Why Follow The Jesus Connection Steps?
9/25/03 

           From the beginning of this ministry we have said again and again that transformation is a slow process that doesn't yield instant results. In short, we have been candid in saying that there are no quick fixes for churches. This admission has been a matter of integrity for those of us who formed The Jesus Connection. We were convinced that the process we developed needed to reflect the realities of church life, and no lasting change in congregations happens fast. Moreover, in our view this is not a bad thing for the simple reason that roots take time to grow deep.
            At the same time, we have also said that our process does work. We know from experience that this is the case. I worked it in two different congregations before I set it down in writing. David Digby initiated it in Ames following the steps in Reclaiming Evangelism before TJC was established. I was Loren Olson's doctoral advisor when he was writing about transformation he was leading in the church he was serving at that time. As he was completing his degree work I invited him to present his material to one of my classes at Lexington. It was an easy and natural step for him to join us when TJC was founded. What all of this underscores is the fact that our process has behind it several years of being effectively worked in different types of congregations before the TJC was started just three years ago.
It is for this reason that we are both bold and confident in saying to all of you that our process works if it is followed. Here is a key point. Flexibility in our process pertains to timing, and even to a minor extent the order of the steps, but that all the steps need to be followed has been fundamental to what we have been saying, something we have emphasized on numerous occasions. Saying that it is not TJC process if you do not work all the steps in no way turns it into a program. Programs do not change the way churches function. They fit into the existing realities. TJC, on the other hand, intentionally seeks to change the way congregations function and to reshape the way they understand their life and ministry. In short, it intends to reshape reality. To follow part of our process but not all of it undermines this happening. 
            The need for all the steps to be followed also means pastors have to understand the process very well and be able to articulate it and answer questions about it without hesitation. This is why we have now added a second clergy seminar to pastors becoming involved with us, something you will be hearing more about in the coming weeks. If clergy cannot "defend" the process to laity who are skeptical of it, there is little chance it will ever work or even be worked as it is intended to be.
            Obviously I am writing about this in this reflection because we are seeing problems develop because the steps are not being implemented in their entirety. Some of that may be part of the evolutionary development of this ministry. But we believe it also comes from the fact that not only does the process itself take time, but "getting" it does, too. It is true I believe that while the process can be taught, at some point it is has to be "caught" before it clicks with clergy. When it does you will not tire of trying to work it in your church because you will have been "ruined to the old" ways of ministry. That is when things truly begin to happen.
           Jan G. Linn - Spirit of Joy Christian Church, Lakeville, MN