Countering the Culture of Complacency

Diverse threads of my reading are coming together in a warning for boards of Christ-centered organizations. One thread is the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Metaxas in which we see the tragic results of complacency in the Christian church during the rise of the Hitler. Another thread is the Association of Governing Boards magazine for boards of colleges and universities with a feature article warning trustees about breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing after weathering the recent financial crisis. Still another is an analysis of such cataclysmic events as the Egyptian revolt, the BP oil spill, and the loss of the Columbia space shuttle. In each case, a culture of complacency contributed to the failure to see the coming crisis.

Boards of Christ-centered organizations have had it good for a long time. We have counted on economic prosperity, evangelical clout, political favor, and traditional values to support and strengthen our ministries. But, to assume that they will go on forever is the trap door into a culture of complacency. Perhaps, we need an old-fashioned dose of “WOT’S UP” in one of our board meetings asking, not just about our internal Strengths and Weaknesses, but also about the external Threats and Opportunities of which we must be aware. The exercise is sure to shake up our assumptions and counter the ever-lurking culture of complacency.

Swimming Naked in an Ebb Tide

Billy Graham continues to have Spirit-guided wisdom far beyond his 91 years. When asked what cautions he had for evangelicals today, he warned us about being “victims of our own success.”

Billy is so right. Evangelicals handle poverty better than prosperity. When our faith-based ministries are struggling in the margins, we depend on God, make sacrifices, focus our energies, exercise creativity, and multiply the effectiveness of our ministry. In prosperity, however, we tend to let the good times roll.

Think about the long-term, strategic plans of Christ-centered organizations today. More often than not, they are based on the assumption that the growth of the future will equal or exceed the growth of the past.

Robert Putnam, however, echoes Billy Graham’s caution in his book American Grace. According to demographic studies, the halcyon days of evangelical power, growth, and influence are waning. Leaking out of the bottom of the statistics is a younger generation of evangelicals coming to adulthood who reject politicized faith, tolerate theological diversity, and put individual spirituality over institutional loyalty. If so, boards and executive leaders of Christ-centered organizations had better give our plans a reality check and rethink our strategy according to the disciplines of sound management. Otherwise, as crusty old Warren Buffett put it, “When the tide goes out, you discover who’s swimming naked.” We dare not let good times mask bad management.