Resources and Comments in Response to “Moving Toward a Twenty-First Century Synagogue”
In the February 27, 2012 Alban Weekly (“Moving Toward a Twenty-First Century Synagogue,” excerpted from Tomorrow’s Synagogue Today: Creating Vibrant Centers of Jewish Life ), Rabbi Hayim Herring posits that a current leadership challenge is helping synagogues to move from a “closed-source” to an “open-source” platform.
Drawing on his observations of the open-source technology that is now freely available to the public, Herring says that synagogues operating on an open-source platform must recognize that (1) organizations cannot exclusively control their messages; (2) information is more accessible and less private than in the past; (3) people energized by a vision will collaborate freely; (4) mistakes made by any one member of a group can be corrected by others; (5) success is tied to the ability to distribute knowledge and leadership; (6) synagogues can become a “platform for organizing people with similar interests” rather than remain a “top-down” operation; (7) synagogues are challenged to see “communities that do not yet exist”; (8) synagogues “should recognize the importance of niche communities and foster linkages among them”; (9) ongoing feedback mechanisms are vital; and (10) organizations need to focus on what they do best.
What resources might support a synagogue, or other faith community, in moving toward an “open-source” platform? In addition to the items listed at the end of the article, please consider these items annotated in the Congregational Resource Guide: Friending: Real Relationships in a Virtual World; and The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks.
What are your stories and thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you suggest? We look forward to hearing from you.
Rabbi Herring describes what is happening in many denominations and which mirrors government and societal trends worldwide. Hierarchies are on their way out. Democracy had an instigating and long-term influence, slowly nudging the world in this direction. The internet has finally made change a practical reality. Change, which the church has been longing for, was never more possible or inevitable, but those longing to hang on to power may prove to be the most resistant.
I predict religion will be the last holdout. How the next decade goes will hinge on how denominational and sect leaders handle the “revolution.” Many church leaders are pre-digital age thinkers. This is not what they signed up for!
The changes the whole world is facing should come easily for Christians. We are taught servanthood styles of leadership, but in practice, our leaders may be just as tenacious at hanging on to the illusion of power as the petty dictators who are dropping like flies.
America’s belief in Separation of Church and State will give church leaders powers and longevity other organizational leaders don’t have. Let’s see what they do with it.
What’s going on in the Lutheran Church, especially in Philadelphia, would indicate that the changes which are inevitable are not going to come easily. Many people are going to be hurt.