We point you to an article on Alban Institute’s Weekly Blog, Hope and Ethnography by Dori Grinenko Baker.

The article talks about the art of listening–attentively and purposefully–to hear the rhythms, history and subtle passions which create the character of Christian community. Her thinking is in stark contrast to the approach many congregations encounter when dealing with their church governing bodies, which judge congregations by marketplace standards, which have never been a long-term effective part of the Christian growth dynamic.

The Church has no real value to community if it is nothing but a place people go to passively worship and have religion served to them on a shiny silver platter. Active Christian communities, regardless of size, have so much more going on, much of it out of sight to outside observers — unless they take the time to actively listen over an extended period of time.

What do church evaluators with their checklists and clipboards miss?

Christian communities create subtle pockets of synergy that have enormous potential. As the article points out, creativity often comes from the juxtaposition of opposites — young next to old, oldtimer next to newcomer. Programs rarely create these conditions as they are generally tailored to defined groups — youth, singles, seniors, children, the divorced, the grieving, refugees, etc. What happens when individuals who become active in church as one of these categories no longer fit the category?

Membership must be sustained beyond an individual’s entry point in Christian community. It is the subtleties of relationships — these synergies — that bind Christian communities and which offer sustainable growth on both an individual and congregational level. They are rarely part of “programming.”

Artists have a saying–God is in the details. In church life this includes things like the member who shows up at a family’s door with a large pot of soup on the day they bring their child home from a long hospital stay . . . or the veteran teacher who notices a parent’s challenge with a child and gently offers resources . . . or the member who knows that employment is a challenge and offers little jobs to help fill the gap — or the neighborhood (members or not) who lovingly help care for property. It is subtle but true Christianity. One might even call it love.

Governance focussed on replicable, managed programs with measurable numbers will never see it.

More’s the pity.