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July 2012

Pentecost: The Church’s Extraordinary Time

Pentecost: A Season for the ExtraordinaryThe Church: A Nice, Safe Place to Be

The New Testament is an exciting book. Something new and different happens chapter after chapter. Jesus comes to earth to bring love. His gift causes everyone he encounters to stretch their thinking and their behavior.

Jesus asks us point blank to sacrifice everything, to trust that our needs will be supplied. As in the Old Testament, the key players are asked to do the extraordinary, disregarding common sense and tradition. Jesus ministry culminates in orders. “Do this!”

This is the foundation that kickstarted the Church and brought us to where we are today.

But in the modern Church, 2000 years in the shaping and molding, this has changed. Church is now seen as the respite from life’s challenges.

We are the Church of Take No Chances.

Congregational leaders must be pillars of frugality. Decisions must be financially prudent. The Church must be a pleasant place where people can come and give offerings so that it will be a pleasant place for as many years as possible (not working well, by the way!). The orders given by Jesus have been internalized. Do this as long as you don’t make waves. Do this so you can support things as they are. Do this within the structure we expect of you.

We are now in the long season of Pentecost—the season of doing, of following through on the demands of our faith. We have listened to the life story of Jesus for about the 2000th time, beginning in Advent, taking a short break after the Epiphany, and seeing it through to the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension. (Even the names of the festivals evoke the extraordinary.)

So we get to the long season of Pentecost and we don’t know what to do. Perhaps it is because in our culture it neatly coincides with the summer, our cultural “downtime.”

At times this season is called the Sundays after Trinity or the Sundays after Pentecost.

In the reforms of the 1970s the Roman Catholic Church began calling it  “ordinary time.”

It’s time to put the extraordinary back into our religion. Pentecost shouldn’t end the church year and the celebration of Christ’s life. When it comes to the active Church, it should be a new beginning.

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24 Jul 2012

Object Lesson for Adults (July 29, 2012): Measuring Miracles

Five barley loaves and two fishes2 Kings 4:42-44, Psalm 145:10-18, Ephesians 3:14-21, John 6:1-21

The Gospel story of Jesus Feeding the Multitude is a lot about numbers.

Use your fingers as your objects and start counting. Or for a modern flair, use a calculator.

  • The boy had five barley loaves and two fish.
  • There were 5000 in the crowd.
  • When all had eaten their fill, the disciples gathered 12 baskets of leftovers.

Numerologists will read special meaning into these passages.

  • Five barley loaves (five=grace)
  • Two fish (two=witness)
  • for a total of seven (seven=perfection)
  • Twelve is the number of governance. (12 tribes, 12 disciples)

The story—at least for us today—is less about numbers and more about miracles.

The audience that day would have known the Old Testament story that is paired with this gospel. Elisha gives the orders in this story. People are fed. Food is leftover. It was no less newsworthy because this miracle fed only 100.

The New Testament narrative is meant to leave no doubt. Jesus can perform miracles—miracles that surpass Elisha’s and also surpass our expectations and satisfy our desires. Elaborate on this.

If you are celebrating Communion, do a quick calculation of how many might come to the altar a bit later in the service. Estimate the number that might be coming to other altars in other churches in your neighborhood and beyond at the same time. Add this number to the Bible’s 5000 and sense an ongong miracle.

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23 Jul 2012

The ELCA Makes A Social Statement on Justice


The ELCA examines justice.

23 Jul 2012

Ambassadors Visit Resurrection, Horsham

Ambassadors Visit Resurrection, HorshamRedeemer’s Ambassadors visited our 46th SEPA congregation this morning with a visit to a small church sitting in a big field in this Philadelphia suburb. Here is Resurrection, Horsham’s web site url, which is a rather odd url—not one anyone could guess!

The sanctuary is quite small but well-appointed with cushioned pews and modern stained glass windows. There were something shy of 40 present for worship on this summer day.

