George W. Bullard, Jr., Pursuing The Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation (TCP Leadership Series). Chalice Press, 2006.
Referenced in: Strategies for Church Leadership and Renewal – Congregational Health Cycle
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
George Bullard is an insightful church strategist, one of the best in my opinion. At the time he wrote this book, he was Associate Executive Director and Executive Coach for Lake Hickory Resources. He is now a Ministry Partner with The Columbia Partnership and is Senior Editor for The Columbia Partnership Leadership Series published by Chalice Press.
This volume falls within two categories of church renewal approaches: integrated spiritual/strategic and congregational life cycle. First, as a spiritual renewal model, is presents a process called, “Spiritual Strategic Journeys,” with a strong emphasis on congregational spiritual discernment through prayer/reflection groups. Second, it is an excellent application of the congregational life cycle, a church based application of the “Organizational Life Cycle,” as borrowed from a popular leadership resource by Ichak Adizes, Corporate Life Cycles (1988). While many approaches to strategic congregational development include the organizational/congregational life cycle as tool, Bullard’s model is the best application of this model to congregational life.
Perhaps the best way to read this book is to start with chapter 5 which summarizes the lifecycle model. Bullard describes each stage of congregational development: gestation, birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, maturity, empty nest, retirement, old age, and death. In keeping with the model, he explains the primary issues and developmental tasks that must be completed before a congregation can effectively move to the next stage. He also discusses the four organizing principles that are at work in each stage: vision, relationships, programs, management. The idea is that each of these currencies is more influential depending on the stage in the lifecycle. For example, in gestation and birth, vision dominates (leadership, mission, purpose, core values); but in old age, management dominates (accountability, systems, resources). A congregation can either keep developing by intentionally facing the issues that are important for maintaining or reestablishing forward momentum into the growth side of the lifecycle. Or, they can become dysfunctional and stop developing. Bullard shows how to do intervention at each stage of the cycle so a congregation can continue developing healthfully in its spiritual strategic journey.
Once one understands the lifecycle principles from chapter 5, it is easier to appropriate the rest of the book. Chapters 1-4 help leaders create readiness for revitalization. Chapter 1 distinguishes the “full kingdom potential” idea from church growth, church health, church faithfulness, church success, and church transformation. Each of these understandings focuses on closing the gap between where a congregation is and where it wants to be, with the idea that there is a static destination that can be defined. Full kingdom potential, however, focuses on the unthinkable, the undoable, and the uncontrollable. Thus, the book is intended to empower congregational futures, i.e. “to help a congregation pursue, perfect, and be pulled toward its full kingdom potential.” (10) To facilitate this, the book presents a process called the “Spiritual Strategic Journey.” Chapter 2 explains how to create congregational readiness for such a journey. Bullard says readiness can be created in two radically different ways. One is instant, and the other is incremental. The instant way is revivalistic and rare, where God does something direct, dramatic, and divine to awaken the church. The incremental way is more common, and requires special attention to developing a sense of urgency for transition and change, creating spiritual readiness, building leadership readiness, and achieving strategic readiness. He instructs how to engage each of the tasks in a deliberate, intentional fashion. He also presents a system of five varieties of congregations and the special challenges each encounters in creating readiness. Chapter 3 discusses the five different people groups (and two specialty groups) within a congregation and the role each plays in the spiritual strategic journey. Chapter four offers a very helpful strategy for creating dialogue in the congregation as part of readiness. A list of ten “Congregational Issues for Generative Dialogue for a Spiritual Strategic Journey,” covers topics such as visionary leadership, relationship experiences, programmatic emphases, accountable management, contextual relevance, pastoral leadership, people of position, church growth, and communication/conflict.
All of these lead to chapter 5, which as indicated above describes the congregational lifecycle and the targeted strategies that are important depending on a church’s place in the cycle. Chapters 6-12 discuss various pieces of the developmental process congregations experience as they engage the journey. These include navigating transition and change, emphasizing spiritual relationships and discernment, crafting a story of a congregation’s future, and living into that future story. Of special benefit is chapter 7 which discusses how churches react negatively to business management processes, which undergirds the emphasis on the “Spiritual Strategic Journey” as supported by processes like “100 Days of Share and Prayer Triplets.” Also, chapter 9 describes thirteen different models congregations frequently consider as they write their future stories. Bullard describes each “choice for churches” and their potential strengths and weaknesses. These include options such as mergers, relocations, multigenerational approaches, multi-site, multi-worship, etc.
This is an excellent book, written in a very accessible style. Each chapter begins with a brief executive summary, followed by the main text of the chapter with occasional coaching breaks and then more extensive coaching insights, and ending with space for personal reflections.
From the Publisher
Full Kingdom potential, says George Bullard, is a journey, not a destination. To reach your full Kingdom potential, its pursuit must be your enduring passion and desire. Drawing on his more than four decades of experience in congregational leadership, Bullard offers not just another process for congregational redevelopment. He learns from the past to take congregations on a spiritual journey that is open-ended, custom-made, and locally owned. His focus is on capacity building in each congregation, calling for a narrative approach to futuring in the life of congregations that responds to new things God is seeking to do in and through members of the congregation.
This book is part of the Columbia Partnership Leadership Series. The TCP Leadership Series is an inspiration- and wisdom-sharing vehicle of The Columbia Partnership, a community of Christian leaders seeking to transform the capacity of the North American Protestant church to pursue and sustain vital Christ-centered ministry.
About the Author
George W. Bullard Jr. is a Ministry Partner and Strategic Leadership Coach for congregational and denominational leaders with The Columbia Partnership. He is editor of the TCP Leadership Series from Chalice Press and the author of Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation and Every Congregation Needs a Little Conflict, both from Chalice Press.
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