Church organizations are no different from any other organization: They are man made, and almost always have their decisions based on a set of values that are almost always obscure, assumed, and unidentified by management and the organization’s governing body. As history has so abundantly demonstrated no secular organization has sustained its existence over the course of centuries. Few last longer than a few decades. The obvious conclusion from such a consistent history of failure is that their decision-making was flawed, and the values for that decision-making were not those that promote longevity, sustainability.

Yet amidst that history of failure is one entity that has sustained itself for over 200,000 years, the Homo sapiens species. The general consistently of decision-making of the species has supported its sustainability to the present — consistent with that awareness are the values that have sustained that decision-making.

1 . The first step is decide to design a sustainable Christian church organization with the embedded values that have sustained our species in the founding documents and organizational development of a Christian Church organization. The assumption in doing so is that the church organization would become similarly sustainable as our species in the term of many centuries and perhaps many millennia.

2.  The second step is to actually embed those values into the organizational development of the church organization, whether that is solely a local church or an international church organization:

• Vision statement. What is the vision of the organization as qualified by the seven values? How does the vision statement incorporate the seven values of those who attend the church over the course of many centuries?
• Intention statement. Historically, this has been called the “purpose statement.” The reason for dissociating from “purpose” is to assure that there is no ambiguity for the existence of the organization and its functions.

• Operational philosophy. This is the statement of beliefs about the functioning of the organization that qualitatively guides the course of decision-making. Operationally, it is the philosophy that prevents the skewing of decision-making over time from the vision of the organization. Examples exist where daily decision-making was “within the margins” of being acceptable, but over time and thousands of such decisions, in the end the result can be contrary to the vision and intention of the organization.
  
  These three elements provide the guidance for the organization to sustain its existence into a far distant future. For a Sustainable Christian Religion OF Jesus, the design of related church organizations carry the burden of becoming as sustainable as His message.
• Mission statement. This is the operational obligation to implement and fulfill the vision statement and intention statement, while being guided by the operational philosophy. This is where the management and market planning come to bear upon daily operations.
• Objectives. These are the measurable operations of the mission statement defined, put into operation, empowered, and monitored.

3. The third step is to design the organization as a Type II, Double Loop Learning Organization. ⁶

In a Type I Single Loop Organization, when a mistake arises that produces results that are not acceptable, the problem is corrected. In a Type II, Double Loop Learning Organization, the incorrect results are examined to determine the originating causes of the problem; the causes are corrected; and the processes are monitoring to see if the cause of the problem was thoroughly corrected.

In the case of the erroneous, illogical, and irrational Pauline theology, the Church did nothing to correct the problem even though the Jesuits had long ago discovered the gross inconsistencies between the Pauline Theology and the true nature of God. That was a management decision within the organization for reasons that I am unaware. In a Type II, Learning Organization that has chosen to pursue a socially sustainable strategy to more accurately reflect the true nature of God, a problem as that would have been corrected as soon as it was discovered, whether as a complaint of believers or an academic within the organization.

Several authors of religious repute have written about the decline of the Christian church. It would be a wise option to examine those sources for the causes of the decline of membership in Christian churches. The goal for developing a sustainable design for the church organization is to assure that its mission is not compromised.

⁶ Argyris, Chris. 1985. Action Science, Concepts, Methods, and Skills for Research and Intervention.

Senge, Peter M., 1994. The Fifth Discipline, The Art and Performance of the Learning Organization.