Pastor Ellen Meissgeier was vacationing with Rev. Sarah (Sara?) Beaumont leading the service. The name was not listed in the bulletin, but we asked her name on the way out. Their organist is Jeff McDonnell.

The service used the newest ELCA hymnal. Unaccustomed to hymnals, we noticed how heavy these are! The service used many hymn selections. Redeemer also uses a lot of hymns — at least eight each week. However, we use many different hymnals on a typical Sunday.

The organist likes to modulate a half-pitch for the last three verses on many of the hymns.

Pastor Beaumont’s sermon was about the walls we put up to separate ourselves from others. She talked about the “they” — anyone different or set apart for some reason. And there we sat — the “they” of SEPA — excommunicated because we dared to stand up for our church.

A lay person assisted with readings and communion, which is a weekly event at Resurrection.

We noticed no children present in worship, which we are finding to be quite common in our visits. Redeemer was busy with children representing a full age-range —infants through high school. The children who were in high school when this conflict began are now graduated from college. The elementary-aged children are in middle school or entering high school. This conflict is probably the hardest on them, as they will remember being locked out of their church all of their lives.

We were invited to coffee but we did not stay.

 

22 Jul 2012

How Church Camping Helps Congregations

Church camps are one of the Church’s greatest, relatively untapped resources.

Smart churches find a way to get as many members as possible to camp for at least a few days each summer. The Return On Investment is in the quality of lay participation and lay leadership. This goes a long way to creating a vibrant atmosphere in any congregation.

Camp is no longer just for kids. Many camps have multiple offerings throughout the summer for various age groups, including adults and families.

Church camps foster spirituality.

Camp is a place for reflection and introspection—but this activity takes place among a group of people who provide validation for spiritual exploration. Campers quickly lose the self-consciousness that might otherwise hold them back.

Church camps add new perspective and foster innovation.

Camps often use newer church music, so when your congregation turns to newer music, you’ll have a core group that either already knows or is mentally prepared to learn. The same applies to dance, drama and the visual arts, worship and teaching.

Church camp stretches your congregation’s talents. 

People will try out new skills in their new (non-home) environment. Encouraged, they return to their churches ready to go to work.

Church camps help us break through centuries of stuffiness.

Silliness is always part of camp. Silliness helps us learn to not take ourselves and our preconceived notions too seriously.

Church camps create a network between participating congregations. 

Campers develop friendships that span lifetimes. The Church needs to develop this resource. Congregations are always tempted to solve all problems independently.

Church camp is a reality check.

Today, more than ever, it is helpful to step away from the busy world and technological demands. At camp, we can find our roots and take a few days each summer to nurture and water them.

Although the focus of church camps is on the individual camper, those individual campers return to their congregations with renewed spirit and energy. In turn, it benefits the congregation.

Pity the church that doesn’t tap this great resource.

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21 Jul 2012

Tackling Obstacles to Social Media: Part 4 of 4

Overcoming Lack of Leadership

The fourth, final, and greatest obstacle for congregations and the Church in implementing Social Media into ministry is Lack of Leadership.

This may sound odd, but true leadership in the Church is a rare commodity. Church structure is self-perpetuating. There are varying systems for identifying leaders, but generally leaders are chosen by the status quo for the purpose of maintaining the status quo.

The Church is stuck in a feudal model of leadership that has long-outlived its purpose.

A reading of Scripture reveals that God, quite regularly, challenged status quo leadership. God chose game-changing leaders from the most unlikely places.

  • Noah, the nut who built the ark.
  • Joseph, the boy sold into slavery by his jealous brothers.
  • David, the shepherd boy.

The list of leaders who defied hierarchical succession is quite long. But such challenges are rare today.

Church leaders, whether at the national, regional or congregational level, like to feel that leadership is their domain. Lay leaders are validated by them. And while their stated goals may be to build God’s kingdom, the focus is on making sure the system continues to support life as they know and enjoy it.

