This is Part 3 in a series on change within a congregation. The focus is on the power brokers within a congregation that often go unseen, unknown and/or unacknowledged. When mission statements are too general, broad or undefined, the power brokers govern and lead the congregation more thoroughly than the paid staff and official leadership body.
Let me be clear in this third post - I do NOT think power brokers are bad/evil/etc. I think they are some of the most dear, loyal, constructive people who do some of the best work in congregations. However, I also believe they are the blindspots that catch official leaders off guard, and often when it’s too late to be constructive. This assessment includes my own experience, despite being prepared with a seminary education including multiple texts and much study around congregational culture and systems.
One of the clearest stories I have is of an official leader, that is in an elected position, who had been part of the congregation for over 15 years. Yet when he was part of making a decision that he had been tasked with, a power broker at that church, a community elder, asked him why they were not included in the decision. The official leader was shocked - there was nothing specific for checking in with this “power broker.” The “power broker” was deeply offended since they were accustomed to being in the loop on all significant decisions for years, if not decades. According to polity, that is how a congregation officially does things, often via named by-laws, the official leader had done nothing wrong. However, according to the unwritten “culture” of the congregation, the power broker was right in asking to be involved. For me, this is one of the most fundamental pieces of congregational life for people to understand.
To be honest, I think most people do understand this. They know that if you want to change something in a given area of church life, there is always someone you need to ask and involve, regardless of official roles. But like any system of relationships, it can be quite challenging and frustrating when “new” people are unaware of the power brokers they cannot see. As my example shows, sometimes ‘new’ is 15 years compared to a long-timer of 30+ years. These new people are relying on the written and ‘official’ relationships that may not be trustworthy or accurate on the ground.
Very few churches (is there one?) have an appendix of whom to talk to when making a certain decision. If anything, a church history document MIGHT give clues, or maybe a history of minutes from board meetings and committees. But who has the time to go through them, let alone search for details when they were all typed and hand written? You can’t simply do a word search and find the history of people and projects to know which people are the power brokers. The other option that many systems rely on is savvy administrators and longtime volunteers who help pastors and official leaders understand the relational histories of a congregation and its actions over the years. In my next post I’ll offer a few ideas on how to engage power brokers for the larger goal of “change.”