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September 2012

Ambassador’s Visit St. Mark’s, Broad & Chelten

The Ambassadors attended this church in the Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia. It was a return trip for one of the Ambassadors who attended this church 30 years ago.

The service was part of a long day for St. Mark’s with fellowship and education beginning at 9:30. The service began at 11 and was close to two hours in duration with more fellowship afterwards. Afternoon obligations forced us to leave before the Eucharist, but we enjoyed the spirit and wealth of music.

Attendance at the beginning of the service was about 40 but within a half hour the numbers swelled to about 60. About a quarter included children and youth which was refreshing and rare.

Pastor Leonard’s sermon talked about the temptations that ambition and power present to ministry, tying it to Mark’s account of the disciples vying for importance. Once again, we saw a disconnect between what is preached and what is practiced. The conflict SEPA congregations have with Redeemer is fueled almost solely by greed for our property and the need to prevail in power. We note that Rev. Leonard has served on Synod Council for much of the duration of this conflict and has been in a position to influence and temper the conflict without success. In his sermon, he even talked about bishops who covet the position for the status and money. It was all we could do to refrain from shouting AMEN!

The service included lots of hymns. A lengthy opening praise section was led by a praise team. The hymns were many of Redeemer’s favorites. A portable mic was passed among the congregation so that many congregants could participate and be heard. A new liturgy was used, peppered with warhorse hymns from Fanny Crosby’s Blessed Assurance to the Gospel hymn, Lead Me, Guide Me — the favorite hymn of a Redeemer member who died shortly after the lockout. One Ambassador commented that she enjoyed the drum accompaniment to all the hymns.

The sanctuary is beautiful and well-kept and was a pleasant place to spend this cool autumn Sabbath.

We noted that they do not have a web site listed in the synod records but opened a one-post blog in July. We encourage them to expand on that platform. We’ve had great responses from our blog!

23 Sep 2012

Writing Your Congregation’s History: A Real Whodunit!

Continuing our look at the Book of Nehemiah with Pastor Jon Swanson, we note that large portions of this historical account are lists of names.

Nehemiah was a savvy leader. He was embarking upon a great work. He needed help. He rallied the support of a lot of people. He rewarded them by remembering their names and recording their contributions.

Contrast the Book of Nehemiah with the typical parish history. Our Ambassadors have had the opportunity to read many of these online. The typical parish report lists the terms of pastors and what building renovations were made during their tenure. In fact, there is an online archive of Lutheran churches which isn’t much more than that. It’s not unlike the account of Nehemiah but in Nehemiah, you can almost see the workers lugging the stones, felling the trees, sawing the wood, shouting out orders, guarding the progress, and organizing the people for mission.

Nehemiah noted the names of the lay leaders. He included their genealogy. He detailed exactly what each foreman accomplished in the overwhelming task of rebuilding the vast temple. He provided a detailed archeological survey of the site — the gates, the pools, the steps. We are standing there with him amidst the dust and rubble, watching greatness happen.

Don’t waste time. While it is still within living memory, write your parish history from the lay point of view. Who led the choir, who taught the children, who renovated the kitchen, who fixed the furnace?  Who started the food pantry or visited the sick? Were they part of a long-standing family presence or were they new to your community and congregation?

It will build your congregation’s esteem. Members will feel like part of something bigger than themselves — part of a mission that should go on and on—long after not a soul remembers who was pastor when the work was done.

Soon the readers of your history will be like the readers of the book of Nehemiah. They will see your ministry growing action by action, sacrifice after sacrifice, offering upon offering.

It may help you see your congregation as part of a great plan and help you draft a plan to move forward in mission.

22 Sep 2012

A Provacative Link That Should Interest Evangelists

Here is a link from Coca Cola’s marketing team. They are telling us exactly how they intend to double their business by 2020. That’s a lot of sugar water!

The techniques and strategies should interest every serious evangelist. Coca Cola has a story to tell and doesn’t mind telling us exactly how they plan to do it. Their marketing people are well paid and experienced story-tellers. Let’s invest our dimes wisely and listen in for free!

We have a story to tell, too!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LerdMmWjU_E?rel=0]
21 Sep 2012

Rebuilding the Church: Is It Worth it?

I’ve been following the daily blog of Pastor Jon Swanson, 300 Words a Day. This week he has been retelling the momentous story of the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, told by Nehemiah. The story is gripping — all the more because it cuts to the “Why?” of ministry.

