His latest book reveals the methods to his consulting madness.
Will anybody buy that new Lyle Schaller book, The Interventionist (Abingdon, $14.95, 205 pp.)?” asked Dr. Shepherd, pastor of the historic First Church, blowing steam from his coffee. “I mean, how many people plan to do what Schaller does?”
“Plenty,” replied Stella Whyel, “including me. As an intentional interim, intervene is my middle name. And, Shepherd, if you don’t do something soon, historic First will become, well, history.”
“I’ve already read the book!” chimed in Ona Weigh, with flying doughnut crumbs punctuating her remarks. “Schaller’s convinced me to seek my next call differently—more like a consultant than an applicant.”
Showing off, Ernie Points, rector of Shepherd of the Hummock, tossed out some figures: “Did you know that this year, approximately seven thousand Protestant churches will hire a consultant, and the demand will increase fivefold before 2025?”
“Get outta here! How do you know that?”
“Schaller said so in The Interventionist,” triumphed Ernie. “Look it up!”
The Schaller factor
This conversation illustrates four of the nine precisely enumerated types who will benefit greatly from this book: (1) pastors of (a) stagnant or (b) declining churches; (2) interim pastors; (3) pastors wanting to be effective change agents immediately in their next call; and (4) (a) persons or (b) denominational officials who hang out the “church consultant” shingle.
To that list should be added: (1) Schaller groupies (we are legion!), (2) Schaller wannabes, (3) ministry students, (4) congregational leaders who can’t afford Schaller himself, and (5) (a) list-tolerant, (b) non-question-challenged, and innovatively thinking pastors intent on improving their ministry skills.
Which means just about everybody.
For more than 35 years, Schaller has examined, cross-examined, analyzed, compared, grilled, repaired, directed, advised, and even knocked churches upside the head when necessary. With humor (often printed on his T-shirt), amazing insight, a remarkable grasp of church culture, a broad curiosity, more pertinent statistics and benchmarks than you can shake a stick at, and a traveling case full of penetrating questions, Schaller has changed the American church. He tells us that every year in the U.S.-despite mainline decline-the combined church attendance record is broken.
Might Schaller be a factor?
No magic dust
In The Interventionist, Schaller divulges his methods. Just what does he do when he calls on a church?
First, he makes it clear he cannot sprinkle “magic dust” to perfect everything immediately, although it’s equally clear that many churches expect it.
Second, Schaller mainly asks questions. “More can be learned by asking questions than by giving answers,” and “the most effective way to influence both individual and institutional behavior is to ask questions.” Schaller considers it more effective “to be perceived as curious rather than judgmental.”
Thus, the book bulges with questions—questions for candidates to ask, questions to send ahead, questions on church culture, questions on finances, questions for youth groups, questions about “Seventeen Syndromes” of church ill health, questions for civic leaders, questions of context, and tough, penetrating questions to follow up previous questions.
Pity the question-mark key on Schaller’s typewriter after he writes chapters with titles such as “Twelve Questions for the Interventionist” (he’s only warming up on that one; he can profitably extend a list farther than anyone else) and “393 Diagnostic Questions” (quintessential Schaller)!
Third, to the questions Schaller adds analysis. While Schaller learns and even influences others through questions, his genius is his ability to sift and compare. Somewhere (he hints at prodigious reading) he has gathered an astounding trove of knowledge: He can tell you to multiply worship attendance by $1,000 (1995 buying power) for a benchmark of decent giving; he knows that 67 to 80 percent of churches founded before 1970 are static or shrinking; he introduces the concept of “splintered attention” to explain modern pastoral realities; he can quote the figure that in 1995, 32 percent of teen drivers owned cars, compared to 7 percent in 1960. Whew!
Fourth, Schaller envisions new realities. What are the alternative futures for the church? What must happen to make each case a reality? What are the big hurdles to cross? He keeps his recommendations to a minimum: “As a general rule, two recommendations are better than four, four are better than eight, and eight is too many.”
Fifth, Schaller becomes persuader, determining who the decision makers are, discerning allies, making a reasonable, logical case for the future the church must pursue.
The number one quality an interventionist needs, according to Schaller: “the willingness and the capability to earn the trust of the leaders.” Number two is credibility, and number three is openness to a range of diverse opinions.
“Can there ever be another Lyle Schaller?” Ona muses. “His book gives away all his secrets, but I wonder … “
“Think of it this way,” interjects Ernie. “Would any of you know that in 1950, 21.2 million American cows produced 116 billion pounds of milk, but in 1992 just 9.9 million produced 152 billion pounds? Schaller does.”
