Existential support

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/12/2022 (1254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘Our church made the decision to close down,” a friend recently told me.

“We had begun shrinking before COVID. With COVID, so many people never came back and we lost the critical mass we needed to be sustainable.”

The decision was a hard one to make, especially since people in the church are good friends. “But we see no other path,” she said.

I expect my friend’s experience will be repeated many more times across the country in the months and years ahead. Not only due to the pandemic, but also because more Canadians are saying they don’t want to affiliate with any expression of organized Christianity — as evidenced by the recent Statistics Canada 2021 census report.

Churches that are struggling, and unsure if they will survive or not, don’t have to make that difficult decision alone. Two people offering help are Chris Bosch and Lon Wong of Chisel Consulting in Ontario.

Bosch formerly worked as director of strategy at World Vision Canada and taught organizational behaviour at Tyndale University College in Toronto. He founded Chisel in 2018 out of a desire to share strategic and organizational insights with others.

Wong has led faith communities, non-profits and social-enterprise startups, and also worked at World Vision Canada, where he held multiple leadership roles.

If a church thinks it’s time to shut down, the two want to help it end well.

“The idea of having to close can be a hard reality for a church to accept,” said Bosch. “There are a lot of emotions involved with the idea of closing, especially for long-term members who grew up in the church.”

Even if it is hard, there may not be another choice, said Wong.

“If a church’s main strategy consists of growing every year, what do they do when the growth stops?” he asks. “What happens when it starts to decline? That’s when they might need some help to plan for the future.”

The two believe churches can navigate that challenge if they take time to think strategically — and if they get outside help.

“It’s not easy for a church to face those tough questions,” said Wong. “Sometimes it’s easier for people from the outside to help people ask why their church exists and, if there is no longer a good reason, to help them think through ways to bring it to a good conclusion.”

Outsiders can also bring a broader perspective about things beyond a church’s control, said Bosch.

“There are mega-trends, like the decline of Christianity in Canada, that a local church can’t do anything about,” he said. “Sometimes the problems are not their fault.”

They are quick to note the outcome of such a strategic process might not be closing; it could lead to revitalization and a new sense of purpose.

“It could be that a conversation about the future enables a church to catch a new vision to keep going,” said Bosch. “Maybe the end of it is excitement about what’s next.”

But if the conclusion reached is that it’s time to close, “then work needs to be done to end well,” Wong said, noting a church needs to pay attention to things like property, assets, obligations and debts.

Wong added that churches shouldn’t see their closing as a failure.

“Just as death is a natural part of human life, it is part of life for churches. Churches have come and gone in different regions of the world, but that doesn’t mean the faith is irrelevant or all is lost,” he said.

In some respects, Bosch and Wong see their work like that of being a ‘death doula’ for churches.

For people, death doulas offer support as they plan for their passing. For churches, death doulas like Bosch and Wong can come alongside and offer support and ideas as they go through a closing process.

But asking for that kind of support doesn’t only have to happen if a church thinks it might need to close.

“A healthy church can also benefit from asking questions about why it exists,” he said, noting such conversations could lead to a renewed sense of purpose and vision — not just to closing.

Either way, having someone come alongside to provide an experienced outside perspective can be beneficial.

“We can guide people in the conversation,” said Wong. “We can provide the questions they need to answer.”

For Bosch, the goal of those conversations is to help churches think strategically about their futures.

“We want to help churches consider all options on the table,” he said. “We want to help them ask themselves where God wants to take them, even if that means shutting the doors.”

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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