Richard Tow

July 29, 2008

DMIN 738 The Pastor as a Change Agent
The King’s Seminary

Wesley M. Pinkham. Truth and Truthfulness: An Image for the Future of Today’s
Church. D.Min. dissertation, McCormick Theological Seminary, 1975.

Issues

Truth and Truthfulness provides a case history of an intervention led by Wesley

Pinkham that resulted in positive change in Forest Glen Church. By providing rationale

for his actions and reporting the results of his strategy, Pinkham helps his readers

understand crucial principles for change agentry. He suggests a four-step process:

diagnosing, strategizing, implementing, and assessing.

Five key issues from the book were particularly meaningful to this reader. First,

truthfulness (truth of being) is an essential quality to be pursued by the congregation.

This implies congruity between what the church professes to be and what it is in reality.

This is discovered and experienced through an interest-satisfaction approach to church

operations. Secondly, interest-satisfaction is not only foundational to a church operating

in truthfulness; but it is also a crucial element in gaining broad ownership of church

goals. Third, a futuristic approach to planning and effecting change minimizes effort

wasted on unproductive conflict and maximizes energy invested in accomplishing worthy

goals. Fourth, interests must be broken down into clear, measurable objectives to

accommodate communication, focus, and accountability in the organization. Finally,

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honest assessment is necessary throughout the process of change and is a prelude to the

next cycle of change.

Importance of the Issues

Past leadership styles and organizational structures are becoming increasingly

ineffective as American churches enter the Twenty-first century. Parishioners, in many

congregations, are apathetic because their pastors have failed to identify and respond to

the underlying interests of the people. Goals are often imposed upon the congregation by

the principle leader with little more than a rubber-stamp approval from the congregation.

Since the people had limited input in the development of the goals, there is not much

ownership of the plan and interests are not sufficiently satisfied to keep the congregation

motivated.

Furthermore, there is often a significant gap between what the congregation professes

to be and what it is in reality. The organization claims to embrace lofty values; but the

lives of the people don’t reflect genuine ownership of those values. An honest appraisal

of where the congregation is really at is often a first step toward addressing this

discrepancy. But the problem is not just hypocrisy. The incongruity is often a reflection

of ignorance on the part of the leadership. When leaders externally impose values upon a

congregation, those values are little more than a list of ideals. Leaders must know how to

draw out the true values and interests of the people and help them take an honest look at

these. Then lead them to collectively define interests they are willing to pursue. This

process is demonstrated in Truth and Truthfulness.

In order for change to occur the general interests that have been identified must be

defined with concrete, measurable objectives that people will work toward with
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intentionality. An assessment has to be made as to whether these objectives are being

accomplished and interest satisfaction is in fact being realized. Too many churches

wallow in generalities and good intentions without holding themselves accountable for

results.

Finally, unproductive conflict often develops in congregations where interests are not

being satisfied. Sometimes people don’t even know why they are so frustrated or why

they are taking it out on a particular person. But when interests are not being satisfied

there is low moral and a tendency to blame someone or something. In this environment

people often function out of past scripts rather than focusing on the desired future.

Pastors need to know how to move the focus from the past toward a collaborative

futuristic orientation.

Implementation of the Concept in Ministry

The writer currently functions as an interventionist in two major capacities. First, as a

conflict management consultant he steps into highly-conflicted situations with a mandate

to assist the congregation in dealing with their disputes. Helpful instruction is provided in

this book for effective entry into those arenas for gaining broad legitimacy for his role.

The instrument designed by Pinkham to assess the climate of the congregation may be

modified and used in some of these situations. The careful involvement of everybody in

the process at Forest Glen Church is a good reminder of the need for patience while

leading a congregation through the changes necessary to provide long-term solutions to

recurring conflict. Training the congregation, especially the leaders, in the concept of

interest satisfaction will be emphasized more in the future as a result of reading this book.

This will also become more prominent in the seminars he conducts for pastors and other
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leaders. Truth and Truthfulness provides a good model for how this is done and may be a

resource for some of these leaders to better understand the practical implementation of

the concept.

In his role as pastor of the Foursquare church in Nixa, Missouri the writer is also

functioning as an interventionist. The congregation is younger and less organized than

Forest Glen Church. The intense conflicts have been resolved. However, the church is left

without clear purpose and direction. Now is the time to identify interests and begin

leading the congregation toward a desired future. Truth and Truthfulness has enhanced

this writer’s confidence to do that in an effective way. In the past, his leadership style was

less collaborative. Rather than begin with the interests of the congregation, he would

begin with what he felt was the direction God was giving him, as pastor, for the church.

This was not totally ineffective as there was some sensitivity to input from others. But by

embracing a more interest-satisfaction approach the ownership of church goals is

anticipated to be much broader. Although his approach will probably not be quite as

methodical as Pinkham’s model in this book, he will use this basic model to lead the

church into her future.