News flash! Launching a growing church is hard work.
In an attempt to save time and not reinvent the wheel, Courageous Church has borrowed forms and a few systems from other churches that we really admire. I would still strongly endorse this practice, but I am learning how cutting and pasting content from forms sometimes ignores the context where you serve.
Let me be more specific.
We borrowed a fabulously written set of forms and emails from another church all about baptism. These forms are amazing.
Seriously – if an award could be given for church forms, these would win. We cut the name of the church out and pasted Courageous Church in there and BAM! We had forms!
Not! The people that attend THAT church are very different than the people that attend Courageous Church and these forms have been a bit of a bust. They were so awesome that at first I really thought something was wrong with the people we had reading them. Until I discovered that pretty much every person we gave these forms to was overwhelmed by them.
Other borrowed forms have worked fine, but not this one. We have to create our own forms with our own language and structure for the people we serve.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Pastor Shawn, you've touched on one reason why many churches fail. The inability to see the uniqueness of the people in their reach. The pastors of the church I recently attended came into a small, poor area, saying God had sent them. They preached constantly about how a big city preacher, their leader, did things with excellence (planes, high-end meals, designer clothes, etc.) and patterned everthing after a man instead of God. No one stayed at the church & it shut down.
Thank you for your honesty.
Man, I think that is a very valuable lesson as more and more churches are opening their vaults for forms and documents. Use them as a framework to build your own forms.
I tell my clients all the time that their organization is not like any other organization. I encourage them to take the time to build their own processes that fit their unique style and mission. The majority of the time the leadership grows closer to each other as they examine all of their processes as a group as opposed to the cut and paste method.
Suggested reading: A Credible Witness by Brenda Salter McNeil – makes us examine our own motives and reasoning behind ministry and how we are doing it.
Good Stuff SK!
Hey Austin!
I think a simple few sentences from FORM PROVIDERS suggesting they be used as models might go a long way. Agree?
Thanks Jani! I will check it out!
Thanks Frank!
Lavonne! Great thoughts. It's fine to have models, but we HAVE to know our context!
The point you raised is right in line with what teachers learn to do with their students. Even though looking at old lesson plans and syllabi are great resources when teaching a class for the first time, every good teacher know that they must differentiate their instruction for the students sitting in front of them. One size does not fit all. My philosophy is "adapt" not "adopt." It looks like you've developed a similar one.
I think that the form providers should make that suggestion, but I think that even more than that I think the end responsibility lies with the end user. End users should take the time and opportunity to incorporate their organization's branding and culture into the forms. Otherwise they find, just as Courageous Church found, that the forms sent messaging that was more confusing than helpful.