Video Transcript: Culture Introduction and Definitions

Well today, we finally turned to the second part of the leadership process, that culture and  how you define culture where you are how you define what has to change about that culture,  in order for you to be a leader, and you're looking for a preferable future. Often that means a  change within the cultures. But how do you define culture, working within a culture is what  leaders do. And so you've got to understand culture. Again, I don't have to go through that  again, for you. I don't think that's the leadership process. But I've been using this model to  represent culture in that previous picture. And you'll notice it says visual elements of culture,  the mission statement, in other words are words there are stories of people will tell stories  that will let you know something about who they are and and what's important to them. How  does the physical layout how things are arranged within a building, say a lot about the culture in that place? The rules and policies sometimes they'll have policies and and you might come  in from outside say, what, what is that all about? Or the rituals. And there are various other  ways we're going to look more fully at how you define the culture as we go through these  next lessons together. But you'll be able to discover what the culture is there. But today, I  want to begin by just trying to define what is culture as you work as a leader. Here's Webster's definition, Webster's dictionary definition, "the integrated pattern of human behavior that  includes thought, speech, action, and artifacts." Now an artifact is anything that's made or  something that is solid, that's there. Here's another leadership leaders definition, "the pattern way of life produced by our people through which its members are formed and shaped by the  manner of their being." In other words, it's people being together, and things just develop  over a period of time, the way you live, the way you interact, all of that just develops. Here's  the longest one by Terry Deal. "Culture is a concept that captures the subtle, elusive,  intangible, largely unconscious forces that shape a society or workplace. It is a potent shaper  of human thought and behavior within organizations and even beyond its boundaries. Culture  provides stability, fosters certainty, solidifies, order and predictability and creates meaning."  Ah, that's a mouthful, just just look at that, again, it captures subtly loose of intangible stuff,  that forces that shape, who we are and who the organization is and what they stand for and  what they believe in. It's it provides stability for people. That's why it's hard to change. Foster  certainty, solidifies order and predictability and creates meaning for people. So that's all stuff  that goes into a culture. So what is it? It's a pattern. It's a pattern of the way people think it's  what do they believe is right. What do they believe is important, when people think a certain  way it impacts how they act, and that they create the culture around that. I remember  reading years ago, about a Baptist church, it was back in the time. I'm not saying anything to  criticize Baptists. Here's just a story. True one. But it was during a time when circuit writers  would provide ministries and churches so so they didn't have many large churches. When our  country was expanding throughout the this continent, the United States, which became the  United States, and so circuit riders would ride from place to place and they preach the same  sermon in four or five places. Well, there's this Baptist church that they had a discussion  about whether they should put a peg in the wall. The peg would be to hang the preachers  cloak on because back then when they were riding on horses, and it would get muddy and  they would get wet. And should they put up a peg on the wall near the stove, which was near  one part of the building, it was the only heat they had, should they put a peg up to hang that  cloak on so it could dry and be warmed for the preacher before he would take off to his next  place? And a vigorous discussion ensued because some people thought this was part of their  thinking process, but that was ostentatious. That that was just a you know, going beyond that was trying to be special to be different than the other churches in the circuit and all that sort  of thing. Well eventually the vote was taken the majority won. They put a peg in a wall to the  pastor's cloak to be hung on and as a result, there was a church split and a group, a small  group from that church went over across the street. And they built what they called the No  Peg Baptist Church. And so the two churches there are Peg, and No Peg Baptist churches. See  thoughts, what do you believe is right? If you if you think that's ostentatious? Well, then that's what happens. You, you act out what you think, is right. So it's a pattern of thoughts. It's a  pattern of words. Now, these words sometimes are official words, their mission statements  and vision statements. We're going to talk about those more on how you form those more as  we get into the next section of these classes together. But words are important in what people

