There is a massive disconnect between many churches and their parish. How do we change that? There are lessons to learn from the military’s counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan (and Iraq). Company commanders are told their first task is to know their turf (or in our context - parish):
1. Know your turf. Know the people, the topography, economy, history, religion, and culture. Know every village, road, field, population group, tribal leader, and ancient grievance. Your task is to become the world expert on your district. If you don't know precisely where you will be operating, study the general area. Read the map like a book: Study it every night before sleep and redraw it from memory every morning until you understand its patterns intuitively. Develop a mental model of your area, a framework in which to fit every new piece of knowledge you acquire. Study handover notes from predecessors; better still, get in touch with the unit in theater and pick their leaders' brains. In an ideal world, intelligence officers and area experts would brief you; however, this rarely happens, and even if it does, there is no substitute for personal mastery. Understand the broader area of influence, which can be a wide area, particularly when insurgents draw on global grievances. Share out aspects of the operational area among platoon leaders and noncommissioned officers; have each individual develop a personal specialization and brief the others. Neglect this knowledge, and it will kill you. (taken from 28 Articles: Fundamentals of Company Level Counterinsurgency by David Kilcullen)
Putting aside the politics of counterterrorism, we can apply some of these lessons about tactical leadership to the mission field. Newly deployed rectors could aim for the following:
- be the world expert on your parish - what do the people there love and hate? where do they shop? are the local schools growing or contracting? what minority groups are there? Talk to lots of people - how has the area changed? where do people travel to work?
- recognise the local church as the front line of mission. Churches face complex, rapidly changing situations, that need tactical leadership. You need to work out what will work in your mission field - answers will not come from lifting templates from what others have done or by waiting for someone to tell you how to reach the people entrusted to your care.
- don’t hide in your Baghdad-style Green Zone! You need to get out and mix with people. It is easy to build church like a Fortress without any connection to the local area - you can even grow churches like that. But that is not the same as winning the hearts and minds of locals - and that must be your mission. They will not come to you unless you first go to them.
Just to be clear: the analogy of war and ministry is banal if pushed too far - the differences are even more stark. But there are lessons here to learn.
Feature art courtesy of Wolfgang Wildner, Creative Commons licence
