| "Values Assessment" - by Archie Luper |
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As we ate dinner together at a planning retreat, John (not his real name) shared with our group the experiences he had gathered from the planning process he had led his local congregation through a year earlier.
This was a church that believed in mission and vision, and had committed to a high level of planning in their church. The results from this comprehensive eight month planning process included a concise mission statement, a clearly stated vision for the church, and a detailed planning document that outlined the work of the church for the next three, five and ten years.
John went on to say that even though they had made great progress, and the church was moving ahead in a positive direction, something was missing from their planning process. Although every leader had committed to certain ministries and a specific focus of outreach for the church, many times the work did not move ahead as they had planned. Specifically several leaders, when presented with a particular part of the plan that required their decision and/or funds to move ahead, began asking questions such as, “Did we agree to that?” or “I didn’t know that was what we intended to do.”
What happened? Was this simply a lack of communication or something more? We know from listening to John that there was a high level of commitment to the planning process in the beginning, and we also know that the final result of their planning process was a detailed planning document. But what was causing the difficulties that was keeping some of the plans on paper instead of being putinto action?
PERSONAL AND CONGREGATIONAL VALUES
As churches seek continued improvement in a changing environment, many have recognized the benefits that organizations and businesses in the secular arena have obtained from effective planning. That’s the good news. The bad news is that many churches may be missing some of the benefits of a strategic church planning process by skipping a crucial first step. This important first step is an examination of the values of the leaders and members of the church on both a personal and congregational level.
1. Personal Values. Every person has a set of core values that determine much of their actions, beliefs and understanding about life. Church leaders specifically have values that effect their viewpoint on how things ought to be done in the church and what they believe to be important.
As an example of values on a personal level, Leonard Goodstein, author of Applied Strategic Planning writes: “An individual for whom risk taking is an important personal value will envision a very different organizational future than will a person who holds security as a high personal value. Likewise, the goals and dreams of an individual who holds professional reputation as a value and is less interested in power will be different from those of a person with opposite priorities.”
If the differences in individual values of church leaders are not identified, clarified, discussed and understood, there will be little agreement on many of the issues that are critical to the future ministry of the local church. And as was the case in John’s congregation, many of the best written church plans will never have a chance to get off the paper and into action if the subject of values is not approached.
Aubrey Malphurs states, “Every Christian organization, as well as its leadership, needs to bring out, dust off, discuss, refine, develop, display, and implement its predominant values if it desires to make significant spiritual impact in the twenty-first century.”
2. Congregational Values. Whether stated or not, all churches have a set of core values that drive much of their ministry efforts. Values on a congregational level are determined to a great extent by the collective pool of all values on a personal level. One way to get a better understanding of the congregational values that exist in leadership is to have the group identify some recent congregational decisions that brought each leader pride,and some that may have caused them concern or shame. The sharing of these feelings and the underlying reasons for them will identify some of the shared values that exist in the group. This exercise will also show that in the end all decisions, in fact, are values based.
Maybe you can relate to John’s frustrations. Have youever wondered why some of your greatest ideas and plans for ministry never got off the paper on which they written, or once started began fading out soon after they were put into effect? It’s because the values of those concerned were not aligned in the first place.
This does not mean that leaders must all have the same values. The important point is in having your church leaders understand and respect the core values that each one holds, talk them through, and then agree to move ahead on ministry plans when a particular issue comes up. That decision then becomes a “shared value” for the group. They agree ahead of time that although they may have a difference of values on a particular issue, their shared value says that the work will continue because the benefits outweigh any personal differences.
An example might be a church that decides to begin a day care program as a community outreach ministry. Not having been in the day care “business” before they soon find that there are kids running everywhere, the Tuesday Ladies Bible Class is upset because it had to change classrooms after 23 years in the same room, the carpets in the educational wing are taking an unusual beating, and the Sunday morning Bible class teachers are complaining that they cannot find their materials anywhere.
For the church new to this type of ministry all of these issues could cause a major crisis and put the ministry in jeopardy. If the shared values of the church include a love for children and helping younger families, then the benefits that a day care ministry can offer to achieve these shared values outweigh any of the inconveniences that may arise.
