4/7InkzHVUEQeEdU9vpc1tikzEhChrKmPfvXI-FSDBrBQ

Judith Gotwald

It’s VBS Time

Is VBS A Waste of Time and Money?

I was recently with friends my age. We were all children in the 50s and 60s. We began remembering summer Bible schools. We came from different denominational traditions, but we had one thing in common. Vacation Bible School was a pivotal start in our faith journeys. It wasn’t our youngest years that we remembered—the years when we pasted cotton puffs on construction paper to make sheep. It was our older years, when we put together skits and did service projects and just had a great time.

One friend commented that her family moved one summer and the Bible School she attended eased the disruption in her life. She had friends when she started school the next fall.

Bible School used to be two weeks long—long enough to build community, change faith habits and make an impact on a congregation.

The concept of VBS began to fade when mothers began working.

Soon the energy waned. A two-week school, staffed by volunteers, was too much like work.

With parents out of the house, older children had their summers scheduled. No longer able to volunteer, parents looked to enrich their children’s life with paid camps which would advance their child’s academic progress — sports camps and academic enrichment camps. Cost, when it’s not the church, is no object. These paid camps tend to challenge the youth and make it worth the parental sacrifice.

Instead of emulating the trend, beefing up their summer programs, and adjusting the economic model, churches slowly began to cut back or eliminate VBS.

Two weeks became five days, with instructional time limited to less than two hours. The impact of the school became negligible. Nothing replaced it.

Volunteers to work with older children are the hardest to recruit, so only the youngest children are now served.

The Church couldn’t do things they way they used to. We pretty much stopped doing anything but going through the motions. They made it easy for kids to stop coming at just the age when they need incentive to stay engaged.

Working together to solve problems has never been a strong point of the Church. The most common attempt was to go together to hold a community VBS and that benefited the host congregation more than the others. That sort of thinking soon died.

The value of VBS to a congregation is in the immersion, in building new faith awareness and engaging families. They are of real value when they are part of other programming.

When VBS is a short, stand-alone event aimed at only the youngest children, who are perhaps too young to even carry the memory into their adult lives, they are of little value.

There is barely enough time and energy to hold classes. Engaging in follow-up, the real value of a VBS,  is next to impossible.

The failure of VBS is a failure of the Church to adapt. We can’t do VBS the old way, so we won’t do it all or just create a minimal experience to say we are still doing it.

The core problems of VBS were never addressed.

Problem 1: Lack of volunteers

If VBS is your best and most promising outreach to the community, it might be worth  paying people and making sure they are trained to do a great job. In the church we tend to keep spending money on the same things (that aren’t working).

Problem 2: Busy kids

Instead of developing a more challenging summer program which would keep children challenged and engaged, we made it easy for them to drift away. Reversing this will be tough. Families find time for things that are worth their while.

Problem 3: Cost

Parents pay for all those other camps that they are sure will benefit their children. They just might be willing to pay for a summer faith program that offers the same opportunities for growth.

We believe that a faith-based summer program can still be a major asset to a congregation. It must be more professional in approach. Activities must be challenging. Families must be engaged and VBS must be part of larger church experience.

VBS has been neglected for several decades—decades of decline all around. It still has possibilities but reviving it will require some funding, at least initially. This will require church entities to work together—always a challenge, but so very needed.

VBS-aid

What if instead of congregations joining together to host a school, they joined together to train a team of leaders which would travel from congregation to congregation?

We put together a concept three summers ago which attracted interest from congregations. None of them wanted to pay even a modest sum to attempt it. Instead, they all did nothing that summer (and every summer since).

The hierarchy partners we approached would very much benefit from a cooperative program with congregations. It would build good will, which will eventually benefit them in their mission. They had other priorities, we were told. At the same time, they cried about few people entering vocations. They just couldn’t see that the program we were trying to develop would introduce church careers to youth. As it is, youth are absent from church life during the years they ponder their future.

We think the program is still worth trying. An experimental year could be funded for $100,000 and benefit eight to sixteen congregations that couldn’t run a program like this on their own. 

The concept calls for teams of trained teachers (college students) to provide the leadership to a congregation. Four to eight congregations in the same 20-mile radius  would share the expenses but have the benefits of the school being in their church. The traveling VBS-team will spend two weeks in each congregation.

Pooling the resources of several churches will make it affordable for all.

