By Chris Aho
Decades ago, I was a high school runner. It wasn’t my first love, but I was pretty good at running laps around the football field. For that reason, when I wasn’t playing basketball like Happy Gilmore played hockey, I ran, like Forrest Gump.
Our high school track team’s signature event was 400-meter race; one lap around the track. It is two curves, two long straights and all the glory. The 400 seems simple, but that lap can get really long, really fast. It is both the best of times and the worst of times.
To successfully take on the 400-meter, a mantra passed down through our team. It was, “Sprint, Stride, Sprint, Send it!” These days the kids might say, “Sprint, Stride, Sprint, LET’S GO!”
The mantra’s logic is to sprint out of the blocks and around the first curve. Then, on the long backstretch, open your stride and take a breather while you pace yourself. Next, as you enter the second curve and last half of the race, the curve naturally shortens your stride, so you focus on sprinting again. Finally, as the final curve gives way to the home stretch, send it …LET’S GO! Leave it all on the track.
Thirty years removed from my last 400-meter race, I can’t walk into a stadium without reciting the mantra, “Sprint, stride, sprint, send it!” I love the four steps’ simplicity. These words help simplify the difficult task of running your best lap. It is demanding to give it your all for 50 to 65 seconds in front of people, so breaking down the race into four steps helps runners move toward success.
In my work with CBF’s Thriving Congregations initiative, I think about our five Thriving Traits in a similar way. As congregations face opportunities and challenges, a mantra I’ve adopted is, “Compelling Clarity, Rooted Relationships, Dynamic Collaboration, Holy Tenacity and Faithful Agility.” These are the five traits of a thriving congregation. The longer I work with congregations and these five characteristics, the more I see them as a way of approaching the races we run as churches.
Does it feel like our congregational leadership teams are spinning their wheels? Could it be that we need to assess whether we have Compelling Clarity about our call?
Are we struggling for connection? Maybe like sprinting the first curve, we need to attend to each other by nurturing our Rooted Relationships.
Is there a call that our congregation is sensing, but we cannot figure out how to do it on our own? Maybe we need to lean into trust and Dynamic Collaboration by passing the baton to a neighbor or ministry partner.
As we move into and through this post-pandemic steeplechase while seeking to maintain a measure of stability amid great change, how might we lean into the complimentary traits of Holy Tenacity and Faithful Agility?
Again and again, as I watch congregations run their races, I see them benefit by leaning into the simplicity of these Thriving Traits. As you are engaged in the work your congregation is called to, how might these traits help you run your race?
If you need assistance defining and clarifying how these traits can inform the practices of your congregational life, CBF is here. CBF exists to serve congregations. Our Thriving Congregations Initiative works every day on ways that we can help you thrive by embracing these traits as a way of being for the sake of God’s work in the world.
We all have a race to run – in our faith and shared congregational lives. Our congregational races will likely be longer than a lap around the track. However, taking on our races can be as simple as embracing five traits. If you are ready to take on your congregation’s next lap around the track, “LET’S GO!” We are ready to run alongside you and we have five traits to help you thrive.
Rev. Dr. Chris Aho serves as CBF’s Director of Thriving Congregations.