Thoughts on Church Planting - does the old model need a serious do-over?

David Fitch posted a suggestion today on how church planting is done. (STOP FUNDING CHURCH PLANTS and Start Funding Missionaries: A Plea to Denominations) I thought I'd repost my reply here.

Great post. I love munching on new ideas and this is one you can sink your teeth into. I agree that the church planting process is abysmal. The very fact that it ever worked is a sign that we (Americans, at least) have a ridiculously screwed up view of what church is. As Bob pointed out, “the only expectation that has been placed upon the people is to give their money to pay someone else to be a Christian for them.”

Having lived in both urban and suburban areas, I’ve yet to find an area in these United States that doesn’t already have at least one, if not zillions, of congregations already meeting in it. I think it’s interesting that we have a mindset that if our own denomination, or network, or whatever umbrella organization we feel connected to, doesn’t have a congregation in an area, then they’re probably not doing it right and a new church needs to be started there. What about using the congregations that already exist, the four churches who have touching parking lots, for example, and disciple people so that they live their commitment to christ themselves, rather than paying someone else to do it? (I know I’m echoing several folks sentiments here.)

I don’t see anything wrong with people moving to urban or poor areas. I’m all for that. But to do it with the intention of starting a new church still seems silly to me. I’ve lived in Detroit and in the Mission district of San Francisco – both of which are (or were, when I lived there) rather poor urban zones. But they had churches already. Why rebuild the wheel? Why not help those “dying” churches get their second wind? Does it please God when the energy and excitement of youth is spent “for his glory” while simultaneously ignoring the wisdom and experience of the christians already living in that area? It seems to me that the old but faithful need the excitement, abilities and energy of the young. And the young and energized need the wisdom and the encouragement of the old and perseverant.

"The universal longing for heaven is not about immortality so much as the wish for a world in which everyone is always kind." -- Susan Cain

If I don’t love Mabel… « BYSTANDERS TO GOD'S GRACE

http://weavingmajor.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/loving-mabel/
Sometimes it's easy to read scripture without hearing it. This is especially true when a passage becomes too familiar, or is so general that if we don't think through exactly how it applies to our life, then it's essentially nothing but platitudes. Kelly's rewrite of 1 Corinthians 13 takes a familiar passage of scripture and contextualizes it in such a way that it becomes immediately relevant.

The last of the quotes from Lynne Baab on personality types in congregations

I've already posted a few times about Lynne Baab's book, Personality Type in Congregations: How to Work with Others More Effectively. In the last third of the book, Baab addresses personality types in congregations (In other words, the personality type of the church, not just the individuals within it.), considering type in congregational activities (offering a variety of activities to support differing personality types), using type to help be a more effective leader in the church and to help a congregation through a time of change, and using type in pastoral care situations  such as counseling, premarital counseling, ministering to families and even in confirmation classes (helping kids better understand why they connect with some forms of worship or prayer and not others). 

I want to share some more quotes from this book, but if you're interested in type and congregation life, I would definitely encourage you to read the entire book. Baab does a great job of pulling in personality type wisdom from a very large variety of sources and tailoring it specifically to situations, conflicts and service within the church. She also includes several appendices that list resources for digging deeper into specific sub-topics. This book is well worth the read. 

"Without new challenges, we can't grow, and growth and change are a significant part of human development." 

I think one of the things I appreciated most about Baab's book is her emphasis on growth. Using type to better understand yourself and others is a good thing, but it can also be a tool for growth. Baab encourages pastors and leaders not to talk too much about type to their congregations as it might be seen as a different gospel, but she points out that the principals can still be used to help cope with conflict, to ease transitions, and to spur growth both within individuals and the congregation as a whole. 

"Understanding patterns of spiritual growth, particularly growth in self-acceptance and growth through facing the inferior function and the shadow, can help us develop a spirit of gentleness and kindness as we work with others in our congregations. We are all growing. We are all 'people i progress.' We all experience stress and behave in childish way when under pressure. We need a kind word or a gentle listening ear when we experience growth pants. I long four our congregation to be places offering that kind of love and acceptance along with tolerance for the complexity of our spiritual journeys."

This was kind of her concluding paragraph on the importance of growth. She then went on to talk through several specifics such as quiet activities vs. activities that involve lots of interaction between people. Teaching methods in Sunday school classes and how to teach in such a way that all personality types are engaged and learning. She said some stuff about small groups that fit me to a T. (Don't go changing out the people in my small group every single year. I don't like that. I want to get to know people.) She touches on worship, preaching, the way the building looks, and even scheduling events. In other words, she hits upon several things that we might not think about as being helpful or hurtful to people and she gives tips on how to make sure people feel a part of the body rather than being surprised or hurt by things (even simple things like not knowing a part of the service was changed at the last minute). 

