Problems & conditions

The effects of the current global economic crisis are palpable. Move about for a few moments in any public venue and you'll feel the anxiety, fear and sorrow. More and more of us are facing the loss of jobs, the decline in expendable dollars, and mounting costs. For those of us who still have jobs, there's the emotional strain of knowing that we have while others do not, and even the fact that many who have jobs retain them only after laying off fellow employees that they respect. The current pain cuts in all directions.

When faced with painful challenges, it's natural to want to fix the problem, to set out to find the strategic answer to the perplexing questions. Products of the rational modern age, we are deluded by the concept that "no matter how big the problem, we can overcome it with a little good 'ole American ingenuity." To solve a problem, we pose a set of possible strategies, evaluate those strategies based on their effectiveness in solving the problem, apply the chosen solution, and expect the problem to go be overcome. If for some reason our chosen strategy doesn't work, then we either chose the wrong strategy or didn't apply it well enough. We did something "wrong" and return to our problem-solving mode expecting better results next time.

But what about those problems that we face that can't be strategically overcome? Church consultant Gil Rendle helped me with this dilemma by pointing out that we've been trained to treat every challenge as a problem to be overcome, whereas life's reality is that not everything is a problem to be overcome; sometimes we mistake conditions for problems.

Conditions are those parts of our life that we cannot change by simply identifying the right solution. Our current economic situation is a condition. For instance, within charitable organizations, it doesn't matter what strategies we apply for fundraising. The condition is that there is simply not the money available from donors. There is not a "right" strategy to overcome the declining contributions.

What is called for instead of solutions is a new set of frameworks or paradigms for life in the face of the these conditions or new realities. We don't just need more, bigger donors to sustain the church's life. We need a whole new fiscal framework for life as the church. What's required is not better fundraising techniques, but rather a fundamentally new relationship between money and ministry.

Being able to differentiate between problems and conditions is a critical skill for leaders. Knowing the difference and responding accordingly will help our organizations flourish in a world of shifting conditions and complex problems.