Values assessment will also keep your congregation from heading in a direction that it did not intend to go. In business and organizational planning terms this is called “The Abilene Paradox”. (J. Harvey, 1988) The term comes from a story of a family who drove a nonair-conditioned car to Abilene for dinner on a hot summer night. Although nobody wanted to go, each person—thinking all the others wanted to make the
trip – was unwilling to express disagreement. Maybe you’ve recently gone on a trip to Abilene with your fellow church leaders. One of the purposes of the first step of values assessment in the strategic planning process is to make sure your church does not dine in Abilene, except by clear-cut choice.
UNDERSTANDING WHAT VALUES ARE
In an article in the Journal of Academic Librarianship, Rick B. Forsman defines values as “those abstract ideals, both positive and negative, that guide attitudes, actions, and interpersonal relations. Values may incorporate ethics, philosophies, or enduring beliefs – all of which lead to a consistent set of behaviors.”
A congregation-specific mission statement (see the March, 98’ SCL Newsletter) and a clearly articulated vision for the church (see the April, 98’ SCL Newsletter) are both extremely important elements for a church that wants to continue to grow both spiritually and numerically. A third essential element, however, is an understanding of the core values of the congregation, and together with mission and vision form what I would describe as a church’s “Philosophy of Ministry”.
Thus, a Philosophy of Ministry would include a Mission Statement, Vision and Core Values for Ministry. (see the CP Congregational Planning Model at http://www.churchplanning.com/cp'smodel.htm)
USING PROBING QUESTIONS IN THE VALUES ASSESSMENT PROCESS
The key to an understanding of core values is to askprobing questions. The problem is that many times we discuss things on a surface level. Not until we ask more probing questions do we really get a sense of what people, or specifically, what church leaders believe, on a “gut level”. It’s like a duck paddling on water without a sense of the depth that is below.
On the surface we ask the question, “Will you help your neighbor?” After answering yes, we find that our neighbor, based upon Jesus’ definition, is anybody that needs our help. We then realize that they may be from a totally different social, ethnic, or religious culture. They act different, they talk different, and they may even smell different than us. This is when our core values come into play and we ask ourselves the question, “Will I help this person even though I may feel uncomfortable?
I once asked a group of elders in a planning session the question, “How many believe that the church should focus on seeking and saving the lost?” As you might guess all elders in attendance raised their hands in the affirmative, and rather quickly. I then asked, “How many believe at
least 75% of our contributions should go towards outreach?” Well, the response of raised hands was not as quick this time. This question involved more thought and discussion, although the elder in charge of missions quickly affirmed his view with a loud and positive “Amen!” You see, these leaders where now considering this deeper, probing question in light of their core values.
VALUES FROM A SCRIPTURAL VIEWPOINT
Although Scriptures do not specifically talk about the concept of “core values”, I do believe Scriptures have much to say to us about “core beliefs” The Greek word for belief is “pisteuo”, which means “to be persuaded, to place confidence in, to trust, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence”. The Apostle John believed strongly in the word “pisteuo”, using it some ninety-nine times in his Gospel, some ten times more than any other Gospel writer.
A core value, then, is a belief in which we put great trust and confidence. We are persuaded that this is the waythings should be done and these are the decisions that need to be made based on what our values are.
Several years ago The Johnson & Johnson Company was faced with a major crisis when someone wasfound to be tampering with bottles of it’s Tylenol capsules. The company immediately responded by taking all of its Tylenol off the shelf, at a cost of more than one hundred million dollars! What motivated the company to react so quickly in such a definitive way? I believe the answer can be found in the first sentence of their values statement:
JOHNSON & JOHNSON VALUES
We believe that our first responsibility is to our customers.
Our second responsibility is to our employees.
Our third responsibility is to our management.
Our fourth responsibility is to the communities in which
we live. We must be a good citizen.
Our fifth and last responsibility is to our stockholders.
Business must make a sound profit. When we operate
according to our principles, stockholders should realize
a fair return. We are determined with the help of God's grace to fulfill
these obligations to the best of our ability.
