Who Are the Concentric Circles of People in Your Congregation?

by George W. Bullard, Jr.

Bullard is the associate executive director-treasurer for the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and executive coach for Lake Hickory Learning Communities of Hollifield Leadership Center (www.hollifield.org) on Lake Hickory in North Carolina.

What types of people attend your congregation? How would you categorize them? Are they primarily young, middle-aged, senior adult, or a balance of various age generations? Are they wealthy, poor, middle class, or spread throughout various socioeconomic levels? Are they African-Americans, Anglo-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Native-Americans, or do you have a multiethnic, multicultural congregation?

What about the following categories? Are they new Christians, life-long Christians and church members, church members from another church of your denomination or from another Protestant or Catholic tradition, or a blend of these backgrounds? Are they spiritually mature, spiritually searching, or spiritually growing? Are they natural congregational leaders, natural followers, people desiring basic leadership development, or people oblivious to any need to contribute to your congregation’s leadership base?

How do the people who attend your congregation measure up in terms of their connectedness with the congregation? Are they periodic attendees; regular attendees who are connected with some program and relationship groups in your congregation; members of the congregation who participate in programs, relationships, and leadership roles; or core members of the congregation who provide significant leadership and tithe their gross income through the congregation?

Which of the above categories are most beneficial to understanding a congregation? And how do you define beneficial? What if we define it according to the contributions people make to the core spiritual strategic journey of the congregation?

If that is the category, then I would like to suggest the following seven categories of people in a congregation: People of Pastoral Leadership, People of Passion, People of Position, People of Participation, People of Passivity, People of Perpetual Care, and People of Potential. These form concentric circles moving outward from the center or core represented by the first category. The number of people in each circle includes or is a cumulative total of the circles within it.

People of Pastoral Leadership

The People of Pastoral Leadership include the senior pastor, other ordained clergy, and primary program staff who form the pastoral leadership community of your congregation. These initiating leaders compose the core circle of leadership in the congregation.

Their contributions to the core spiritual journey of the congregation include (1) a priestly role that focuses on the triune God and each person’s spiritual encounters, growth, and ongoing discernment; (2) a prophetic role that calls the congregation to mission and movement; and (3) an initiating leadership role that fuels this movement within the congregation and throughout the congregation’s context through unceasingly casting vision.

People of Passion

The People of Passion are a minimum of 7 percent of the average number of active attending adults in your congregation. This circle includes the People of Pastoral Leadership circle. They have positive, spiritual passion about the future of the congregation. They are the inspirational leaders of the spiritual strategic journey of your congregation.

Their contributions to the congregation’s core spiritual journey are to come alongside the People of Pastoral Leadership in casting vision, in expressing deep passion for the work of God within the congregation and its context, and in being the embodiment of urgency and true commitment to the congregation’s spiritual work in the context where God has placed them.

People of Position

The People of Position are a minimum of 21 percent of the average number of active attending adults in your congregation. This circle includes the People of Pastoral Leadership and the People of Passion. The three together form the Visionary Leadership Community for the spiritual strategic journey of your congregation. If these categories of people collectively “get their act together” around God’s emerging future for your congregation, it is likely your congregation will effectively travel in that direction. They clearly represent the congregation’s leadership.

Their contributions to the core spiritual journey of the congregation are to provide empowerment, influence, and resources for fulfilling the congregation’s spiritual strategic journey. A specific set of contributions include managing the resources of the congregation—involving people, finances, facilities, and the governance systems—in ways that empower visionary leadership to help the congregation soar with its gifts, strengths, and preferences.

People of Participation

The People of Participation are the next 42 percent of the average number of active, attending adults. These additional people represent the followership of the congregation who are aligned with the leadership. Frequently they can identify multiple people among the People of Position whom they trust to provide positive, spiritual leadership for the congregation.

Their contributions to the core spiritual journey of the congregation are to be the willing workers who respond to the call to mission, to be the salt and light in the congregation’s context, and to ask for leadership to help them figure out how to continually grow in the grace and knowledge of God.

People of Passivity

The People of Passivity or “Pew Potatoes” are the remainder of the people in the congregation’s average number in attendance. These people attend less frequently than the average leader or follower, give less money, and are more likely to be involved primarily or only in corporate worship in the congregation.

Their current spiritual condition borders on being passive or casual. At one or more times in their lives they may have been actively involved and in significant leadership positions in one or more congregations. They are actually at a stage of life where they make very little contribution to the congregation’s core spiritual journey. At the same time, they are people of worth and value, created in the image of God to live and to love.

People of Perpetual Care

The People of Perpetual Care are those who, although their names are on the roll, do not actively participate in the congregation. They attend only around Christmas and Easter, on special occasions in their lives or the life of the church, when more church-active family members are in town visiting, and at weddings and funerals.

They tend not to hold any elected church leadership positions, give little or no money to the church, and do not typically make their presence known in congregational business affairs except in the more severe crisis situations. However, they want all the rites and pastoral presence at baptisms, weddings, funerals, and in times of life-threatening illness.

Rather than making contributions to the congregation’s core spiritual journey, they tend to drain energy from the congregation. Their unanticipated requests for spiritual services often come at inconvenient times, with a sense of deep urgency, and with attempts to motivate the People of Pastoral Leadership to help them out of obligation/guilt. They expect People of Pastoral Leadership to provide them with what they want, when they want it. Yet these occasions often offer great opportunities for the voice of God to be heard and the presence of God to be felt.

People of Potential

A “wild card” group of people in a congregation are the People of Potential. They do not represent a concentric circle but rather swarm among the People of Participation, People of Passivity, and People of Perpetual Care. These people have a great potential to contribute to the core leadership of the congregation, but they have not figured out how to connect or where to land.

They are searching for place and meaning. Often their swarming is invisible to People of Position. Perhaps their ability to practice faithfulness to their spiritual journey within the fellowship of your congregation has been discounted or marginalized.

People of Position should watch for subtle changes in the behaviors of these people that represent an open door of transition. These subtle changes can include an increase in attendance, an increase in financial support for the congregation and its ministry, and questions about how the future of the congregation and how they can get involved.

Just as for years church consultants and coaches have talked about the subtle signs people show when they are becoming inactive or getting ready to drop out or leave a congregation, there are also signs when people become ready to get more involved in the congregation.

While they are making little or no current contribution to the congregation’s core spiritual journey, often these people represent candidates for the next round of People of Passion or People of Position. Nurture them lovingly.

Implications for Denominational Organizations

Not surprisingly there are implications at several levels for denominational organizations of these concentric circles of people. At one level, denominational organizations need to help congregational leaders understand these seven categories of people. Strategies can be developed and resources focused, particularly to help congregations nurture the People of Pastoral Leadership, Passion, and Position.

At another level, denominational organizations can help congregations develop plans to provide basic ministerial, spiritual, and program services to People of Participation, Passivity, and Perpetual Care, so that they will not feel neglected when a primary focus develops on the first three categories.

Further, the People of Passion and Position can be taught and coached in strategies to mobilize ministry to, with, and through People of Participation and Passivity. Additionally, coaching can be made available to People of Pastoral Leadership as they navigate the fuzzy environment of focusing on People of Passion and Position.

Also, congregational leaders can be taught sensitivity to People of Potential and how to recognize signs and cultivate interest and inquiry from these persons.

Finally, denominational organizations need coaching in figuring out who these categories of people and congregations are within their district, region, and denominational family. This has the potential to focus their ministry in the most productive areas.