2×2 has pen pals in many corners of the world. The leaders—and sometimes the church members—email us stories from their ministries regularly — at least once a week.
We know about the house church in the Arctic Circle in Sweden.
We are trying to encourage Pakistan’s goal of 1000 new house churches this year and their quest for Bibles.
We’ve cheered a husband and wife in western Kenya who care for orphans.
Our mission efforts are very hands on. And we do this work with a zero budget.
We share these ministries under our Friends in Ministry menu tab. Today we add a fifth Kenyan ministry to our fellowship. There are three in Nairobi and two near Kisii.
We continue to be amazed that these fellowships — all of whom met on 2×2 — continue to influence one another in very tangible ways.
Recently, the Fellowship in Pakistan sent a representative to meet one of the churches in Kenya. That church leader traveled with him to meet another church in the 2×2 fellowship in the western part of Kenya.
This month, a church leader in Nigeria wrote telling us of his plans to travel to Kenya. He asked for a contact there. With permission, we put him touch with a leader of a church in Kenya. They reported last week that the visit went very well.
2×2 seems to be well-named. We are spreading a network of Christian fellowship we didn’t envision when we started our website. We simply had an idea that we could have both a local and global ministry.
There is more news afoot in our international ministry. Check back in a week or two!
The call process in the Lutheran Church is a bit of a mystery. It operates on two levels.
There is the call to vocation, which comes from God. Preachers love to tell the story of how they thought their lives were headed in one direction and suddenly God grabbed them by the elbow and pointed them toward the Church. This type of call is documented in the Bible—Noah, Moses, Saul, David, Jonah, Job, Mary and all those disciples and the succession of apostles.
Then there is the congregational call. This call is issued by congregations or perhaps extensions of the Church (hierarchy, seminaries, camps and social service agencies).
Sometimes we get the two confused. The process makes it seem like every congregational call is akin to a biblical call, with God pulling the strings.
The ELCA call process is often more convoluted—and weighted toward the interests of clergy and synods.
Biblical calls were usually undesirable, risky, downright dangerous. Today’s congregational calls come with mandated salaries, benefits and perks.
There are two types of constitutional calls.
Term calls end when the designated time is up. (Bishops have term calls.)
Regularized calls, now being called “settled” calls, have no time limitation. The pastor can leave with 30 days notice or the congregation can rally a two-thirds vote to make a change. If things go well, no problem. If things are not going well, conflict is likely to result.
Redeemer’s Experience with the Call Process
At Redeemer we had some interesting and sometimes dramatic experiences with the call process. We went along with it for years. There came a point when we realized that our partner in the call process — the synod — was less than forthright. The candidates being presented to us were needy. They were being sent in our direction to satisfy their problems not to serve. They needed the income. Their roster credentials were expiring. They had serious problems in previous churches. They wanted their families to be disrupted as little as possible. They were seeking a secure and comfortable life.
We had yet to read the published theories about “caretaker ministries.”Caretaker ministries are ministries of intentional neglect. Pastors are expected to do nothing but keep people happy while the congregation dies. Ten years of neglect is expected to result in a successful caretaker ministry and closed church. (Why aren’t ELCA congregations outraged by this?)
Lay leaders aren’t let in on this secret. Lay leaders think they have called a pastor who will make a difference. They keep trying, spending resources on the required pastor, but doing the work alone.
Of course, the result is strife. Guess who is to blame!
In 1997, Redeemer issued an 18-month term call to a synod staff member. Bishop Almquist pulled the pastor out after three months. He needed his service in the suburbs. No other solution to filling the pulpit was offered for the following year. Was this an escalation of the intentional neglect of a caretaker minister? (A year later Bishop Almquist seized a big chunk of our endowment money. He sent that pastor to our bank!)
Within three years we went from the same Bishop pulling a “called” pastor out to attempting to force an “uncalled pastor” in.
In 2000, we were asked to regularize the call of a pastor who had been serving a one-year term. The congregation council did not recommend renewing the call under the conditions the synod presented — which reduced service from 12 hours a week to 10 hours a week. Congregational leaders felt responsible for more ministry—not less. We were willing to renew the term call, while we sought a better solution. (This was before the interim concept had taken hold.) The reduction was the pastor’s idea — not ours. (Ten hours a week happens to be the minimum required to maintain a pastor’s roster status. Rostered status maintains things like pensions and credentials.)
The goal of synod leadership was to make this weak relationship permanent—even though there is no constitutional requirement to do so. The interests of the synod and the pastor trumped the interests of the congregation.
Bishop Almquist asked Redeemer’s council to vote again. The second vote failed, too. Bishop Almquist insisted that the call question be presented to the congregation. He was hoping that the congregation would vote against their leadership. Yep, he was orchestrating dividing the congregation! The congregational vote—the third vote on this call—failed, too.
Bishop Almquist refused to work with Redeemer in presenting any other candidates.
The mysterious call process shrouds a basic fact.
Synods exist in large part to keep pastors employed. Since clergy talk with each other more than with congregations, congregations are always at a disadvantage.