2×2 would still like to pioneer this concept. If your small church is worried about your future and want to take a new approach to revival, try to find a few other congregations in your general geographic area to see if VBS-aid might restore a summer ministry to your congregations and contact us.

It’s too late for this year. But if enough congregations commit by Christmas 2013, we’d love to put a first team together to test the concept. (The program is interdenominational.)

Here’s the basic information.

By the way, Redeemer had a six-week summer program for neighborhood children, so we have some experience.

05 Jul 2013

Independence Day Eulogy

Do we deserve to celebrate today?

Our nation was blessed with a new beginning at a time in history when a new beginning was very much needed.

Life was bleak for the common people. Things were so bad that it was worth considerable risk to create change. Freedom sounded like a good idea.

A good many people from every station in life took these risks to make sure that this new idea — the United States — guaranteed every citizen a voice, a vote and a good stab at happiness and upward mobility.

For the first time in history, the common person could do more than dream of being something more than his or her birth station allowed.

Religious freedom was a key goal for many of the immigrants who fled to America, including both sides of my family tree.

This was all new 237 years ago. Many sacrificed and died that this great experiment might continue to prosper as older and richer nations faltered and failed.

As we look over our experiences of the last five years, we have to wonder. We seem to have become a nation that celebrates our freedoms and the power and advantages they give us, but we so often fail to use them. Our social focus seems to be on protecting ourselves and our accumulated wealth and comfort. If speaking out for the downtrodden or the abused might cost us —well, let some other fool bear that burden. And if no one does — well, it’s not that big a loss.

Religious freedom is foundational to American life. Sadly, churches use their protected status to abuse their most vulnerable members. Whether it’s small congregations or helpless children — the modern church puts its hierarchical interests above the people they serve. And nothing will stop them from protecting their right to bully.

The courts, too, charged to examine corporate issues fairly and impartially are tempted to turn a blind eye to abuses of the freedoms in the church. Avoiding interference in doctrinal issues gives a license to church leaders to create doctrinal issues where none exist so that they can have their way without regard to the law on corporate issues. A few more decades may reveal just how dangerous this lawless monster can become. We are starting to get a glimpse of it as the scandals in the Roman Catholic church continue to unravel. Protestants have their challenges, too.

Until the courts realize that every aspect of church life does not involve doctrine — that a lot of it is contractual with corporate promises that should be binding — there is a remedy. The people — the foundation of  both our country and the Church — can exercise the rights that so many people continue to sacrifice to protect. They can speak up, they can advocate, they can be adversaries for others.

But they probably won’t. It might cost them their status, some money, some comfort and ease. Freedom to be selfish.

Patriots are admired, not emulated. Saints are appreciated most after they die. Click to tweet.

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell wrote a book, A Nation of Wimps. Perhaps there will be a sequel: A Church of Wimps.

04 Jul 2013

Guest Post: What Constitutes Power in the Church?

Joanna Smithlr

 

Today’s post is written by Joanna Smith, a subscriber to 2×2.

Joanna Smith is a Christian and an observer of the good, the bad, and the ugly within the Church. She may be reached at jcsmith19027@yahoo.com.

Dedicated Christians or Power-Crazed Christians?

If the Church is the body of Christ, why do so many of her leaders act like the road to successful church growth is paved with her amputated head and limbs? Click to tweet.

Recently, I was staffing a booth at a regional denominational convention where I had the chance to speak to a pastor who had been put in charge of revitalizing what was considered a declining church in a medium-sized town in Pennsylvania.

This town, like many others across the country, was facing the challenges associated with contemporary American life: changing ethnicity, the rise of secularism, and–let’s be frank—the effects of sin and evil.

This pastor, who also worked in construction and sported a military-style buzz cut, was charged by the denominational leadership to “turn around” this small city church.

“Go in there and act like the Marine. You already look the part,” he was told.

Like a good soldier he followed orders. During the beginning days of his tenure at the church, senior lay leadership made it clear that they were not happy with the changes he was proposing. He pushed back. Hard. And made it clear that changes would be made and that if they didn’t like it, they would be free to leave.

“They are the old line power-hungry elite who are standing in the way of church growth,” he said forcefully. “They’ll find another declining church to join where they can play their power games.”

Expendable Members. What A Way to Grow A Church!

The strategy, which has been proposed by others, was to hound the offending laity until they ended up saying their prayers alone in their living room on Sunday morning.

Talk about wolves in shepherds’ clothing!