say. You'll notice that in subtle times, I shared with you before about John Wimber, one of the  founders of The Vineyard in Southern California, who built this large church. And they didn't  try not to have theology. In other words, you had to say that you were a believer that you  were saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And that's all you had to be to join their  churches. If you wanted to believe your children needed baptism, you'd be baptized your  children if you believed only believers should be baptized. And that's what you would do. If  you if you wanted to have wine, you could have wine with your communion, you want a grape juice, etc, etc. So he was so shocked after one year that he's walking in the way to the  Worship Center. And he heard someone saying, "that's not how we do it here." Because there  are understandings about how we do it here. And, and somebody has said, This is how we do  it here. And he was becoming one of those people who were saying, This is how we do it here. Words are very, very important. Then actions, how do people live out what they believe is  right and true. The church I last served is meeting in an old Piano Factory, 100 year old  building, it's got these old posts in it. And they chose to be as unfancy as possible. And I  remember, we were planning a building edition. And we had an intern with us who is learning  how to do ministry. And he was trying to convince the planning team to get a little more fan  and get a little more fancy in their presentation to say, you know, this is what it's gonna look  like, it's gonna be great. Well, the value and the actions being that we sat on plastic chairs  and cement floors, those were choices, the choice is to not refinish the beams, but to leave  them rough from the days that people were working on pianos in their building pianos, they're actions that are chosen, they're artifacts, which are anything that's been made those, those  are important. If you ignore artifacts, you get in trouble. When I first went to my church in  California, we had a huge pulpit so much, so you felt like you were being sucked into  something and into a gloomy cave, as you walked up into it. Only thing that was show of me  was probably from here up, excuse me, I just hit the microphone. But the only thing that  would show us about from here up because this thing was huge. And that's not my style. And  as we thought about the culture in that area, we wanted to move to our more open style of  presentation during the sermon. And so over a period of time, I managed to get that pulpit  moved to the back a back room. And instead, we worked off our music stand. And that's how  we preach with with our notes and Bible sitting on a music stand. I went away for vacation for  three weeks and came back and the pulpit was back on the stage. And I was so mad that I  went to the janitor. And I said get that thing off there and get it. He said, Well, what am I  going to do with it. I said I don't care if you break it up and burn it. So take it home, burn it in  your fireplace for all I care. That just shook him up. And he ended up calling one of the fathers in the church, the church, Father people, and he came down. And thankfully he was aware, he says you may not be aware of this. But that was a gift when this church was built. This first  building was a gift from this family. And they're going to take great offense and others around  them because they contributed to build this church, pulpit furniture, etc. And so they came up with a better idea. And that is they went to a cabinet maker and they had cut down into  something that was usable. And we could say it's really the same stuff just more today. But  that was an artifact that was important. There are artifacts where you work, and in your  company, in your business, and in your church or ministry organization. So these are culture.  Here's the way it boils down. This is the simplest explanation of culture I can give you. It's the  way we do things here. I just want to give some context to how that affects your planning.  The way we do things here will affect how you go about planning your day in your life. First of  all, the word culture first appears in a dictionary English dictionary in 1430. And it meant to  cultivate the soil, the same root as the word cultivate. And so culture is something that  cultivates the soil but it grows something that's the idea behind culture, it grows something.  Now, culture is developed on several different levels. In fact, no matter the size of your  organization, it will have a culture that will exist within a broader culture. In fact, I'm going to  just talk for a bit about the macro culture. Wherever you are, there's a big culture that  impacts your smaller culture of your organization of your church. Now, I'm going to just  describe the the move of culture in the United States. Now, if you don't live in the United  States, as many of you do not, you're going to have to place that ideas onto your situation.  What's happened in your history, how can you see culture changing? Now, for instance, if you 

go back to 1900, in the United States, you'll find an economy that was pretty simple. There  were no credit cards, you rarely borrowed money from the bank, you always did things that  you paid for it as you went, that was the way life was done. A church life was the center, you  were the center of the world back then. Your church life impacted you every day. In fact, in my heritage, what would happen is you'd get up in the morning, you'd put the wagon together,  you'd get the horses hitched on and you would go into church after church, you'd have a  potluck dinner, and then you'd stay for an afternoon service at two o'clock. And then you'd  take the horse team and team and wagon and go back home. Now, that was a church life. But to be back there during the week, church life was engaged everywhere in your life, there was  no children's ministry. Sunday school started as a means to teach children who didn't get  education because they were working in the factories before there were child labor laws. And  