I could go on and on about what the LEAD process has done for our congregation. The greatest gift of this process is one of possibility. All along the way we have uncovered one possibility after another, as we listened to what God is doing in and through us. Once we started listening we heard God’s voice everywhere! This process gave us the courage to listen and try new things, without fear of failure. Rather, we found ourselves steeped in the language of faith, asking what might be possible with God. The adaptive leadership and adaptive experiment focus was particularly helpful, as we learned to look at the whole of our ministry work as part of this process. Clarifying core values and principles has reshaped our approach to ministry, from our leadership structure to our congregational communications and more. LEAD has given us the tools for lasting change and a solid foundation for growing the depth and scope of our ministry. This is the best process for leading lasting change that I have encountered in my 20 years of ministry work.
Our LEAD Journey helped us hone in on our values and try new experiments, striving to use everyone’s passions. The culture change we’ve seen because of our LEAD Journey is that we now have an outward-looking mission. We are still working the process, always striving to get people to walk alongside us.
The coaching aspect of the LEAD Journey helps us not feel like we are on our own with it. Our focus is better with our coach. He is very solid with great experience and good for us, holding us accountable. Our coach has helped us see our way forward, keeping us away from distractions.
Although I have been involved in lots of adaptive work in past years, I can say being a part of our LEAD team’s journey has totally been worth it. It has exposed others in our congregation to adaptive leadership principles. We have begun to use the same language talking about “experimentation” and “reflection” as we do new things. We can now say, “This is like when we did our other experiment,” when we are looking to try something new. Then we evaluate and decide to stay the same or make a change. When we can point back to other experiments it gives us confidence to do something new again. LEAD helped us learn to frame it that way.
LEAD has helped us develop a guiding principle or guiding force, if you will. We now have a culture of – ask good questions and try new things. The steps in the LEAD process reinforce all of that.
The Listening Process (Tune-In) has been helpful in racial justice and LGBTQ+ work, although there is much more to be done.
The culture change through the LEAD Listening Process is a slow burn. I can’t say enough about it. The way LEAD frames the work theologically and practically is TRANSFORMATIVE! When Peggy Hahn said that initially, I was somewhat skeptical, but it turns out it was TRUE!
The way the LEAD process is packaged is truly helpful and done well.
Our involvement in the LEAD Journey taught us the importance of flexibility and adaptability. The work has engendered a greater sense of trust in the congregation. Also, Calvary is more prepared for change and we have many empowered lay leaders because of our LEAD work. Our reopening committee has two LEAD members on it and our council has one LEAD member. We have a culture now in which lay people are truly treated as just as important as clergy.
We regularly had LEAD information in our bulletin and on our bulletin board about things that had changed because of LEAD work, and also about where we were in the LEAD process. We also held Temple Talks by LEAD team members. We preached on LEAD principles when appropriate. We gave updates at every council meeting. This work brought the whole congregation along and now our church is about how we can be there for the neighborhood. One former confirmand asked to put in a vegetable garden which was wonderful.
Our coach, Pastor Pat Payne, was really good at helping us identify the core issue of what we were dealing with and the challenges we were facing. She pulled everything together succinctly and was very encouraging. She suggested ways to find answers ourselves.
Calvary was already flexible, and the effectiveness of the LEAD process has made them even more so. It helped us define the need to look beyond the parking lot. Our DNA has changed. We have so many new ideas bubbling up. For example, our VBS offering was a diaper drive, and the idea was NOT presented by a LEAD team member. Through our LEAD interviews with community leaders, we have established a relationship with the local elementary school. Two LEAD team members interviewed the elementary school principal. Kids and parents were interviewed at Pizza Hut. Then we developed a service to mark the beginning of the school year. All were to be invited – and will be next year.
Our three-year LEAD Journey was fun. It was incredibly energizing! We grew lay leaders who are now in leadership roles. Our work is not done. We are making plans for the future. In fact, we are looking at a project that Pastor Ed Kay introduced where he serves (St. Paul, Lutherville) about finding our passions. We are still doing LEAD work actively.
We are more than willing to talk with anyone who is considering taking the LEAD Journey.
The LEAD process helped our congregation think in a different way. The tools have been great. It has given us a new energy and focus.
As part of the work in our LEAD Journey, we chose to focus on partnering with Grassroots of Howard County. Since our church sits in an affluent area we sometimes forget there are hungry people in our area. We realized there is a lot we can do to reach out and help those around us.
The work we have done in the community has continued. Through our work with Grassroots Day Resource Center, we have served hot meals and prior to COVID-19 were increasing our donations of items needed at the center. Since COVID-19 has changed how we are doing things, we have cleaned out the food pantry at the church and provided boxed lunches. We continue to foster that relationship.
Our coach, Pastor Charlie Marshall, was helpful. Although we have concluded our three-year journey, he has continued to reach out to us to check-in and we will use him on an “as needed” basis moving forward.
Our LEAD team studied a book about adaptive leadership which has proven to be helpful for our team and for me in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although we were already a very diverse and fairly nimble congregation, our LEAD Journey has been helping us on our pandemic adaptive work. I am amazed at how our whole organization is adapting.
Our LEAD Coach, Joanna Casto, is lovely and helps to hold us accountable which forces us into having needed conversations.
LEAD is totally helpful!
Throughout quarantine, and with an interim pastor, we have continued advancing through the Dig Down process of our 3-year LEAD Journey. Post-COVID we will re-evaluate the needs of our community. The LEAD process has taught us steps for figuring out what projects to focus on and has helped to develop an outward focus.
Our council is really open to change and we have made a lot of them throughout our LEAD journey. We are now using a Consent Agenda. This addition has allowed us to change our focus from micro-managing committees to long term planning for the congregation.
Having Pastor Patrick Gahagen as an external coach has been invaluable for keeping us focused and moving forward.
We look forward to circling back to early activities once we have a pastor on board.