What that pastor was saying has an element of truth.  There are people for whom church leadership is a means to power. Quite a few, it seems, end up becoming ordained. Click to tweet.

Most lay people who stay in “declining” congregations are those who teach Sunday School, who sing in the choir, and who serve at the church suppers when there are fewer and fewer people to take on those tasks. They may have held their congregations together through decades of neighborhood unrest and possibly through several poor ineffective pastoral solutions presented by their regional body.

Most likely they were married there and their children were baptized there. Probably their parents were, too.  They were the ones who stayed and put up with the theological experimentation—which at times bordered on heresy—the same denominational leadership who was now trying to force them out.

They are the faithful backbone of the church—the ones you can count on to show up with their sleeves rolled.

I’m no doctor, but I think that it’s considered malpractice to treat a limping patient with a sprained ankle by fracturing his back.

Servanthood in the Church

Christ doesn’t treat His Church that way. In Ephesians, Paul compares the Church to a bride and says that Jesus “gave himself up for her” and “nourishes and cherishes” her.

Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd and said that he would leave the 99 and go after the one lost sheep. He also said that He would never leave or forsake those 99. Any earthly hireling shepherd that would purposely scatter the herd in his charge would be a dangerous fool and should be fired by his employer.

Perhaps today’s church leadership should emulate the Marines, whose motto is semper fidelis for whom honor is sacred. Perhaps we should live by the marine’s primary rule of engagement: never leave one your own behind. 

It would be biblical. Jesus told his flock that he would never leave them or forsake them.

Jesus had some very harsh words for his hired hands: “Anyone who causes even the least of my own to go astray, it is better that he wears a millstone around his neck and is thrown into the sea.” 

I was paging through the New Testament the other day looking for the chapter and verse where Jesus said that it was okay for people to throw others out of his church, abandon and demonize the most faithful, lock doors, claim property and declare their actions to be righteous and praiseworthy—while anyone who might think differently can go eat cake.

Can you find it?

Related post of a successful, more loving (Christian) alternative approach

shepherdlr

Cartoon by 2×2

NOTE from 2×2: Thanks for your heartfelt contribution, Joanna.

A career pastor who made a mission of reviving congregations, spending five to seven years in each, once told me the first thing a transformational pastor must do is “nothing for one year.” Getting to know the parish and forming relationships with lay leaders takes that long, he advised. After that, when you’ve proved that you love the congregation and have their interests at heart (as opposed to your own or that of the regional body) begin to introduce ideas, gently — not like a Marine. Until solid relationships are formed, lay leaders are well within their rights to be resistant and suspicious. All clergy would have to do is practice the Golden Rule. How would you like it if someone treated you like your home would be better without you in it? Lay caution is natural and usually based in love for the church—not a lust for power.  Their caution is prudent.

Lay people with an insatiable lust for power don’t hang around in small churches.

Clergy get away with their self-serving attitudes because they count on lay leaders to have no voice. 2×2 is trying to change that.

We’d love to check back on that Marine Pastor in a year or so to see if his approach worked or if he found himself the shepherd of a closed church.

Thanks, again, for your view coming from a different denomination. Judy

03 Jul 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Luke 10:1-11,16-20

ducksJesus Sends His Followers 2×2

Note: For the first time we are including a musical offering to enhance the object lesson. It’s at the end.

It is summer and the seaside will attract many of us for some rest and relaxation.

Waves are our object for today. If you use a projector in worship, use photos of waves. Or stir up your own waves in a large glass bowl.

There is something refreshing about staring at the motion of water and particularly the sea. It doesn’t matter if the waves reach gently for dry land or crash with untamable power onto the rocks and shoreline. We can’t take our eyes off the beauty, the power, and the fact that we have no control over it. The water will have its way!

Today’s gospel, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, is about a great sending. Jesus sends 7o apostles ahead of him in pairs or 2×2 (for which our ministry is named).

Jesus gives a list of Spartan instructions, which are designed to make sure the mission is not forgotten. Take nothing for yourself. Try to reach everyone, but don’t waste time if ears and minds are closed.

The thought that God is relying on us is humbling.

There is a warning that things might not always go smoothly. The message they will be preaching will at times be harsh. People WILL have a hard time hearing it.

Jesus includes some fire and brimstone. (Some of this is in the excluded verses. Go ahead and read them.)

The 70 have a pretty good first maiden voyage. They return to Jesus impressed with the power that Jesus gave them.

Who knows how many times these first apostles reached out to new people? How many shores did they reach? How many times did they return to the water of their baptism for revival?

