How to Tell if Your Church is in Crisis
In many ways, churches experience emotions like people do. In fact, the Bible describes a church as a physical body with multiple body parts (i.e., congregants) needing to function property to be healthy. Alternatively, when individual congregants aren’t functioning properly, the whole church is negatively affected. (c.f. 1 Cor. 12:12-26)
This is especially true when it comes to pastoral failure. When a lead/senior pastor vacates or is removed from their role in the church, the entire congregation (i.e. church body) is impacted. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the situation, various levels of emotional and/or spiritual struggle can occur, leading to a congregational crisis.
How can you tell if your church is in crisis?
Stage 1 - External Event. A crisis is caused when an unexpected event takes place and is perceived to be bad. Within a church setting, this can happen when a lead pastor is unexpectedly removed or resigns. Of course, the more controversial the circumstances surrounding the event, the more impact. For example, if there’s been pastoral failure there is going to be more impact than if a pastor unexpectedly dies. Although there may be slightly differing ways a stage one crisis is triggered, the primary issue is that it’s an unexpected event and negative.
Stage 2 - Subjective Distress. Stage two of a crisis can be identified when congregants are expressing feelings of tension, anxiety, confusion, fear, grief, hurt, etc., in response to the external event. A person or church congregation in stage two crisis will always experience feelings that are above and beyond normal everyday feelings. This will lead to an urgency and/or intensity in how the event is being processed and discussed among congregants. These increased distress levels reveal the deeper underlying issue of a stage two crisis.
Stage 3 - Breakdown in Coping. Stage three of a crisis is when there’s an inability to respond using normal coping skills to resolve the problem. In other words, a congregant’s equilibrium and/or balance is thrown off, creating a state of uncertainty, confusion, and instability. Stage three crisis will also trigger hopelessness and panic thinking. (e.g., “What are we going to do?”, “The church is going to fall apart!”, etc.) It is important to note that this can impact both congregants and church lay leadership, impairing the ability to move forward or make healthy godly decisions.
Stage 4 - Resolution. Stage four of a crisis is when people have resolved their personal struggle. Theoretically, there are three possible outcomes: change for the better, change for the worse, or return to a previous level of functioning. However, since a crisis can be extremely upsetting, the third outcome probably isn’t a real option. Resolution can be healthy or unhealthy, ranging from denial and cynicism to a healthy acceptance and optimism for the future. Either way, stage four is defined by a person moving out of the crisis state and moving on.
Solution: Crisis recovery can be resolved in a very healthy and effective way based on proper assessment and strategic steps taken during each stage.
We are here to help!! Don’t hesitate to contact Revive Consulting for a free consultation to discuss how we can provide assistance and support for your current leadership challenge.