The Lead

Why are even the Baptists back on their heals when it comes to church health? Gary Hamel says it's because organized religion has a management problem:

Fact is, organized religion hasn’t been doing too well recently, at least not in the developed world. ... Think about General Motors, Sony, Motorola, United Airlines, AOL, Yahoo, Sears, Starbucks—how have these companies been doing in recent years? Not too well. And not just because of the recession, but because they got stuck in the mud; they fell in love with status quo. ... Religion won’t regain its relevance until church leaders chip off these calcified layers, rediscover their sense of mission, and set themselves free to reinvent “church” for a new age.
Doing this is going to take a management revolution. Back in the first century, the Christian church was organic, communal and mostly free of ritual—and it needs to become so again—as does every organization, public or private, large or small.

So, how do you “decalcify” an organization?

Read it all at Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0.

Comments (4)

Free of ritual??? Has he talked to any young adults lately?

Ritual needs to be connected to faith and practice, but it is part of who we are and a competitive advantage. Remember Brian McLaren's remarks to the Diocese of Washington convention.

Posted by Bill Carroll | August 26, 2009 6:47 PM

"Baptists back on their HEALS"! That's a good one!

Posted by Lisa Fox | August 27, 2009 10:36 AM

Ha. Any humor due to the substitution of heals for heels was purely unintentional.

Posted by John B. Chilton | August 27, 2009 11:06 AM

I don't believe in organized religion. That's why I am an Episcopalian.

Andrew Gerns

Posted by ATGerns | August 27, 2009 4:28 PM

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