Church Reform and Leadership of Change

Askeland, Schmidt

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781498223331
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Reforms and processes of change have become an increasingly pervasive characteristic of European Protestant churches in the last fifteen to twenty years. Driven by perceptions of crises, such as declining membership rates, dwindling finances, decreasing participation in church rituals, and less support of traditional church doctrine, but also changes of governance of religion more generally, many churches feel compelled to explore new forms of operations, activities, and organizational structures. What is the inner dynamic and nature of these processes? This book explores this question by applying perspectives from organizational studies and bringing them into dialogue with ecclesiological categories, seeking to provide a richer understanding of the field of processes of change in churches. Among the questions asked are: What are the implications--organizationally and ecclesiologically--of viewing reform as a church practice, and how does this relate to much more comprehensive waves of public sector reforms? How is church leadership configured and exercised, how is democratic leadership related to the authority of ordained ministry, and how does leadership take on new forms in the context of churches? And how do churches incorporate organizational practices of planned change and renewal, such as social entrepreneurship?

1

Introduction

Reforms or intended processes of change appear to have become a pervasive characteristic of European Protestant churches in recent decades. These processes seem to have been spurred by a number of tendencies in society in general, as well as in religious life more specifically. Many European churches have been experiencing declining membership rates, which for many have also meant dwindling finances, reduced participation in church rituals, services and activities, and less support of traditional church doctrine. Furthermore, several churches have problems recruiting candidates for ordained ministry as well as for involvement in their democratic structures, such as parish councils. At the same time, newer forms of worship and activities, and different types of involvement and voluntarism, seem to be evolving. On the broader societal level, changed patterns of governance of religion in general and churches in particular also alter the conditions under which churches operate and which they have to relate to. In the northern region, relations between the traditional majority churches and the state have particularly been in focus and have compelled the majority churches to rethink not only their relation to the state, but also their internal organizational structures.

Much research has been conducted on the dynamics of these tendencies and their implications for institutional religion, such as churches. Less research, however, has been devoted to the ways in which churches use various forms of planned and structured institutional and organizational changes in their attempts to respond to these changes and their impact. Over the last ten years researchers have come together at biannual conferences on “Church Leadership and Organizational Change” in order to address these types of questions and further invigorate and stimulate this research field.

The fourth conference, which took place in Oslo, Norway, September 2013, focused on the topic of “Church Reform and Leadership of Change.” In this volume we are delighted to present keynote lectures from the conference, as well as articles based on a selection of the presentations delivered at the conference. This also includes two articles based on Master’s degree theses, exemplifying the growing interest in bringing theories and insights from leadership and organizational studies to bear on church studies.

Together, the articles address a variety of issues within the overall topic. Some deal with church reforms specifically. In the article based on her key note lecture, Isolde Karle focuses on the nature and characteristic features of pervasive reform processes in the Protestant church in Germany, and articulates some of the questions and dilemmas evoked by applying organizational reform ideas to churches. Andreas Aarflot identifies the historical background and traces the development of the recent reforms of the relations between state and majority church in Norway, revealing the various underlying ideas that played into this interesting process. Ulla Schmidt compares reforms in the Church of Norway to public-sector reforms, asking whether the former simply emulate the latter.

Another set of articles addresses the issue of how leadership of change also opens for changing patterns of leadership. Searching for new ways of fruitfully conceptualizing and understanding church leadership, Bim Ridderspore and Johanna Gustafsson Lundberg explore management of meaning, whereas Hege Steinsland discusses the idea of dual leadership. In her article, Karen Marie Sø Leth-Nissen gives an example of one prominent change which needs to be addressed by church leadership, namely that of leaving the church and the underlying stories and rationales people might have for relinquishing their membership in majority churches. Two articles deal with the more specific question of changes in leadership of ordained ministry on the organizational pastoral levels. Harald Askeland analyzes a reform in the Church of Norway to restructure leadership of local ministries through the organizational entity of the deanery and the function of the dean, whereas Per Hansson compares the Church of England and the Church of Sweden with respect to regulations and practices for clergy discipline.

A further group of articles explores how existing organizational structures in churches are used and function when it comes to governing and renewing church activities at the local level. Kjetil Fretheim uses a case study to investigate and describe the actual functions of leadership and governance of local church life undertaken by a parish council, whereas Maria Åkerström, also working with case studies, explores examples of the renewal of local church life in light of the notion of social entrepreneurship.

All in all, the articles explore the complex phenomenon of church reforms and leadership of change from a variety of angles: thematically, methodologically and theoretically.

At this point, the editors would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to all the contributors. First of all we would like to thank the authors for their willingness to appear in this book and for all the work they have laid down in developing their original contributions into articles. Secondly, we gratefully acknowledge the following institutions for their generous financial support for the original conference: KIFO—Institute for Church, Religion and Worldview Research, Oslo, Norway, Church of Norway Employers Association, Diakonhjemmet University College in Oslo, Church Research Institute in Finland, and the Peter Fjellstedt Foundation in Uppsala, Sweden. KIFO has also supported this publication. We would also like to thank the group of co-organizers of the 2013 Oslo conference: Deputy Director Marit Halvorsen Hougsnæs, Professor Per Hansson, and Professor Per Petterson. Finally, we would like to thank the editor of the Church of Sweden Research Series for including this publication in the series!

