As churches grow and age, so must their systems. Systems that don’t fit the size and developmental status of a church are felt by everyone—details fall through the cracks, people get overlooked, and necessary communication doesn’t occur. When a church is young, the need to revamp a system occurs frequently. After all, one year of growth changes a 7-year-old child more than it does a mature adult, and the same thing is true for a church. It feels like something is always “under development” at Incarnation, simply because we are experiencing the growth and change that happens when one is young.
As we develop the way Incarnation functions organizationally, don’t hesitate to let me know when something “isn’t working.” The people of Incarnation usually feel when a system is out of synch with our size and developmental status faster than I (or the staff) do, simply because you are the ones who experience, “I didn’t know that this was happening,” or “I am not certain who I am supposed to talk to about this.” The staff are on the inside, and don’t feel the breakdown as quickly.
One needed development that I have noticed is how we give announcements on Sunday morning. This might strike you as unimportant, but verbal announcements are our most valuable means of communication—they carry a lot more weight than newsletters and writing on the back of the order of service. They are important, and we are at (past?) the point when they need to be more carefully thought through than “whatever happens to pop into Steven’s head on Sunday morning.”
From now on, each week the staff will compile an announcement list for the deacon to read on Sunday morning. In this way, we will make certain that what needs to be announced is actually announced and nothing gets missed. (As an aside, having the deacon read the list is a theological and practical decision. Theologically, deacons were originally created by the church to manage internal systems of care (see Acts 6); practically, it will help the staff know whose job it is every week, because whoever is serving as deacon is scheduled to do so in advance.)
If there is something that needs to be on that list, we need to know it by Wednesday. If you have an announcement to add to the list (because you are involved in a ministry, are helping lead an initiative at the church, or otherwise involved in something that the people of Incarnation need to know publicly), simply email me and Katherine by Wednesday so that we can edit and compile a list for the deacon to read on Sunday.
In Christ,
Steven+
