Jim Ozier says a healthy church culture is critical to the long-term growth and viability of a congregation. He shares a list of attributes that can help diagnose whether your church culture is healthy or in need of change.
It is often said that the best way to take the temperature of a church is to put a thermometer in the leadership’s mouth. While this is true and necessary, you can also take the temperature of a church’s culture by observing the congregation’s behavior. The following are common symptoms of the health of your church’s culture.
1. Culture is unhealthy and needs to be changed.
- Lack of joy, burdensome feel; sterile feel, maybe even toxic.
- Inwardly focused culture directs church resources, energy, and emphasis almost entirely on maintenance rather than mission.
- A growing prevalence of complaining, criticizing, negativity, and blaming while there is noticeable lack of personal responsibility and accountability.
- Downward trajectory of nearly all measurables in the life of the church.
2. Culture is okay but needs to be strengthened.
- Fatigue, but people dutifully hang in there.
- Stakeholders feel proud of good things being done, but express lack of focus.
- A lethargic spirit of volunteerism, fewer and fewer people doing more and more work.
- Not many first-time guests and very low return.
3. Culture is good but needs to be better messaged.
- Leadership becomes aware of plateauing impact accompanied by the desire to do better.
- Outwardly focused culture making a difference accompanied by desire to see exponential impact.
- Pleasant, “feed-good” church family spirit accompanied by desire to become more welcoming and inviting to make a difference in the community.
- Church rightly focuses on its aspirational dreams but frustrated over slow results.
A “nice” church does not equal a healthy culture; a “friendly” church does not necessarily indicate a healthy culture; even a “loving” church does not mean a church’s culture is healthy. Actually, at times those perceived attributes merely serve as masks hiding deeper, barely perceptible culture problems. As the old saying goes about an inwardly focused church; “that church loved itself to death.”
Healthy things grow.
Even as specialists in church culture, we cannot tell you what your church culture should be and neither can anyone else.But one common feature is an environment of growth. Healthy things grow. That growth does not necessarily mean growth in average worship attendance or membership, or budget. But it could be growth in spiritual maturity, or growth in discipleship, or growth in missional outreach, or growth in many other equally valuable variables. But it does mean that a healthy culture creates an environment of growth.
Let’s acknowledge that changing a church’s culture is categorically different from most other kinds of ventures. It requires deep and delicate assessment done in understanding and understandable ways. And a pastor must never lose sight of the reality that many people have poured their time, treasure, and talents into the church over the years. When a pastor starts assessing the church’s culture, it is common that people in the church may interpret that as attacking the church, as ridiculing its customs, demeaning its practices, and diminishing the importance of their lives.
But being a healthy church is absolutely critical for long-term viability. A church’s health is what strengthens it to withstand times of crisis and sustains it in times of leadership change and even downward trends in church life.
This material is excerpted from Church Culture: How to Assess It, Shift It, and Shape It (Abingdon Press, 2024) by Jim Ozier and Yvette Thibodeaux. Used by permission. The book is available at Abingdon Press and Amazon.
Related Resources
- How Leaders Create Culture Every Day by Ryan Stigile
- Understanding and Honoring Your Congregation’s Unique Culture by Roy L. Spore
- 4 Ways to Nurture a Church Culture More Open to Change by Meghan Hatcher
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