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March 2012

When the Church Faces Demographic Change

jesus-and-disciplesImagine this meeting between Jesus and his disciples and the local church development consultant.

Jesus:
Good to meet you, Mr. Consultant. Thanks for your time. Let’s get right to work. I want this fine group of men to go out into all the world and preach the Gospel. We’re hoping you can give us some advice about the best way to do this.

Consultant:.
I’m so glad you came to me, Mr. Jesus. I am an expert at analyzing ministry potential in Galilee. I know my services come at a steep cost, but in the end, I’ll be able to save you time and money.

Jesus:
So, where should we start? We are raring to go!

Consultant:
I’ve finished my analysis. I reviewed the census reports and toured the neighborhood and interviewed a good number of locals. I hate to discourage you but your ministry dollars might be better spent elsewhere.

Jesus:
You’ll have to explain that. We’ve been walking around Galilee for months and we’ve already made progress. All we need from you is advice on how to best spend our time and resources. Money doesn’t grow on olive trees, you know!

Consultant:
Sorry, Mr. Jesus. I wish I had Good News for you. I know how important this is to you — this being your home and all. But the fact is the opportunities for ministry in your neighborhood are very few. The demographics just don’t support ministry — not here, not now.

A Disciple (you can guess which one!)
Jesus, listen to him. Why are we paying Mr. Consultant if we are not about to listen? The expert said we are wasting our time. Let’s call it quits, divide the money we’ve collected and call it a day. It’s been fun, guys, but I’m with Mr. Consultant. He says the demographics won’t support us. Good enough for me! (He walks away).

Remaining Disciples:
Come on! You have to do better than that. We’re from this neighborhood!

Jesus glances proudly at his disciples but quickly turns back to the local business authority. 

Jesus:
I’m prepared to start sending these men out in teams of two starting right now. They are well-trained. Just point us in the best direction!

Consultant:
Again, Mr. Jesus. You are wasting your time and money. First, everyone around here is Jewish.

Disciples snigger uncomfortably. Consultant notices and quickly jumps to his own defense.

Consultant:
All right, I understand . . you are Jewish, too, but you are the exceptions. How many more fisherman and tax collectors do you think you’ll find? The odds are just not in your favor, especially with the opposition of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Disciples:
What about all the people we’ve already met and helped?

Consultant:
Well, that’s true, but they’re not going to help you. They don’t have any money to support your efforts. They’re “takers.” If you want to succeed in your ministry you need to find “givers.”

Peter, angrily:
Are you calling me a “taker”?!

Consultant:
Whoa. I didn’t mean to rile you. I’m just saying . . . you can’t keep curing the lame and talking to widows and expect to have a viable ministry.

Jesus:
So, what do you suggest? I thought about limiting our ministry to my family and Jewish friends, but I have this idea. Lately, I’ve been thinking about preaching to the (hesitates)  …  the Gentiles.

Consultant gasps:
Surely, you are not thinking of converting Romans and Samaritans! That’s a losing proposition. Our studies show NO interest among those demographics. The chance of success with them is about as good as with the know-it-all Greeks. You might as well start knocking on doors in Gaul! You’ll lose any support you ever hoped of getting from the Pharisees. Sounds like a good way to get yourself killed!

Jesus:
But what about all the children? They seem to like following us.

Consultant:
Yeah, children are real cute, but you just aren’t getting it, Mr. Jesus. Children won’t pay the light bill.

Jesus:
Light bill!? Now you’ve lost me.
But I’m listening. You’re the expert. Where should we go with our message of love and salvation.

Consultant:
I’m sorry to be the bearer of Bad News, Mr. Jesus, but my best advice is to go back to the drawing board with your mission plan. Ministry to Jews, Greeks, Samaritans, Romans, children, widows, sinners, poor, sick, and lame, just isn’t the best use of your mission dollars. Much as it pains me to say, I think the time has come to close your doors. Give what’s left of your money to someone with better odds. It won’t be easy, but really, it is for the best. And as for you disciples, I’ll work up a report on where you can go to fit in. Your work was real good and all. Credit where credit’s due. Oh, before I forget . . . here’s my invoice. I take cash.