Social Media turns this thinking upside down.

Leadership in Social Media is going to come from lower rungs in the hierarchical ladder. Those perched near the top will not buy in until they see a benefit. They won’t see a benefit until it somehow makes their lives easier or more secure.

It is still worth doing.

Expect skirmishes with the hierarchy. The pope recently chided American nuns for not towing the line. It backfired. The nun’s responses were quick, well-reasoned, public, unapologetic and revealed that the Church does not understand today’s world.

In the corporate world success is measured with bottom line results. Their epiphany took only a few years before virtually all of corporate America cut back traditional marketing in favor of Social Media.

The corporate Church is going to be a tougher nut to crack. Failure is tolerated much longer in the Church.

Leadership in Social Media in the Church is going to come from the lay sector.

Lay people will bring their knowledge from the corporate and social worlds that are part of their experience.

We wish we could give you step by step advice, but 2×2 has been working at this for almost two years, reporting our results regularly. Our regional body dismisses our web site as existing to solicit money. There are no solicitations for money on 2×2, nor is there a mechanism for collecting money. We very recently joined a couple of affiliate marketing programs for the experience, so we could advise more than profit. Full disclosure. We have made $50.

Here is our sad but heartfelt advice for overcoming the lack of leadership.

  • Don’t go into Social Media expecting help from Church Leaders.
  • Tap your lay leadership. Support them.
  • Make your Social Media work a team effort, inviting clergy to participate.
  • Use the statistics to guide you and build support among your people.

Eventually, professional leaders will take notice and you will have done a great service. Be prepared. If you are successful, clergy will line up to take credit.

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17 Jul 2012

Tackling Obstacles to Social Media: Part 3

Overcoming the Absence of A Model to Follow

The Church often has a hard time looking outside its monastic walls for advice. In this case it may be necessary. There are models to follow; they may not be created by Church organizations.

A wonderful thing about Social Media is that it forces you to work a plan. We have published a basic plan to follow in crafting a Social Media Strategy. We adapted it from information shared in forums held for corporations. If you don’t want to work a plan, you can keep holding monthly meetings— trying one disconnected and ineffective idea after another. This can certainly keep you busy!

Here are a few models worth reviewing. There is something to be learned from each. Churches can mix and match to suit their demographic and particular needs. Most of these are examples of blogs, which is where we think congregations should start their Social Media exploration.

Pastoral Leadership in Blogging

Expect resistance until the power of the blog is understood. Pastors will be tempted to republish their Sunday sermon—which no one is likely to read. Pastors should consider a new art form in preaching—short, concise thoughts with an appealing twist that readers will come to anticipate. Aim for 200 words. The model to study: Marketing Guru Seth Godin. His daily blog offers an insight on many topics. Every so often he points readers to a longer document or even a book. He looks at things people in his field see every day and instead of just reporting them, he analyzes them, making his readers question the accepted.

Did we say this was new? It is actually a big part of the New Testament! We call them parables.

Community Building in Blogging

Jason Stambaugh of heartyourchurch.com teaches how to use Facebook to create community in the church. He uses examples from his own Facebook work in his small Maryland community church.

Teaching Through Blogging

Here is untapped potential for leadership training in the church. The model to follow is Michael Stelzner’s socialmediaexaminer.com. In just a couple of years, Mike built a business around teaching social media and is respected worldwide. His model taps into internet scalability. You can join his clubs and get advice from thousands of people.

Thought Leadership Through Blogging

2×2 attempts to engage readers in analyzing the mission of the Church to find ways to serve that complement traditional church ways but not to the exclusion of innovation. There are enough people who do little but complain that things are failing in the Church. We try to find the reasons why things are going wrong. This is hard for the Church, since tradition is important and leaders rarely like to be seen as mavericks. Questions are not likely to be raised by church-sponsored employees or media. We try to do the job they can’t—or won’t.

