The Problem With Saying “Never Again”
Churches have a well-documented tendancy to say the seven last words for an organization, “We never did it that way before.” What is less appreciated is the trouble with saying, “We tried that once and it didn’t work for us.”
If your congregation tried something that didn’t work, it may well be that whatever it is is not for your group. But sometimes I hear from a congregation that they tried a second service or some outreach ministry that failed only to learn that this was twenty years ago, or that it was tried with no real leadership and little buy in from the congregation. There can be all sorts of reasons why some great idea fails to get off the ground. And in the church we can be more than a little risk averse. Suceeding always means that there will be failures along the way. Understanding why something didn’t work is an important part of the learning.
The Need for a Postmortem
Following any new event or months into the launch of a new program, it’s time to step back from the doing of the event or program to assess how well it met objectives and why. For example, following the first Trunk or Treat at King of Peace, all of us knew the turnout wasn’t what we hoped for, but it took a little work to think about why that happened and to plan for how to improve things for the next year. If we had just done the event, without stopping to reflect on what happened and why, it would have been easy to simply say that we had tried it and it didn’t work for us. Nine years later, the event thrives in part because of the assessment and the changes made which more closely involved the preschool and the Scout troops and transformed the event.
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No matter whether a program or event is a clear winner or fails to work in the way you hoped, assessing what happened, how it met your objectives and what you can learn from it is vital. Here in the diocesan office, we accomplish this by surveying after events to collect data on how we did. We then use that input to shape future events. This way we have been able to improve Clergy Conferences, Diocesan Conventions and our Wardens and Treasurer’s Workshop to name a few.
Trying Old Things Anew
Whether its adding a worship service, a ministry or an event, any time you hear others saying, “We tried that and it didn’t work for us” pay attention. It may well be that this is an idea that won’t work in your context. It may also be an opportunity to spend time figuring out what went wrong last time and whether the context has changed, or any other key dynamic is different. It may well be hidden within the things your congregation has done before is a great idea that needs nurturing rather than tossing out. In any case, you’ll be better served by not just moving on, but by stopping to ask some questions, understand what happened, and discuss what you can learn from the past experience.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
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