Case 1: Lancaster Community Church
What dynamics do you observe?
I notice an interesting difference between the nearly unanimous vote to install the pastor, and the significant disconnects between control and lack of control in the individual areas of work brought forward.
I observe potentially a history of functioning from a place of anxiety, with a pattern of avoidance. Maybe linked to the avoidance is identifying with the past/being stuck in an old identity as a church (possible areas this might be showing: Attendance counts, van being held onto, not wanting worship to change, and not already having engaged with the community).
What other information would you want?
This soon, I wouldn't go too hard into data yet, except general picture I can get from minutes and bylaws and finance reports. No fine-toothed comb yet, I want narrative first. Going in too hard might set off the anxiety, and it's impossible to steer a church without leadership help - I need to get them all on the team first.
Review church history from the church historian. If not available, ask a few people (different kinds/roles) for a narrative history of the successes, concerns, and challenges (conflicts) over the last 5-10 years and how they have turned out. Key in on who is in leadership, what areas are passions, what areas create anxiety, what areas have trauma histories. Recognize that these are still individual opinions.
Scan committee notes, especially on community engagement, finance, and worship committees. At least skim bylaws, and check whether there is a long-range plan (and what it is).
Find out how long the last minister/pastor was here, what their leadership style was, and what conditions they left under (including general temperature read on how well loved).
Concrete items that will come later are the detailed data - attendance counts, demographics, seasonality of attendance, finance patterns, giving patterns, existence of or status of long range plan (if any).
What would be your next steps?
Check in with a mentor or denomination’s regional leadership team (if this is an option). Run through what else you might need to watch for, what questions you haven’t asked yourself, their ideas, options, and strategies (though don’t abandon intuition in favor of someone else’s word). Integrate that information as much as possible before the meeting.
Confirm my understanding of the vision/long range plan/existing stated goals. Find out the context before suggesting movement/change.
Look deeper into the culture of leadership – What are the patterns they follow? What are their favorite dysfunctions? Does the congregation have any quirks of leadership culture or identity that have a known pattern (like strong lay leadership in Fellowships in UUism)?
Be prepared for bringing a loving-and-listening (but not wilting) approach to the meeting. Gather information and build trust as a priority, but with professional neutrality.
If not already begun: Begin discernment about whether this ministry is going to be long-term placement or an accidental-interim position. Intentionally switching to an interim-ministry mode may help the church much more than trying to take a long-term ministry approach without any transitional work being done.
Collect data (and see if it matches the narratives).