This little scenario is not as far-fetched as it may seem. It closely parallels a conversation our church had with a church consultant 20 years ago. It is the very rationale that is behind the epidemic of church closings.

It was carefully explained to us that ministry in our own neighborhood was “not good use of the Lord’s money.” The neighborhood had changed. There was no point in continuing.

Others face the same challenge. One pastor summed it up well.

Our old members are very generous. The problem is that the changing neighborhood is bringing poorer people to our worship who are not accustomed to supporting a church. It takes ten of them to equal the support of one of our older members.

The challenge facing the church is that it is these very people whom churches are pledged to serve. That’s the way it was in Jesus day and that’s the way it is today. When we start looking at every church visitor through our green-tinted fiscal glasses, the entire mission of the church is lost.

Church planners often look for memberships that can support the lifestyle and structure to which they have become accustomed. And that’s where Christian mission ends.

06 Mar 2012

The Church and Monday Morning Amnesia

It’s Monday morning, just 24 hours since you may have walked out of church.

Quick, try to remember . . . what was the sermon about?

Which hymns did you sing yesterday?

If you are like many, you won’t remember!  You were there, but it’s all a bit foggy. You may remember who sat in front of you or a conversation with a friend after church. But the service itself is likely to have slipped into mental oblivion.

The members that left 2×2 worship yesterday are more likely to have an answer to that question. We passed around a copy of a painting that helped us discuss the Shadow of the Cross.

Without that visual aid and the impromptu comments as each reviewed the artwork, our members, like others, would be groping to remember the message by Sunday dinner.

It’s the start of a new week and your pastor is probably already reviewing next week’s scripture. He or she is likely to ponder the message all week until a carefully crafted treatise is polished and delivery is practiced. Soon it will be Sunday morning. D-Day (Delivery Day). And then the process will start over.

And very few will remember.

So much effort, time and money spent on ephemeral benefits.

Why do we revolve our worship lives and ministry around communication that isn’t working?

05 Mar 2012

Budgeting for Church Growth

Today’s Alban Institute Roundtable discusses church budgets — a topic we’ve addressed before.

We have long advocated that a church budget be used as a tool to motivate a congregation from Point A to Point B, instead of simply representing what was spent last year plus a bit for inflation. See just a few of our posts on this topic.

Budget Time! Does Your Church Have Money for Ministry?

Why Church Growth Is So Elusive

The Future Belongs to the Underdogs and Innovators

Structuring the Church for Change

The way we think about our money and assets will predict failure or success. If we approach our budgets as “hanging on” to the way we did things last year and the year before, your ministry will die. If you look to the future with a vision of where you need to be, and anticipate the costs of getting there, you have a fighting chance. That planning must happen before the budget is presented, but often churches do things the other way around.

This requires more than approval of a budget. That is a small part of the equation but it is often where ministry starts and stops.

The budget is a map. If it plans to go nowhere, your church will go nowhere.

Teach your budget. Preach your budget. This does NOT mean begging for money. It means showing people how their offerings can be put to work for the true reasons people are motivated to give to churches.

Do this and your budget will become a living tool—not a mirror of your past.

photo credit: moominsean via photopin cc

05 Mar 2012

Generation Y’s View of Religion

If you think technology will not affect religion, think again.

Back to School night at my son’s school was always an education. He is a college man now, but I remember the stark contrast to my own schooling I found when I entered his classroom every fall.

Today, very few classrooms are arranged with rows of desks and chairs facing a teacher’s desk and blackboard. In grade school the desks are clumped in little communities. Lessons are taught with the children sitting with their teachers on the floor. Furniture becomes more meaningful in older grades but is usually arranged in circles. A teacher’s desk is off in an obscure corner. Class discussions are more like an afternoon at Arthur’s Roundtable than a lecture hall. Assignments are often group projects with individuals responsible for the success of classmates.

Smartboards or laptops are the hub and spokes of the learning circle. The conversation can be broadened beyond the walls of the school with an effortless Skype or internet connection. Teachers are facilitators of learning more than relaters of factual information. This is the world our young people know five days a week.

Then, with decreasing frequency, they go to church on Sunday.

