One of the concepts over the last 10 years that I have had the most resistance around is developing systems and structure. No matter where you go in the United States, there is an overall hesitancy and skepticism towards structure and systems. The fear for many is that we shouldn’t tell people no or make them feel uncomfortable. I agree with much of that, but what I have been trying to teach and implement is that healthy structure and systems do not have the goal of saying no and making people uncomfortable, in fact it is the exact opposite – healthy systems and structures produce the ability for more freedom and the expansion of comfort.
Over the past year, the family ministry has begun to make next steps into systems and structures. In the beginning weeks of me being on the family team, any mention of systems was met with skepticism and challenge. Obvious to me there was either a history of system abuse (systems used to manipulate and control) or there was a commitment to unconstrained freedom. Either case resulted in the perception that systems and structure could not be trusted and should be challenged at every angle. In the first 6 months of my time on the family team, we dealt with controlling chaos, responding to negative actions, and worrying about what people thought. It was exhausting! The team was exhausted, weary, and a little bit wary of each other. Our team was in survival mode. The ministry had direction but was not taking ground towards it. Decisions were being made more from how we thought people would respond versus in relation to the vision of our church. We were in a tough place.
The next 6 months we began to initiate and follow though with systems (we have a ton of work to do yet) and we almost immediately felt a difference. How we responded to each other began to shift. How we contributed was noticeable. Our attitudes became more trusting and supportive, Our energy became contagious. Our willing to risk on implementing more systems grew. Our comfort level in saying no to some people and things so that we could say yes to more opportunities of who we would like to become started to develop. Life and momentum started to fan into flame.
It wasn’t easy. Every time we introduced a new system, there was pushback from students, volunteers, and parents. But because we were prepared and the system was implemented well, trust was being built. Each time we implemented a new system the amount of resistance lessened. As we built trust with our volunteers, parents, and students that systems produce freedom, we experienced more and more encouragement and support. We began to receive suggestions for new systems that we could experiment with. Trust was being built, communication increased, and ministries began to grow in size and effectiveness. We are a long ways off, from being where we would like to be, but we are realizing that we need to continue to be curious in how structure produces freedom.