Parish-Level Evangelization: Part 9

I’ve come to the realization that I need to make an adjustment in the layout and presentation of this process.  In this step I’m attempting to imagine a committee or group that would support each of the seven steps and the process of forming these groups and developing the leaders of these groups.  But I guess I hadn’t thought this far ahead when I started because the seven-step process that I laid out includes a step called “Conversion”.  This, obviously, isn’t something that you would form a committee to oversee.  It is out of our control, strictly speaking.  All we can do is promote the circumstances that make the conversion experience more likely.

But then I realized that the other steps are each capable of creating an atmosphere that can lead to conversion.  So I have decided to re-order my outline so that Conversion is central and each of the committees (or steps) are orbiting the center because each contributes to it.  The orbiting bubbles are what we can control and the center is what we hope will happen at some point as the participant moves through the process.  So, here’s a visualization of the re-vamped process.

So now let’s talk about the (new) sixth step in the process.  It’s the mortar that holds all these separate blocks together in one structure.  For now, I’m calling it Group Formation/Ministry Training; an unwieldy name, but descriptive.  This is not just dividing up the labor among your available volunteers, but it is forming the groups into teams with a shared purpose and it is forming leaders within the groups to take hold of the task and guide their teams in its completion.

This step begins with individual self-examination to discover each person’s gifts and talents.  This can be a fun and enlightening process when done in a safe and loving environment.  There are a million surveys people can take, many of which are free on line.  Some look at personality types like the Myers Briggs types at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp.  (I am an INTJ)  Others focus on what the person likes to do.  Whatever you decide to use be sure people can figure out what they are good at so they can plug in to tasks that take advantage of their strengths.  Most of the articles and surveys I’ve found on the internet seem to be career oriented, but with a little adjustment they can be tailored to the various roles in your parish evangelization process.

Group formation is simply the process of a group of people getting to know one another through completing tasks jointly.  Socializing helps here, but nothing builds bonds better than the common goal achieved through collaboration.  Perhaps an annual celebration or function with all the groups together would be a nice way to build esprit de corps.  More on this later.

In the position of leadership in each group will be the Ministry Committee.  This is a group of at least two, but no more than five people, selected by the group members, but usually those with the most experience in the role of the group.  These will meet often to discuss and evaluate the activities of the group and to plan the course for the immediate future.  Each ministry will have its own budget and answer to the Pastoral Council. 

Your ministry committees will need leadership training.  True, some people just seem to be born leaders.  But all the traits of good leadership can be learned.  Leadership in a pastoral setting is very different because for the most part you are dealing with volunteers, so you don’t have the ability to “force” someone to do something.  But I’d say that if a leader in an employment setting has to force his employee to do something, then he is not a very good leader.  What I’ve found is that 90% of good leadership is involving the followers in the decision making process and selling the best solution to the minority that disagree with the final decision.  This way, even if they don’t agree with it, they at least understand how the decision was arrived at.  Most people are able to set aside their misgivings and buy in to the chosen course if they at least understand the factors that were considered in arriving at it.

Two representatives from each Ministry Committee will be delegates to the Pastoral Council.  The Pastoral Council meets regularly to get reports from the ministry committees, vote on future endeavors, make budget decisions for each of the ministry committees and set the strategic course for the entire parish.  The Pastoral Council is made up of the pastor, the business manager and two representatives from each of the seven ministry committees.  Notice, there are no general elections for Pastoral Council.  All Council members are selected by, and actively working in one of the ministries.

Once a year the pastor should gather all the volunteers from all seven of the groups and spend a few hours refocusing everyone on the mission, allowing members to transfer to other ministries if they want to and for each group to choose its ministry committees and representatives to the pastoral council.  This could be the setting for finding out what people are good at and possibly broadening their experience by switching to a different ministry.  It could also involve some awards for the previous year’s best performers, if that seems appropriate.  At a minimum this annual meeting should:

• Bring group leaders together
• Review Comprehensive Evangelization Program
• Evaluate progress in each ministry
• Make recommendations of goals for each ministry
• Make needs of each ministry known
• Produce report for the general parish population covering:  Financials, Successes, Goals, Needs

Next time I’ll talk about all the different support functions that need to go on to make all of this work.  All of these different functions are lumped together into a catch-all ministry called support.  Until then, God bless you.