I’ve been reading “Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code: 7 Keys to Unleashing Vision & Inspiration” by Samuel Chand. In his book, Dr. Chand lists five types of organizational cultures found in churches. Based on my experience over the years, I’ve seen these characteristics play out in the culture of healthy churches and churches that aren’t so healthy. What type of church culture do you have?

5 Types of Church Cultures

1. Inspiring Church Culture

• Inspiring cultures create an atmosphere where staff and volunteers bring their “A” game every day.
• Inspiring cultures are built on trust and respect.
• Authority is decentralized and the direction is clear.
• Inspiring cultures place a high value on creating a healthy culture and developing people on the team.
• They have high but realistic expectations.
• Creativity is rewarded and failure is viewed as a stepping stone for growth.
• Turf wars are eliminated and synergy is evident.
• Stories of success are frequently celebrated.

2. Accepting Church Culture

• Accepting cultures are generally positive but some difficult decisions are avoided which creates tension on the team.
• They typically have clear goals and strong relationships.
• Generally, most people are supportive of the other folks on the team.
• They tend to allow incompetent leaders to remain in their role too long.
• Accepting cultures do invest in developing people and building the culture but not to the extent that inspiring cultures do so.

3. Stagnant Church Culture

• Stagnant cultures often start strong but over time they lose energy and begin to stagnate.
• Team members are only valued when they produce. Very little praise is based on the character of the team.
• Team members tolerate their leaders, but don’t trust or respect them.
• People tend to protect their turf, fight for power, and limit communication.
• Complaining becomes the norm and small problems quickly escalate.
• Leaders try to control their team by micromanaging them.
• The status quo is accepted and responsibility is avoided.

4. Discouraging Church Culture

• Discouraging cultures suck the life out of their people.
• They live with unresolved problems and unhealed wounds.
• Self preservation and self protection is prevalent.
• The organization becomes all about the power and prestige of the top leaders.
• People spend more time trying to survive power struggles then they spend doing the work of ministry.
• Supervisors use threats and their authority to demand compliance and loyalty.
• It is extremely difficult to implement a new vision because nobody cares.

5. Toxic Church Culture

• Toxic cultures create a “closed system” where no new ideas or advice are allowed in.
• They breed bad ideas, bad behaviors, and bad values.
• People are expected to do as they are told…nothing less and nothing else.
• They have high expectation of team members but offer no autonomy to make decisions.
• Fear dominates the organization.
• Open turf wars are accepted which results in suspicion and resentment throughout the team.
• Leaders delegate responsibility without authority.
• Creativity and risk are seen as threats.

According to Dr. Chand, “Culture—not vision or strategy—is the most powerful factor in any organization. It determines the receptivity of staff and volunteers to new ideas, unleashes or dampens creativity, builds or erodes enthusiasm, and creates a sense of pride or deep discouragement about working or being involved there.”

What kind of culture are you creating? If your church doesn’t have an inspiring culture what steps can you take to begin to change the culture? Feel free to leave your comments below…

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