to actual events]
Glorious past in Pärnu
• We may compare current reality to what it should be
(ideal future)
Frame of Reference
• Our frame of reference should be ecclesiology
• What is the church for? What did God have in mind?
• The understanding of the United Methodist Church...
Frame of Reference
The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus
Christ for the transformation of the world by proclaiming
the good news of God’s grace and by exemplifying Jesus’
command to love God and neighbor, thus seeking the
fulfillment of God’s reign and realm in the world. The
fulfillment of God’s reign and realm in the world is the
vision Scripture holds before us.
The UMC: The Book of Discipline ¶ 121
Mission & Vision
Mission is the natural response to God’s gracious love.
[...] Safely grounded in God’s love made visible in Jesus
Christ, the believer loves God back through fellowship,
evangelism, and service.
Dana Robert, „Joy to the World! Mission in the Age of Global
Christianity“
Mission
It is not that the church has a mission and the Spirit helps
us in fulfilling it. It is rather that the Spirit is the active
missionary, and the church (where it is faithful) is the
place where the Spirit is enabled to complete the Spirit’s
work.
Lesslie Newbigin, „Mission in Christ's Way“
Mission
SWOT
Back to the question: Where are we?
Organization
Environment
SWOT
Organization
STRENGHTS
Environment
SWOT
Organization
STRENGHTS
Environment
SWOT
WEAKNESSES
• Macroenvironment
• Our particular society; culture; worldviews; history; laws;
religion (Lithuania: Catholic; Estonia: Lutheran)
• Microenvironment
• Makeup of our neighbours (homogeneous?
heterogeneous?); influencers in our town/village; with
whom do we “compete”; physical access to our church;
history of relationships
Environment
Organization
STRENGHTS
Environment
OPPORTUNITIES
SWOT
WEAKNESSES
Organization
STRENGHTS
Environment
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
SWOT
WEAKNESSES
• Share with your neighbors about your community:
What are the main specific opportunities and hindrances
for your church to reach out to people in your
community?
Discussion
• Two major steps
1. Discernment: Getting an honest picture of our reality
and us as part of that reality
2. Action: Developing a strategy
• Conclusions
• Where do we dedicate our resources
• Making a plan
SWOT
Organization
STRENGHTS
Environment
SO strategy
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
SWOT
How to make use of these
opportunities, using our
strengths?
WEAKNESSES
Organization
STRENGHTS
Environment
SO strategy
OPPORTUNITIES
How to make use of these
opportunities, using our
strengths?
ST strategy
THREATS
SWOT
How to use our strengths to
avoid these threats?
WEAKNESSES
Organization
STRENGHTS
WEAKNESSES
SO strategy
WO strategy
How to make use of these
opportunities, using our
strengths?
How to use the
opportunities to overcome
our weaknesses?
Environment
OPPORTUNITIES
ST strategy
THREATS
SWOT
How to use our strengths to
avoid these threats?
Organization
STRENGHTS
WEAKNESSES
SO strategy
WO strategy
How to make use of these
opportunities, using our
strengths?
How to use the
opportunities to overcome
our weaknesses?
ST strategy
WT strategy
How to use our strengths to
avoid these threats?
How to diminish our
weaknesses and avoid
outside threats?
Environment
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
SWOT
• It is not merely an assessment tool
• Working together on this...
• Brings us together: different people, seeing things
differently, interpreting things differently
• As a result, we learn something new together
• As a result, we learn to listen to one another
• As a result, we find a common focus
Not just SWOT
• After completing the SWOT analysis, specific steps for
action need to be identified
• Steps have to be realistic
• There has to be a regular evaluation and follow-up
• Balance commitment (to execute the plan) and flexibility
to change the course if needed
Implementation
• It is powerful to come together as a team around the
reality in which we live as a church
Reality check