Re: Thinking strategically about the life of our synod, Jan/Feb 2017 (p. 30).
Top marks to Bishop Pryse & his staff for their efforts at strategic planning for the Eastern Synod. To this ex-banker-turned-pastor, their use of clear and precise business terms (viz., strategic plan, strong tactical approach, disposition of real estate and other assets, insufficient funds, safeguard the assets, drain resources, assets mismanaged, assets being undervalued, underutilized), and their willingness to close unproductive branches of the organization, show that their understanding of the church is not sidetracked by nebulous and hard-to-assess spiritual concepts, but centered on a clear and assessable business model.
However, one aspect of this business-focused presentation is missing. Where are the future “customers” of the Eastern Synod to come from? Without clear treatment of this question, the rest of the analysis collapses, and the “business” fails.
This has been a weakness of the synod for a long time. The ministry areas traditionally called church growth and personal evangelism are painfully ignored. Without an integration of these as tactics of the synod’s plan, there will be few or no future “customers” for the synod’s strategies and assets.
As every business person knows, a viable company has to constantly go out and drum up business among persons who are not yet customers. Two staffing appointments would go a long way to remedy this gap: an assistant to the bishop with experience and exclusive responsibility for personal evangelism and growth in congregations, and an adjunct faculty person at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary with the same experience and responsibility among clergy, both prepared to travel and work in the field as salespersons for the Lutheran brand of our Christian faith. At least that’s the way I, as a former banker and business person, see things.
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