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Book Review: Raising the Roof
By Hal Chorpenning
One of the most common—and most difficult—changes a healthy, midsized Church can make is to outgrow its mode of being the church. If your congregation is growing in weekly attendance from about 150 members to 200 members, you’re likely in the transition from a church in which the organizational dynamic centers around the minister and a small group of leaders to a congregation that has distinctive ministries and programs, several pastoral staff, and where pastoral care is the concern of both laity and clergy. It is also a stage that the Rev. Alice Mann identifies as “the plateau zone.” This is where a lot of congregations get stuck in the mud. “Many aspects of the congregation’s culture will have to change,” she writes, “and the church’s enduring values will have to be expressed in new ways if the shift is to be made successfully.”
Fortunately, Alice Mann, a church consultant and Episcopal priest, has written a wonderfully approachable book that will help lay leaders and clergy find ways to grow in numbers and in the depth of their common ministry. Raising the Roof was only published last year, but it is already in its second printing (and on backorder until July), which indicates not only the widespread nature of the pastoral-to-program transition, but also the usefulness of Mann’s work.
In a very clearly enunciated format, Mann outlines the pitfalls of changing size, as well as the barriers to growing into a “program-size” church. She goes through some of the characteristics that congregations can embrace to catalyze such a change. One of the aspects of Mann’s work, which is also reflected in her consulting practice, is that she asks congregations to come to grips with their history and the vocation. Where have we been? Where are we now? How do we want to be the church in the future?
The spirit of discernment is alive and well in Mann’s book, which distinguishes it from others in the church growth genre. She includes seven biblical reflections with suggestions for group Bible study in the appendix. This, along with other tools, occupies just less than half of the book, lending it a very practical edge, as well as one that is attentive to the Spirit.
One of the most useful tools for congregations here in the Connecticut Conference is Mann’s “System Change Index.” She invites congregations to do a self-evaluation about nine key issues: congregational selfdefinition, role of the pastor, size of the paid staff, physical space capacity, movement toward growth, delegation of planning, aspirations to quality, infrastructure for member care and involvement, and effective conflict management and prevention. Using these criteria as well as attendance figures, Mann provides an instrument that suggests whether a congregation is in a position for growth.
Even if your congregation is not in the midst of size transition or considering a long-range plan, the book would be a valuable way for lay leaders in a congregation to appraise their church’s current and future outlook. I would recommend that clergy serving churches with weekly attendance in the size range of 100 to 300 read the book and see if it might help to provide a structure or a system for inviting a healthy transition.
Reprinted with permission of the Missionary Society of Connecticut, (from ConnTact United Church News, July/Aug. 2002.) Reprint permission from Alban’s site is not implied or granted.
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