Last week I wrote about how Jim Collin’s book, How the Mighty Fall, is of immense utility for pastoral leaders. Especially when you consider the declining state of the Church in the West right now.
Collins confronts the question, “How do great organizations, fall to the point of irrelevance and death?” Some may question if this book is relevant for the Church. Well, is the Church a great organization with a great mission? Yes. Is the Church, particularly in the West, in a downward trend, falling towards irrelevance? Yes. Answering ‘yes’ to both these questions seems to indicate that Jim Collins’ wisdom can benefit Pastoral leaders today.
Collins’ research project – more than four years in duration – uncovered five stages of predictable organizational decline:
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril
Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
By understanding these stages of decline, Pastoral leaders and collaborators can diagnose where their parish or Diocese is at along Collins’ stages of decline. Knowing this, Pastoral leaders can begin to lead in such a way to stop the decline, return to a healthy state and move forward on the mission.
I am presenting five leadershifts to overcome the 5 stages of decline. These are not temporary shifts, these are not optional leadership techniques for the short term. These five shifts represent a new way of leading, necessary because of the new environment in which we lead. These shifts will be required over the next 20-25 years, not just the next few months as we exit COVID. In speaking with Bishops and pastors throughout North America, Europe and Australia, it is clear to me that most pastoral leaders in the West face the same issues, requiring the same shift in leadership.
Shift #1 – Challenge the Status Quo. If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got. It is crazy to think we will get different results in our parishes and Dioceses if we keep doing the same things, the same way.
COVID revealed that “normal” was not working. Normal was 70% of Churchgoers not believing in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Normal was a consistent downward trend in the sacramental data throughout North America. Year after year, fewer people are being baptized, fewer people confirmed, and fewer people are getting married. Normal was less than 5% of Sunday Mass attendees living as missionary disciples. Normal was less than 10% of congregates doing 90% of the volunteering and providing 90% of the offertory in most parishes. Normal was not producing near enough vocations to replace our ageing clergy. Normal was a growing number of Dioceses forced to cluster and amalgamate parishes due to rapidly dwindling congregations. And this is what we want to return to? Check out Dan Cellucci’s video here for a compelling reason why we can’t go back to normal.
My fear is that our desire to return to familiarity is deeper than our desire to make a difference. My fear is that our desire for normal outweighs our interest in being part of a spiritual impulse capable of transforming everything. If we truly want to make a difference in our parishes and Dioceses, the last thing we should do is try really hard to return to normal.
My fear is that our desire to return to familiarity is deeper than our desire to make a difference, to be part of a spiritual impulse capable of transforming everything. Click To TweetWhen John Paul the Great first exhorted the Church to embrace the new evangelization in 1983, he was not proposing a new message or new doctrine. Neither has his successors. The Pope’s exhortation to the people of God is to challenge the status quo by committing to change – to operating with new ardour, new methods and new expression.
If we are serious about challenging the status quo, it will undoubtedly lead to cutting programs that have been around for years. It will mean closing institutions that have been around for decades. We are starting to see this unfold in many Dioceses in the United States. The Archdiocese of Chicago will close over 100 parishes by the year 2030. Very few dioceses and parishes have the financial and human resources to waste. These decisions are not easy to make, and if delayed, will be much harder to execute in the future.
Shift #2 – Confront the Brutal Facts. Productive change begins when one confronts the brutal facts of current reality. Not holding on to the way things were in the good old days and not seeing through a delusional lens at the way you wish it were now. Just. The. Facts.
We need to shift from a superficial analysis that scratches the surface, to embrace deep inquiry into current systems and culture. Every organization – every parish, every school and every diocese – is perfectly designed to get the results it is getting right now. What do the results we are getting now say about the culture and systems of our Catholic institutions?
It takes discipline to confront the most sobering facts and it takes unwavering hope to know that spiritual transformation is possible, regardless of the obstacles.
Without hope, disciplined analysis is depressing. Without discipline, hope is an empty strategy. Both are needed. It will be impossible to make progress without confronting the most brutal facts of current reality.
It takes discipline to confront the sobering facts & unwavering hope to know that spiritual transformation is possible. Both are needed from leaders in the new evangelization. Click To TweetA vision that inspires people to take action contains two dimensions: 1) an accurate, sobering assessment of current reality and, 2) a clear picture of the preferred future. Real vision is about dreams and facts.
