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Recreating the Church: Leadership for the Postmodern Age
Mainline denominations in the United States are in crisis. These institutions - created in and for modernity - are now facing a changed, postmodern culture. Hamm faces the crisis, examining its origins, and offers sound advice on how to lead to church to make the adaptive changes needed to thrive in postmodern times. A TCP Leadership Series title.
- GenresLeadershipChurch
130 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 8, 2017
Hamm does a fairly good job of identifying the mess that mainline denominations find themselves in and how they got there. He also provides some good advice for moving forward. I found his discussion about the difference between technical change and adaptive change particularly helpful. While he realistically portrays the challenges facing mainline denominations, I think he is overly enamored with their perceived virtues. For instance, one of the reasons he believes mainline denominations are valuable structures is that their institutions of higher education engage in education rather than indoctrination. My experience has led me to believe that colleges and universities related to mainline denominations can indoctrinate with the best of them. At any rate, one person's idea of education is another person's idea of indoctrination. It depends on one's theological perspective.
May 14, 2013
If you want to understand something about the change-induced anxiety that exists among leaders in the mainline churches, then you might read this little book that is popular among the ministers of my presbytery. The author served many years as a pastor before taking up the role of denominational official for the Disciples of Christ. In 122 pages, he describes changes that have challenged the mainline churches, and prescribes a coping strategy for church leaders. Not everything he says is new, and his book is not meant to be an exhaustive study. But he does sound a number of familiar notes:
• The cultural consensus in which mainline churches thrived has given way to tremendous diversity in the larger culture. No longer is there automatic respect for or attraction to churches of white, northern European, Protestant heritage.
• Within our mainline churches, generational differences mean that the religious preferences of the so-called Baby Busters and Millennials differ markedly from the Baby Boomers, Silent Generation, and WWII Generation before them. In many congregations, things go on the same way they have for decades, with the result that the generations born after 1965 are underrepresented.
• One of the main ways in which you see changes in generations is in their preferences for organizational style. Hamm reminds us how the WWII generation saved the world through highly effective organizations like armies and factories. After WWII, they transferred all that energy into building institutions, and bringing their sense of industrial organization and military efficiency into the churches they served. Many in the WWII generation genuinely love meetings as part of the way they enact their faith; most of the younger generation see meetings as a necessary evil, at best. In short, the organizational structure that worked so well in the past seems to be increasingly obsolete, and it is that movement that so threatens people in control of our larger church bodies. Streamlining structure often means personal change for everyone in it. Sometimes such change is too frightening, even if it might bring more sanity and more health.
In some ways, Hamm’s book reminds me of Loren Mead’s “The Once and Future Church” (1991). Hamm’s title uses the phrase “recreating the church”; Mead’s subtitle was “reinventing the church.” Each describes a monolithic age of church prosperity and expansion giving way to the current age of contraction and general disorientation. I think the contrast in both books is overly reductionistic. Even in ages of “Christendom,” some Christian groups were rising in numbers and influence while others were declining. Hamm uses the year 1968 as a dividing line, explaining that in addition to key political events, “It was also in 1968 that mainline institutions of all kinds, including mainline churches, began to experience decreasing attendance” (p. 21). This is an example of the type of sweeping statement that I’d like to see substantiated with more data. It’s not that I disagree about contraction and disorientation in our churches, it’s just that I think it is only one strand in a much thicker rope of history. It explains some of what’s happened, but not all, and completely ignores cases of some mainline churches that have done well, even thrived, in the years since 1968.
What I hear most in conversations about this book is the need for “adaptive” rather than “technical” change. On this topic, Hamm seems to depend upon the work of Harvard professor Ron Heifetz. Technical changes are defined as fixes used to correct ordinary problems in the system as it is, while adaptive changes are those that demand innovation, learning, and changes in the system itself. It’s an excellent distinction to make, but I wish we wouldn’t talk as if the distinction is a radically new one. I remember a leadership principle popular 25 years ago, something like: “The manager does the thing right, while the leader does the right thing.” Isn’t the difference between technical and adaptive change like that, and haven’t good leaders been making such distinctions all along? When you finally get to chapter ten, you’ll see that Hamm doesn’t think the need for adaptive change supercedes the need for technical change: “Transformation is always a combination of technical and adaptive work done simultaneously and in a continuing changing mix” (p. 94).
Despite my reservations about the way the book is used, I think it contains good descriptions of “organizational obsolescence” (chapter 4) and “the ‘high pressure’ of anxiety” (chapter 5), as well as a very helpful treatment of the crisis in governance of mainline churches (chapter 7).