  • Why look upon destruction that is so vast that no one bothered to clean it up much less rebuild it.
  • Why cry for it?
  • Why, when given the opportunity, petition a foreign king for permission to rebuild?
  • Why face the opposition that you know is plotting against you for daring to organize efforts to make things better?
  • Why record the details of the work crews that rebuilt each gate and wall?
  • Why be bothered? No one else seems to care!

Perhaps today’s church needs some of Nehemiah’s passion.

We have become very brazen about the state of our church. Attendance down? Oh, well. It’s time for ministry to die. Is attendance down in 90% of a region’s churches? It’s just a sign of the times.

The quote from church leadership should be alarming:

Congregations that will die within the next ten years should receive the least amount of time and attention. They should receive time that assists them to die with celebration and dignity. Offer these congregations a ‘caretaker’ pastor who would give them quality palliative care until they decide to close their doors.  It is the kind of tough-minded leadership that will be needed at the helm if your organization is to become a Transformational Regional Body.” — Transforming Regional Bodies, by Claire S. Burkat and Roy Oswald, a guidebook used to train leaders of regional bodies

The most troubling part of this quote is the time frame. Ten years! In the Lutheran Church that’s almost two terms for a bishop.

Our regional leaders are encouraged to stand by, implementing a ten-year plan to DO NOTHING (and get paid for it).

A ten-year time frame is enough time to revitalize a ministry, to rebuild its foundation. But the plan advised to leaders of regional bodies is to help only the churches with a proven cache of money. Go where the work seems easiest.

Church leaders need to reread Nehemiah until they can shed tears for the temples within their charge. There can be no dignified celebration of church closings when the closings have been brought about by designed neglect. (Click to Tweet)

This trend continues in the church unquestioned because the blame is placed on the people with the least voice or sway — the lay people. Wisdom of church leaders should not be questioned. Regard for their professional status outweighs regard for lay volunteers.

When we are busy protecting church leadership, we forget to ask the “why” questions. Why are we here in the first place? Why does anyone care?

It is time for this to change.

photo credit: UGArdener via photo pin cc
21 Sep 2012

Small Churches Have Great Advantages

One of the great things about being relatively small and unknown
is that the cost of failure is not that harmful. — Srinivas Rao

This business writer goes on to explain why innovation comes from small companies.

Small companies have the leverage to dare.

Small churches have the same leverage—the leverage to dare.

Would the big flagship church in the mammoth building on the corner of Broad and Main change the liturgy dramatically? No, too many people who like things just the way things are would leave with ruffled feathers.

Do bigger churches start innovative outreach ministries? Sometimes. But they are more likely to use their resources to add another pastor or tie into some established social ministry project supported by other big churches.

Small churches have the power to rock the world—the same power once placed in the hands of 12 disciples.

  • We small churches can change the worship time and survive the grumbling.
  • We can include non-English words in worship and not worry about losing 10% of the congregation.
  • We can do one-on-one ministry because we are more likely to personally know the life challenges of each person facing the altar.
  • We can fund a small foundation and charge it to do spread innovative ideas on the web without a pastor feeling his or her territory has been invaded.

Wow!

photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography via photo pin cc
20 Sep 2012

They Will Know We Are Christians . . . How?

Here’s a challenge you can present to your congregation:

There is a popular hymn, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

“Love” is not a very clear word. It requires some definition!

Ask members, colleagues, committee members, governing board, children, youth, visitors, etc. to rewrite the words to the hymn and define exactly how people will know you are a Christian.

“They will know we are Christians by ____________________________.”

Make a youth project out of the question. Ask them to make a montage video of people’s answers with the hymn playing softly in the background. Post it on YouTube and send us a link!

Might be an interesting exercise. Share the new words with one another  . . . or send them to us. We’ll make a blog post out of them!

19 Sep 2012

It’s All About Love . . . or Is It?

Some 2×2 readers who live in the Middle East are being seriously impacted by the recent violence prompted by a single video posted months ago on the internet that was suddenly discovered by Muslim viewers all over the Middle East. Most Americans have seen no more than one frame in the news magazines. We are told it ridicules Mohammed.

Behind the rage is the misunderstanding that one person’s view does not necessarily represent an entire nation’s sentiment. It is the view of the people who made and posted the film. Americans, for the most part, never noticed it sitting out there in “American” cyberspace.

So blood is spilled and lives are lost because the views of very, very few are projected onto the entire American nation. The lives of Christians in predominantly Muslim countries—not an easy position even in peaceful times—are disrupted needlessly.