Once those settled calls are finalized, change is almost impossible without conflict. That’s OK. It creates a job market for interim pastors—one of the few areas of ministry that seems to be growing. All the perks of rostered clergy with minimal commitment.
The Call Process in Action
Recently, we encountered the call process again. Our Ambassadors attended a service that featured a trial sermon followed by a congregational vote on a candidate’s call.
A congregation’s future was resting on what would take place during this hour. Congregational representatives had already spent some time with the candidate. There had been a congregational “meet and greet.”
The trial sermon should be a critical part of a job interview — an opportunity to display leadership and vision.
The service began with the pastoral candidate apologizing for being late. Logistics. The apology continued. There had been no time to study the order for worship. Please bear with the circumstances.
In the secular world, this might be considered getting off on the wrong foot.
The congregation graciously gave the candidate the necessary direction. On with the liturgy.
Things went fairly well.
Time for the sermon—the all important trial sermon. Surely, the candidate had slaved in preparation. The candidate would want to demonstrate a grasp of theology and how it might influence leadership and the direction of the congregation. The candidate would want to build on conversations with church leaders and inspire the congregation who would be voting in just minutes.
The candidate began the sermon by asking the congregation to identify the liturgical color for Pentecost. The congregation called out correctly, ”Red!” No, the candidate said, pointing to the paraments. It is green to symbolize growth.
Green is the color for the Sundays AFTER Pentecost—Ordinary Time. Incomplete information was preached.
The lesson for the day was the gospel story of the widow of Nain at the funeral of her only son. The candidate addressed the Gospel story briefly, mentioning how “neat” it was that Jesus only touched the funeral bier to bring the young man back to life. The candidate defined bier for those of us with limited vocabulary.
The candidate rambled from that point on, talking about personal struggles. Jesus had lifted the candidate from a troubled past, just as he raised the widow’s son. The rest of the sermon was all about her life.
The candidate’s family was introduced. A recently deceased family member who had been prominent in the church was mentioned. His presence was felt.
Things had better go well!
The vote seemed to be a formality. It would be cruel to parade the children before the congregation if there were any chance a vote might not succeed.
Asking a congregation to vote on such a flimsy foundation would be considered preposterous in any other organizational venue. But not in the Church. In the Church it is par for the course to limit information given to congregations. Bishop Almquist had even refused to provide a candidate’s name prior to meeting the congregation. The less the congregation knows the better.
Likability seems to be the major credential in creating “settled” pastorates—not theology, not preaching, not leadership skills or a successful mission record.
We left at the end of worship. We don’t know what questions were raised in the voting process.
According to the congregation’s website. the congregation voted to approve this “settled” call.
The congregation voted for a candidate who arrived late and unprepared, who displayed minimal theological insight, who talked down to the congregation, presented misleading information, spoke in great detail of a deeply troubled past, showed no grasp of the congregation’s immediate challenges and shared no vision for their future together.
They have their settled pastor.
Under the same circumstances, a secular organization would keep looking.
There is a reason congregations accept candidates with ease. There is the tendancy to want to be friendly—and if a congregation does not cooperate, the congregation is labeled as troubled and the pool of candidates dries up. In other words, we have little choice.
If status quo is maintained for the next few years, the call will be celebrated as successful.
If the congregation declines, the quality of professional leadership will not be cited.
The call process in the ELCA needs a serious overhaul. The interests of the congregation need to come first—way before the comfort and convenience of candidates. This does not require a constitutional change. Rather, it requires a change in attitude among professional leaders.
There needs to be professional accountability. There needs to be a service mindset—not an entitlement mindset.
It should start with a more realistic call process.
Read Undercover Bishop—a parable written from our Ambassadors’ experience visiting 65 churches in two years.
One More Example of the Redeemer Call Process
Redeemer went for years without a called pastor. Bishop Almquist did not work with our congregation at all for most of his second term. During this time Redeemer formed strong relationships with many pastors.
We worked with two qualified Lutheran pastors who were both well liked and were demonstrating their ability to work with the current church members and to grow the congregation. Fifty-one members joined while we worked with both pastors. We wanted to call one and struggled to determine which to call. At last one became unavailable which made our decision for us. We thought that a new bishop might not have the prejudices of the previous bishop. A fresh start! We brought a resolution to Bishop Burkat requesting a call. All the details of the call had been worked out and agreed upon and the pastor was willing to commit five years. All we needed to move Redeemer forward in a strong way was Bishop Burkat’s approval of the call.
The bishop’s office met privately with the candidate and we never saw him again. A few weeks later, there having been no conversation with our congregation, we received the letter that we were closed. Two months after that we received the letter revealing that SEPA Synod, even at that time, was already trying to sell our property—property that did not belong to them and which the Synod’s Articles of Incorporation expressly forbid them from conveying without the consent of the congregation.
I updated all the blogs I manage today. It was a simple click. Done.
When the installation was over a screen appeared detailing the benefits and features of the update.
There were three tabs at the top of the page: What’s New, Credits, and Freedoms.
I had already read What’s New. The Credits don’t interest me (although I’m grateful). I had to explore Freedoms.