Inspiration Through Blogging

One of 2×2’s member churches publishes a Bible verse daily. Nothing more. Just a Bible verse in their followers inbox each day. Seems so simple. It is often very comforting to start the day with a Bible quote. These can be scheduled to go out automatically, so it isn’t as hard as it might sound. Just pick out a month’s worth of favorite quotes and schedule them using a service such as HootSuite. You can always add an insight or prayer as in devotional books.

Networking Through Blogging

Blogging excels at building networks. If you start a blogging ministry, you are likely to be surprised by the people who find you and follow you. It takes a some time but soon your congregation will have friends all over the world. 2×2 is a model for this, too.

Church Ministry Help Through Blogging

Pastors can turn to workingpreacher.org, published by Luther Seminary, to kickstart their thinking of the weekly scriptures. There is no reason why this concept can’t work for congregations and lay people too. Pastors can turn to sermons4kids for ideas for children’s sermons. Both lay and professional church workers can be part of a community serving children’s ministry. We didn’t set out to make this our specialty, but we noticed in our statistics that the number one search term which brings people to our site is “object lessons for adults.” We have responded by posting an object lesson once every week or two.

Be A Pioneer

Create your own model and share it. That’s the power of the internet!

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17 Jul 2012

Tackling the Obstacles to Social Media: Part 2

Every year more people learn to swim.Overcoming Fear

You’ve heard the stories of the worst in Social Media.

  • Teenage girls lured by older men.
  • Bank accounts raided.
  • Private moments broadcast to the world by someone with a grudge.

The potential for greatness outranks the use by the criminal element.

  • Personal stories of inspiration abound.
  • Information is available to anyone, anywhere, anytime.
  • Dictatorships have toppled.
  • Long-lost friends and family members have been reunited.
  • The gap between classes is blurred.

Most of what is wrong with the internet was happening before there was the internet. Meanwhile the potential and effect of good has grown beyond the exponential.

Social Media is a tool. It is can be used for good. It can be used for evil. One thing is certain. It is going to be used. Better to be in the game than watching from the sidelines.

What do people in the Church fear?

  • We fear that someone will criticize us.
    What else is new!?
  • We may fear that we may not meet expectations or do something wrong. Everyone makes mistakes. The online community is actually pretty good about tolerating typos and grammatical errors. We learn very quickly how easy it is to hit the send button by accident. The online community tends to be gracious about correcting one another, too. So, if a mistake is made, you can take it back.
  • The Church may fear that our weaknesses will be exposed. This may very well happen, but there is a good side to this. We can address concerns early and directly. This has improved the business environment. Corporate leaders know they no longer operate behind closed doors. If it has been good for corporate America, it will likely be good for the corporate Church, as well.
  • We may fear the exposure of our most personal concerns. This is something the world is coming to grips with. Any notion of privacy in the world is pretty well shot. Worrying about this is yearning for the past. Better to learn to be prepared to react to criticism. (This will be a new skill for many church leaders.)
  • We may fear not being able to predict the outcome. Well, we can predict the outcome of most of our usual evangelical efforts — and it is pretty dismal! Serendipity is a delightful part of the internet. Where’s the old pioneer spirit?!

Using Social Media is like learning to swim. You have to get wet. You have to lean forward and let yourself fall to take your first dive. You have to swallow a little bit of water. You’ll splash some of the people around you and get splashed by others, but if our hearts are in the right place, we’ll all be good-natured about helping one another keep our heads above water. Don’t be afraid to be part of the wonderful digital world God has blessed us with in the 21st century. You’ll have plenty of company!

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17 Jul 2012

Tackling the Obstacles to Social Media: Part 1

a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg of social mediaOvercoming Lack of Knowledge

Did you notice in yesterday’s post how the four obstacles to integrating social media into ministry are interrelated?

Lack of knowledge leads to Fear. Fear leads to hesitance to experiment and the Absence of a Model to Follow. The Absence of a Model results in a void that might be filled by Leadership. Leadership is preoccupied following more acceptable, time-honored ministry techniques that have far less potential.

