The question of safety in church is crucial. I've been reading about a similar issue in some parallel contexts lately and I think the insights there have some great application for this
discussion. In 1979, Charles Bosk wrote about managing medical incident reports in a book titled Forgive and Remember. The title indicates the message that internships are occasions win which errors must be made. They would be forgiven because they could be reflected upon and become a source of learning.
Sutton (2003) reports on the research of Amy Edmondson’s study on how leadership and co-worker relationships influence drug treatment errors in nursing units. Edmondson, along with fellow researchers were quite surprised when questionnaires completed by these nurses showed that the units with superior leadership and relationships between coworkers reported making far more mistakes. The best units appeared to be making more than ten times more errors than the worst!
Sutton writes that when Edmondson investigated further she realized that the better units reported more errors because people felt “psychologically safe” to do so. In the units that reported the most mistakes, nurses said “mistakes were natural and normal to document” and that “mistakes are serious because of the toxicity of the drugs, so you are never afraid to tell the nurse manager.”
On the other hand, in the the units where errors were hardly ever reported the story was completely different. Nurses said things like, “The environment is unforgiving, heads will roll,” “you get put on trial,” and that the nurse manager “treats you as guilty if you make a mistake” and “treats you like a two-year-old.”
Interestingly, after seeing this research physicians no longer viewed error data as objective evidence but as something driven in part by whether people are trying to learn from mistakes (so they confess and report it) or trying to avoid getting blamed for them (so they stay quiet and don’t report it).
One of the most crucial lessons from these studies is that groups that focus on how and why the system, community or culture contributes to mistakes (rather than which people and groups are to blame) not only encourage people to talk more openly about mistakes, they result in changes that actually reduce errors.
Imagine if a similar research project revealed that churches with
superior relationships actually reported more sin! And it revealed this simply because people felt safe to talk about it. Put another way, what if churches that focus on how and why the community contributes to mistakes or sin (rather than which people to blame) not only encourage people to talk more openly about sin, they result in changes that actually reduce sinful behaviour or attitudes.
I suppose this is shaped by our assumptions about what’s most important. So what’s the bottom line in the church? Is discipleship mostly about controlling sin? Imagine tracking the “number of sin free days” at church!
Bob George (1989) addresses this unfortunate focus in his book Classic Christianity: “The Christian world is obsessed with sin...Most of our preaching and teaching is directed toward getting people to quit sinning. Are you ready for a really shocking statement: The goal of the Christian life is not to stop sinning – it is to know Jesus Christ” (p. 109).
Let’s look at this through 1 John 1:5 – 2:2 with some helpful annotations:
5This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all (no sin, no secrets). 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth (dysfunction). 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another (safety, openness), and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (forgiveness).
8If we claim to be without sin (hiding it), we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins (talk openly), he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10If we claim we have not sinned (hiding it, blame others), we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin (normal for now), we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
References:
George, Bob. (1989). Classic Christianity. Eugene, OR: Harvest House.
Bosk, Charles L. (1979). Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure. Chicago, ILL: University of Chicago.
Sutton, Robert I. (2003). “Organizational Behavior: Forgive and Remember”, Cioinsight.com, (Retrieved August 9, 2010 from http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Past-News/Organizational-Behavior-Forgive-and-Remember/)
No comments:
Post a Comment