| No. |
Clergy-Focused Congregations |
Mission-Focused Congregations |
1 |
Excessive focus on clergy (difficult to think of the rest of the system); overinvested in clergy ("hero or goat"); clergy primarily responsible for what happens
|
A clear focus on identity and destiny
|
| 2 |
Dependency encouraged (parent/child arrangement); no activity without clergy present |
Stewardship emphasized; responsibility is distributed; interdependence
|
| 3 |
Neediness is enabled |
Needs are met without promoting dependency
|
| 4 |
Clergy expected to motivate, uplift, or rescue people
|
Clergy expected to organize people toward mission |
| 5 |
Inflexible roles (survival depends on a prescribed way of functioning)
|
Resiliency in functioning |
| 6 |
Cycle of emotional fusion (lack of "distance"; clergy not seen as separate individuals; clergy are "owned") |
Clergy are separate selves; clergy set goals and take stands
|
| 7 |
"We" (very few speak for themselves); allow inappropriate behavior to exist, no one confronts or speaks up |
"I" positions are respected; lots of dialogue (physicist David Bohm says, "Dialogue means not winning points")
|
| 8 |
"Consensus sensitive" (difference is seen as attack, can't survive if we don't agree); clergy is the hub of harmony
|
Vision sensitive (differences are tolerated because vision guides and solidifies people) |
| 9 |
Disagreement is dangerous (calm surface) |
Conflict is normal, essential, and managed
|
| 10 |
Closed system (lack of "oxygen," no corrective feedback, novelty is not entertained) |
Open system (lots of information, new ideas, feedback loops)
|
| * Healthy Congregations - A Systems Approach, Peter Steinke |