Oslo / Aarhus, March 30, 2015

Harald Askeland and Ulla Schmidt

2

Reforming Majority Churches

Possibilities and Dilemmas

Isolde Karle

The Evangelical Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated to EKD)1 has been working on reform processes and discourses since 2006. In 2006 the Council of the EKD published the reform paper Kirche der Freiheit under the presidency of Bishop Wolfgang Huber. This is the first time that such a reform paper has been made public by the EKD. The aim of the paper was to stimulate and promote an understanding of the necessity for reforms and it has attracted a great deal of attention in Germany. Conceptually and linguistically, the paper is not oriented towards prioritizing insights from theology and sociology of religion, as would previously have been the case, but is focused on the knowledge-base of strategic management. Faced with declining financial resources, declining income from membership taxes and a critical demographic development of the population, of which the Protestant church is particularly affected because they hardly see migrants among its members, the EKD reform propagates a Wachsen gegen den Trend. As in a company, the attainment of ambitious overriding goals, such as higher rates of baptism or increased participation in services, are front and centre, where the idea is that they should be attainable through good church marketing. Moreover, far-reaching changes are also proposed, including greater centralization, a domestication of the clergy and a significant reduction of the autonomy of local parishes.2

Due to its business management approach and its tendency to undermine the existing decentralized structures, the paper has provoked a great deal of criticism in the church and in academic institutions. But actually, the EKD is only an umbrella organization of autonomous regional churches. This means that it cannot lay down any central guidelines or make any operational decisions. Such decisions are the responsibility of the respective regional churches (Landeskirchen). In these regional churches, structural changes, which are called reform processes, have in fact taken place over several years. On the one hand, these processes relate to the EKD reform paper, but on the other hand, they represent an attempt to cope with the reconstruction of the church in a more down-to-earth way.

The reform orientation of the Protestant church should in principle be welcomed due to the background of the Reformation and its heritage. The Protestant church is ready to question itself. It adapts to a changing social environment and reflects on itself in on-going discussions with the biblical tradition and the reformatory confessions. The current reform processes are, however, less due to the reformation heritage than part of an overall societal development. Organizational reforms can presently be observed in all functional systems. They are part of the giant progress project of modernity which aims for permanent optimization and acceleration, not only in individual lives but also in modern organizations. Of course, the goal of reform processes is self-improvement, but they are also accompanied by self-depreciation. Reforms always presuppose that the current situation is negative or should at least be classified as unsatisfactory and deficient.

In the Protestant church, this dynamic cannot be ignored. The EKD discussion paper signals a clear dissatisfaction with the current work of the church and with the ministers responsible for the main activities. The alarming picture of the future of the church that has been drawn is astonishing. It is obvious that this has been done to illustrate the necessity of the proposed reforms and the lack of alternatives. The decision makers are so focused on the deficiencies that they take no account of all the work the church does that is succeeding and worth preserving—and that all this by no means is self-evident, namely: That many ministers preach relevant sermons Sunday after Sunday, and that many people in many local parishes grow into faith over the years, a faith that has fundamental importance for their lives. It is not self-evident that the church is still closely connected to civic commitment and the civil society, or that local choirs, child and youth work, and the religious education in church make an immense contribution to cultural education and formation. Neither is it mentioned that many people in crisis situations turn to the church and appreciate pastoral and diaconal assistance there, and that even in a secular society the church is met with high expectations, not least the expectation to be of help where no one else is willing to help.

While reforms are launched to solve certain problems, they may just as easily create new and perhaps even more serious problems. To succeed with reforms, the diagnosis must first of all be accurate when it comes to the actual opportunities for action, but also with respect to the many factors that cannot be influenced and controlled. Only a sober analysis of the situation, not enthusiasm for change in its own right, will help the church. In the following, I will not delve into the individual points of the EKD reform paper, but I will try to analyze sociologically and ecclesiologically how its main ideas have influenced the reform discourse in the churc...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contributors
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Reforming Majority Churches
• Chapter 3: Motifs and Perspectives in the Reform Process of the Church of Norway
• Chapter 4: Church Reforms and Public Reforms
• Chapter 5: Church Leadership and the Management of Meaning in Times of Change
• Chapter 6: Church Leadership and Congregational Change
• Chapter 7: Reforming the Pastoral Managerial Structure in Church of Norway
• Chapter 8: Clergy Discipline Decisions in the Church of England and the Church of Sweden Compared
• Chapter 9: A Deliberate Action
• Chapter 10: From “Who Is in Charge?” to “How Are We in Charge?”
• Chapter 11: Change and Development for the Future