define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); Comments on: Four and only four rules for doing church http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/ One part facial hair. Two parts moxy. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:31:01 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: UU comfort, shared salvation, 'militant Unitarians,' and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15646 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:31:01 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15646 […] discussion between our own ministers.” And Chutney at “Making Chutney” offers four rules for congregational life. March 14th, 2008 | View Comments blog comments powered by Disqus var disqus_url = […]

]]> By: Ms. Theologian http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15074 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:47:54 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15074 The Bus Factor! That’s it!

]]> By: h sofia http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15064 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 22:07:17 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15064 This is great stuff. I wish we could apply these things at my church, and in a few other organizations I’m a part of.

To elaborate on Ms. T’s comment, I learned recently that in the business or programming world, #3 is also referred to as “The Bus Factor.” How many people would need to be on the bus that crashes before you had no one who knew how to work on/complete this project/task? One of my friends who works at a UU church is the only person who can update the church’s website. A Bus Factor of 1. Pretty scary.

]]> By:   Making Church Chutney — Sunflower Chalice http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15063 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:49:06 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15063 […] tip of the hat and a deep bow of thanks and gratitude to Making Chutney for the post on Four and Only Four Rules for Doing Church.  The comments to the post are worth reading as well. These are suggested guidelines for the most […]

]]> By: Tony Lorenzen http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15062 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:45:57 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15062 When I suggested even steps towards these types of ideas you have thought I wanted to begin sacrificing animals or doing away with coffee hour.

These certainly are counter-church cultural. They seemed steeped in the principles of appreciative inquiry and they remind my of the leadership theories of Ronald Heifetz in Leadership Without Easy Answers.

Heifetz argues that leadership is all about adaptive work, finding adaptive solutions to the new problems and solutions that confront us instead of doing what we’ve always done, but better, faster, stronger. Heifetz also says that leader is not authority, but about getting the work done. Authority comes from power granted in order to perform a service. If the service is provided – getting the work done, solving the problem, the power is granted to continue the work (and in this case, churches, continuing to create community is part of the work). Exercising power without performing a service is authoritarianism. Too often church committees (“that’s the way we’ve always done it” , “we must have a meeting to decide things”, and ministers, both clerical and lay (committee chairs) act in an authoritarian manner and forget to provide the service for which a congregation or a committee has granted them power in the first place.

]]> By: chutney http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15061 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:50:14 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15061 Let’s hope no one’s hit by a bus!

@Elizabeth: In my experience, strategic plans are out of date as soon as they’re written. I’ve found an asset-based exercise like the one in this book to be both quicker and more inclusive.

]]> By: Elizabeth J. Barrett http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15048 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:05:06 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15048 Having meetings just because you’ve always had monthly meetings is a bad idea. But I just had a situation where my team of lay members received a rough draft of a strategic plan and was asked to discuss it via e-mail in order to figure out goals, outcomes and deadlines in two days, so everything we plan to accomplish in the next two years is listed on paper and ready to be given to the board by this weekend.

Absolutely not!! We’re having a meeting to do this work. Sure, it would be faster if a couple of us just sent in our opinions. But what is the goal? To get a strategic plan written as fast as we can?? NO.

We will meet and bounce ideas off each other so that our collective wisdom will come together in a plan we can be proud of, a plan that we own and will be vested in seeing through to fruition. Because we are the ones who will be expected to carry out the plan, we must have time to think, discuss and formulate the plan together.

]]> By: Ms. Theologian http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15047 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:01:55 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15047 These are great!

There’s a name for a rule that sort of corresponds to #3. It’s something like What Would Happen If X Was Hit by a Bus. In other words, have we built an organization around one person who is irreplaceable?

]]> By: jacqueline http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/comment-page-1/#comment-15046 Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:16:37 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/2008/03/12/four-and-only-four-rules-for-doing-church/#comment-15046 That is pretty much how I live my life: Whatever Works, Whatever’s Welcoming, Whatever’s Sustainable, Whatever puts the my/families best foot forward: Thanks… I can now say I live by Whatever!

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