That’s what your adult learners can think about as they watch the waves this summer, returning again and again to the sea, reaching ever higher toward land as the tide rises.

The job we, as modern apostles, are asked to do remains challenging. We still face rejection.

Sometimes the path will be pleasant and rewarding, but there is no promise that the sea will always be gentle. Yet, it is with the power of the Word that we reach out. We are to take no pride in this power. We are fortunate to have the relationship with the Lord and the promise of heaven.

This is a complex analogy for adult learners but today’s lesson can include the children of the congregation by having all join together with one or both of the following songs which relate to today’s gospel. One is a 2×2 original. We’ve paired it with an American spiritual.

It is designed to be fun. Having fun together as a congregation is a good educational tool. You can exclude the parts in parentheses and some of the rhythms if you want your worship to be more formal.

To help you learn the songs there’s a homemade audio to give you the basic tune. This is our first venture in offering music. We’ll get better at it. Promise.

2×2 song

2×2

(Each x indicates a clap)

Two by two x
Two by two x
Jesus sent apostles out two by two
And they preached. xx
And they taught. xx
They made the demons take a walk. (Get lost!)
Jesus sent apostles out
Two x by x two. xx

Two by two x
Two by two x
Jesus still is sending us two by two.
We will preach. xx
We will teach. xx
Every nation we must reach. (Each one!)
Jesus sent apostles out (Knock on pew) xx xxx
Jesus sent apostles out (Knock on pew) xx xxx
Jesus sent apostles out
Two x by x two. xx

and / or

You can move directly into a new rhythm and keep it going, rapping on a guitar soundboard or on a pew. Clapping can work, too.

Knock. Knock.
Knock. Knock. Knock. (repeat throughout the next song)

The American Spiritual: Somebody’s knocking at your door

The link above is to a more professional rendition of this spiritual, although it is presented in a very fun style.

Here’s our humble effort: Somebody’sKnocking

Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner. Why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Knocks like Jesus.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Can’t you hear him?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner, why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner. Why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Close with the traditional knock:

Knock. Knock.   Knock, knock, knock.

Shout: Who’s there?

You can use this same closing knock on 2×2 Song if you use only one of the songs.

photo credit: wili_hybrid via photopin cc
01 Jul 2013

The Demise of the Hymnal

hymnrackThe Modern Hymnal: Come Buy Here!

It’s only about six years since the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America published its first new worship book (liturgies and hymns) in about 25 years. The official preceding hymnal was used for only about 25 years. The hymnal before that was used a bit longer and the hymnal before that even longer. The life of a hymnal is getting shorter and shorter. It may be extinct.

Today there is no need for a hymnal. But there is a need to fund the offices that create worship resources. Publishing and promoting a new hymnal may sound like a way to keep money flowing.

In our 65 church visits, almost no churches use the hymnal for the liturgy and rarely reference them for hymns. The expensive hymn books gather dust in the hymn racks.

Many churches have not bothered to invest thousands of dollars to restock their hymn racks with the latest official worship publication. Those that have would probably have spent their money more wisely elsewhere. It doesn’t look like there is much future for physical hymnals.

Here is why hymnals are an outdated idea.

  • The liturgies they include are meant to unite congregations in tradition. When a member visits another congregation, he or she will feel at home. But then they have included a fairly large number of liturgy choices. Most congregations use only one or two. So the unity objective works only if every church chooses the same one or two.
  • People can publish their own liturgies now. They are mixing and matching from various traditions and popular songs from Christian radio — and church camp! Try as the church might, those liturgies are going to be mutilated from their intended use. Nothing wrong with that, by the way.  
  • Hymnals are heavy. This newest one is like a barbell. Maybe I’m getting older. Maybe most church people are getting older.
  • People like to sing what they like to sing. If their favorites aren’t in the hymnal (and many aren’t) they are going to reprint them from another source, leaving the hymnal in the rack. The notion that the denomination has approved the theology and tweaked the wording to suit their spin, making sure God hears the right words of praise, sung to the most pleasing (if obscure) tune, well, it just won’t sell anymore.
  • People today have ready and relatively free access to words and chords. The internet is one big fake book.
  • If a stated goal is diversity, we have to look outside one hymnal to reach people. The world is so much bigger than any one hymnal can ever be…unless…

The wisest direction for those entrusted with liturgical integrity is to take their work and message online. That’s where many people turn when putting together a worship service these days. A new economic model will be needed, but that has to happen anyway. The next hymnal ten or fifteen years down the road is not likely to sell.

