Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve People Paperback – March 1, 1996

It is a book for class that gave appropriate good information for those who truly want to lead a congregation and not force a congregation to just follow a leader.

Good buy

I had difficulty in grasping the core of this book until I changed my approach. Firstly, I assumed it was written from practice not from theory. Secondly, I struggled with dual authorship. To that end, I could not feel the `heart' of its main body of material. I adjusted my approach from `pastoral' to `scientific' to grasp the main message - managing a congregation. There was a third struggle, namely, the title itself grabbed me as an oxymoron. The words `managing' and `congregation' rarely appear in the same sentence when talking about practiced religion as an organic body. Once again, a scientific approach enabled my comprehension to grasp the material.What I appreciated the most was Shawchuck and Heuser's material layout into six sections with subdivided components beginning with the manager (pastor) of a congregation. This helped within my ministry context as a pastor. I was drawn to their immediate attention given to the personal and private life of a pastor; his personal disciplines of prayer and reflective Bible study meditating and listening. I agree with the authors that without this personal discipline a pastor can do great harm to a congregation projecting personal hurts onto innocent members of the church (page 39) that they call a `shadow spirit.'Another attractive aspect that caught my attention was the emphasis on process over events, positions or titles transforming a congregation into an inclusive body from an exclusive group. This process was described well (scientifically) particularly in sections three to five. In addition to this the five levels of conflict (page 261) from the sublime (level one) to the ridiculous (level five) gave an excellent view of how people handle themselves in conflict. I would suggest that most conflict in church life exists around level three win / lose perspective putting opponents in their proper place. This would range from associate pastors, volunteers from the congregation, the immediate community surrounding the property and even the unsaved (not to stereo-type people who do not follow Jesus - I would not want to get into conflict over that!)Shawchuck and Heuser's emphasized that the process of intervening in conflict has purpose in developing a healthy relational person with the organization. This was intriguing and where I lean towards their scientific approach. But then they approach the subject of turning self-defeating behavior into self-enhancing behavior around an internal change of self-worth and identity. This cannot be scientific but spiritual. Although they mention this in detail at the opening of their book in the context of God, this theme does not appear to carry throughout. I agree with them that conflict tends to be managed but not resolved within corporate structures, but I was waiting to read about redeeming relationships that have a greater context than the organization, task, and department (page 262).I enjoyed a common sense approach to managing a conflict (page 264-268) with three key steps. Firstly, generate valid and useful information. This has to be the most profound, yet simple, approach in any congregation. `He' said, `she' said, `they' said, `we' said can be the most irritating aspect of obtaining the facts. Secondly, allow free and informed choice. This would dismantle an assumed dictatorship approach to managing conflict. Thirdly, motivate internal commitment to the plan or agreement that is reached. This is raw work as each party wants to see a result. Each of these steps had three smaller steps to manage the conflict. Once again, following these steps are often accompanied by a mute personality making it too scientific. I would have enjoyed horror stories and delightful outcomes to bring `heart' to their material.Personally, I am not excited by charts, diagrams or Microsoft Excel, but the practical steps and illustrations helped. I would conclude after reading the material that my need would be a mentor to coach me through the conflict of church life because I do bring personality. That coach needs to be like Mr. Spock from Star Trek or Data from the Next Generation (without emotion dealing with pure logic!) An overall good read but needs more heart.Andrew Fox author of Change Through Challenge

This is a good effort at using systems theory to aid in the work of the church. I'm thankful for this view of family systems and find it applicable to churches.

I think that at least first half of this book is excellent material for pastors and leaders of congregations. The writing devoted to the pastor/manager as steward and as a person before God and then that which is devoted to systems theory was helpful and eye-opening; however, as the writers move into management theories and quality control they seem to have trouble translating these into practical applications for churches.The positive writing in the book makes it a recommended read for pastors; I would suggest that if any chapters don't seem to click that you breeze through them. There is plenty here to take away and attempt to apply; however, to me it also seemed overwhelming and even frustrating at times, because the authors touch on nearly everything affecting congregations. This big picture approach can be paralyzing to pastors who won't know where to start or what to do first. I think the book would be more effective if the scope was narrower and more instructive than just informational.The authors display considerable knowledge and experience with congregations, and this will be enlightening to readers; however, I think they are to broad in their book and that diminishes it's impact.