Organization Development: Reflections on Making the Church More Effective

© 2018 H. Newton Malony. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/12/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4882-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-4881-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018908155

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1 The Church: A Theological Statement

Chapter 2 Organization Development A Framework for Helping and Understanding the Church

Chapter 3 The Church: Voluntary, Nonproductive, Not For Profit

Chapter 4 1+1 = Organization

Chapter 5 Pastoral Theology

Chapter 6 Built to Last – Organizations that Develop

Chapter 7 Leadership is an Art: Max Depree

Chapter 8 The MARION SPIRIT - Fred Lyons

Chapter 9 Leadership and the Managerial Cycle

Chapter 10 Conflict Reduction

Chapter 11 Ministerial Effectiveness; An Inventory

Ministerial Effectiveness Inventory

DEDICATION

This volume is dedicated to the memory of the late

MAX DEPREE

Leadership Role Model and Author

CEO of Herman Miller Furniture Co.,

Trustee of Fuller Theological Seminary

Honored in the Max Depree Center for Leadership

Personally remembered as my teaching assistant in a

D. Min. Course on Church Leadership

PROLOGUE

As one of those who graduated from seminary during the heyday of Protestant denominations during the 1950s, I received absolutely no training on how to run a church. I did take one course on Worship for which I remain grateful after more than sixty years of ministry. It required that I memorize the Order of Worship for the Holy Communion. I have relied on this memory ever since. But running (leading, managing, organizing, problem solving, motivation) a local church? Nilch! Nothing!

After additional graduate training in psychology, I became part of the faculty of a theological seminary. I taught many courses in Church Management, Leadership, Problem Solving, Conflict Reduction and Congregational Dynamics to correct this deficiency in my own training. This volume on Organization Development reflects this experience within the most recent theories in industrial and social psychology. I remain convinced that the church can be made more effective by pastors who are trained in organizational awareness alongside their theological convictions.

THE SERMON NOW ENDED,

EACH TURNED AND DESCENDED;

THE EELS WENT ON EELING,

THE PEELS WENT ON PEELING.

MUCH DELIGHTED WERE THEY,

BUT PREFERRED THE OLD WAY

-author unknown

This unnerving couplet is shared with the sincere hope that remembering its possibility will provoke serious reflections on the pages of this volume whose intention would be to stimulate the development of church organizations where participants would never be able to say 'we preferred the old way.'

CHAPTER 1

The Church: A Theological Statement

The 'Christian Church' bases its existence on a proclamation made by Jesus to his disciple after Peter had stated You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus proclaimed:

Blessed are you, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it… (Matthew 16:18-19,NRSV)

One church ritual has stated what all churches affirm: the church is the place where

God is worshipped;

The Word of God is preached;

The Sacraments of God are administered;

The fellowship and discipline of the Christian faith are offered;

The Christian Gospel (Good News) is taught; and

Non – believers are Converted.¹

This is the "Christian Church' from a THEOLOGICAL point of view. This undergirds and defines what the Christian Church is from an ORGANIZATIONAL point of view. While the theological point of view defines its heritage, values, and purposes, the organizational point of view defines its structure, function, and effect.

Although this volume will appear to be highly focused on modern organizational life, it is meant to always embrace and affirm its theological foundation. In fact, the discussion of Organization Development that follows, presumes that the church exists alongside all other organizations within culture and functions on a day to day basis in a manner that can be improved in its effectiveness – defined as accomplishing its goals and fulfilling the lives of its members. While the Book of Worship, noted above, may end by stating that all of every stage and nation stand in need for the means of grace which it alone supplies, it is no secret that the church can fail and close as any other organization that fails in its effectiveness. The acceptable way of stating this can be seen across the British Isles where the word REDUNDANT can be seen on a number of church buildings.

These statements establish the qualitative uniqueness of this organization that exists by the title of church but it does not describe the building in which it functions nor the specific acts whereby it accomplishes its task.

CHAPTER 2

Organization Development A Framework

for Helping and Understanding the Church

Organization Development is a form of Applied Organizational Psychology. By applied is meant that Organization Development is concerned with changing organizations, not just understanding them. It takes for granted, however, that one does not exist without the other. In other words, one has to understand organizations in order to change them. Nevertheless’ it is important to note that Organization Development is not a pure or basic scientific endeavor. It has a Practical or utilitarian focus.

It is also helpful to differentiate organizational from industrial or business psychology. While many organizations are industries or endeavors that are industrial or commercial. Thus, organization is the more generic term and when one considers the church under this this umbrella there is no warrant for assuming that an industrial or business model is the norm.

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONS

There are many types of organizations. Some are profit making. Some are not for profit. Some are voluntary. Some are not. Yet all are organizations in that they involve people acting in concert together to accomplish a task. Amatai Etzioni has provided a helpful model for understanding these differences. He defines organizations in the manner of Talcott Parsons as "social