by Catherine Dafoe Hall
Quick Fix
I served a church once that had a series of "quick fix" ideas — all kinds of them. For a while they thought that a youth worker was the answer. Then they tried a new outreach ministry. When I arrived Alpha was the rage everywhere. Some in the parish were convinced that "if only" we had an Alpha program then we would be on the right track.
At the first Annual Meeting after I came the question came up, "could we have the Alpha program?" I said I had used it before and would be willing to do so again. I outlined the program and said that we needed a core group of volunteers and participants: so how many were willing to sign up? In that whole room of about 60 people one hand was hesitantly raised — and that hand belonged to a woman who was noted in that parish for not following through on her commitments. I was glad I raised the question though because it was the last time anyone came forward with a "quick fix" idea.
There are no quick fixes or easy answers when it comes to congregational development. Our North American culture seems to suggest that everything can be done quickly and easily — if only we have the right — whatever the gadget of the week is. Congregations are complex communities and they are not amenable to quick fixes. But congregations are spiritual communities, in a way no other organization is. The real resources for congregational development are there — in the congregation, in the people, in their enduring relations with God who called the church into being.
In that church the people turned away from quick fix ideas and began the work of discerning God's call to them as a parish. It wasn’t quick, and it wasn't easy, and it is never over, but the congregation grew in numbers and in wisdom and in spiritual strength.
