Community Near Death Experiences
When congregations are near death, is there hope for revitalization?
I originally wrote this article in November 2019. The articles that it was based on were written in 2015 and 2019. I have updated what I wrote only to make it inclusive of more kinds of congregations and added this short preface.
The COVID-19 pandemic has driven many more congregations into a potential death spiral — where the continuing influence of the pandemic creates
a need for changes that we don’t yet know will work, because we don’t yet know what the new “normal” will be
breaks in patterns of relating to one another that then created new habits of not being together
discouragement over slow progress or lack of resources to survive slow progress — and this creating a negative atmosphere that discourages new people from joining the community and longer-term members from returning or from working with passion
Community Near Death Experiences
Thom Rainer writes about evangelical churches, but if you’re convinced that churches are really a means of social organization, rather than something created divinely, you’ll recognize that the principles often translate and apply.
Most churches that die experience gradual erosion. The congregation thus rarely sees the need to change. And so the congregation slowly moves toward death.
Thom Rainer
This is about Change 101. It applies to all organizations. Including our UU congregations, Ethical Societies, and humanist communities.
In this article, Rainer writes about congregations that experience “near death” and then revive to health.
How would I translate his main five points? This is the progression of events in such a revived congregation:
Sudden negative events exacerbated the slow decline that had already been happening. Often, it’s the sudden leaving of a key lay or professional leader. This then wakes more people up to the need for change.
A sudden exodus of people who resisted change left, initially feeling like a negative experience, but eventually seen as an opening for change.
Those left built relationships and focused on the ideas and skills needed to practice living by their ethical and spiritual values, in the congregation and in their lives.
People were willing to let go of “how we’ve always done it” and be open to new directions and ideas.
The congregation became outwardly focused, serving the community more than those inside the congregation.
The other side are those communities that did not survive. Rainer’s book, Autopsy of a Deceased Church (Amazon or Bookshop), deals with those dynamics. In an update to that book, Rainer wrote an article synthesizing the reactions to that book, especially the questions about what to do to keep a church from dying.
SIX THINGS WE HAVE LEARNED SINCE THE PUBLICATION OF AUTOPSY OF A DECEASED CHURCH - was at https://thomrainer.com/2019/04/six-things-we-have-learned-since-the-publication-of-autopsy-of-a-deceased-church/
Here is my translation of his major points from that article, into how it works even in groups that aren’t the churches he’s writing for. We are all, after all, human beings with human habits.
Most members of a dying community don’t see it coming. After the congregation collapses, members are still in shock.
Members and leadership (lay and professional) would have been willing to revitalize, if they had seen it coming and knew what to do. (And there are resources on revitalization to draw from.)
Most died over “minor” issues. Conflict over issues that aren’t central to the congregation. Losing focus. Not usually over major differences in philosophy or a mass sudden population change in the neighborhood.
Most were killed by silent majorities. People who saw that there were problems did nothing, said nothing, and just stood back. Whether it was a small group that organized to get rid of a Leader/minister, or frequent criticism and attacks on lay and professional leadership, the silent majority didn’t challenge the dynamics or hold those exercising power responsible. “Their silence was a dagger in the back” of the congregation.
Many expected a silver bullet. Maybe they thought a new person in leadership was the magic formula, and then ignored that person where they brought change.
Or the membership expected finding the right board members and other leadership within would just happen. Or expected to find a magic new program that somehow would manage to change everything, without making any other change to the community’s culture.
Or expected a sudden influx of money. Clue: large influxes of money often create conflict that has to be carefully managed. Money is not a panacea. Fund-raising in a dying congregation is rarely successful — the members and leadership may not see the trend, but donors do.
Death of a congregation is not inevitable. But when a congregation does die or fade away, it’s because members would rather see the congregation die than see it change, and they’ll get their wish if others are silent or expect a magic bullet or focus on minor issues or ignore what is happening.