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The New Reality In Motivation
How to deal with the growing gap between key leaders and the grassroots.
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Pastors and key leaders scratch their heads and wonder, How will I motivate my congregation? In the coming decade, the motivations of compassion and community will stir the grassroots to action and generosity. However, pastors and leaders who continue to approach the congregation with the motivations of challenge, reasonability, and commitment will be disappointed. They will simply see an increasing motivational gap between themselves and the grassroots. In meeting after meeting, leaders say to one another, "If people were only more committed … " "If they would just rise to the challenge … " The leaders are broadcasting on the frequencies of challenge and commitment, but few in the grassroots are tuned in. The appeal goes unheard, so the same few people end up receptive and responding year after year. Most people today are tuned elsewhere: to compassion and community. You've lost that lovin' feelin'While all five motivations on my list are at work, in most people two will dominate. The key in the next decade is which two to employ. Pastors and key leaders often operate from the same base. Their fatal mistake is assuming that because they are stirred by certain appeals, they can motivate the congregation in the same way. In the post-war culture of the 1950s, when social conformity delivered people to the church, leaders could motivate based on challenge, reasonability, and commitment. In our churches today, these motivators are still the most frequently employed, but they no longer work. In fact the motivation gap between leaders and grassroots is growing. When someone says to me, "Dr. Callahan, what we need in our church is people with more commitment," I say, "Good friend, you have just taught me you're a long-time Christian." I ask the people I counsel to share what made their congregation attractive years earlier. I often hear how they felt at home and discovered "family" there. But over time, weighed down keeping the venture afloat, they've grown more concerned about commitment than community. Commitment remains on my list because of its profound effect on people. It is, however, last on the list. Commitment is the motivation that most people develop later in their Christian pilgrimage. If there were lots of long-time Christians out there to reach, we would do well to preach commitment. But what's out there are people who do not know Christ. Their ears do not hear our exhortation to dedication. |        
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