so there wasn't really a children's ministry that that was believed to be up to you as a parent  to teach your child, there was a youth ministry. The young men and young women worked on  a farm. And that's where they learned how to do life. Agriculture was the name of the day,  everybody worked within not everybody, but most people worked on farms and producing  crops, and family structure, families were close. In fact, no family probably lived more than  seven miles away from where the parents lived. Okay, 1920, that all began to change. Major  events are going to World War. And some of our soldiers had gone over to Europe, and they've seen a bigger world and experienced a bigger world. And as a result, their world began to  expand. And the automobile came into its own in the 1920s and began to become a major  force as Henry Ford provided automobiles that people could afford. And it was found that you  can go further than that on a horse and you can go there, uh, hopefully, more conveniently,  by driving an automobile. So the culture began to change around those two forces. By the  time you get to the 1940s, excuse me. There's been a time of depression that impacted our  culture and greatly for decades. My father was a product of the Depression. He grew up then  he was dating my mother toward the end of that time of depression. And he was somebody  who never bought a new pants or new shirt. I never remember him buying ever a new pants  or new shirt, he bought everything at a rummage sale, or at a Salvation Army or thrift store  somewhere. That's where he got his clothes, because he couldn't spend good money for just  clothing. And he was intent on saving those people came out of that out of the depression  knew that things could go bad. And so they were trying to save their money. And again, there  was a war going on in Europe at that time. And during this time, Americans joined that war,  and it changed. It changed so many people's experience, especially their experience of faith.  For some it was a deepening experience. We'll talk about that, in a moment, had an uncle  who went off to war and was planning to do business or work in a factory. And he ended up  coming back and saying, I'm going to go into ministry, this world is not a nice place and needs Jesus. There's a move to the cities. Out of the farming communities, young men and women  streamed to the cities to work in the factories that were now booming after World War II. So a  major change in culture, there. 1960s There was societal upheaval. The hippies began to  challenge everything and, and Vietnam, and all of the protests against that war, seem to just  tear up the whole fabric of our society. And as a result, people began miss being mistrustful of people in leadership. They felt like they were lied to. Whereas before this, you know that you  trusted your leaders. We had these quality leaders in government and you trusted them but  now people were wondering, and were protesting decisions made by the government. 1980s,  globalization was the word. All of a sudden, now we are working as a global economy, not just the economy of the United States. And so we are dependent on other nations for things like  gasoline coming in, and our crops going out, because we produce more than we need to eat,  and electronics. Wow, you know, it's hard for me to remember what it's like to function  without a cell phone. That was a huge thing. So so all of this is part of the culture. So when we look at the culture, we got to say, there's been a flow to it. But what is it like today? Now,  when I consider the culture in the United States, I also have to look at the role of the church  because that's been very important in who we are as a country. Now, if you look at 1900, from the point of view of the church, where it was, the church was in the center of the community. I had the privilege in 1991, of spending time at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.  And I was there as a research specialist, and I was there to write a book on Revival periods in 

the United States. And you may have taken the course where I share more about that. But  one of the, one of the places we went as a family was to visit Lexington and Concord where  the revolutionary Revolutionary War started that created the United States eventually. And  where are the churches? Well, there's a village green, there's a green area in the center of the village. And on the edge of the green are all the important buildings and what are the  important buildings, stores and churches, churches, church was the center of life, everything  revolved around the church there. That's the way it was in the 1900s. And it was that way till  the 1920s. But now in 1920s, we were getting more prosperous as a nation and as a people.  And in the roaring 20s. You see the church starting to drift away from that center position, as  more and more people are questioning it, particularly after World War I. Prior to World War I,  there were theologians who thought that the millennial reign of Jesus Christ that is mentioned  Revelation was just going to be developed naturally, because we were learning so much and  and there was so much progress in society that eventually we would just usher in that time,  naturally, a World War I, just shook that faith and said, you know things are really bad. Why  would I be part of a church that teaches what it does. And so the church was beginning to be  marginalized, there was a return in the 1940s, during the Second World War, during a time of  crisis, people always turn to faith. And that's what they did back then as they had sons and  husbands and fathers over in