She also has an interesting section on Generation X. Considering that the Emergent movement is all about reaching X and Y, her take on the differences via type rather than culture are intriguing. Baab quickly points out that, for whatever reason, various generations seem to fit into specific types. The generation from 1910-1930, that were involved in WWII and were raised during a time of hard work and duty, display STJ characteristics. Whereas the Baby Boomer generation has more of an N feel to it as people valued exploration and envelope pushing, but they retained the J sense of responsibility of the generation before them. Gen X, though, seems to be more perceiving than previous generations. Baab explains, "They are a generation raised on options, more options than most of us who are slightly older can even imagine. MTV and the Internet illustrate the plethora of possibilities that have shaped this generation." Baab believes that most congregations carry a J flavor, which could be one reason why Generation Xers don't feel comfortable in church. She encourages congregations to have more spontaneity and openness "without sacrificing that which is important to [you]." I particularly liked this bit, "One Presbyterian church with a high percentage of Generation X attenders is known in its presbytery as 'the barefoot church' because one 20-something fellow occasionally come to church barefoot." 

"Some conflict arises because we don't understand differences between ourselves and other.... We move to another level of misunderstanding when we believe that Kyle is being malicious or deliberately insensitive. This can lead to painful and damaging conflict."

I think this is particularly true. Since I've studied personality types, I generally have a sense of conflict through that lens. There are many times in a conflict when I hear one person say incredibly nasty things about the other person, as though the other person is being deliberately selfish or rude. But since I see where the other person is coming from through the lens of type, I often see just the opposite. Though you may hear them as being selfish, if you think through what it is they're actually saying, you'd realize that the reality is that they're trying to do something that will help and benefit everyone. (Yes, I do have a specific very acrimonious conflict in mind that happened among parents in my girls' class a few years back. It was heartbreaking to see these parents tear each other apart simply because they refused to take the time to listen and really hear what the other was saying.)

This happens in the church as well. Despite all of the Biblical admonitions to forgive and forebear and love, people see through the lens of their own personality type. Baab continues,

"Type can help us work with others in our congregation by giving us vocabulary and concepts to describe these differences in style. Once we understand them, we can be more gentle and also more assertive in asking that other styles be affirmed and included. This understanding can help us avoid falling into the trap of attributing evil to people when their styles differ from ours, and it can prevent conflict from escalating to damaging levels."

Baab also talked about change within extraverted vs. introverted congregations. Her descriptions of introverted congregations fit our church incredibly well. (We only have a couple extraverts in our congregation.) It surprised me to consider that change would happen differently, though, based on whether the congregation was introverted or extraverted. That was a neat little insight. 

There are three books on type that I'm interested in reading next. One is the book, Gifts Differing, by Isabel Briggs Myers and Peter B. Myers. (Isabel Briggs Myers helped to develop the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, so reading this book would be going to the source.) The second is Beside Ourselves: Our HIdden Personalities in Everyday Life, by Naomi Quenk. I want to explore this whole inferior function idea more, which is what this book gets into. And the last has to do with parenting styles -- The M.O.M.S. Handbook: Understanding Your Personality Type in Mothering. Baab mentions that this book described her parenting style to a tee and they hadn't even interviewed her for the book. 

More quotes from Lynne Baab on Personality Types and working effectively with others

These are more quotes by Lynne M. Baab from her book, Personality Type in Congregations: How to Work with Others More Effectively.

"Psychological type is not a good source of direction for finding a place to serve. Type can provide us great understanding of how to serve once we get to a place of ministry. Type can help us understand what tasks will be easy and what tasks will be hard. type can help us understand which tasks will be tiring. Type can help us predict some of the ways we may experience conflict with people. 

"The best and most effective service grows out of our deeply held values, commitments, and passions, which give us energy to persevere when things become boring or difficult. These values, commitments, and passions can come from a variety of places in our lives."

