Can you handle the truth?
A Covenant pastor in his mid thirties designed a tee-shirt that grabbed my attention:
VERITAS ME. I Can Handle the Truth.
I admire this pastor’s courage to let the truth come out about himself and the congregation he leads. When I see pastors and congregations willing to confront their current reality in a civil, compassionate and Christ honoring way, it gives me great hope for the future.
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32). You shall know the truth (that’s reality) and the truth will set you free (that’s vitality). As we say in Veritas, “There is no vitality without reality.”
For whatever reason there are some pastors and congregations who cannot handle the truth. Perhaps their family system does not allow truth telling, or maybe the pastor feels threatened or is just coasting until retirement. Maybe the congregation is so entrenched that the status quo must be maintained at all costs. Maybe it’s fear, denial, insecurity, pride, blame, scapegoating, risk aversion, “niceness”, peace-mongering or something else that keeps pastors and congregations from confronting their current reality. I’m still trying to figure this out.
But I certainly do have hope! A 63-year old Covenant pastor recently sent me his take on Veritas:
In my 35+ years of ministry, Veritas is the single most important “strategy” to come down the road. Churches are spending time “goal setting, dreaming, and scheming” without taking a hard look at themselves, i.e. discovering what kind of church they are and what that means about their decision-making process and what needs to take place. I’ve participated in a number of these (Covenant) programs and while seeing value in them, for the most part, have always been left with a church unable to get off the mark because it hasn’t understood who it is.
This particular pastor has exemplified healthy missional leadership throughout the discernment process. This is especially meaningful to me because of this pastor’s proximity to retirement. It is truly exceptional and praiseworthy. I wish this kind of evaluation and transparency were just normal and natural, regardless of the pastor’s age or the age of the congregation.
Sadly, I have heard comments from other pastors like, “I’ve been Veritased” or “I’ve been Veri-teased” or “I’ve been Veri-tossed.” I wonder what is behind these comments.
Hmmm… Care to weigh in on this?
In reality, Veritas merely provides the language to talk about what’s already been going on for years. Veritas helps both the pastor and congregation take a look in the mirror and come to grips with the way things are – the good, the bad and the ugly. Veritas helps pastors and churches to discover who they really are… it is a matter of identity.
To be sure, it is stressful to confront the truth and have the truth confront you. C. Everett Koop said, “Reality is the leading cause of stress among those who are in touch with reality.”
The goal of Veritas is to help churches become healthy and missional. By “healthy” we mean pursuing Christ. By “missional” we mean pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world.
Of course any tool like Veritas can be used appropriately or inappropriately. This is why we stress behavioral covenants so much and the need for a Veritas facilitator.
If you would like to host a Veritas workshop for your church, you can do so live or through a DVD. Simply contact your conference office or order the DVD through the online bookstore.
June 6th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I’m feeling a shy about looking like I’m disagreeing with C. Everett Koop, but I would submit that to be living in denial, or a fantasy world takes a lot of energy from the person themselves and has a negative impact on those around them as well.
Another sad result of ignoring reality is that the grace of Jesus will not intentionally get called into the situation.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:14 am
I don’t know how you get to the point where the truth and what’s best for God’s Kingdom overcomes whatever prevents seeking the truth. I think fear is crippling. I attended your Veritas workshop with several members of our congregation including our pastor. Our post workshop progress was promising and had good energy. However, resistance or inability to “handle the truth” (or even approach it) eventually won out. Sadly, our pastor stated to two of us on our Veritas team that he didn’t see an evaluation or diagnostic component to Veritas… That’s a non-starter.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Hello Warren,
I hear what you are saying. However I think that some people and churches are blissfully happy in their denial. This creates, or is simply an outcome of, a dysfunctional family system that scapegoats the person who does tell the truth. In this sense, the person who tells the truth experiences a lot of stress. Think of the prophets who understood the reality of the situation and whose hearts were heavy. The truth does set people free, eventually. But first it may make people angry, especially those who are enabled by the dysfunctional family system.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Dear Veri-tired,
I must say that I have not heard this one before, but I get the point. Revitalization is hard work. In fact it is harder than most think, just like remodeling a bathroom. As you said, there is also the fear that keeps people from tackling such a project.
Fortunately, we now have an evaluation or diagnostic component that flows right out of Veritas. PULSE is an online survey that evaluates the ten healthy missional markers. It is a way to do a deeper diagnostic on the church, not just the cursory one we do during a Veritas when we play “X marks the spot”. If you would like more info on PULSE, simply click on PULSE at the top of the blog. I pray that you will find PULSE helpful. It is free and you can take it year after year to track how God has been at work.
June 19th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I think there is a fine line between “encouragement” and “blissful denial of reality”.
When we get into Veritas, reality comes up right in front of our faces. Most folks get uneasy and agitated by this. It’s only “natural” (worldly?) to have this gut-level reaction.
How will we anticipate this and be prepared/coached to handle it?
How often is a behavioral covenant used as a shield against being confronted for behavioral lapses?
I will look up Pulse and see what it offers.
God bless for this great work!
Jim
June 20th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
John,
Our team assessment based on the workshop materials was solidly with Critical Moment. Discussing the basis or rationale behind the assessment was so difficult it was never completed. The symptoms were clear but the diagnosis elusive. Many simply wanted to move on to build a vision for the future without understanding why we were a CM church. A vision without a treatment plan didn’t make sense to several of us and momentum was lost.
PULSE might be just what the Dr. ordered. Praise God for you and Veritas. It’s good to see the Covenant’s continued commitment to church vitality.