VALUES IN THE LOCAL CHURCH
The issue of values became much more important to me while serving as the coordinator of the strategic planning ministry in our local church. One of our elders came to me after services on a Sunday evening to express his concerns about the direction in which we were heading in our planning process. This elder had an excellent working knowledge of strategic planning in a university setting. Although he was totally in agreement on our work on mission and vision, his concern was that we needed to better understand our values before our mission and vision would be applicable.
In a letter to me the following week the elder stated, “I am finding that it is really difficult to get people to agree on a vision for the future as long as their basic values or the guiding principles that they think should be used in an organization are in conflict. This explains why two people will take opposite views concerning the relevance of some program or activity. We credit most of these conflicts to just "differences of opinion”, but there is more to this than just opinion. There is some belief or value that causes the specific opinion to be strongly held. We usually don't ever get to this level of analysis of values because we are so busy trying to change the other person's opinion about something to our own without ever discussing the reasons we hold a particular opinion.”
THE NEXT STEP
The subject of values is a difficult one to approach. You will not find as many books written on the subject as you will other Christian leadership topics, but it is a topic that can and will shape the future of your ministry efforts.
You should begin by discussing the subject of values with your church leaders. The first step might be to make a copy of this month’s newsletter and give to each of your leaders to read. You can then plan a meeting with them to more thoroughly discuss the subject and get their feedback.
I am also including a list of topics that you may find useful in discussing some of the possible value conflicts that may exist in your church. In exchange for using these questions I ask that you e-mail me with other topics and questions that you may develop. I am working on a values questionnaire tool that can be used to help churches with the values assessment part of their strategic planning process. I will acknowledge your contribution to that work.
God bless you in your efforts to better understand the personal and congregational core values of your church family! Let me know of your results. I would like to share them with our readers.
VALUES ASSESSMENT - DISCUSSION TOPICS
1. Purpose of the Congregation
a. The purpose of our congregation is to save lost souls
b. The purpose of our congregation is to strengthen and retain the saved.
2. Area of Emphasis
a. Our primary focus should be on evangelism outside our city limits
b. Our primary focus should be on evangelism inside our city limits
3. Attitude Toward Involvement in Ministries
a. Most members would choose to be involved if they just knew their "gift"
b. Most members will not seek invoIvement, even if they identify their gift.
4. Attitude Toward Congregational Operations
a. Continuing to do what has always been done avoids problems, is "safe" and does not make people feel uncomfortable.
b. Doing things differently may cause some discomfort and is somewhat risky, but if biblical can enhance results.
5. Methods of Teaching
a. Every age group and demographic type (e.g. divorced, singles, widows, etc.) need separate small classes.
b. Adults can learn just as effectively in large classes as long as teacher is effective.
6. Small Group Beliefs
a. Small group activity is essential for spiritual growth, new member assimilation, involvement, and retention.
b. The use of small groups should be avoided due to difficulty in controlling their activities and the great number of problems that come from these activities that have to be dealt with.
7. Individual Purpose/Goals
a. Most members seek to please God first, themselves second
b. Most members seek to please themselves first, God second
8. Giving
a. Most members will give generously when presented with identifiable needs which are obviously productive.
b. Most members have already decided how much they will give and are not motivated by new needs, regardless of how important.
9. Beliefs About Church Staff
a. The church staff should do the bulk of the ministry.
b. The church members should do the bulk of the ministry.
10. Church Membership
a. The church should “raise the bar” of membership (i.e.participation in ministry, use of gifts, tithing, etc.)
b. Members should be allowed to sit on the pew
11. Culture
a. The church should respond to changing cultures.
b. The church has no business changing anything.
12. Decision Making
a. All decisions should be made by the elders.
b. Decision making should be delegated.
13. Church Leaders
a. Elders should be responsible for the administrative and financial aspects of the church.
b. Elders should be focused on shepherding the flock.
14. Use of the Church Facility
a. The church building should be used for community and recreational purposes in addition to church services.
b. The church building should be used only for church services.
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