When there is a failure in the church’s physical structure, such as poor accessibility, a wise leader can trace the weakness back to concerns about authenticity and transition.  Thinking about authenticity reveals at least two issues: the failure of the congregation to see itself in mission to the disabled of their community and their willingness to dismiss themselves from full participation in fellowship when they reach a certain age. Moving backward to transitional issues, every longstanding facility problem has its roots in the failure of the church’s organizational process to make timely and effective decisions. Organizational issues, such as a conflict between the trustees and the pastor or church council, should alert us the need to change how we decide things. The motto of any transitional period is, “the process is more important than any one result.” Specifically, getting the trustees to relate their actions to the church’s need to be authentic is more important than getting them to approve the proposed wheelchair ramp. Often we will need to employ listening skills to discover at what point in the congregation’s history did the pastoral role become defined in a way that limited the effectiveness of future clergy persons.

            Another common ailment, particularly among smaller rural and inner city congregations, is the rapid turnover of clergy. Here there may be a loss of pastoral leadership every three to four years, forming a chain back to the beloved pastor Jones who was there long enough to become ‘one of us.’ The fact that the pastors after Jones became ‘unintentional interims’ can usually be attributed to a failed transitional process. The revolving door nature of the job prevents even the most gifted pastors from guiding the congregation towards greater authenticity. Unfortunately, many denominational officials become part of the problem by blaming the congregation’s difficulty on its smallness, rural-ness, ethnicity, or the general obstinacy of the current leadership. Working the change circle involves teaching the congregation to be pro-active in the pastoral search process. It also involves providing lower cost forms of pastoral leadership (shared ministry, retired clergy, certified lay ministers) without the stigma, so that the emphasis can return to becoming more authentic, rather than on supporting the institution.