This not a program, but rather  simple set of concepts and terms. I seek to provide a shared language by which people can talk about the changes that are needed in their church. Like every invented jargon, it de-emphasizes some things while elevating others. It encourages a pragmatic (rather than romantic) approach to the long term assets of a congregation and names the idolatrous attachments people may have towards certain physical assets.  The concept of "fit" from Saul's Armor is critical for this value shift.

Its starts with the following:

Every church has three kinds of assets: Long-term (rabbits), short-term (soup), and missional (hungry people). Future oriented asset reassignment involves prioritizing hungry people and the soup that they need over the desires of the current membership. Since goal-setting usually involves collecting into an action plan the wishes of the church insiders, it tends to disregard the unique mission that God desires for a congregation. Outside consultants often ask people to dream big, rather than to be compassionate, prayerful, or trust the gut level approach the church has always used for identifying the hungry people of their community. The analogy of soup, rabbits, and hungry people is meant to shift the way a congregation thinks about it's stuff, allowing them to frame in faith language the relationship their assets have to mission.

Soup represents the fluid assets of a congregation. These are people, places, and programs that are continuously consumed or utilized:

• Weekly Worship
• Current programs
• The gifts and passions of the Laity
• The current pastor and staff
• Money in the General Fund
• Mission participation
  

Hungry People: These are people with unmet needs (relating to authentic life) that this congregation is called to help. There four categories of hungry people, and the church leaders need to prayerfully discern what is unique about their church and its relationship to each of these four groups:

Healthy churches naturally find that their authenticity (passion, missional vision, and concern for being an inclusive fellowship) leads them constantly to reevaluate whether  their current rabbits support their desire to feed people.  To keep moving around the change curve, each congregation has to develop its own process for reassigning their rabbits on a regular basis. It is helpful to draw an analogy between this process and a farmer making tough choices concerning her livestock.  The trouble with doing vision-ing, goal-setting,  or the latest 'get everyone to dream' program is that it feels like a game, rather than a prayerful discernment that expects a sacrificial cost to be attached to each new understanding.  Paradoxically, the more healthy a congregation is the more skeptical they are of outside consultants and denominational programs.

Authentic churches have a magnetic quality that is consistent with their appreciation of the spiritually hungry people of their community. The Near are always being invited to Snack, Snackers in time become faithful, and the Faithful learn to express their discipleship by reaching out in hospitality to the Near and in generosity to the Far. They count hungry people everywhere as their greatest asset, because the church’s mission is to feed the hungry.

Dying churches focus on feeding their own faithful members. They disparage their snackers with comments like, "How come we only see you at Christmas and Easter?" They fail to consider their congregation's reputation in the community or to ask those near them, "What could we be doing to meet your needs?" For them, mission work is a zero sum game; what they spend on those far away reduces what they have available to preserve their own precious rabbits. Even their visioning is survival oriented, seeking to slaughter the fewest number of rabbits possible to keep the church afloat for their lives.

The Church's governing board (council) may wish to create a standing committee to study, pray together, and report concerning this congregation's unique missional calling(s)  and how the interdependence of soup, rabbits, and hungry people play out in their context. This committee of 6 to 12 people should not be dominated by people who have a position or chair other groups. Instead care should be taken to give a voice to those new to the church. Members should rotate (three year classes) and be chosen for their ability to prayerfully think outside the box. This group should be given ample time to report at each board meeting and the right to reserve the board's agenda for special meetings when needed. They may utilize an L3 process to structure their work together.

Alternatively the governing board may reshape its own agenda and spend special retreat time together to become more aware of the issues surrounding asset reassignment. They should begin every meeting with a discussion of some aspect of authenticity and what it means for their task as leaders.

Traditional goal-setting is based upon the magical belief that a well worded document or mission statement will inspire people to do the right thing with the church's assets. There is no substitute for doing the difficult work of redesigning the organizational structure so that the process leads to better results. People need to be taught to consider the congregation's spiritual passion, mission, and communal life as their only priorities. Instead of framing issues in terms of an abstract vision statement, leaders need to say, "This particular rabbit needs to change because it is preventing us from being authentic in these specific ways."

It is important to recognize the hold that the default way of doing business has upon the church. Default Settings can be characterized this way:

Stepping beyond the current default can involve any or all of the following:

• Trading some rabbits
• Adding new rabbits
• Finding new ways to convert Snackers into Faithful
• Helping the Faithful to see those outside the church
• Helping the Near to become aware of the church
• Becoming extravagant in some mission (setting aside soup for the Far)

Discernment, as a process of actively seeking God's will, stands in opposition to the above default settings. It occurs best in small groups of 12 or less, who covenant to meet together for a specified period (6 to 18 months, every other week or for several extended retreat times). The members of this group seek to model in their time together, the authentic behaviors that they desire for the congregation as a whole to adopt. They pray for each other, both during their meeting time and when apart. They hold each other accountable for spiritual growth and increased clarity about their mission on earth. They also seek God's guidance in the following and to communicate their new understandings with the congregation: