Does Your Church Need a Chiropractor?

A colleague of mine said she was so thoroughly refreshed after a summer of breezes, gardens, birds and a less hectic schedule that she didn't think she could leave it all behind for the frantic pace of Fall. As I thought about that I wondered why we have to leave it? What is the magic theological marker in the sand that we cross on Rally Day Sunday or Labor Day Sunday or whatever your church calls it? Where in the Bible does it say we have to become crazy out of our mind busy from September to June? Who set up this insane sense of program year anyway??

Everything we read these days is about how busy and stressed everyone is, how clergy are burning out at a rapid rate, how kids are over scheduled, how calendars conflict between school, church, work and community, and on and on. And yet we in the leadership of the church jump right in and join the stressed out crowd trying to see who can be the busiest of them all. (All clergy know that means how busy can we keep the pastor or can the pastor keep him/herself because when the bodies aren't there to carry on, the pastor will be).

I say it's time for a Parts Integration! The body of Christ is out of alignment and it is time for a re-alignment. Ask the chiropractors in your congregation what being out of alignment does to the body. Then try this simple exercise: Draw a line vertically on the page and on the left side of the line list 5 things that are most important to your church/congregation. On the right side list the the 5 things you spend most of your time doing. Are the two lists in synch, in alignment, congruent? If not, how do you bring them into alignment? Many times what we say is important to us is not what we spend the majority of our time on. Is that the case for your congregation? If Christian Education is important to you, then how much time and how many people are involved? Or worship? Or visitation? This is not just for the pastor. It is for the entire church body to think about.

Now there is a second step to this process of realignment and this is a bit more difficult. Are you ready? Make a list of the "open loops" that are robbing you of your energy and keeping you out of alignment. What's an open loop? An open loop is something in your life that has not been resolved, is open ended and is draining you of energy either by worry, on your mind constantly, guilt, etc. For example, is there a relationship that needs mending in your life that takes energy from your day as you worry about it or have to avoid it? Go to that person and resolve the issue. Close the loop. (Seems Jesus had something to say about that in several places). Maybe there is someone in the congregation who is constantly starting little fires to keep the church off balance and no one is stepping up to deal with this person. This is an open loop that drains your energy. If you have more than 3-5 open loops, get to work! You are energy depleted. Once you identify this then make an action plan to close them, set a time line and begin the process.

This is an exercise that needs to be done by everyone in the leadership at minimum and the whole church at best and then something the congregation as a whole enters. Where are the open loops that the church body has not closed and is draining their energy?

Re-aligning the Body of Christ, resolving the energy drainers and focusing on the important things will keep fresh breezes blowing.