There is a big opportunity to pioneer such a web service. The Church can tackle it or wait for someone else to corner this audience.

  • If they choose to tackle it, they will reach a much broader audience than their own denomination. Denominational thinking keeps us from realizing this!
  • They can publish and promote new music in real time—not every 20 years.

What a mission opportunity!

photo credit: donjd2 via photopin cc
01 Jul 2013

Ambassadors Visit Holy Spirit, Secane

HolySpiritSecane

Holy Spirit is Breathing New Life in Secane

Redeemer’s Ambassadors are used to seeing decline in our visits. Sometimes despair is in the air. Sometimes it is veiled behind ceremony.

This morning’s visit to Holy Spirit, Secane, promised to be the same from our quick look at statistics, which showed fairly steady attendance, a drop in membership but a significant rise in worship attendance.

We’ve seen good statistics in the Trend reports that weren’t evidenced in our visits before —most notably one congregation that reported an average of 400 at worship but had fewer than 30 in attendance at an 11 am service.

The statistics show a gain of about 90 new members since 2005 and appear to be continuing. Diversity begins to show in the statistics five years ago.

This morning our expectations were refreshed.

We encountered a special Sunday at Holy Spirit. Every time there are five Sundays in a month, the fifth Sunday is celebrated with worship at the breakfast table. We saw people entering the church through the social hall, so we followed.

We entered a crowded fellowship hall with a table set up and very few empty seats. We managed to find four seats together. As we made our way to them, one of the kitchen crew shouted for the congregation to save the seats for us. There were probably about 90 present.

The people sitting across the table immediately introduced themselves. We had just a few minutes to chat before the service started but we immediately sensed that these older members were proud and excited to share their story. After the service, a few others approached us and introduced themselves. They have mastered the art of hospitality. It is amazing how many congregations we enter and leave without making eye contact!

A glance around the hall showed a group of diverse age. A good number of older folks but a healthy and growing number of younger adults and younger children. Youth attendance was weak, but that could change in just a few years. One boy led the reading of the psalm and couldn’t have done a better job.

A young man joined the church during the service and two children were baptized. We remembered our diverse congregation when one African or African American member began to accompany hymns with a tambourine. Our own East African members often got intricate rhythms going to the old gospel hymns. These members seemed to be very much part of the congregation. We will not soon forget how SEPA determined that our African members didn’t count, falsely reporting our statistics to the Synod Assembly, excluding our African membership, many of whom had been members for years. 

Our breakfast friends told us that their numbers had doubled since their current pastor, Rev. Cheryl Hensil, came to them eight years before. This was her first call as a second career pastor.

One of the women near us shared proudly that she had joined just two months earlier and three joined today—so things are still improving in 2013.

One of our new friends shared that things had been really down. The pain of those days could still be heard in her voice. I asked, “What do you think has made the difference?”

“The pastor,” she said. “She is one of us, she has a caring way about her and she works beside us. It isn’t ‘I’m the pastor, you do the work.’ She rolls up her sleeves.” She went on to share some examples.

The service was loud. Social halls are not designed for acoustics. But the energy was undeniable. Two warhorse hymns opened the service. After the confession, greeting and prayer of the day, breakfast was served. A team quickly served homemade muffins and fruit salad. After about 15 minutes, worship continued.

Immediately following the baptism, a celebratory cake was served.

One of our Ambassadors commented, “This is a happy church.”

“Yes,” a member commented. “We don’t have much money, but we have fun.”

I looked again at their Trend statistics when we returned. Eight years ago they looked to be in poorer shape than Redeemer. We had fewer members but were growing quickly. Our assets were greater. (Which is probably why we were targeted.)

We had already experienced significant growth with 49 new members in one year. Visitors were common and our African members were excited to belong to our congregation and were very invitational.

The difference is that SEPA took the “time to die” approach in East Falls. The pastors sent to us were not serving in a way that would build a church community. They were so blinded by their “time to die” prejudice that all our new members counted for nothing. “White Redeemer (mostly older people) must be allowed to die. Black Redeemer . . . we can put them anywhere.” (Why aren’t SEPA congregations outraged by this?)

Holy Spirit is proof of the folly of that thinking. The older people sitting with us were energized by the new life created by the work of their pastor and leaders. They were the best cheerleaders. They are proud of their faith community.

