It was really impressive to see the line at our polling place yesterday (especially since I had arrived before it grew out the door). In record numbers, people decided they would put action behind words of complaining about the roads, or the political sleaze, or the unfulfilled promises of last time, or the rhetoric coming from Washington and elsewhere. We voted.
And here in Michigan, a large number of women candidates were successful, including our next Governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Some won by a comfortable 10+ points, others by teeny-tiny margins. Women’s victories came in large measure by the turnout of women voters. Yes, my sisters!
I’m heartened by yesterday’s results in part because I have suffered a personal, professional defeat due largely to good people doing nothing. They might have said, “It’s terrible, what’s being said and done to you!” But would they confront the ones saying and doing? No, they did not. At least not in time to make a difference.
This is so common in churches. Well-intentioned individuals allow systemic bad behavior to continue. The national results of the 2018 mid-term elections suggest that in Washington, the divisiveness will get worse instead of better. Reconciliation seems a long way off in the political arena.
It doesn’t have to be so in the church. Once recognized, multi-generational patterns – called “family systems” after the work of Murray Bowen and Edwin Friedman – can be disrupted and improved by individuals who are willing to be part of the solution.
In the work of a Transition minister or consultant, doing a “family history” of the congregation is an illuminating first step. What crises or tragedies, accomplishments or victories, defined the decades? Which problems do people know about (vaguely) but won’t discuss openly? Who are the bullies, and why do they seem to get their way? Who are the elders that people listen to, for corporate wisdom?
Once we put up the history and start to notice the patterns, interesting conversations happen. Some members will see their role in troublesome themes, others will remain in denial. Some will bravely become part of a solution; some will continue to resist transformation. It’s to be expected. Just like the aftermath of a mid-term election. Don’t forget, however, that putting a few healthy individuals into a system’s leadership will start to change things for the better.
Maybe you’ll be one of them!
These are great thoughts. May God bless your work to facilitate transitions and change. It can be painful! I think that St. Philip’s ‘Family History’ was helpful in our process of preparing for a new priest and strengthening our lay leadership.