The “3” came first - at the (date) Church Vitality Conference in (place), when speaker Mike Piazza, (affiliation), announced that 3 UCC churches are closing each week.
That started me thinking.
Mike’s megachurch, unlike those he described, is a good example of a vital church.
In today’s stressed economy, in order to help others become their best, to be healed from past hurts that keep them from being free to be fully alive, it is critical that our churches provide healthy environments, milieus attractive to those seeking the richness of our communities and progressive theology. Which brings us to the next two numbers..
By conservative estimates, 39,000,000Americans have been sexually abused.
In addition, 20% of any organization’s population carry the burden of some form of abuse experience: sexual abuse or interpersonal violence.
With these numbers in mind, I offer Safe Church Seminars to UCC ministry teams wishing to create meaningful and effective Safe Church Policies designed to promote healthy, vital church environments. To this end, we will work to develop leaders with a comprehensive understanding of the social unconscious.
The social unconsciousness refers to the systemic dynamics of social and cultural arrangements which, while not aware of them, people are driven by. Social unconscious dynamics are inseparable from the social dynamics that people are aware of. Not knowing how social consciousness and unconsciousness influence each other can cause a sense of helplessness and anxiety, activating in the process all sorts of assumptions, role takings and organizing activities that can lead the members of a group, a family, an organization or a nation away from their hoped-for destination.
By understanding the social unconscious and creating and implementing a meaningful Safe Church Policy, I believe our churches can provide healthy, vital, sustainable environments. What does a healthy environment look like, sound like, and feel like? Some descriptors are:
People feel safe - no dings/suffering for openness and honesty, for admitting mistakes or for not knowing and needing to find out.
People feel accepted; they experience courtesy, being listened to, being invited to express thoughts and feelings and knowing their dignity is important.
People are given easy access to job-specific information, as well as information about the context of the job and organization; people understand the goals and progress of the organization so that they see the relationship between their individual efforts and the organizational growth/ work.
People experience the congruence between the mission statement and the behavior of leaders and managers. They see integrity exemplified and are motivated to match what they see.
People experience being treated fairly and justly - feel the environment they are in is a rational universe they can trust.
People with high self esteem will want to be, work, and worship in this kind of church; people with more modest self-esteem (i.e., people who need healing from violence and abuse) will benefit from having their self esteem raised in this kind of church.
More numbers.
I believe that the Safe Church Seminar, an 8 month process (i.e., 1 session per month and optional coaching between sessions), will promote such healthy, vital congregations.
I offer these seminars to promote healthy environments that will prevent abuse and be healing environments for those who need healing, who need to be whole or one. That we all may be 1.
The first Safe Church Seminar group will meet on March 23, 2010 at Chula Vista Community Congregational (address), at 6:00 p.m.
If you would like more information or would like to participate in this or a Safe Church Seminar group in your area, please contact Dr. Jaime Romo at (760) 842- 6577 or jr@JaimeRomo.com