They encounter a service or liturgy with its roots in ancient times. If their family has brought them to church from their cradle days this is not a shock. To the uninitiated this is an aberration. Young people are asked to stand and sit and stand and sit and no one tells them why anymore. They settle back for a 20+-minute sermon when they’ve never before listened to any one person talk for more than five minutes.

The current coming-of-age generation (Generation Y) is not accustomed to the Church’s standard model for communicating the Gospel. They have not experienced it.

Faced with this as the only option for being part of religion, they find it easy — to use the term of the internet — to opt out.

How is the Church going to answer this new reality? We have some ideas. We are sure you do, too!

We will start exploring this topic this week. — Administrator, Judy Gotwald

photo credit: juicyrai via photopin cc

04 Mar 2012

How Do Church Leaders Find Time for Social Media?

As we noted in our latest Social Media post, finding the time for social media is the biggest hurdle for churches in acclimating to the digital world.

“Church” has been done the same way for centuries. People entering ministry have expectations for how they will spend their time when they are called to a parish. Something like this: Monday will be spent on office housekeeping and reflection in preparation for next week’s sermon. Parish calls are made on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Wednesday is bulletin day and Bible study, choir practice or some other group activity. A few hours of Thursday might be spent with colleagues over lunch. Meetings will be scattered throughout the week. Friday is for polishing the sermon. There are always emergencies. And one of these days is a day off.

Time must be found. Social Media is simply too powerful to ignore. If you are serving an aging congregation it is all the more vital. Your older members may be willing to forego it, but the current coming-of-age generation — Generation Y — lives with their cell phones epoxied to their palms. If you want your church to have a future, you MUST speak the language and use the tools of the future.

How do you make the time?

There is no doubt it will be hard to adjust the routine. It is an adjustment for everyone! We suggest a two-pronged approach:

  1. Set aside 30 minutes a day for social media. Start your day with it. End your day with it or follow your lunch break with it. Make it a routine.
  2. Let others help.

Carving out a half-hour may be the easiest of the two steps to take, especially after you begin to see results. In our experience that took six months of daily posting to grow readership to our current average of 50 readers a day and a thousand each month. Warning: A half hour is a start. You will find Social Media so compelling that it will become more vital to your church community.

The second part — letting others help — is a major shift in church structure but it is going to happen. Top-down church leadership is quickly becoming a thing of the past. If people do not have a voice in their churches they will fill their lives with things that engage them.

This adds a new church emphasis for which your social media can be a tool. Education. You want members engaging in online religious issues to be knowledgeable. Many churches have neglected education. Use Social Media to break that cycle. We’ll address this in our next Social Media post.

photo credit: ebby via photopin cc
03 Mar 2012

Does SEPA Have A Plan to Close Churches?

Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (ELCA) recently wrote to professional leaders outraged that people (specifically members of Redeemer) have suggested she is following a plan to close SEPA congregations.

She denies this.

We present to you the following evidence which makes it clear SEPA weighs the benefits to SEPA when assessing the strength of member ministries. SEPA has relied on church closings to fund its budget.

1998

In 1998, Bishop Almquist had his eye on Redeemer, a small church with a large endowment. He created conditions that led to imposing “involuntary synodical administration” and raided our bank account. When at last he gave up on the “administration” ruse he took an additional year to return the confiscated money, keeping some for Synod expenses. He then issued a plea to congregations for help in restoring the depleted “Mission Fund.” The amount he was asking for was almost exactly the amount returned to Redeemer. Redeemer in effect had supplied SEPA with an involuntary, two-year, interest-free loan.

2001

The issue with Bishop Almquist resolved in 2001, but he failed to find leadership for our congregation, trying to force us into long-term relationships with pastors who were clearly minimally commited. From 2001 to 2006, little concern was shown for Redeemer. It was even stated that left alone for ten years we were likely to die a natural death. Further evidence that this is a leadership philosophy: In 2001, Bishop Burkat as a member of Almquist’s staff holding the title of Mission Director, co-authored a book for regional church leaders, recommending a triage system for small churches. Do not spend time and resources on churches that will die in ten years, the book advises leaders.