Real vision that inspires people to take action contains two dimensions: 1) an accurate, even sobering assessment of current reality and, 2) a clear picture of the preferred future. Click To TweetConsider when you make a trip to the shopping mall. You know the store name but you can’t make a plan for how to get there because you do not know your starting point. What do you do? Find the map of the shopping mall. Within seconds you locate the desired store but what else do you need? The little red dot that says, “You are here.” Visions need both a dream of where you are going and an accurate analysis of your starting point.
Confronting the most brutal facts about current reality is the same as starting with the little red dot. When you start with an honest analysis of current reality to determine the truth of your situation, the right decisions and the right strategy become self-evident.
Leaders must create a culture where people are free to flag concerns. Ignore those whispers and you will be forced to deal with screams in the future. The disciplines of the organization must produce realistic assessments of current reality.
We must create a culture where people are free to flag concerns. Ignore those whispers & you'll be forced to deal with screams in the future. Organizational disciplines must produce realistic assessments of current reality. Click To TweetShift #3 – From Strategic Planning to Prophetic Listening. If you follow this blog regularly, you know I am passionate about leadership. I have advocated the Church to adopt best practices of organizational development, management, and overhaul much of the current approach to leadership development. I value strategic planning, innovation, accountability, org charts, delegation, coaching, effective decision making, and all things management. But without the Holy Spirit, the principal agent of evangelization, the best practices in leadership and management will bear little fruit.
Without the Holy Spirit, the principal agent of evangelization, the best practices in leadership and management will bear little fruit. Click To TweetMore than anything, we need to become skilled at “waiting on the Lord” (Fr Bob Bedard, RIP) for His direction and guidance. We often make our own plans without consulting Him and move forward on projects without His go-ahead. St. Vincent de Paul once said to his priests, “We will never be any use in doing God’s work until we become thoroughly convinced that, of ourselves, we are better fitted to ruin everything than to make a success of it.” One of the primary works of God is finding people in whom He can entrust His power. St. Vincent de Paul models for us that kind of leader – apostolically ambitious, without taking himself too seriously.
Prophetic listening honours a fundamental principle of effective planning: everything is created twice; the physical creation follows the mental creation. Ministry initiatives that are worth pursuing, begin in the mind of God then are transmitted to us through listening prayer and group discernment.
Ministry initiatives that are worth pursuing, begin in the mind of God then are transmitted to us through listening prayer and group discernment. Click To TweetJesus modelled prophetic listening for us in His earthly ministry. He persistently returns to the Lord in prayer. During His public ministry, as signs and wonders followed Him, He explained where He derived the power, “I see what the Father is doing and I do that” and “I hear what the Father is saying and I speak that.”
If our strategic plans are not grounded in prophetic listening, the plans will fail to bear fruit. A clear word from the Lord comes before strategy. Discerning which way to go – to the right or to the left (Isaiah 30:21) – comes before executing a specific plan to get there. Conversational intimacy in prayer with the Triune God is not only a privilege for the individual but also a necessity for leadership teams in our parishes and Dioceses. “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain,” the Psalmist says.
A clear word from the Lord always comes before strategy. A dear friend says it this way - do not ask the Lord to bless what you are doing, ask Him to show you what He is blessing. Click To TweetRead the Acts of the Apostles, to see how much directional guidance the early Church received from the Holy Spirit. For this reason, the Acts of the Apostles is often referred to as the Gospel of the Holy Spirit. We read, “And the Holy Spirit said to them …” or “The Holy Spirit led them to …” and “Then the Holy Spirit stopped them from going near…” It is almost as if the Holy Spirit was running the show, that He was in charge, that He wanted to lead. Of course, He did, and He still does. And the Apostles let Him. Would they dare do otherwise?
Prophetic listening means going to the Lord with an open heart and a blank slate, totally open to His vision and direction for the ministry. God loves when we pray, “Lord, here are our plans, please bless what we are doing.” But prophetic listening prays differently, “Lord, we ask You to show us what You are blessing, and we will do that.”
Prophetic listening means going to the Lord with an open heart and a blank slate, totally open to His vision and direction for the ministry. Click To TweetI am reminded of the words of A.W. Tozer who wrote, “If the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”
Shift #4 – Lead with Questions when There are No Clear Answers. The Catholic Church is a teaching Church. When people have questions about moral theology, the Church has answers. When people have questions about biblical interpretation, the Church has answers. When people have questions about philosophy, history, human sexuality, marriage and family, the complementarity of science and religion, the Church has answers. The Church has a rich history of Catechesis, apologetics and philosophy. She has answers and for this we give thanks.
All that said, the Church does not have an answer to the question, “How do we reverse the downward trends so evident in the Western Church?”
