The Technology of Congregational Conversation

Ed Brenegar

“When two or more are gathered in my name, I am there.” Matthew 18:20

But God has put this Word in the mouth of men in order that it may be
communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he
speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word
in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian
needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again
and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he
cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a
bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother
solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the
Christ in the word of his brother, his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s
is sure.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, Harper & Row, 1954, p.22-23.

What happens when people gather together in the church? We talk. We share
stories and ideas. We listen. We pray together. We call this conversation.

When people talk they communicate. Yet in the church we don’t think of
conversation as communication. Rather communication is how we distribute
information.

Communication takes the form of worship bulletins, newsletters and occasional

letters of appeal. With the advent of online strategies, we can add websites,
weblogs, podcasts and video-streaming of worship services to the list. Even the
most innovative of these communication methods are simply ways for the
“church” to distribute information to the “people.”

Community
Before there were officers, committees, stewardship campaigns and small
group ministries, there was conversation. The church was born in
conversation. The church is the People of God. As the People, we live by the
Word with words that we share with one another.

Before the church became an organizational structure, it was a place of

conversation. Listen for the conversations taking place in this description of
the early church.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship,

to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe,
and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All
the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their
 possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day
they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread
in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising
God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to
their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2: 42-47

When we say the church is a community, we are saying that the church is
where our conversation with God takes place.

A church can be understood as three separate and interacting dimensions.

The church is a place of Ideas. Ideas are words and concepts that frame our
understanding of who we are and what
God has called us to be. These Ideas
include our theology, the Scriptures, our
polity, our hymnody, long-range plans,
vision statements, and the structure of
ministries. All forms of communication
that we use are products of the Ideas
dimension.

A church’s Organizational Structure is the dimension that is most like every

other kind of organization. This dimension includes the work of governance, all
the activities of ministry programs, the administration of the church, and the
development of resources. The Organizational Structure dimension is typically
what people think of as the church. It is the dimension with a street address, a
budget, and committee meetings.

Our Relationships in the church form the third dimension. This is the social,
communal, personal and conversational side of the church. It is the biblical
perspective of the church. We are people in community serving Jesus Christ.
It is the most vital and least developed of the three dimensions. Without our
relationships with one another in the context of our relationship with God,
there is no church. There is only an organizational structure called a church.

It is important to make these distinctions. It helps us understand the place of

conversation in the life of the church.

Conversation
Conversation is more than chitchat. It is more than what happens between
events. Conversation is where individuals connect with one another. In the
church, this connection is created and deepened by God’s Spirit.

Typically, as the church, we have emphasized formal communication over the

informal. This is unfortunate because without vital interaction between people
formal communication lacks a meaningful personal and social context. Without
conversation, the church simply provides a service focused on meeting
individual customer needs.

The church is alive when it is a place of contribution and participation.

Conversation is where a community of impact and fulfillment begins to happen.
We experience the grace of God in Jesus Christ in real life, in real time,
through real people.

When we talk with one another, our lives are transformed. Through personal
interaction we find where we belong in the church as one of God’s people.
Without conversation, this experience is missing. We are alone in the midst of
the congregation. Is it any wonder that for so many the church is not a
community, but a Sunday morning activity?

Conversation in Church Planning

I came to appreciate the value of conversation through my planning work with
churches. Initially, I realized that planning committees that worked in
isolation didn’t make sense. Long-range plans that come from a closed-door
process are difficult to sell to a congregation that has been kept in the dark.
Without a say-so in the process, there is no compelling reason to expand one’s
contribution.

Traditional congregational survey methods do not contribute to the receptivity

of these long-range plans either. Typically, a survey is given and the
completed version of the long-range plan distributed after adoption. As a
result, the congregation doesn’t feel apart of the process.

What I see is that the missing link in many planning processes is conversation.
Not more input, where members respond to questions. Instead what is needed
is a new level of conversation. We need conversation like the way people
normally talk.

Conversation is taking place in churches. It is happening in the parking lot

after worship. It is happening on the golf course, at the gym, at the
supermarket, at the kids’ soccer matches, and on cell phones and through
email multiple times a day. Conversation takes place in Bible studies and
prayer groups. People are talking about their church. They are talking about
the things that matter to them. It is a conversation about where they fit in the
church and how their faith in Jesus Christ matters away from the church.