How does the Church enter the same world we share with members and people we hope to reach?

How do we train Church leaders in Social Media?

First, we talk. Talking opens the door to acceptability.

Second, we let lay people lead the way. Lay people are “all over” this new media. They have to be. Business, including nonprofits, are embracing it. Five years ago, marketers were dipping toes in the water. Today marketing budgets have shifted away from conventional advertising. It is being received with enthusiasm from both the corporate and consumer side. Both are empowered. Both see benefits. All can be engaged.

Corporate users see benefits in reaching more people. They see customers coming to them already informed resulting in a shorter sales cycle. They feel closer to their clients resulting in better services and responsive innovation.

Those on the receiving end feel like they are no longer “being sold.” They are part of the sales process. They can reach the top CEO with a 140-character tweet and get responses when they are really fired up. They are engaged in the companies they patronize and become “evangelists” as they share their experiences.

Creating evangelists—isn’t that what Church is about?

So how does the Church create modern internet evangelists? Somebody has to start experimenting, measuring results and developing best practices. 2×2 has been doing this for about 18 months with fascinating results worldwide. Our work is a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg of the medium’s potential, but we’ve started and many larger churches with greater resources haven’t bothered.

Last week, 303 new unique readers read our web site. Another 100 received our posts in their inbox every day. That’s more than 1000 reads.

How many people heard the sermon preached in your sanctuary yesterday?

2×2 has a few suggestions.

  • Seminaries MUST teach Social Media.
  • Congregations MUST create a Social Media presence. There is much helpful information on this web site for exactly how to do this.  Starter advice:
  1. Don’t wait for the pastor to do it and don’t wait for the regional or national church to create a program to help you get started.
    Pastors, unfamiliar with the territory, are not likely to take the risk. The field changes too quickly for church hierarchy to keep up with it themselves much less teach others.
  2. Start with blogging as opposed to Facebook, etc.
    Blogging is more thoughtful and focused and helps you create the discipline to keep your efforts in line with your objectives — telling the Good News. You can set the pacing and community rules. People will feel safer. Other outlets have their value, but could derail your efforts if you are not prepared to monitor and engage frequently.
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16 Jul 2012

4 Obstacles to Using Social Media

Social Media: the New HorizonA recent study of social media reveals that there are four main barriers to the implementation of Social Media in organizations.

They are:

  • Lack of knowledge and understanding
  • Fear
  • Absence of a model to follow
  • Unprepared leadership

The Church as an organization should study these barriers if we are to overcome them.

Each fear can be overcome. We will address each fear broadly now and later in more depth.

Lack of knowledge and understanding

The Church is no different that any other organized entity. We are facing a new world with enormous potential. We are all novices at how this new media works and we are uncertain as to how it will affect us and our mission. Scary!

Fear

There is always the fear of abuse. This is nothing new. Religion has had abusers in the past and the Church has moved forward regardless. Social Media may actually overcome some of this. It is entirely open platform. Participants lay their hearts on the line and others — anyone — can respond.

The biggest fear is not about abuse but in facing the changes that are necessary to implement Social Media. Are we prepared for the changes that are likely to happen? How do we proceed?

Absence of a model to follow

There are models to follow, but they are not necessarily in the religious realm. Until the Church adopts Social Media as a viable tool, it must follow the models of the secular world. (We might learn something in the process.) There is no way around the fact: someone has to create the first model.

Leadership

Church leaders are busy being church leaders the way they were trained to be church leaders—anywhere from one to sixty years ago. This new tool is outside the experience and comfort level of many.

The Church must recognize that leadership in Social Media may come from the bottom up. Lay people are likely to have mastered these skills while clergy were studying Greek! Both are valuable! It doesn’t do much good to understand the Gospel and then ignore the tools that will help you share your understanding.

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15 Jul 2012