Understanding Your Congregation As A System: The Manual

Praise for the Book

“Manifesting the life work of tow compassionate and wise 'pros,' this Manual is an exponential best created by their combined years of experience with hundreds of clergy and congregations. Beginning with a 'Congregational Systems Inventory,' they address, accept, and affirm the tensions created by differences in leadership gifts and the conflicts resulting from 'excesses' in our behaviors. They claim that 'living in tension means living with contention.' Comprehensive and succinct sections on strategy, authority, process, lay leadership, pastoral leadership, relatedness, and learning follow the Inventory. The authors integrate their expertise with their own profound faith in God's ongoing creativity in the midst of our life together.”—Carole G. Keim, Conference Minister, The United Church of Christ, Southwest Conference

“Speed Leas and George Parsons have done it again. They've created a tool for a job we've been doing by hand—trying to figure out what is going wrong in congregational systems without clear criteria or appropriate measures. This is an indispensable volume for the pastor, for consultants, for mediators, for teachers, for seminarians. It offers an incisive instrument for measuring systems dynamics, and a superb manual for applying the findings to systemic change—reducing the excesses on either end of the systems way of functioning. The genius of their approach is, in good conflict theory, not to raise anxiety, not to add drives, but to identify the excesses and reduce the overinvestments.”—David W. Augsburger, Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Fuller Theological Seminary

“Speed Leas and George Parsons' Congregational Systems Inventory is filled with wisdom garnered from years of experience. It is user-friendly, and not only helps us analyze the condition of a community of faith, but also suggests strategies to use to move toward wellness and vitality. A MUST for anyone who wants to lead or consult with congregations faithfully in this era!”—Davida Foy Crabtree, Southern California Conference Minister

“The authors have ingeniously adapted a tool that has proven useful in a corporate setting for the purpose of "auditing" and understanding the organizational health of a religious institution. 'The Seven S Framework,' as the tool is called, provides something analogous to a CAT Scan of an organization, enabling congregations to evaluate their internal life with great clarity and to respond more creatively to the profound changes affecting the church today.”—Richard Pascale, Pascale & Brown