The best part is the final chapter, “Why Bother?” (chapter 11) Here, Hamm offers five reasons that mainline churches still are relevant:
• They hold faith and reason together in a time when the world wants to separate them.
• They engage in education rather than mere indoctrination.
• They offer a worldview that analyzes reality in terms of larger structures and systems, rather than solely through the lens of individualism.
• They interpret the Bible with understanding about the sins and shortcomings of past generations, allowing women, people of color, and other historically marginalized people to participate more fully in the church.
• Their involvement in other countries is marked by partnership with indigenous people rather than colonization of them.
This final chapter would make a wonderful foundation for a follow-up book about how these things are actually happening, and such a book would be more inspiring than introspection about obsolescence, anxiety, and crisis.
• The cultural consensus in which mainline churches thrived has given way to tremendous diversity in the larger culture. No longer is there automatic respect for or attraction to churches of white, northern European, Protestant heritage.
• Within our mainline churches, generational differences mean that the religious preferences of the so-called Baby Busters and Millennials differ markedly from the Baby Boomers, Silent Generation, and WWII Generation before them. In many congregations, things go on the same way they have for decades, with the result that the generations born after 1965 are underrepresented.
• One of the main ways in which you see changes in generations is in their preferences for organizational style. Hamm reminds us how the WWII generation saved the world through highly effective organizations like armies and factories. After WWII, they transferred all that energy into building institutions, and bringing their sense of industrial organization and military efficiency into the churches they served. Many in the WWII generation genuinely love meetings as part of the way they enact their faith; most of the younger generation see meetings as a necessary evil, at best. In short, the organizational structure that worked so well in the past seems to be increasingly obsolete, and it is that movement that so threatens people in control of our larger church bodies. Streamlining structure often means personal change for everyone in it. Sometimes such change is too frightening, even if it might bring more sanity and more health.
In some ways, Hamm’s book reminds me of Loren Mead’s “The Once and Future Church” (1991). Hamm’s title uses the phrase “recreating the church”; Mead’s subtitle was “reinventing the church.” Each describes a monolithic age of church prosperity and expansion giving way to the current age of contraction and general disorientation. I think the contrast in both books is overly reductionistic. Even in ages of “Christendom,” some Christian groups were rising in numbers and influence while others were declining. Hamm uses the year 1968 as a dividing line, explaining that in addition to key political events, “It was also in 1968 that mainline institutions of all kinds, including mainline churches, began to experience decreasing attendance” (p. 21). This is an example of the type of sweeping statement that I’d like to see substantiated with more data. It’s not that I disagree about contraction and disorientation in our churches, it’s just that I think it is only one strand in a much thicker rope of history. It explains some of what’s happened, but not all, and completely ignores cases of some mainline churches that have done well, even thrived, in the years since 1968.
What I hear most in conversations about this book is the need for “adaptive” rather than “technical” change. On this topic, Hamm seems to depend upon the work of Harvard professor Ron Heifetz. Technical changes are defined as fixes used to correct ordinary problems in the system as it is, while adaptive changes are those that demand innovation, learning, and changes in the system itself. It’s an excellent distinction to make, but I wish we wouldn’t talk as if the distinction is a radically new one. I remember a leadership principle popular 25 years ago, something like: “The manager does the thing right, while the leader does the right thing.” Isn’t the difference between technical and adaptive change like that, and haven’t good leaders been making such distinctions all along? When you finally get to chapter ten, you’ll see that Hamm doesn’t think the need for adaptive change supercedes the need for technical change: “Transformation is always a combination of technical and adaptive work done simultaneously and in a continuing changing mix” (p. 94).
Despite my reservations about the way the book is used, I think it contains good descriptions of “organizational obsolescence” (chapter 4) and “the ‘high pressure’ of anxiety” (chapter 5), as well as a very helpful treatment of the crisis in governance of mainline churches (chapter 7).
The best part is the final chapter, “Why Bother?” (chapter 11) Here, Hamm offers five reasons that mainline churches still are relevant:
• They hold faith and reason together in a time when the world wants to separate them.
• They engage in education rather than mere indoctrination.
• They offer a worldview that analyzes reality in terms of larger structures and systems, rather than solely through the lens of individualism.
• They interpret the Bible with understanding about the sins and shortcomings of past generations, allowing women, people of color, and other historically marginalized people to participate more fully in the church.
• Their involvement in other countries is marked by partnership with indigenous people rather than colonization of them.
