Permission

The most popular post in my short time as a blogger about aging and the church was my entry several months ago, “A Waiting Resource:  Space Cowboys”.

http://agingandthechurch.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-05-07T12:18:00-05:00&max-results=10&start=10&by-date=false

In that entry, I made the point that in the face of what The Lutheran magazine has called “The Shrinking Church” why not notice all older adults as important resources – as creative partners for suggesting ideas and helping carry out efforts to address the decline in church attendance?

But, at least to my knowledge, as popular as the article may have been, I have not heard about efforts by church leaders to use this waiting resource.  

There are surely a hundred reasons why I remain ignorant of church efforts to do just that.  Yet I recently read an article, “The Road to Empowerment” written several years ago by a couple of organizational-savvy academics, Robert Quinn and Gretchen Spreitzer.  The thrust of their article is that as much as organizations may understand the important benefits that come from an empowered community, they frequently have difficulties attempting to implement programs that empower people. 

Since drawing on the contributions of older adults to help address the decline in church membership is, at its heart, an example of empowering a community, I read the article with some care. 

The authors point out that too many leaders don’t really want to empower their employees (or their volunteers in this case).  They don’t want “loose cannons” around.  They would rather specify specific tasks, delegate responsibility and hold staff/volunteers accountable. This is what Quinn and Spreitzer call a mechanistic approach. 

I wonder if church leaders ever wonder why talented older adults choose not to volunteer their wisdom and time at church?  There are always lots of reasons for choices that any of us make.  But an avoidance of potential negative situations is a common characteristic of many (most?) of us older adults.   So to expect volunteers from among the older adult ranks if they feel they will be held accountable for whatever parts don’t work out, can be wishful thinking.

The authors argue instead for what they call, an organic approach to empowerment in which leaders start at the bottom by understanding the needs of the [older adults], build teams to encourage cooperative behaviors, encourage intelligent risk-taking, and value and trust the people who have volunteered.  Needed for this organic approach are church leaders (1) who give permission, not delegated tasks and (2) find benefits from trust and cooperation, not accountability.

I have absolutely no reading on the leadership styles of leaders (of all stations) in Lutheran Churches, so I am not suggesting that I have found a problem that needs addressing. 

But I wonder if focusing more on giving open permission, and less on top-down accountability might be more likely to empower communities of hope that include older adults as full partners.

Bruce