“Udderly astounding!”
James D. Berkley senior associate pastor First Presbyterian Church Bellevue, Washington
WHY PEOPLE GIVE
A new book on giving trends confirms the importance of vision.
The church I serve is in the middle of an expansion project. The volatile mix of ministry and money keeps me awake at night. Twenty percent of my people give 80 percent of the money. People tell me they can’t afford to give any more.
John and Sylvia Ronsvalle’s monumental, three-year study, Behind the Stained-Glass Windows: Money Dynamics in the Church (Baker, $24.99, 384 pp.), statistically verifies what we all suspect:
—Americans are making more and giving less.
—Giving has been declining since 1968.
Behind the Stained-Glass Windows includes hundreds of quotations from financial consultants and denominational executives. Each underlines the point that a change in how giving is approached is critical if we are going to affect the consumers in our churches.
What changes can we make? Preaching alone isn’t going to do it.
Although taking 300 pages to reach this conclusion, the Ronsvalles remind us that we can’t rely on tradition, denominational loyalty, or teaching on tithing. Our best hope is a vision for reaching people that is so compelling that the 80 percent who aren’t giving realize that it won’t happen without them. Even better, they don’t want it to.
In 1994, I wrote a “dream statement” for our church. Recently, almost three years later, a layman came to our luncheon meeting driving a new car. I noticed he had replaced his foreign luxury car with a less expensive American sedan. He could probably buy any car he wants. I asked him why he didn’t replace his luxury car with the same model.
“I wanted to be able to give more to the church,” he said.
Money does follow vision.
Bill Oudemolen Foothills Bible Church Littleton, Colorado
STUDY IN AN ELECTRONIC MUSEUM
A CD for pastors who use The New International Version.
Compton’s Interactive Bible CD-ROM (Zondervan, $49.95) is a virtual Bible museum. Without tired legs and whining children, you can view charts, maps, and short movies that add interest to the background of the Bible. Like a museum, Compton’s includes experts to explain nuances of the subject.
The tableau, the central feature of the Interactive Bible, is a three-window format that links everything with hypertext. A click of the mouse zips you between a search window, commentary window, and text window. Most verses have a hypertext link to a commentary. The commentaries, in turn, have cross-references back to the Bible.
Compton’s Interactive Bible CD-ROM (to order mention product 006416: 800-727-3480) has both expert and inspirational commentaries. The expert commentary is helpful for background and history of a passage, but most of the time, it leaves the original languages alone. The inspirational commentator provides some good illustrations that connect with life. I was disappointed that the documentation failed to divulge who the commentators are.
Compton’s ability to do word studies is limited, by electronic standards. Its concordance works like a book, searching only one word at a time, not a whole phrase. It will search every tool on the CD simultaneously, but this slows the search.
The ability to cut and paste from the New International Version of the Bible is handy—perhaps the best feature for pastors. As a reminder you copied the text from Compton’s Interactive CD, an endnote is placed in your word-processing text.
Compton’s Interactive Bible CD-ROM functions like a museum, but it takes a while to go through a museum, and most people don’t visit one every day. For now, I still go elsewhere for in-depth study.
Scott Reavely West Linn Baptist Church West Linn, Oregon
REPERTOIRE UPGRADE
A worship CD to spice up a contemporary service
My wife, Jana, straddles the buster/boomer age divide, but when push comes to shove, I think in her heart of hearts, she’s really a boomer. Why?
She doesn’t like alternative music. I do, which is the only glitch in our otherwise perfect marriage.
In the spirit of marital harmony, I asked her to listen to Pour Over Me ($18; to order: 817-752-1401), a CD of worship songs produced by leaders at University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Since University Baptist purports to be a buster church, I thought, Hey, I’ll see if Jana likes it. “It’s certainly not alternative,.” she said after listening to the CD four times through while cleaning the house one Saturday. “That’s for sure.”
I think she meant: “I really like these songs.”
They may not be alternative, but they are worshipful. Most of the fifteen selections on Pour Over Me are new, written by David Crowder, worship leader at University Baptist Church. Even one of the few moldy oldies, “I Have Decided,” has a fresh, contemporary sound. Buster or no, you’ll appreciate the freshness and longing of University Baptist Church worship.
David L. Goetz senior associate editor, Leadership
1997 by Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
