Case Against Agility 

Soong-Chan Rah, in his book Many Colors, tells the story of a young pastor right out of seminary who was called to a slowly diminishing rural congregation.  The young pastor anticipates that he will be able to revitalize the congregation with his youthful energy, creative ideas, out-of-the-box thinking, and passionate vision.

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When he arrives for his first day at the church, he notices the piano is placed in an awkward position near the front of the church.  He takes it upon himself to move the piano out of the way so that the path from the front row of the sanctuary to the communion table and the pulpit will not be blocked.  He saw a simple problem and quickly found the solution to it.

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That Sunday, the church gathered for the pastor’s important first service, and there was palpable tension in the sanctuary.  The pianist is clearly flustered and makes numerous mistakes.  The congregation is not singing with their usual gusto.  The pastor senses the tension and is confused.

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What the newbie pastor failed to recognize was that there were complex stories tied to the piano.  The answer was not as simple as moving a piece of furniture.  A culture and system had developed around the positioning of the piano, and the pastor was unaware of it.

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The pianist lacked self-confidence in her abilities.  Her security was in knowing that no one could see her while she played.  With the piano in a different position, her hands were now visible to the congregation, and she was overly self-conscious about her playing ability.

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The individual most upset was the lone remaining member of the family who had donated the piano to the church.  She could not believe that anyone would move a sacred piece of furniture without her permission.

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The well-meaning pastor failed to recognize that the church was actually an extraordinarily complex system.  A linear approach by the young pastor seemed to solve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.  However, the breadth of unintended consequences had escaped him.

The point of Soong-Chan’s parable is simple.  A linear approach, or agile decision-making, works well when we fully understand the system and can quickly foresee all the consequences of our decisions.  However, agile decision-making doesn’t work well in multiethnic churches.  Culture is like an iceberg.  The visible part of a culture is small compared to the hidden elements below the surface.  We can’t possibly know the consequences our decisions will have on people of other cultures when using an agile approach, and certainly not when all the cultures of the church are not fully represented in the decision-making process.