Leadership Opportunities in this VUCA Moment: Reimagining Your Business

Whatever your career--service, industry, farming, education, church--you are being challenged in this VUCA--volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous--moment. You have to reimagine the way you do business; that is, the way you operate.  THNK recently posted a blog suggesting how we can take advantage of this opportunity, and we can apply their insights to the church.

First, take advantage of this time to do things differently.  As we think about the church, clergy and lay leaders have stepped and tried many new things during this time of pandemic, but a key learning is that the church is the people and not the building.  When worship and other gatherings cannot meet in a specific physical location, leaders have found different ways to connect people.  Perhaps we have learned some lessons here that we want to continue. For example, livestreaming services have offered the opportunity for those who are not able to attend physical worship to participate virtually no matter where they are.  For another, some laypersons have reported that committee meetings held by teleconference are more accessible than physically gathering at the church building and generally are more focused.  Teleconferencing may be an ongoing option for some committees and teams.

Second, paint different scenarios for your organization.  If we carry forward the idea that people not buildings are the church, could we get by with less building space?  Are there on-going discipleship and training opportunities that could be offered online on a regular basis?  How can we optimize our virtual presence for outreach and evangelism?  Adapting to the pandemic has opened us up to additional dimensions of being church and freed us to us more imaginative approaches.

Third, leverage your staff members’ creativity to get there.  I have been impressed by the ability of both clergy and laity to find not only new ways to connect but reengaging with old ways--telephone calls, telebridge Bible studies, written notes.  One pastor in a church with an older demographic reported that his Wednesday night Bible study attendance had doubled since he started offering it by a telephone bridge service.  As he said, “Everyone has a phone.”  This creativity has not been without a cost, however, and has stretched many of our leaders.  The challenge is to find ways to encourage and support that creativity when we are not in the middle of a crisis.

Within the crisis, many have felt the leadership of the Holy Spirit to risk, learn, and grow.  I pray that we can keep that alive.