The elderly in a congregation have a right to see all their years of dedication rewarded with professional help that will build on their legacy. If they no longer have the ability to minister, it is imperative that their resources be used to provide the necessary skills — not allocated for do-nothing, caretaker ministers who are there to accept a paycheck until the resources run out.

Fortunately, for the Lutherans in Secane, they found the help they needed.

We are so glad they were not treated the way we were.

30 Jun 2013

The Reach of A Neighborhood Church

A beautiful thing happened in East Falls yesterday that meant so much to us at Redeemer.

I told the Ambassadors about this on our way to visit our 65th church this morning. They, too, were moved. (I’ll write about our very interesting Ambassador’s visit later.)

What happened yesterday points to the impact of a neighborhood church that reaches beyond church statistics.

For several years, about ten years ago, Redeemer held two-week music camps in the summer. Most of the children who attended were not Redeemer members. We usually worked on a cantata for the holiday season or just taught choral music.

This week one of the girls who attended our music camp graduated from high school. Her family is very active in another East Falls church but they crossed Midvale to take part in events at Redeemer. This led to the whole family attending Lutheran Church Camp, which led to music from Lutheran Church Camp being introduced in Roman Catholic Schools. There is a cross-cultural nature to religious life in East Falls.

Anyway, I hadn’t seen much of the family for years, while we fought this shameful church battle.

Nevertheless, the family remembered the role Redeemer had played in their child’s upbringing. I was invited to attend the graduation party.

Redeemer had many such programs going on. We hosted the East Falls Children’s choir, had six-week summer day camp and had an ongoing legacy and reputation for quality child care. Many adults in East Falls can remember attending Redeemer’s programs, which have established significant good will in the community.

Much of this has been squandered by SEPA’s greedy interference. As they coveted our assets, they needed to paint a picture of a failing and desperate church. The Bible calls it “bearing false witness.”

It was heart-warming that years after SEPA locked our doors, some people in the neighborhood remember their roots in Redeemer.

Bishop Burkat’s forecast was that the memory of Redeemer would be gone in six months.

That’s not all she has been wrong about!

The reach of a neighborhood church is well beyond statistics. For that reach to begin to show statistically, there must be consistency and follow-up—impossible when you take a caretaker approach to ministry and/or bring conflict to a congregation every few years.

Open the church doors in East Falls. Return the land to East Falls Lutherans and let ministry happen in this neighborhood again—the Lutheran way.

30 Jun 2013

Because We Like to Share the Uplifting

A 2×2 member sent this link today.

This is an uncanningly uplifting video. Let it inspire you.

THE OWL and THE PUSSYCAT

29 Jun 2013

10 Characteristics of A Successful Ministry

Advice from the Marketing World

Some advice from a marketing class was posted on marketing email list that I follow.

A successful entrepreneur who had built and sold four businesses before retiring and starting a fifth business shared her self-taught business management philosophy. She has some interesting advice which with a little editing can apply to church builders and evangelists.

We are reprinting her business advice with the Church in mind. We’ve noted language changes or additions in red.

Read these to your church council  or board to start a discussion on mission strategy.

  1. We ALWAYS put our members’ and community’s needs before our own. NOTE: The Church tends to put the needs of hierarchy and clergy first.
  2. We are not driven by money, but by serving people and doing what we love. (We know that the money will come as a result of that.) NOTE: The Church grew the fastest at times when money was less an objective. Things always go awry when assets become central to ministry—from turf wars of the Middle Ages to indulgences in the Reformation era to the plague of denominational land grabs today. 
  3. We take care of the people who take care of us: members and nonmembers alike. 
  4. We set boundaries of mutual respect, and use negativity as a tool for change, and nothing else. NOTE: This comment interests 2×2. Those who don’t like what we write about call us “rogues” and “cohorts,” citing negativity. Many others say or write to us that they always find our comments to be uplifting. We intend our criticism to lead to much-needed change and work and continue to minister with joy—loyal to, but excluded from the denomination most of us have been part of all our lives.
  5. We don’t waste time trying to turn our weaknesses into strengths, but instead, surround ourselves with people whose strengths are our weaknesses. NOTE: This is a challenge to the Church. We intend to attract leaders with all the same skills at a time when new skills are very much needed. We’ll keep paying preachers and organists until the money runs out, when today’s church needs teachers, evangelists/communicators and entrepreneurs.
  6. We don’t know what “failure” is because we inherently see it as a lesson learned. NOTE: The Church understands failure as an opportunity to confiscate assets. 
  7. We look for guidance and learn from the people who are where we want to be because they’ve done what we have to do. (As opposed to those who are there because it was ‘given’ to them.) NOTE: The Church looks at the success of newer denominations as flukes, unworthy of emulation. We know best. Other church leaders should copy our failure!
  8. We know the difference between re-inventing the wheel and trying something new. NOTE: The accepted parameters for innovation within the established Church are very narrow. The Church cries for change but won’t allow it if it requires a change in hierarchical thinking.
  9. One of our greatest strengths is being able to adapt and “turn around on a dime.” NOTE: A dime in Church time is about 150 years. 
  10. And most important, we never stop. We are ALWAYS listening, learning, looking around and planning ahead.  

