Calling Plays the Players Can Run
Kennon Callahan
The key is progress, not perfection.
—Kennon Callahan One congregation I visited recently was scared and scarred by events of the past. Although they had no explicit objectives, it was clear their main purpose was what I call "protecting their place on the face of the cliff." In mountain climbing, sometimes climbers find themselves on the face of a cliff where they can't find a handhold or foothold ahead or behind. In that predicament many people freeze. They cling for dear life. They fear any move could mean the abyss below. This church was frozen on the face of the cliff. They couldn't find anything in their history that would save them. They couldn't see anything hopeful ahead. They became preoccupied with maintenance, membership, and money. To help a church like that, the one thing I do not do is shout instructions from the safety of the ledge above. I join them on the face of the cliff and gently coach them: "We're going to start with the left hand, and we're going to move it four inches up and one inch over, and we're going to hold there. Now we're going to try the left foot." You coach a congregation in that predicament gently and wisely forward, one step at a time. Most churches are not frozen on the cliff, but they do suffer from an uncertainty about what to do next. About half the churches I help are stable and growing churches that want to improve their mission and outreach. The other half are churches in some form of crisis—stable and declining, or dying. Usually some event has precipitated the call, and they want someone to share some wisdom and research, to help them gain a sense of direction. What these churches have in common is that they sense the challenge of planning for both the short- and long-term. There ...
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