Tension Isn't All Bad
Speed Leas
Unless an organization encourages regular and thorough internal challenge to what it has been doing, it's unlikely to be able to keep up with the changing world.
—Speed Leas One Presbyterian congregation of 150 members worried for years about its Sunday school program. Many members believed the church was losing potential members to two neighboring Presbyterian congregations (each of which had over a thousand members) because their church didn't have a large enough Sunday school program to attract and hold young couples with children. They would often apologize to newcomers about the insufficient Sunday school, promising they were working on enlarging it. When the church called a new pastor, the members began lobbying him about the need for a larger Sunday school program. So the pastor went to work. He attended some church growth seminars, read literature, did some demographic studies, and finally came up with a plan. He presented it to the board. "Within two miles of our church, in all directions," he said, "we have a high proportion of young couples with small children. If we target these families with appropriate advertisements, special programs, and more contemporary worship services, I'm sure we can significantly increase our worship and Sunday school attendance." After explaining some of the details, the pastor invited discussion. The elders were uniformly disturbed. "I don't feel very comfortable 'targeting' one group," said one. "It feels elitist." "I like the fact that our little congregation spans the generations," said another in her early thirties. "I don't know that I would have gotten to know some of the older members and some young people had there been more people my age." "Why do we have to compete with our sister ...
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