Many people believe that culture is relatively permanent and rarely changes. While that is not true and culture actually is constantly changing, the culture of an organization is a very powerful force to be reckoned. The leader that doesn’t take into consideration the culture of the organization and even underestimates the strength of the culture does so at great peril.
Church culture is likewise powerful. While the force of culture may be unintentional and involuntary, it still influences all individuals and activities. People don’t necessarily talk about culture nor be able to articulate its nuances but nevertheless, the culture of a church will set rules of behavior for the types of activities that are to be embraced or avoided.
The culture trap occurs when the general church culture reluctantly concurs with a new direction or desired outcome but every remaining value, assumption, activity and verbal clue indicates that the people are generally not on-board.
How do we avoid this trap? Read Part Two of the Culture Trap, Thursday the 18th.