2005

In 2005, just prior to Bishop Burkat’s election, SEPA treasurer reported that the Synod was within $75,000 of depleting every resource available. That’s about one month’s payroll for a staff of 14. Synod was in financial crisis.

2006

Redeemer had been working with Epiphany for nearly two years to unite our congregations and thought we were making progress. In October 2006, Epiphany abruptly announced its intention to break our covenant and close. We learned this vote was taken after Bishop Burkat met with Pastor Muse and Epiphany’s president. Redeemer was not consulted.

Pastor Muse gave 10 days notice, leaving Redeemer with no professional leadership. For six months, Bishop Burkat “helped bring closure” to Epiphany’s ministry . . . while neglecting Redeemer who was still housing Epiphany’s congregation but now with no advantages to their ministry. Epiphany was never locked out of Redeemer during their six-month closure process.

2007

Redeemer was launching a new ministry outreach which was showing great promise. By 2007, the national Church had already made note of our innovative ministry. We were attempting to get the attention of SEPA’s Mission Director. Phone calls were unreturned. We were told at last: “It doesn’t matter what your congregation does, the Bishop intends to close your church.” So much for the process of “mutual discernment”!

2008

SEPA Synod Assembly voted for a hefty deficit budget several years in a row. In 2008, when Bishop Burkat officially announced its intentions for Redeemer, the approved deficit was shy of $300,000—about 10% of the total budget. It was well known at the time that offerings and membership were in steady decline. Even larger SEPA congregations were experiencing hardship. Was there a plan presented for how to come up with $300,000?

Yes. It was reported that budget shortfalls are made up from the “Mission Fund.” Only later was the Assembly told that the Mission Fund was the repository of assets from closed churches.

In February, Bishop Burkat brought a lawyer, a locksmith and a sizable posse with her to what she thought was to be her first meeting with Redeemer. “Mutual discernment” began with intimidation.

2009

Synod Attorney John Gordon, before Judge Lynn in its actions against Redeemer, argued that Redeemer was the first of six congregations SEPA intended to close, suggesting to the court that it was a normal and benevolent procedure. That in itself is admission that SEPA has a plan to close churches.

2010

In the fall of 2010, Redeemer Ambassadors encountered a member of Epiphany in one of our visits. She spoke of her outrage that it was only after Epiphany voted to close that the congregation was informed that all but 5% of its assets had to be turned over to the Synod. There are many published reports of Lutheran congregations closing and dividing assets to causes of their choosing. There is no rule that congregational assets automatically go to Synod.

Statistics show that 80% of members from churches forced into closure never find a new church home. The members of closed SEPA congregations we encounter are hurt and angry. Those impressively orchestrated closing ceremonies do little more than assuage the consciences of leaders. We suspect that the process of closing churches that Bishop Burkat describes as going smoothly is not satisfactory from the congregations’ view.

We invite congregations to tell of their experiences. 

2011

It was not until the 2011 Synod Assembly that the Assembly insisted on a balanced budget, but still earmarked about 3% as coming from the Mission Fund—progress that came too late for about six SEPA congregations.

November 2011

We encountered a businessman on one of our visits who told us his company had attempted to help an urban church with a property problem. He received a phone call from Bishop Burkat ordering him to stop helping this church. Why? The plan, she explained, was to close the church and sell the property. This congregation is still open. Our Ambassadors have visited it twice. Members are fervent in their passion for their ministry.

There is ample evidence that closing churches is part of Synod’s plan to fund their budget.

SEPA member churches and clergy MUST take responsibility for the leadership they elect.
Many innocent people sitting in pews across five counties rely on you. Lay servants may think twice when they see how Redeemer leaders have been treated. They provide offerings, energy, property, buildings, and passion to SEPA’s ministry. SEPA is taking advantage of them.

The measure of a Synod is in how it treats its smallest congregations.

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02 Mar 2012

The Cost of Social Media

Jason Stambaugh of Wevival wrote a blog post on the cost of social media which is worth a read.

He discusses the true costs of serious engagement in social media. He points out accurately that the real cost is time. We suspect that the time required to work in social media ministry is the biggest hurdle for pastors and congregations.

