Reflections:
By Larry Hovis CBFNC Executive Coordinator
Don’t Forget to Celebrate
I
am, by nature, a planner. I believe in thorough planning in my personal life as well as in my leadership in churches and CBFNC. Typical organizational planning cycles involve the following stages:
My unspoken mantra is “plan the work and work the plan.” Far too often, after Executing, and maybe only minimal Evaluating, I cycle back around to Assessing, skipping Celebrating altogether. And in doing so, I rob myself and those I lead of a critical practice that is every bit as important as the other stages. I’ve noticed that many churches and ministries share • Assessing – What is the current reality? What needs to my shortcoming. Far too often they skip over celebration be improved or stopped? What needs to be changed or and move on to the next task. The primary exceptions are added? staff departures (retirements or resignations), major mile• Visioning – What would a more desirable future look like? stones, such as “big” anniversaries (every 25 or 50 years), or constructing new buildings. • Goal-setting – What should be the areas of focus during the next phase of our life and work? What particular And we certainly should celebrate these things. This actions do we need to take? What steps will enable us issue of The Gathering, for example, contains some of to make changes or improvements? What people or those kinds of celebrations. resources are needed? But what about the more routine accomplishments? How could we better name and celebrate ongoing, but • Executing – How will we structure our time and effort to every bit as important, successes? What happens on a accomplish the goals we set? weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual basis that is worthy • Evaluating – Did we accomplish our goals? Did they of celebration? Might more produce the desired change? regular celebration fuel Did our efforts create the future ministry and nurture And what might we celebrate more desirable future we our life together? envisioned? that may not be the result of And what might we • Celebrating – How are we celebrate that may not be goal-setting or task-completion, celebrating our accomplishthe result of goal-setting ments and successes, both or task-completion, but an but an expression of our deepest intended and unintended? expression of our deepest values and shared culture? values and shared culture? For example, in this issue Even when God created the of The Gathering we celeworld, He included the practices brate the ministry of women deacons. Many, though not of Evaluating and Celebrating. Six times during the act of creall, CBFNC partner churches have women staff ministers. ation in the first chapter of Genesis, God evaluated the work A small but growing number have women pastors. But of creation, declaring it “good” (vv. 10, 12, 18, 21, 24, 31). At the vast majority have women deacons. The presence of the end of the process, God celebrated this good work: women deacons is a distinguishing characteristic of our partner churches. Yet we rarely celebrate this important Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all aspect of our life together. their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the And maybe, just maybe, during these days of grim work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day statistics for the American church (declining attendance, from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the aging membership, etc.), we should celebrate what is seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested going well and try to see the glass as half full rather than from all the work that he had done in creation (Gen. half empty. Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a 2:1-3). good example. What might we celebrate about this particular season? Possibilities include: To be honest, I’m pretty good at the first four stages but pretty terrible at the last two, especially Celebrating. See “Don’t Forget to Celebrate” on page 4. Winter 2021 | 3
