CS 2 – Team Building
The Scenario: A venerable church faces an unprecedented crisis.
Organizational Profile: 100+ year old church, once the largest in the region, deals with waning membership and growing capital needs.
Outcomes: Debt-free buidling rehabilitation program, clarified purpose & mission.
Rebuilding the Church
When I first arrived at this church, it was clear from casual observation that work would need to be done on the building. I just hoped that the need could be addressed later rather than sooner because, with membership waning, I wanted to devote my full energies to congregational renewal.
However, a survey of building conditions undertaken not long after my arrival brought an abrupt halt to the halcyon days of having a single priority.
The church’s lay leadership group learned that if certain major issues were not addressed “within a couple of years,” it would be in danger of losing the building altogether. It took about a month to move past the shock. Many, including some of the denomination’s regional leaders, warned the local leadership that they just might need to cut their losses.
Yet it was not in the character of that community to accept bad news meekly. In the past, it had been tested by disasters of truly biblical proportions – earthquake, fire, plague – and every time had survived by clinging to hope tenaciously.
Following the good examples of previous generations, then, as well as taking to heart the encouragement they received from me, they decided to do what they could, even if the chances of success seemed low. They organized two working committees, one focused on fund-raising and the other on construction, and came up with a plan.
Thus began a capital funds drive and building program which ultimately resulted in a total rehabilitation of the physical structure – and without any debt. I promised one senior church official that I would stay until the project was over “one way or the other.” I concluded my service one month after the church’s formal re-dedication ceremony.
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