I thought this was particularly interesting and insightful. Baab gives an example of an ESTJ gal who helps out in the church in several very practical ways (which is typical of ESTJ's). But at one point she decided to help with a hospice center, thinking that she'd do practical things like wash dishes and tidy up. But what she found was that caregivers wanted a chance to get away and she ended up sitting with the patients who often wanted to talk out what they were going through. So here was a very practical DO-ing oriented woman who was expected to sit and listen quietly to someone emote -- something she would find incredibly hard to do. But because she still felt strongly about the general task of helping with hospice care, she persevered and ended up growing richly in ways she hadn't expected. Because her weakest abilities were called upon, she felt like she had to rely ever more heavily upon God to learn to listen and empathize with people. But through it, she found healing for some of her own past wounds. Here she was doing a task that she never would have chosen based on personality type, and yet it stretched her and she grew in unexpected and exciting ways. And it worked because she felt strongly about hospice even though it wasn't an area of strength skill-wise for her. 

Baab encourages people to pursue what they feel passionately about, and only after that choice has been made should they consider how best to do their service in light of their personality type and strengths. 

"At midlife and beyond, people usually grow in their ability to use their less-preferred functions. In Navigating Midlife the authors write that beginning at midlife, people 'need to expand their identity by looking inward to discover the pieces of their personalities that are not yet developed. They need to move toward their own wholeness.' The push to grow toward wholeness often motivates people to try new areas of service  tat they never would have considered." 

I've heard this before, that as you grow older you're more willing, and even excited about, trying things that aren't as easy for your personality type. 

"Once we begin serving in a specific ministry, type can give us understanding and insight into why certain tasks are enjoyable and others are not. Type can help us make choices within that ministry to bring balance to our lives. Understanding type can help us know when to delegate tasks to someone else. Type can help us know when to ask for help."

Again, she's advocating for being involved in a ministry we feel strongly about rather than selecting something just because our type indicates that we have strengths in that area. Then she encourages people to find means of interacting with that ministry that fit our type. 

"Burnout can be like carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive motion syndrome. Overuse of one part of our body results in soreness and pain. ... Overuse of our gifts and strengths in ministry follows the same pattern as repetitive motion syndrome. By the time we experience pain, the pattern of overuse is firmly established. Whether we are a pastor or a lay leader, the congregation expects us to continue to perform in the areas where we have shown so much competence. It is extremely difficult to form new patterns of behavior." 

Baab points out that there's three main ways to end up burned out: being overtaxed in an area of weakness until you're completely drained,  being overtaxed in an area of strength until you're injured in a way similar to getting carpal tunnel, and being so frustrated and stressed that you give up. She says that just because an area is our strength doesn't mean we can't still get burned out in it (which is especially a problem for people that work in their strength and then end up doing volunteer work that leans on that same strength). Just like with carpal tunnel, it can sometimes be helpful to strengthen surrounding muscles/functions. If we're strong extroverts and have to call upon that strength a lot for both work and church life, we may need to take time to strengthen our introverted function by taking on more behind the scenes tasks within the congregation for awhile. 

The frustration and stress section relied heavily upon an example, but she explains that we could work in our strength, but because the board or pastor or people we're helping don't have the same strengths as we do, they may not recognize the amount of work we've put in to something, or they may be grateful to us but not value our work. (In the example a T was thanked by a board of F's, but what she really wanted was her work to be critiqued and then used. She ended up leaving the church because all her hard labor was ignored... until, ironically, after she left the congregation and the F's learned how to use the documents that she had drawn up.) I definitely could relate to this example as I often feel like I'm thanked but not necessarily appreciated. 

Baab offers some great advice to pastors and other leaders in terms of helping people get plugged into the church life. She then moves on to talk about prayer and Bible study and how it differs among different personality types. She brought up Lectio Divina, which is an ancient form of Bible study, and she showed how the four stages of the Lectio Divina met the strengths of several different personality types, making it a good example for how to include all personality types in the same study. 

Quotes from Lynne Baab on Personality Types

I covered the "why" of personality types in my last post about Lynne Baab's book, Personality Type in Congregations: How to Work with Others More Effectively, but this time around I wanted to list some direct quotes from the book. 

"...we need to make sure there are places in every church where every type preference can experienced."

I think this is really important. I understand why SJ's would want to attend a church that focuses on structure, tradition, creeds and solemnity. And I understand why people with an Extroverted Sensing function might feel most comfortable in a church with incense or candles or raised hands or spectacular music. It makes sense to be in a congregation where we feel like we "fit" and we're best able to feel connected to God. And maybe we don't need to worry so much about visitors because they can always keep looking till they find a church that fits for them. But what about our kids? I have Extroverted Feeling daughters who love when we clap along to songs or otherwise get into the music, but that really doesn't happen so often in our mostly SJ church. 

