Don’t
make today’s innovations into tomorrow’s sacred cows. — Jeanie Daniel
Duck
The
Change Monster: The Human Forces That Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation and
Change (New York: Crown
Business, 2001), 263.*
My Pastor Parish Relations Committee and I recently went
through a study together called Pastor and Parish. It is an excellent study to help demonstrate
what the PPRC is supposed to do and their purpose. In this study it talks about something called
the “Sacred Bundle.” The “Sacred Bundle”
is defined as “the congregational memories, taboos and traditions that define
their church’s culture, but may not be readily apparent to a new pastor.”
The Sacred Bundle is filled with the little things that make
the congregation who they are. Examples
could be things like unwritten expectations like the Pastor always makes coffee
for the Sunday School classes. Or it
could be that the offering plates were the only thing left after the church
caught on fire in 1963. Or the painting
in the back of the church was the last one done by the matriarch before her
passing. It could be even emotional ties
to events like July 4th BBQs or Christmas Eve 11:00pm worship
services.
The Sacred Bundle can be filled with glorious and meaningful
things but it can also be filled with sacred cows. The pastor and many times the congregations
really don’t know what is in the Sacred Bundle until change starts to
happen. I think it takes at least two
years to really start to understand what is in the Sacred Bundle, both the good
and the bad. A pastor almost needs two cycles
of the Christian year, two Christmases and two Easters and everything after and
in between, to fully understand the congregation. For some congregations this process might
take even longer.
It is only after truly understanding the Sacred Bundle that
solid and lasting change can happen.
When you understand what is inside the bundle you can speak to the good
parts and honor them and cherish them along with the congregation. The bad sections, the sacred cows, you can
speak to as well and start to discuss openly why they are there and if they
need to be.
However, one needs to be careful because as change occurs
the Sacred Bundle changes as well. Are
you as the pastor setting things in that bundle that will build and nurture the
congregation or are they simply sacred cows that will weigh them down in the
future? Do we remove congregational
sacred cows and toss in our own? Is the
change we are offering the congregation fluid enough to go through its own
change down the road? Or do our egos as
pastors get in the way because we see that specific change as our little baby
or possession?
Jeanie Daniel Duck is right, “Don’t make today’s innovations into tomorrow’s sacred
cows.” Our job as pastors is to invoke,
implement and invite change that will lighten, support, and build the Sacred
Bundles within our congregation. We
cannot add more sacred cows. True
leadership through a time of transition and change is the willingness to admit
if the change we desire has turned into a sacred cow and if so, are we willing
to let it go? We ask congregations to do
it, but are we, as leaders, willing to do the same?
*a quote in Lovett H. Weems, Jr's pdf called "50 Quotations to Help Lead Change in Your Church"
6 comments:
Good post! Picking up for UM Insight. Thanks!
Thanks for a timely article. I serve a committee that assists in situating new pastor transitions -- this is one I will definitely pass along. The old timers in our constituency are starting to be replaced by young men and women straight out of seminary -- wise beyond their years, but still needing guidance.
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