Europe fighting. Now, people were praying back home for  safety. And you, as more and more gold stars showed up in Windows, the symbol of  somebody, a relative close relative who had been killed from that household. People were in  churches, and they were there faithfully, because they wanted and needed God because  things were outside of their control. And so there was a slight movement back during major  crises. That's always happened in the United States as a slight movement back, but it doesn't  last you see, after 9/11, when the Muslim extremists attacked the Twin Towers in New York  here, the next Sunday, worship attendance was up 20% In our country, can you imagine,  there's nothing we could do that could do that. And yet, over the next six weeks, it went back  to normal, because it was only a crisis, and then followed that way 1960s, to find the church  getting pushed out. As the society becomes more secular, as people become less dependent  on the church as as the fabric of society seems to be falling apart. So it's pushed to the edges by the 1980s, as prosperity keeps on pushing the church out. That's where the church ends.  It's on the edge now. And it's consulted now in the United States in the 80s, you couldn't be  President of the United States, you wouldn't do get elected a senator or representative, you  probably wouldn't be elected to local government unless you are a member of a church in  good standing by 1980s. That's changing by the year 2000. Where is the church? It's outside  the circle. We're now being referred to as a post Christian nation. That is part of a culture for  going to work here in a Christian organization, because we have to realize that the culture is  now post Christian. In other words, up until about the 1960s, everyone knew the basics of the  Christian message. That man is sinful. God sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins. And as a  result, he offers us the gift of eternal life and allows us to live with Him forever in heaven.  People knew the basics, but now that's starting to fall apart. And what are people Looking for  in the culture now? What are they looking for in religion? Back in the 60s, as the 60s were  coming to an end World Council of Churches engaged a man named Dean Kelly, to study what was happening in the United States, because for the first time membership in mainline  churches was on the decline. And so why is that? Why? Why are churches losing their  members? Why are churches losing their, their influence within the within the culture? And  then the flip side of that was, why are some churches growing? There were fundamentalist  churches that were growing, there were very, very conservative churches that remained  growing during that whole time. What, why that and his conclusion was this, during times of  crisis, or when things are moving so fast, and things are, are uncomfortable for many people,  what they look for out of their religion is stability. And so the fundamentalist churches offered  stability, whereas the mainline churches offer what people saw as an accommodation to  culture. And they became less about the message of the gospel, and more about social work  and social blessing of people as the alternatives. So now we're outside. We're not consulted,  and we have a choice to make about how we respond to that in a post Christian world. You  know, one of the ways we've tended to respond over the last 20 years or so maybe a little 

longer, is we've tried to get power back, we want to move back to the center. And we find  that the world doesn't take to that very well. In my own small community, we had a big to do  a couple of years ago, because we had a cross on the hill that overlooked the city. And on  Sundays that we put this cross up, it was identification, just a reminder that we're Christians.  Well, somebody sued the city because it's I'm not a Christian, I don't want that up there. And  it's on public lands should not be there. And so there's a big discussion throughout the town,  there are all kinds of discussions, and and there were Christians are trying to fight this thing.  But if we could put wood cross in every lawn, just that that wants to have the cross there,  then the city will buckle to us. And we'll have the cross. And there are others who are saying,  Why, why do we need a cross, there's more important that we live the cross isn't it, that we  live as representatives of Jesus in this community. So we got to make some decisions about  how we respond. But today, as we're looking at the church, the way we respond, that is  needed, is the church has to be the presence of Jesus Christ in the world, and not politically  powerful, but caring about people and healing people. And so as we relate to the culture  around us, which now no longer respects us, or sees us just as one option out of many, we  have to find ways to do that. Now. That's just a quick review. To encourage you to look at your macro culture, in your country, or in your community. What is the culture? Like? What about  the way they do things here? What kind of actions and words and rituals and stories make up  that culture in which you have to work? In? What is the big culture in which your company  exists? Or your business? Or your church or your ministry? What is that like as you start  thinking about a culture within your business? We'll talk about that beginning next time. What does that look like for you? Because you're gonna have to figure out how you respond to that  culture because one of the things that leaders do is they lead people start thinking about how to change culture. So see you next time as we continue this discussion.