This final chapter would make a wonderful foundation for a follow-up book about how these things are actually happening, and such a book would be more inspiring than introspection about obsolescence, anxiety, and crisis.
August 8, 2018
This is an excellent book written by a former head of the Disciples of Christ denomination. I grew up in a mainline church but for nearly all of my adult life, I've been involved in charismatic or evangelical churches that all too often look askance at mainline churches. Reading this on-point treatment of leadership in the 21st century in mainline churches was a much-needed bit of revelation. Very helpful.
January 5, 2018
Typical church leadership book - nothing compelling/standout for me.
June 25, 2014
Honest, personal, thoughtful, practical, pastoral, and hopeful are the adjectives that came to mind as I finished this book. Here's why.
1. Honest: Dick Hamm, who served ten years as the GMP of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, tells the whole truth. He shares an insider’s view of a mainline denominational culture that is unable and/or unwilling to adapt to its estrangement from its contemporary environment as well as his own angst at finding himself unable to alter this situation.
2. Thoughtful: If you’re unfamiliar with the esoteric concepts like postmodernism or generational profiling, this book acts as an excellent primer. I believe that understanding these concepts is an essential aspect of the revitalization of the church. Hamm does an excellent job of boiling down an ocean of theory and pouring into an easy to grasp narrative teacup.
3. Practical: There is a refreshing balance between theory and praxis in this book. Complementing Hamm's approach to the theory of church revitalization is balanced with practical advice about how to actually go about applying these theories on the various levels of the church.
4. Pastoral: The age of the pastor-administrator is over. In this era one is either attending the birth of a new church or the rebirth of an existing church. Hamm's humble expertise is a dram of grace to those who are seeking to come to terms with this reality.
5. Hopeful: The history of the church is the story of what we do to God and what God does to us. Hamm tells the truth about how one generation experience, in becoming the norm, has bordered on idolatry. Yet he has hope. He senses that while God's people may have become distracted God has not abandoned his people but is even now leading them from death to life.
1. Honest: Dick Hamm, who served ten years as the GMP of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, tells the whole truth. He shares an insider’s view of a mainline denominational culture that is unable and/or unwilling to adapt to its estrangement from its contemporary environment as well as his own angst at finding himself unable to alter this situation.
2. Thoughtful: If you’re unfamiliar with the esoteric concepts like postmodernism or generational profiling, this book acts as an excellent primer. I believe that understanding these concepts is an essential aspect of the revitalization of the church. Hamm does an excellent job of boiling down an ocean of theory and pouring into an easy to grasp narrative teacup.
3. Practical: There is a refreshing balance between theory and praxis in this book. Complementing Hamm's approach to the theory of church revitalization is balanced with practical advice about how to actually go about applying these theories on the various levels of the church.
4. Pastoral: The age of the pastor-administrator is over. In this era one is either attending the birth of a new church or the rebirth of an existing church. Hamm's humble expertise is a dram of grace to those who are seeking to come to terms with this reality.
5. Hopeful: The history of the church is the story of what we do to God and what God does to us. Hamm tells the truth about how one generation experience, in becoming the norm, has bordered on idolatry. Yet he has hope. He senses that while God's people may have become distracted God has not abandoned his people but is even now leading them from death to life.
October 14, 2019
A powerful read about how postmodernism is causing a crisis for the mainline church—a crisis which will bring new life, but for many congregations on the other side of a resurrection moment.
An accessible read, I suspect that the 12 years since publication have been “long” years about this topic. Additionally, Hamm (a former denominational chief executive) spends as much time talking about mid level judicatories and denominations as he does congregations. They’re intimately connected, and yet might bore or confuse a lay reader. I would still recommend for church folks, clergy and lay alike, despite its age and wide scope.
An accessible read, I suspect that the 12 years since publication have been “long” years about this topic. Additionally, Hamm (a former denominational chief executive) spends as much time talking about mid level judicatories and denominations as he does congregations. They’re intimately connected, and yet might bore or confuse a lay reader. I would still recommend for church folks, clergy and lay alike, despite its age and wide scope.
March 26, 2012
I enjoyed this book as it discussed the state of the Christian churches as a whole and the challenges they all face in a world no longer controlled by religion. What must the church do to stay rev-lent it the world today. Why does it need to be rev-lent? How can we turn the tide and get more and more people focused on God and attending a church for their own personal strength and the strength of their communities and the world.
October 22, 2012
First book that was on our reading list for churches participating in the Healthy Church Initiative. Good thoughts on adaptive changes.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews