The Church’s Missing Silver Bullet—Dialog
The Church Is Ill-prepared for the 21st Century
The Church is coming kicking and screaming into the Digital Age.
It carries historical baggage that is making the journey very difficult—and is causing the Church to miss out on tremendous opportunity.
The Church is entering the Social Media Age with a long tradition of one-way dialog.
Most of us know that by definition “dialog” is two-way.
But the Church does not know this. That’s why it seems perfectly natural for a pope to Tweet to his followers but announce before clicking “Enter” on his first message that he has no intention of following.
Church leaders tend to think that when they are standing in the pulpit they are engaging their listeners. That’s their idea of dialog.
Church leaders tend to extend the pulpit to all other interaction with congregations. Meetings and Assemblies are carefully managed.
Ridiculously short time restrictions prevent dialog.
There is a vetting process for who will engage in church dialog. Clergy get first access. Lay people with a proven track record of support for clergy get second place. There is no third place.
In our region and denomination, it was the custom of our present and last bishop to bypass the elected leaders of a congregation and request to speak to the whole congregation. Request is not the right word—demand is more accurate.
The strategy sounds so open and democratic. It is in fact manipulative.
It is disrespectful to the elected leaders who know the congregation’s issues the best and are elected to represent the interests of the congregation—the whole congregation.
It engages congregational members with less knowledge of issues and various levels of commitment to the total mission of a congregation. As they view the disrespect shown for the congregation’s leaders, they are appropriately fearful of speaking out.
Dialog is shut down.
Church leaders are fooled into thinking they have led people. They have intimidated people.
What might happen if the church leaders came to congregational leaders with one simple question—How can we help?
What might happen if they then sat back and listened?
It may be the single most important step in achieving transformation.
This has never been easier or more possible—however unlikely.
The Church needs to buy a pair of listening ears. They are rare but not expensive.