And I think it's important that even in an SJ church, people are encouraged to stretch a little, try new things, and find other ways to connect to God that might not feel as natural or as comfortable, but that might still enable them to have a better sense of God that goes beyond their previous understanding. 

"When we are taking in information through intuition, we remain in the present reality of the senses only long enough to receive enough sensory data to make a leap into the possibilities associated with those data. While sensing focuses on the present and uses memories of the past to provide further information, intuition focuses on the future. Intuition explores the big pictures, the overall theme, the patterns that are present, the connections between the pieces of data received, and, above all, the meaning of the information."

"Each of us uses both ways of taking in information, but most of us prefer one over the other. People who prefer sensing tend to be practical, factual, and concrete, concerned with the details of each tree rather than studying the forest as a whole. People who prefer intuition tend to be abstract and to think globally. They are concerned with the pattern of the forest rather than the characteristics of the individual trees."

I found the first paragraph to be very helpful. (I included the second because it's also a good description, though I'd understood that part before.) When I try to explain the different between S and N to people, I often find myself saying that S's are more detail oriented and N's are more big picture oriented. But what confuses me is that I notice details, too. In fact, sometimes specific details are exactly what give me my insights. So I've been confused about the differences in detail gathering between S's and N's. I think Baab delineated the differences well in this paragraph. 

"The physical surroundings in their house of worship may be quite important to sensing types." 

This is so true of Rob, not just with worship but with schools, too. Every time we visit a university campus he doesn't care what programs they offer or what type of classes he could take, what matters is how old and cool the buildings are. He struggles with the fact that our congregation meets in a building that was built in the 60s or 70s. He's much rather be downtown in something old and funky. 

"When [Jung] uses the word feeling, he is referring to a decision making pattern that involves concern for human values and that strives primarily for relational harmony. It is decision making based on deeply held values. In contrast, the word "thinking" involves making decisions with a concern for logica nd truth. Thinking is more detached and objective than feeling."

"Thinking involves a concern for logic and truth; feeling involves a concern for values and harmony." 

I'm very clear on what thinking means. I get foggy when it comes to feeling. Or, more to the point, I get foggy when it comes to Rob. I would say that he makes decisions based on values and truth. He has very strongly held values and he sees them as core truths. So is he a T or is he an F? When he takes tests he often comes out right in the middle. I think he's an F when it comes to the values bit but a T when it comes to the relational harmony bit. 

Oh, and for the sake of the feeling folks here, let me add this quote:

"Logical analysis alone doesn't guarantee accuracy." 

You can use that against us the next time you're in an argument with a T.  ;-)

"In congregations the thinking-feeling preference may be the most explosive and painful aspect of psychological type differences. It can be difficult for people who prefer thinking and feeling to respect each other. The feeling type proposes an action. The thinking type asks, 'Why?' The feeling type thinks, 'If she really respected me, she wouldn't need to hear reasons.' The thinking type, meanwhile, is wondering, 'If he can't articulate his reasons, can this really be a good idea?'"

I thought this was a great insight. If we knew that we were T's and F's talking, then perhaps we could talk this out and satisfy either side in the end. But without knowing the metathinking that's going on, it's really hard to tease out what's really happening in a situation.

"Perceiving refers to a preference for keeping things open, for continuing to remain in a perceptive attitude. People who prefer perceiving often come across as flexible and easy-going. Judging refers to a preference for making decisions over taking in more information. People who prefer judging often seem to be organized, structured, committed to deadlines, and aware of schedules." 

I thought this was a nice description of J and P. 

Whew! That's plenty of quotes for now, and it doesn't even hit upon the bit of reading I did today. That was all from previous reading. I'll try to splash some more quotes up here soon. 

Why study personality types?

I'm reading a really fantastic book about personality types called Personality Type in Congregations: How to Work with Others More Effectively, by Lynne M. Baab. A lot of what the author writes about could really be applied in any organizational situation, not just within church congregations, but she does address prayer and a few other particularly spiritual activities (such as worship) that are more specific to a faith based community.  

Oftentimes when I bring up personality typing (especially within our congregation) I basically get pooh poohed. The attitude is either that it's all a bunch of hocus pocus and mumbo jumbo, or there's no real value in the study and, if anything, it will just be used against people. Baab did a great job of explaining that just the opposite is true. She says there are three paths to growth relating to personality types: self-acceptance, learning to use all functions, and learning to "access the shadow" (which deals with the way we behave/think under extreme stress).

