In my March newsletter I discussed how important it is to understand your congregation's culture. What are the norms and values which guide behavior? What is behind these norms?
In my book I offer a tool that is especially helpful to pastors new to a congregation: Eleven Curious Questions. I encourage every pastor, both those new to a congregation and those who have been there a while, to use this tool to interview a significant portion of the congregation, beginning with the governing board and staff and then interviewing a number of other key persons. It has eleven basic questions with some possible follow-up questions. Obviously if you have been in the congregation a while, you will tweak the questions. Here is the tool.
Tool 3: Eleven Curious Questions
1. Tell me about a time when you felt especially proud of some members or leaders of your congregation, when you felt they were really following Christ. What makes this incident stand out in your mind?
2 . Who do you especially respect as leaders? Why do you hold them in high regard?
3. Tell me why you're glad you are a member of this congregation.
Why did you join this congregation instead of another one? (Did you try other congregations?)
How have fellow members been especially helpful to you?
How would you assess the friendliness of this congregation? How easily do people here welcome newcomers? Quickly? Or do people have to be members for several years before they really feel part?
4. How has being part of this congregation helped you and members of your family grow in faith? Please give me some examples of experiences or classes that made a difference. How did you change?
5. Tell me a story about when congregation members resolved a conflict or difference effectively. What do you think the congregation learned from this experience? How effectively do leaders and members handle differences now?
6. What have you especially valued about your pastors and other congregational staff? (Be specific.) Do any sermons, initiatives, or attributes of your previous pastor come to mind?
7. Tell me about a time when you were disappointed with members or leaders. What happened? (Seek the cause of the disappointment-for example a betrayal or someone simply not working hard enough or having unrealistic expectations.)
8. Complete this sentence: "God is calling this congregation to be ..."
9. What do you think God wants your congregation to emphasize in the next three to five years?
10. What else do I need to know in order to thrive in this congregation and community?
11. Do you have any other concerns or suggestions?
What chronic frustrations or differences do you hope I can help the congregation deal with?
From Entering Wonderland: A Toolkit for Pastors New to a Church, by Robert A Harris, Rowman and Littlefield, 2014, all rights reserved. For permission to reprint, distribute or reuse, please contact the publisher.
Interview a broad representation of leaders using these questions. Note that I say interview them. Don't just send these questions as a questionnaire. Use them as a springboard for conversation. There is nothing like a face-to-face conversation to get to know people and help them get to know you. You will see their body language, sensing the emotions behind their responses. They will see that you are really interested in their perception of the congregation and their suggestions for you. Further, if you are using these questions in an interview, you can quickly adapt them, either asking good follow-up questions or skipping questions that the person has already answered.
I have found that people like being interviewed. Most people like to give the pastor their take on things. Interviews demonstrate that you are genuinely curious about this congregation and its people. You are really interested in them.
What's a broad representation of leaders? In a family-size congregation, it might be 10 people, but in a pastoral size or larger, I encourage you to interview at least 25 to 35 leaders.
Introduce the interview process to your governing board and start by interviewing them. After you have begun interviewing the board, tell the congregation that you can be most effective as their pastor when you get to know them in some depth. Explain that a particularly helpful method you have found (or have read about) is to interview members of the congregation, beginning with formal leaders. Invite people to ask you to interview them. Take notes while you're listening; it affirms to your interviewees that you're really paying attention.
I have typically interviewed people one at a time, but have sometimes interviewed couples, and in a few instances, I have met with adult education classes and existing small groups. Stress to individuals and couples that their answers will be confidential.(However, you can't really promise confidentiality in a group since you can't control what group members will say later.) Remember, your primary purpose is to get to know them. However, explain to them that their responses will possibly be compiled with others' responses into a report or series of reports to the board and congregation. (At this point you won't know whether you're going to prepare a formal report.)
As you are reading this, you may be exclaiming, "I am so busy writing a weekly sermon, making pastoral calls, planning for weddings or funerals, planning the board's agenda, and dealing with complaints about the music or youth group! And you are telling me that I need to find another 25 hours to interview people one on one??? I don't have time to do that!"
To this concern I offer two questions: "Would you rather have people warn you now about potential minefields or loose cannons or would you prefer to stumble unknowingly into them later?" and "Are you genuinely interested in getting to know the leaders of the congregation and the way its system works and do you want them to get to know you as one who is there for them?"
Trust me. Doing these interviews really works.
Now, having done the interviews, what have you learned?
Who are the real, trusted leaders? And who are the loudmouths who want you to see them as leaders, but whom nobody really respects?
How clear are members and leaders about the congregation's mission and vision?
How have they handled differences over the years? What stories do they tell about church fights? What do you learn about their norms for having good fights?
To what extent is the office of pastor respected and honored? Or have there been betrayals that undermine you from the start?
What minefields do you learn about? Where do you need to be careful, especially before you gain much credibility?
How important is growth in faith and service important to people or are they just going through the motions?
Even if you have been in a church for a while, I encourage you to interview people every three years or so. You may learn a lot!
How to dig deeper into this data is beyond what I can do in a newsletter column but I have a number of suggestions in my book. I would also be glad to coach you as you reflect on your new data.
If you would like some help to grow as a leader, I encourage you to consider coaching, either one on one or in a group. Most of my coaching is done by phone in order to minimize commuting but I make exceptions. Further, phone coaching makes it possible for me to have clients who live many miles away.
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