Identify this pattern of conversation and you discover the living congregation of
the church. Look for where people are talking. Listen to their stories, their
concerns, their hopes, dreams, and complaints. Listen, and you’ll discover the
congregation, as it exists in the Relationship dimension.
Congregation identified by conversation is different than the one that exists in
programs. It is the church of personal relationships. It is the church as a real
community, not the idea of community, not an organizational program for
community, but community as it actually exists.

The question for every church, regardless of what size or denomination, is how
can we bring the parking lot conversation inside the church? How can churches
as formal organizations elevate the practice of conversation so that it becomes
an engine for greater contribution and participation by members?

A Technology for Conversation

When I began to understand the idea of conversational planning, I changed my
long-range planning approach. I didn’t simply include more conversation.
Instead, I changed the whole purpose of planning all together.

Traditional long-range planning projects follow a similar path. A committee is

formed; they conduct research; they reach conclusions; a report is written; and
recommendations for action made to the governing board. Most of it is done
outside of the awareness of the membership. These projects tend to address
specific issues, and in a limited way, can be very beneficial to the church.

A conversational approach to planning is different. Instead of being an

exercise in analytical assessment, it is a process focused on facilitated
congregational interaction that leads to greater member participation and
contribution. Conversation is a beginning point in planning. Leaders can only
lead people where they are willing to go. A conversational process identifies
the shared vision that already exists in the hearts and minds of members.

The methodology of conversational planning is not much different than any

other planning process that uses focus groups for discussion. However, there
are three important aspects of a formal conversational process that are
essential if a church is to gain the benefit from the large amount of work
required to organize a purposeful conversation.

It is first important to understand that how you plan is how you implement.
Rather, the moment you begin to plan is the moment you begin to implement.
Therefore if you want participation, then you must include participation in your
process.

The second key is to expand that participation by involving more in the

process. The success of a conversational planning process is dependent on
participation. A committee working alone represents a small percentage of a
congregation. The first step then is to recruit host teams and
facilitator/recorder teams in order to broaden the base of participation.
A typical meeting has a host and a co-host. They personally invite 8-10 people
to come to the host’s home or to the church. A facilitator/recorder team
comes to the meeting and leads the participants through a discussion of a set
of questions that the Planning Committee has developed in advance. The
questions are open-ended, intended to create dialog. The recorder writes
down this interaction and reports unedited comments to the Planning
Committee. Meeting reports are compiled for review.

Therefore, if you plan for 50 to 100 meetings, and you’ll need the following
participation: six to ten committee members; 100-200 hosts/cohosts; 50-100
facilitator/recorders, plus the support of staff and the governing board. The
result is 800 to 1000 members participating in a process that sets the focus for
the future.

Coordinate the planning process with fellowship speakers, Sunday school

classes and sermon topics, and you have a technology that integrates
conversation in all aspects of the life of the church.

A third key to the process is how the leadership of the church responds to what
is said. The Board needs to respond in its report by saying, “We hear you loud
and clear. In response, we are going to take the following actions.”

When the Board responds affirmatively to the congregation’s conversation, it

validates members’ participation in the life of the church. Therefore, it is
important that the Board’s response is not just about their actions, but an
implementation plan for greater member participation.

The Future of Conversation

Conversation is the life-blood of community. It isn’t what happens to fill the
space between activities. It is how we connect with one another. It is how God
speaks to us and through us. It is the most fundamental experience of human
community.

Conversation is a communication technology. It enhances all the other forms

of communication that we use in the church. It is how we translate the
abstract concepts of theology into the spiritual disciplines and practices that
bring life to the church.

Conversation is more than talk. It is listening, responding, and acting in

response. It is the church as community, as we truly live in relationship with
Jesus Christ. It is where we discover God’s love and call for our lives.
Ed Brenegar bio

Ed Brenegar works with leaders, boards and executive teams from churches and
businesses who are in transition. He engages in facilitated conversations that
achieves clarity of perspective, builds the unity and commitment, and provides
a path to greater impact. Ed , a Presbyterian Church (USA) minister, lives in
the mountains of Western North Carolina and writes two blogs on leadership.
One for leaders at Leading Questions (http://edbrenegar.typepad.com). And
one for church leaders at The Presbyterian Polis
(http://edbrenegar.typepad.com/thepresbyterianpolis). n