Thinking of hosting your very own church forum? “There’s no time like the present. There’s no present like time” (Georgia Byng, Molly Moon’s Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure). The best way to learn if church forums are for you is to just try it out for yourself! Sure it doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact it’s probably wise to anticipate making a mistake or two. Albert Einstein said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” Church Forums are all about trying something new, doing something different, making church more engaging. Don’t get discouraged by a few rough patches. Anticipate them. Learn from them. And celebrate growth as you move forward.
However, just because mistakes are likely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take precautions to prevent them. Here are 4 tips we recommend for planning your own forum. #1)PLAN AHEAD: There’s a lot that goes into hosting a forum. It can be overwhelming. But it’s much easier if you plan ahead. One study determined that 20% of people are chronic procrastinators (Eric Jaffe, Why Wait? THe Science Behind Procrastination). However, researchers such as John Perry (Art of Procrastination) find several positive effects behind waiting. Perry finds that chronic procrastinators can gain a reputation for getting things done. The key, he believes, is creating a list of doable tasks not necessarily waiting until the night before to decide everything. Be patient. Create space for thinking things through and preparing to host the best forum you can. That stated, we recommend planning as much as 1-3 months ahead of time to host a church forum. Use this time to create a list of doable tasks. In this time you give yourself space to study materials about the selected topic, host regular meetings with a leadership team to assign responsibilities and continue the conversation (more on this later), creatively advertise your church forum to the surrounding community. #2)DON’T BE ALONE: The greatest struggle and perhaps best kept secret behind why churches fail today is due to the overburdened pastor. One person acting as a CEO who bears all the responsibilities and performs all the operations. This practice is dangerous, unhealthy, and ineffective. Of course every church may have a unique way this is expressed. Some may struggle with a controlling lay person. Others simply lack needed resources to allow others to help. The question needs to be asked of us all: Does your church intentionally and gracefully lead people into active participation in the ministries that are prioritized? Since Church Forums are designed to create community, it is wise to plan them in a community. ***NOTE: This advice assumes that participants in the planning community have already collectively defined what those prioritized ministries of their church are. For instance, attempting to plan a church forum with people that have yet to embrace the value of engaging the surrounding community is unwise. To use a bad sports metaphor, a football coach who is committed to the running the ball every play and a coach who wants to pass every play shouldn’t be discussing what plays they’re going to call for tomorrow night’s game. A whole other conversation should’ve already taken place months before the season began about what direction they plan on taking, and what system they decide to install. If this isn’t done, then a meeting about what plays to call for tomorrow’s game would be ludicrous and unproductive. Similarly, I suspect many church bodies hunger for and require a conversation about what direction their church should head in. Therefore to clarify, planning a church forum assumes a direction has already been identified. People are allowed to disagree about nuts and bolts, but the planning community must already embraced a desire for their church to go a certain direction. If this isn’t the case perhaps it’s best to discuss this in your leadership meetings. For most churches, changes won’t begin the night of a Church Forum event. Real nuts and bolts changes happen during these conversations. Real nuts and bolts changes take place during times where it is safe to express your doubts and fears. However, when planning a church forum event with others, it is necessary for this direction to be embraced by those parties or else the planning community will be unproductive. #3)CREATE AN ACTION PLAN: In the same spirit as tip #1, it is wise not only to plan ahead but to create a specific action plan of what needs to be done. This spirit is also consistent with your church’s desire to focus more on doing and not just hearing. In fact, this is a value shared at Church Forums so much that each topic concludes with an action plan. What can we do now about the topic at hand? How can our church be more than a Sunday sermon? How can we actively engage our surrounding community? Author Rachel Held Evans reiterates this point in her book Searching for Sundays: “With all the conceptual truths in the universe at his disposal, Jesus did not give them something to think about together when he was gone. Instead he gave them concrete things to do--specific ways of being together in their bodies--that would go on teaching them what they needed to know when he was no longer around to teach them himself… ‘Do this,’ he said--not believe this but do this-- ‘in remembrance of me.” It’s up to you to determine your own action plan as each forum will be different depending on your church’s preference. Some examples of action steps to take are inviting guest speakers and panel participants, designing online marketing strategies, securing location, determining costs, etc. Remember it’s unwise to overburden one person. Stick to what you’re good at. Careful undertaking of each task no matter how big or small is one way we show love for God and others. #4)USE FOOD: “People who love to eat are always the best people.” -Julia Child Sounds funny, right? But stay with me here. Using food as part of your Forum is perhaps the most Christian thing you can do. Early Christians were identified by all the meals they shared together. These are difficult times and perhaps there’s nothing like promoting unity like sharing a meal together. Two examples come to mind that demonstrate how food can negate tensions. A church and a mosque in Peoria, IL proactively advocated peace by sharing a meal together. Check out more about this story at this link: http://www.christianitytoday.com/local-church/dispatches/fear-not/letters-with-mosque-next-door.html A local Black Lives Matter chapter in Kansas teamed with police to host community cookouts. These events were particularly effective in their willingness to welcome difficult questions and diffuse tensions. Read more about this story here: http://www.essence.com/2016/07/19/black-lives-matter-police-host-community-cookout Understand that each story didn’t solve all the problems, but they helped begin the path towards reconciliation by having difficult conversations. The presence of food didn’t solve everything, but perhaps food was the real hero by it’s ability to promote a peaceful environment where conversations were welcome. Of course it didn’t hurt to see people smile and have a little fun as well. The only questions remains: Why don’t we use food more often? And if we do, what is the purpose behind it? Perhaps we all can better tap into the spiritual power of food!
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