From a participant on the Advanced forum (To join click here

Dear Forum Colleagues:

At Trinity Lutheran Church in west suburban St. Louis (Track 1), we are coming to the climax of the “visioning” or DNA formation process. We have our Core Values and Bedrock Beliefs solidly in place. In fact, they helped us weather a huge storm when our pastor shocked us by suddenly resigning both from congregation and denomination last summer. They helped “anchor” us–reminding us of who and Whose we are and what we believe.

April 17 we’ll have our Motivating Vision congregation gathering. Last Fall people formed a number of Listening-Prayer Triads and many more prayed twice a day for our congregation’s vision. In fact, we’ve had a number of prayer ministries begun. In January and early February we communicated in print and in worship a dozen or so  “visions” received from participants through the Fall and Winter. We had 200 people participate in 40 Days of Purpose groups through Lent to deepen our walk with Jesus and catch a vision for our individual and congregation purpose. On April 17 we’ll be ready for the Spirit to show us which vision truly motivates and energizes all of us for mission. We’re confident the Key Mission will flow easily thereafter. We’ve stayed pretty close to Tom’s Moving Off the Map, choosing to define “vision” and mission” a little differently–more as two sides of the same coin: on the vision-side motivation from within and the “why”; on the mission-side, the public face of our vision to the unchurched public, the “what” we want people to know about us, our passion, our reason for being “for them.”

The Spirit has already gotten a hold on a number of peole who are energized and creatively coming up with tactics, specific ways to be in mission to our community. They’ve got some good ideas. But we’ve had zero experience with a permission-giving church. Leadership is unsure about how this works. People wonder how we’ll actually implement this without the usual top-down structure and how they’ll be networked, resourced, equipped, held accountable.

It reminds me of Larry Bossidy’s and Ram Charan’s superb book, Execution. No matter how great the vision, it all comes down to execution–the capacity, commitment, and ability to “make it happen” in specific steps day to day. I’m all ears to learn how people with a heartburst have gone about executing specific missions, what problems they encountered, how pastors/church staff related, interacted, supported, how folks were held accountable, etc. etc. What I’m after are specifics about how this actually works in real time.

On Pentecost Sunday, May 15, we’re planning a celebration of our DNA, especially our Motivating Vision and Key Mission, with one humongous, blow-out service that includes brunch (we’ll move from worship area to gym) and then a mighty blessing and sending of people in mission. In other words, based on our DNA, we’re in countdown mode and preparing for launch on May 15. I want us to be prepared to have “all systems” go for the practical stuff that needs to happen on May 16 ff.

Thanking you in advance for sharing your wisdom and experience.

Response from Bill Easum

David, I would encourage you to read Sacred Cows Make Gormet Burgers for a starter. Also there is a section in Unfreezing moves that describes the bottom up versus the top down and how it works.

Tom will talk about proscriptive and values and how they set the boundaries to what people cant do. Usually it goes something like this.  If one of your values is teams, then you dont want people to do ministry solo and that includes the paid staff. If one of your proscriptive statements is You cant go over the budget or a new ministry cant use any budget money then you have set a boundary.

Permission giving does not mean permissiveness.  You have to have wide, clear, and mission producing boundaries.

Most problems are avoided if you say to people, It fits our DNA and if you can find two or three people who want to do this with you, go for it, but dont do anything to violate our values or jeopardize our mission and vision.

Response from Tom Bandy

David:

I feel alot of joy for the church … glad that the consultation we began some time ago has borne such fruit. Please communicate my prayerful support to the folks there.

Next steps toward servant empowering organization will be the embedding of the DNA … leaders model it, newcomers are taught it, worship reveals it … but it will be vital to begin actually using it as a vehicle of accountability whenever leaders of any group gather. Moreover, the board needs to move assertively to look at structure, budget, training, resources, and marketing to make sure every tactic and detail is aligned, teamed, and targeted to the vision/mission.

Further … the adult faith formation activity that has been invested in the vision discernment process needs to carry on momentum. Staff will need to encourage the discovery of gifts and the discernment of call, and help equip laity to operate effectively in mission to do whatever mission is elicted from their hearts.

Now the urgency on leadership transition is really on … as staff shift from doers of ministry to equipers of ministers.

David:

I feel alot of joy for the church … glad that the consultation we began some time ago has borne such fruit. Please communicate my prayerful support to the folks there.

Next steps toward servant empowering organization will be the embedding of the DNA … leaders model it, newcomers are taught it, worship reveals it … but it will be vital to begin actually using it as a vehicle of accountability whenever leaders of any group gather. Moreover, the board needs to move assertively to look at structure, budget, training, resources, and marketing to make sure every tactic and detail is aligned, teamed, and targeted to the vision/mission.

Further … the adult faith formation activity that has been invested in the vision discernment process needs to carry on momentum. Staff will need to encourage the discovery of gifts and the discernment of call, and help equip laity to operate effectively in mission to do whatever mission is elicted from their hearts.

Now the urgency on leadership transition is really on … as staff shift from doers of ministry to equipers of ministers.

Response from participant

David…

I can give input based on the mistakes we’ve made in similar situations.

As you ID’d so wonderfully, May 16th and every day following are where the rubber hits the road. Follow-through is EVERYTHING. So….what happens next:

1. There will be teams and team leaders — at least I assume so. If you don’t have a strategy for how to emerge from the 15th with teams and team leaders commissioned, I can suggest one.

2. The team leaders will need coaching and mentoring on how to be spiritually mature, emotionally mature, DNA-congruent, outcome-oriented, leader-multiplying, positive team leaders. That should all be clear and committed to written covenant and signed by any who say they want to lead. The whole coaching and mentoring thing was really tough for us and we blew it for a long time — it’s better now. The shift to teams and team leaders is more daunting and demanding for the senior leaders than anything. It’s a huge commitment and mind shift to do disciplined, consistent coaching or mentoring. It’s huge to commit to being available 24/7 for a team leader you’re coaching or mentoring. It’s mind boggling to realize that coaching or mentoring means pushing someone to a point where they will get angry with you. It’s also commitment, as a mentor or coach, to keep growing and being pushed ourselves.

3. Teams will need to learn how to be teams. I recommend the book “High Five” by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles as a study book for all teams.

4. Tom’s recent post on End Policies to Tactics and Everything In-Between (I just gave it that title 🙂 ) helps set the stage for what’s needed for each team. Each team will need it’s own motivating vision, mission, and end policies. That should be the first thing they covenant to do, before passing “go.”

This, at least, is the area where it took us too long to dial in. It’s so easy for teams and team leaders to drift off course. It is not an easy task for senior leaders to create a mentoring and coaching environment. But it’s critical to the mission. Depending on the size of your church and number of teams, it would be good if you could create a Mentors & Coaches Team who covenant to learn together how to be good coaches and mentors and also covenant to be deployed as mentors and coaches.