The moment of self-acceptance comes when you discover your personality type and suddenly you realize that your constant fight to be one way or another is because you're not naturally that way. God made you to be a certain way and you may feel like your parents, or your church, or your work place has expected something very different of you, something that you found it depressing to be unable to achieve. When you realize that you're introverted because that's how God made you, or that there's value in being a dreamer, or that basing your decisions on feelings isn't wrong or right, it's just how you are... then you're able to accept who you are and how you naturally operate, irregardless of what others' expectations might be. (You might also have a better sense of why they are expecting something from you that's always seemed so foreign. It's because that other person has an opposite personality trait in that area so they'd always thought they were expecting something natural of you, not realizing it was natural to them, but not to you.) Once you discover your personality type, you'll probably have a better understanding of yourself and others. This will help you to be more accepting of others when they decide or act differently than you do. But there's a lot more value to personality typing than just awareness. The next step involves growth.

Each of the functions of the Meyers-Briggs personality type system are amoral. That means they're neither right or wrong, they're just different. And there are times when one type might be more appropriate than another. For example, if someone has just gone through a traumatic or sad experience, it's unlikely that they want a Thinking type person to come up and logically explain to them the situation that they're in. What they really need then is a Feeling type person who will empathize with them in their time of need (or a Thinking person who has learned to use their Feeling side). One of the goals of those studying personality typing should not only be to

learn more about your own personality type, and to learn to value and appreciate other personality types, but also to find ways to grow in areas where you have a weakness. Not only does this help us to be more well rounded people, but we may find the stretch into an area that doesn't come naturally to us to be an exciting challenge that helps us grow closer to God (as we learn to rely more upon him in our areas of weakness) and others (as we learn to relate to people in a way that might not be as natural for us, but which helps us to connect to them more deeply). I think this is an important aspect of personality study that is often overlooked and Baab does a great job of giving examples of how people have grown in areas that were previously foreign and uncomfortable to them (like learning to be a listener when you're naturally more of a talker). 

Baab describes the third value of studying personality types as "accessing the shadow." When we are in periods of great stress, we often do our best to face the problem with our usual strengths. When those fail, or when we feel like we've exhausted our ability to deal with the situation, what often happens is that we revert to going the direct opposite route. The example that the author gives of herself was that under stress, she started to exhibit extroverted sensing behaviors (even though she's introverted and intuitive). Healthy extroverted sensing behaviors involve an enthusiastic, joyful embracing of sensory experience. But when we're in these stress modes and flip into using our "inferior function" (which means the opposite of how we'd normally behave) we end up embracing the worst possible form of that function. So in this case, instead of joyfully embracing of something sensory, she depressedly fell into a habit of over-eating. This state of relying upon our inferior function (in other words, relying on the areas we're weakest in and do the worst at) is called being "in the grip." Baab describes it as "vivid evidence that sin's power reaches deep into our souls." During these times, emotions are exposed that we'd managed to hide before. We continue to try to hide them with our inferior functioning, but Baabs encourages growth at this stage by facing our obsessions, mistakes, and failures and learning from them rather than allowing them to lead us down the road of poor behaviors. 

I've considered these first two values of studying personality type for quite awhile now, but the inferior functioning is something I've read about before, but not really delved into deeply. The description of the inferior functioning of an ISTJ (impulsiveness and catastrophizing) fit Nathan's recent behavior to a tee, though. That nearly gave me whiplash when I read it -- definitely catching my attention. Suddenly it makes a little more sense to me why my son is behaving so very differently than he's ever behaved in his life. Something in his life has caused severe stress and his only means of dealing with it has been this radical change in behavior. Baab suggests some means of helping a person get out of "the grip" but I've also noticed there's a book just on that topic. It's something I'll definitely be looking into. 

Understanding personality type is certainly not a panacea, but I've repeatedly seen situations in which it either has helped, or it could have helped if it was taken into consideration. Personality is, by definition, an incredibly personal thing. Some people don't like to be pigeon-holed or scrutinized. Others get a bit too gung ho and run with the beginning of the idea without really understanding how typing can be used beneficially and they end up doing more harm than good. I think it's helped me to be more sensitive and understanding of others. Just like any tool, typing can be helpful or harmful. It's a tool that I've found great value in, both in understanding myself and the actions and beliefs of those around me. Baab is a good writer and does a great job of giving specific benefits and goals of using personality typing within congregations.