Some leaders think they are expected to know all the answers. Buying into that expectation means risking the very thing we need to lead well at a time like this – the right questions.
Some leadership models discourage genuine questions, especially from people at the top. To ask sincere questions is to admit one does not have the answer. Humility is a virtue we desperately need at this hour.
To ask sincere questions is to admit one does not have the answer. Humility is a virtue we desperately need at this hour. Click To TweetYou can see the perfect storm coming. The Catholic Church is a teaching Church. When people have questions, we have answers. But what does the Church do when everyone the same question to which the Church does not have an answer? Lolly Daskal’s wisdom applies here, “If we hold to the idea that intelligence resides at the top, and that leaders don’t ask but tell, the right questions may never be asked.”
Lolly Daskal says that if intelligence resides only at the top, and that leaders can never ask but only tell and teach, the right questions may never be asked. Click To TweetIn recent months I have been in conversation with Bishops and Pastors throughout North America, Europe and Australia. It is clear to me that everyone is whispering the same questions. But there is a peculiar lack of robust, formal and official conversation.
If we are going to become healthy again, the Church (especially pastoral leaders) need to get comfortable leading with questions, not answers. We don’t have the answers. If we did, we would be acting on them.
What does it mean to lead with questions? It means having the humility to admit we do not have the answer, no one of us is as smart as all of us. It means trusting the Holy Spirit to speak through multiple voices and through diversity finding unity in His prophetic word. It means Pastors of parishes coming together in a fraternity of brotherhood in the presbyterate to seek a word from the Lord and collective wisdom inspired by the Holy Spirit’s presence in their very real discussions about the future of the Church. It means national and regional Bishop’s conferences engaging in real debate and healthy conflict on the 1 or 2 most important questions facing the Church right now and staying in that debate until a shared vision becomes apparent.
I was once told that a good leader never asks a question unless he knows the answer. I couldn’t disagree more. Good leaders have the right answers. Great leaders ask the right questions. If leaders only ask the questions they know the answer to, they are not asking big enough questions. It is time to start leading by asking the right questions.
Good leaders have the right answers. Great leaders ask the right questions. If leaders only ask questions they know the answer to, they are not asking big enough questions. Click To TweetShift #5 – Align everything To Mission or Cut it Out. I remember the first time I shared this principle with a parish leadership team back in 2010. It was a very busy parish. The parish had multiple things going on every night of the week. It looked lively from the outside but on the inside, it was killing the staff team and not bearing much fruit. They were busy but ineffective. They couldn’t keep up. They knew in their hearts that programs and activities had to be cut out of the calendar. The parish was poised to say no to every new initiative regardless of what it was. Their rationale is, “We can’t do any more.”
I said to them, “Let us look at this a little differently. What if you said no to all the wrong things and yes to all the right things? Would that help the calendar chaos?” I pressed in a little more, “What if the conversation we are having right now is about purpose, not busyness? About alignment to mission, not space in the calendar?” We have all the time in the world to do what Jesus is asking us to do, He will never ask us to do more than we are able.
What if the conversation we need to have is about purpose, not busyness? About alignment to mission, not space in the parish calendar? Say YES to the right things and NO to everything else. Click To TweetJesus’ commandment to the Church was this, “Go and make disciples.” Everything we do should be aligned with that mission. Everything a parish does should be aligned to that mission. Everything a Diocese does should be aligned to that mission. Doing a bunch of things that are not aligned to that mission would seem to indicate we have embraced what Jim Collin’s identifies as, “the undisciplined pursuit of more.”
The parish I was consulting had given in to the undisciplined pursuit of more and it was killing their staff team. Furthermore, it was tying up valuable human and financial resources, and parish facilities. And the activities were not advancing the mission of making disciples. No parish, school or Diocese can long endure the investment of limited human and financial resources on initiatives that do not align to the Church’s primary mission of making disciples.
No parish, school or Diocese can long endure an investment of limited human and financial resources on initiatives that do not align to the Church's primary mission of making disciples. Click To TweetMy friend, Tim Glemkowski has some practical insights about missional alignment in his book, Made for Mission: Renewing Your Parish Culture. I will have more to say in a future blog post. For now, the idea is simple, if anything we do is not aligned to making disciples, we should stop doing it, no matter how difficult that decision is to execute.
The five shifts I have presented in this article, are not quick fixes because there is no quick fix to the downward trends we see in Catholocism in the West. Nor are these five shifts easy to implement. It will take a radical change in mind and heart and a commitment to long-term change. But these shifts can prove effective and fruitful in the years and decades to come.