Over Thanksgiving break, I discovered Ken Callahan's book, "Effective Church Leadership" on my father-in-law's bookshelf. It's certainly not a new book, having been published in 1990 by Harper Collins. However, the chapter titled, "Missional Structures" caught my eye. In it, he provides a great summary of why the traditional Church Council/Boards structures fails to work effectively in many congregation. Callahan calls it "the tree-forest flaw":
"People cannot see the forest because of their preoccupation with the trees.
Each person gets to the council bringing the tree of which they are in charge. Each person counts on the council to provide coordination and cooperation so that each tree around the table will get "its fair share of water" on an annual basis. But suppose you ask that council, "What major priority to advance the whole are you, as a team, growing forward in the coming three years?" Usually, the response is a blank look or a puzzled silence.
That council cannot see the forest because of the trees. They have been so busy ensuring that each part gets its fair share of water each year. They have two difficulties:
1. seeing the whole
2. looking more than one year ahead
The test is very simple. Read the minutes of most councils for October of a given year. Then read the minutes for October two years earlier. The names will have changed. The discussion will be the same." (ECL, p. 231).
Does that quote sound sadly familiar to you? If so, it may be time for you to start looking seriously into PBG.
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