I have just finished reading Jim Collins new book, "How The Mighty Fall." It is a fascinating, albeit brief, look at why organizations that appear to be highly successful falter. It is well worth the read and church leaders need to take heed of the warning signs.
One of the first markers of decline (take note church folks) is when "what" replaces "why." As Collins notes, "the rhetoric of success ("We're successful because we do these specific things") replaces understanding and insight ("We're successful because we understand why we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work"). I'm not sure that there's a greater issue than this in struggling mainline churches.
I've never been in a church that hasn't had a deeply rooted way of doing things and old-time leaders who staunchly defend them. Oftentimes we call them "traditions" and that somehow makes them sacred, but what happens when that tradition (the what) no longer conforms to the tradition (the why), which one wins out? In the church it's usually the tradition of what and not why that triumphs.
I believe that the church needs to once again get back to the "Why" of everything it does and make sure that the "What" and the "why" are aligned with one another.
I should also add that churches need to honestly and candidly be clear about the "why not" as well. It's not enough to say, "we've never done it that way" or "some people won't like that." The "why not" answer needs to be that it doesn't serve God's purposes for the local church.
Constantly asking "why" while not a panacea for all church ailments will go a long way to helping the church connect in a relevant way with people of the twenty-first century (that's the present) rather than the mid-twentieth century or earlier (that's the past and no one lives there as time has progressed).