Oh – and here’s a bonus one – We always blame ourselves first.  

NOTE: In the Church — that will be the day!

 

29 Jun 2013

Worship in the Modern World

Serving a New and Talented World

I’ve had the opportunity to attend many youth concerts in the last few years. I’ve noticed a remarkable difference from my school experiences.

Today’s young people have the ability to excel in skills beyond what was possible for all but the most motivated among those of us who were schooled 40-50 years ago.

They have constant exposure to the professional talent. We had the Mickey Mouse Club and the Ed Sullivan Show.

They have teaching tools that were unavailable to us as we learned to play our instruments. Online teachers are plentiful. There is a device that can play recorded music slowly without changing the pitch. How I remember replacing the needle on the high-fi, guessing that it was falling at the phrase I wanted to learn and trying to keep up with the pros as I practiced!

Suffice to say . . . the coming generations are better at many skills at an earlier age than we dreamed of being. The contestant age requirement on some TV singing competitions has dropped to 12. Twelve! The 12-year-olds are holding their own. The quality is there. Sometimes their lack of maturity causes them to falter, but several have made it through to the final rounds. The recent winner of The Voice is just 16.

Most of our talented young community members are not in church.

Could our style of worship be influencing apathy?

As much as we like to think of the worship experience as corporate and engaging, it really isn’t — not when measured against the potential.

Those who grew up in the church and have an understanding of what is going on in a worship service may take comfort in knowing the rationale behind the various sections of the liturgy and understand how it intends to engage them.

But these are fewer and fewer. As a result, worship becomes more and more passive. We exist in a world where our ability to express ourselves is exploding with potential.  Yet in worship we are asked to behave as spectators. Today’s spectators have higher expectations!

For the last three years, Redeemer worshipers have been forced into a spectator role, denied access to our own sanctuary. In our own worship, we would all be involved. But that happens only on the first Sundays of the month now. Nevertheless, we take seriously our role as spectators, participating in the limited ways allowed as guests in worship.

We notice that the worshiping body is more and more passive. The larger the congregation, the more passive. Some even pay select choir members!

Congregations often seem to be content to be overpowered by an organ. The roles of worshipers are orchestrated. One will read scripture. Another will take the offering. Tradition.

Spontaneous expression is almost non-existent with the occasional exception of prayer— notably in the churches with more of an African or African-American membership.

In 65 visits, we have seen no dance (common in Redeemer worship). Choirs are fairly rare.

There was always something interesting and spontaneous happening in Redeemer’s worship. A nod from a worship leader was enough to let a worshiper know that they would be leading the next part of worship.

It was not unusual for a member to climb the sanctuary stairs on Sunday morning and say, “I’d like to sing a solo this morning.”

Sometimes it was embarrassing, but human. One week, (has to be six years ago) someone stepped forward to sing a solo as prelude. Her choice ended up to be the opening hymn. What are the odds of that! So she sang. And then we sang. It was memorable. The hymn was “We Have Come Into His House.” Do you remember what the opening hymn was in your worship last week?

As an observer, I wonder if the structure of the worship service might need an overhaul to allow for the growing talents and expectations of our community members. We inherited our worship from a time when one or two educated members of the community led mostly illiterate worshipers. The abilities and skill levels of the modern worshiper make us much less likely to be content as spectators. The modern worshiper may not understand that when they are asked to stand, sit or read the words that are printed in the bulletin in boldface — well, that’s involvement!

We have a tendency to substitute ritual and call it engagement. Are we really engaged when we all file to front of the church and hold hands out for communion?

There is a huge challenge in wondering about all this. We are not expected to ask such questions.

29 Jun 2013