Other nations view America as a Christian nation. It is undeniable that our founding values were rooted in the Christian understandings of the time, but Americans know that freedom to not be Christian is also part of the American tradition. The fabric of American life is a tight weave of many religions.

The actions that incited the current violence were not the actions of America—a difficult point to make amidst the rhetoric of gunfire.

Most religions are about good values. Christianity is centered on love. But the message is all too easily put aside by the desire to be right and the desire to dominate.

We don’t have to go to the Mideast to see these powerful anti-Christian sentiments displayed by people who consider themselves to be religious. It is the stuff of history — in the early church, in the Crusades, in the Reformation, in our own era of slavery and Indian wars. We can see it today in our local churches—the need to win at any cost.

That cost is the abandonment of our very purpose.

We are praying for the Christians in Middle East just as hard as they are praying for the Lutherans in East Falls.

19 Sep 2012

How Does Your Congregation Tell Your “Why” Story?

 . . . because God first loved us

Yesterday I received an email from a young fellow who makes videos with passion. He had a brainstorm and he was soliciting help. He wanted to make a video of people telling their “Why Story.” He made a little video imploring people to send a short video with an answer to the question, “Why do you do what you do?”

I had never taken a self-video before. But I spent about a half hour creating my Why video. I had never responded to a video by posting a film to YouTube before. But by the end of the day I had mastered that. Took four tries.

This morning I came across a video of a TED conference presenter, Simon Sinek. He gave a 17-minute talk on how the Why question drives all successful enterprises. Watch it.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4?rel=0]

It seems the Why question is pretty important. How well does your church communicate your “why”?

Why do you gather together on Sunday mornings? Why do you want others to join you? Why does  faith matter in the lives of your individual members?

If your only answer is “so that we have enough financial support to keep going,” you will not succeed as a church.

It’s a simple question. What’s your answer?

18 Sep 2012

Adult Object Lesson: Mark 9:35

So You Think You’re So Great!

Your object today is a $20 bill (or $5 or $10)

You are late for a meeting, but there is no parking spot in sight. At last you see a car pulling away. Finally and none too soon! You parallel park, annoyed at the cars that pass impatiently, making it unsafe to steer your car into the spot. At last you are in. You jump out of the car, lock the doors, and rush to the meter. You look for instructions. The meter takes only quarters. You dig in your wallet or purse. All you can find is a $20 bill. You look at the nearby stores. Might they change a $20 bill so that you can put a few quarters in the parking meter? You look up the street. There’s the meter reader writing a ticket just a half block away.

Suddenly the quarter you don’t have is worth more than $20 bill you do have.

(If you tell this story to children, use a vending machine that takes only quarters, but the parents provided only a dollar bill.)

In today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters the disciples in an animated conversation. He asks, “What are fellows talking about?”…as if he doesn’t know. They are embarrassed. They have been bragging to one another about their value to the Master. There is little they can do but listen, red-faced, as Jesus begins to lecture them about greatness.

The recent chapters of Mark test the disciples over and over. Jesus is challenging conventional ideas. The disciples’ world is turning upside down. There are miracles and strange and uncomfortable conversations. No wonder the disciples have used their alone time to sort some things out among themselves.

But in butts Jesus, and their ideas are once again thrown out the window.

At last he reaches for a small child, embraces the child and uses the child as an “object” lesson. It’s the littlest among you that is worth the most. Not the smartest, not the most talented, the one with the best job, or the biggest house.

Pull a quarter out of your pocket (oops! you had one along) and flip it a few times.

Ask them to think about this the next time they need a quarter.

photo credit: theilr via photo pin cc
17 Sep 2012

Does Your Regional Body Have A Vision Statement?

We, as congregations, are often asked to draft both mission and vision statements.

Out of curiosity, we started researching vision statements and visited our own regional body web site to see what their vision for their work might be.

There is a menu navigation button that says Mission/Vision. Click!

There is a Mission Statement, an abbreviated version of Ephesians 4:11-13.

“Activated by the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
we equip the saints and congregations
for the work of ministry,
for building up the Body of Christ.”

We have seen only the opposite of that at work in East Falls. But then they didn’t include the next verse! “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Or the rest of that chapter.

But let’s move on! We’re looking for vision statements.

Where’s the Vision Statement? There is none posted. What is the Synod’s vision for its many neighborhood churches?

17 Sep 2012