Case studies
Pastoral transition | Facility closure | Abuse | Pastoral burnout
At Churchwright we turn problems into successes. Take a look at the following case studies and you will see in detail how we have strengthened congregations with challenges ranging from facility closure, to abuse, and pastoral leadership issues. Put the Churchwright advantage to work in your congregation.
Sanctuary closed due to mold contamination
It started with a musty smell and dark splotches. Testing confirmed the worst. A black mold had taken residence in the sanctuary. The doors that were normally open for all to enter and worship were locked shut behind yellow tape that read “Condemned. Hazardous Area. Stay Out.” The building was sealed and remediation experts recommended pulling everything out to the framework and then rebuilding the worship building.
Before:
The pastor asked should we stay or should we go? The church is large and is a prominent fixture in its college and research-based community near Houston. Any choice would be expensive, but the more important question was to find the right choice. Insurance would cover part of the expenses, but what was the best way to invest that money?
During: The pastor and church board worked through the basic steps of the Churchwright vision building process. A detailed analysis of the current membership and of the community helped provide specific answers to the question, “what do our people want?”. The church board learned how to develop their visionng skills. They explored alternatives in a structured process and quickly found that they shared a common vision for the future.
As we defined the ideal church, I began to notice that the leaders knew more about what they wanted and did not want. More importantly, they learned how to communicate these ideas to each other and later to the congregation in a rapid and efficient manner. They choose to stay and remediate and to make additional upgrades to their existing physical plant.
After: The church embarked on a stewardship campaign from a position of unity. The campaign was quickly completed and fully subscribed. Today they are worshipping in their remodeled and updated facility and have incorporated program changes to continue to connect with those around them.
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Child abuse
It was a lovely family sized-church with 150 members and a longtime pastor in a small West coast city. The phone call from the mother came more than a week after the event. She accused a five year old in the play group of hitting her daughter in her “private parts.”
Before: The church had never addressed conflict well and when the charges surfaced no one was quite sure what to do. The charges were serious, but who should do what? The mother of the child persisted in her complaints and felt that the reassurances of the nursery attendant were insufficient. The mother went to a meeting and accused the leaders of cover up. She was sent a letter that suggested ways for her to contact the church with complaints and reminded that should have lodged the complaint immediately, not after the fact. As the dispute grew in visibility the members began taking sides. Soon the episode had divided the community, the little town was watching, and attendance and contributions had dropped significantly.
During: The pastor called and asked for advice. After several telephone consultations he invited me to spend a weekend with the church leaders. I met with each of those involved in the incident and with the church board and staff.
Working together we explored how the church had dealt with conflict in the past and then examined the present situation. As a result of our working together the church board took immediate action with the family of the injured child. The rules of the child care program were changed and brought up to contemporary standards.
The pastor was frustrated and had started to look for another church. He told me that his stress level was over the top and that he was unsure what steps to take. An all day workshop in conflict management equipped all the church leaders with better skills for putting issues on the table and keeping them out of private conversations in the parking lot. The church developed and adopted new child care guidelines that provided far better nurture for the children and protection for the church.
After: The church developed and implemented clear, consistent, and contemporary policy standards. More importantly, the church is far better at recognizing and dealing with conflict. The pastor is back to enjoying the job and feels that he has stronger management skills as a result of the experience. Membership and giving have stabilized.
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Recovering from an awkward departure
Before: The pastor was a gifted preacher, but highly controversial. Each year the vote to retain him shrank. After five years the vote went the other way and the church called an interim pastor. At the same time the church office building was closed due to mold contamination; the neighborhood around the church was transitioning from upscale residential to urban complexity. The church had a membership of 1,500 but attendance and participation were far lower.
During: At the invitation of the church board, Churchwright was invited to work to help address the challenges facing the congregation. Membership had declined, the finances were falling, and there was disagreement over even the most basic questions.
Over a two-period working with the interim pastor we developed a survey of the views of the members and leaders. Working with church lay leaders the congregation adopted a plan for mission, restructured its personnel structure and began the search for new pastor. In the interim period the number of pastors was reduced from three to one, and other church staff positions were combined lowering the monthly expenses. The membership roles were cleaned producing a small—but more realistic headcount. The church went from three worship services to two. The building was refurbished, and the congregation was positioned for a new role in the city.
After: A dynamic pastor was called who is leading the church into a new chapter in its mission. The church was once an upscale church with a downtown location and a suburban membership. Today, the membership reflects the broader neighborhood more than the suburbs. The church is growing its youth program, has renewed its commitment to a homeless feeding program, and has recently added a second pastor for its expanding youth program. It also added a contemporary Sunday evening worship service. After cleaning its membership roles, the congregation is once again growing and added 40 new members last year.
Pastoral Burnout
Before: He called me to explain that he had been extraordinarily successful as a pastor. His previous churches had grown from a few hundred to several thousand, he had launched successful building campaigns and he had great hopes for his current church. But, once he arrived he found deep issues. The budget had been negative for 30 years, the church board found it easy to say “yes’ to virtually every good idea, but had never learned how to say “no” to anything. There were no priorities. Since there was a large reserve fund these issues had never needed resolution, however each year the reserves shrank further.
During: At the start of our engagement the pastor shared that he sometimes wondered why he had been called to ministry. “Everything—even the easy things—seem difficult.”
The pastor and I spoke on the telephone at weekly intervals for two years. I visited with his leadership team and conducted workshops for lay leaders, the governing board, and for the staff. Primarily, however, we worked on his ministry. He was nearing retirement age, but was not ready to move into a life away from active ministry.
We worked together to help the congregation adopt a detailed vision to serve its urban neighborhood in a large west coast city. Gradually and in small steps the budget was brought into alignment with resources. This was a painful period of staff departures and reexamination of the deepest basis for his ministry.
As I listened to him articulate his changing sense of mission it became clear that he was redefining himself as a pastor and defined his call as bringing intentional change to the congregation. He invested his annual study time into becoming certified as an intentional interim pastor. Along the way, he discovered that his current pastorate was really an interim position. With each step in his voyage of discernment his ease with himself and with the challenges became greater. Without disclosing anything to his congregation he developed a set of goals that he wanted the church to accomplish during the time of transition. One by one these were accomplished and when these had been met he announced his resignation.
The congregation retained a short-term interim pastor and has just called its new pastor to lead them in the next chapter in the church’s life. With the staff and revenues in balance this will be a manageable task for the new pastor.
After: The pastor was called to a very large multi-staff church. I went to visit him and he looked younger and more refreshed than I had seen him. Over lunch he said, “I am happier than I have ever been. In retrospect, everything that had happened was preparation for what I am doing now. Thank you for helping me see that.”
Note: What challenge would you like to turn into success? Contact us today for a free telephone consultation.