The fees to have a social media presence are negligible — less than $50 per year. The learning curve is shorter for each successive generation. Time is often the reason social media efforts either do not happen or die on the vine. We can’t tell you how many church web sites we’ve visited that were last updated in 2009!

Time is the investment. What are the benefits?

This article also points out five major benefits — all of which we have mentioned as well. They make it very clear that failure to find the time is failure in ministry.

  1. Accountability. Social Media creates a discipline. You become accountable for your passion. Isn’t that what ministry is all about? Your readers will hold you accountable as well!
  2. Thought Leadership. The Church is accustomed to a “top-down” dialog process. It will take a while for both pastors and congregants to become comfortable with the idea that this model will not work much longer in religion. It may have always been a bad idea. The Jewish faith, from which Christianity grew, fosters a questioning of their teachings as part of their faith discipline. The Medieval structure of the Christian Church, under which we still live, discourages this. The resulting lack of thought leadership is contributing to the decline of the Church. This is not to say that pastors are not great thinkers. They are just sharing their great thoughts with fewer and fewer people because they are relying on people coming to them on Sunday morning. With fewer and fewer people in Church, there is less thinking going on in the pew as well!
  3. Help. In the past congregations took their ideas and questions to their pastors, who passed rigorous examination from those above him (and for centuries it was a “him”). It was cumbersome to follow any other path such as writing letters and waiting for a response. That has changed! Communities of interest spring up overnight. And they help one another! 2×2 can attest to the power of social media to find help. There are millions of people in the world engaged in social media. Some of them may have answers to your questions on your pastor’s day off.
  4. Real life connections. Social Media starts with anonymous interaction but can and does grow to people meeting and working together. Again, 2×2 can attest to the effectiveness of internet connectedness.
  5. Opportunity. Wow! What else can we say? There was never greater opportunity.

Consider your social media presence your Pool of Bethesda. That's where people go looking for help these days. If you aren't there you can't help!

So why aren’t more churches engaging in Social Media? They haven’t figured out how to find the time. They are busy doing things the way they’ve done them for centuries. Some of this is good—no one wants their leaders to stop visiting or spend less time on sermon preparation, etc., but to not find time which can bring the benefits listed above to your community is opportunity missed, potential voices silenced, help withheld because we weren’t paying attention to the place where people are going for help these days.

02 Mar 2012

Christians and Jews Face Similar Challenges

Monday’s Alban Institute Roundtable featured the thoughts of Rabbi Hayim Herring presented in his book, Tomorrow’s Synagogue Today: Creating Vibrant Centers of Jewish Life.

The conditions he cites are faced by all religious groups today.

  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
  10. organizations need to focus on what they do best

2×2 has already discussed many of these points. We think every one creates a positive, new strength with truly exciting potential.

We also predict that the upper echelons of church leadership are going to resist embracing new societal realities. They will continue to think like hierarchical leaders. Some may stubbornly oppose the inevitable, using their last vestiges of power to create real harm and chaos.

Ironically, the American Church may have the most difficulty adjusting to new ways. Separation of Church and State, a precious American right, gives the Church powers other organizations cannot claim. Parishioners, equally protected by the Bill of Rights, will find their denominations lording their protected status over them. Courts will not be able to sort out the resulting feuds.

Parishioners providing ideas and leadership that are welcomed in the secular arena, will be challenged by church leaders who are desperately hanging on to control mechanisms they enjoyed since the Reformation.

The emerging Digital Church Age with all its promise will spark a great power struggle. Much of what the Church teaches will be forgotten along the way, beginning with the Ten Commandments. Servant leaders were never more needed. If they prove to be in short supply, as we suspect they will, innocent lay people will be hurt, rank and file pastors will be silenced, and church leaders will meet in increasing seclusion as they come to distrust the people they lead. It could return us to the Middle Ages and the Inquisition.

We hope the coming revolution in the Church will be a short transition as young leaders, coming of age sometime since 1985 reach leadership positions. But meanwhile, it could be very ugly.

The sooner Rabbi Herring’s observations are embraced, the sooner the Church will enter the wonderful new world of the 21st century. It could take a decade or two . . . or three! Plenty of time to build a bunker!

photo credit: marsmet543 via photopin cc

01 Mar 2012