The Freedoms tab explained the WordPress philosophy. The software is free. Anyone is free to modify and improve. In fact, they hope we do!
Several new business models revolve around the concept of “free.” Social Media is one of them. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. — all free to users. In the early days of this model, business people weren’t sure what to make of it.
Then FREE started to make billions. People chose to embrace the power of FREE.
Wikipedia has become an amazingly thorough and accurate encyclopedia with almost instantaneous updating. You hear on the news that a celebrity died. Check Wikipedia—it’s likely to already reflect the news.
Wikipedia opened its pages to contributors and editors — anyone. They rely on the idea that people want to share, appreciate accuracy and detail, and will correct what they discover is wrong.
You can find information on the most obscure subjects on Wikipedia. (We may start a Wikipedia page!) The editorial barriers that existed in a world of space limitations are gone.
What can the Church learn from this?
The Church is scared silly of FREE. They are protective of what they have. They want to give nothing away.
Control of assets is more important than use of assets.
That’s what is keeping the congregations from using Social Media.
Social Media costs practically nothing monetarily. The investment in Social Media is an investment of time and talent. It involves giving your message away.
Most churches have already dedicated a healthy third of their resources to proclamation. They hire a pastor to collate, interpret, teach and preach. Unfortunately most churches are investing that money on reaching very few people.
There is another way. With Social Media you can take the same message, already paid for, and reach millions.
But congregations, accustomed to old business models, ask, “What’s in it for us?”
Someone will be quick to say, “Let’s add a Donate button.”
This approach to Social Media is backward. Social Media works on the giveaway business model.
There may be a time and place for that Donate button, but first you have to establish voice and prove your dedication to your message and your readers.
But Church leaders are not leading the way. They’ve forgotten their roots! Our message should be free!
If there is any office of the hierarchy that should be subsidized, it is the church’s “house organ”—the voice of the denomination designed to reach every member. And potentially more.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has a magazine, The Lutheran. It is subscription-based. That barrier limits its effectiveness from the start.
The physical magazine works the old way. Readers get their magazine in the mail. They can read and participate by writing letters to the editor. Few will get printed. No room. The editors will choose who can comment.
There are no space limitations online. So why do we set up the same barriers as if there were?
The Lutheran online teases readers and expects them to pay to read and comment. They may be able to measure how that is working for them. What they can’t measure is how it might work better for them in the long run to eliminate that barrier.
Church house organs should be free. (Advertisers should be demanding this!). You want people to know your story. You want to engage the Lutheran community and build that community. There should be no fear of the dialog that results. It should be refreshing. People like to know they have a voice. They expect it today.
The same is true at the denominational and congregational levels. Their online presence should be delivering valuable information to the region and community. The news and features should be outreach-oriented—not all about how great the regional office or congregation is. The proof of the pudding is in the reading—and serving.
There is practically no effort at these levels to embrace the media tools available.
It’s all because we still focus on the offering plate and the structure that dwindling offerings must support.
The Church today exists in a world where people expect something for free. It helps differentiate those dedicated to service from those dedicated to self-interest and self-preservation. When people see you walking your talk — then they want to be part of the mission. When they are sure of their investment, they are more likely to become supporters of mission.
This Sunday’s lectionary addresses the cost of discipleship. Both the Old Testament lesson (1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21) and the Gospel (Luke 9:51-62) talk about exactly what is expected of a follower of Christ. Weave these expectations into your discussion of Galatians.
Today’s object is a superhero action figure. Use your favorite: Batman, Spiderman, Superman, Wonder Woman . . . whatever.
All superheroes have a mission. They fight evil. Galatians gives us a good list for any writer of action stories to reference.
fornication
impurity
licentiousness
idolatry
sorcery
enmities
strife
jealousy
anger
quarrels
dissensions
factions
envy
drunkenness
carousing, and things like these.
Each action hero has certain strengths and weaknesses. Knowing them is part of the fun in following the story. Will Superman finally be overcome by kryptonite? Will his bullet proof outfit save him? Will he remember to use his X-ray vision?
Talk about your superheroes’ special qualities.
Ask your congregation to create a superhero to fight the list of evils presented in Galatians. What special powers would their hero have? What weaknesses might hinder him or her in conquering evil?
This should lead to an interesting discussion. Have fun with it.
In the end, refer your congregation to the qualities that Paul lists as antidotes for evil.
By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
generosity
faithfulness
gentleness
and self-control.
How many of these qualities did you give your superhero? Are these qualities enough to get the job done?
It might help to actually ask ourselves this question. If people are seeking a faith community (and fewer people are) why would they choose your church?
Most churches are remarkably the same—at least at first glance. I write this with some authority, having visited 65 in the last two years. Congregational culture doesn’t seem to vary much.
Most churches think they are friendly.
Most pastors think their message is worth listening to.
Many pastors assume they are approachable.
Most churches aspire to excellent music. Some have capable and flamboyant organists. Others have just as capable lay ensembles leading worship.
Fewer churches offer educational offerings.
Fewer churches have youth or children. (This should be alarming to regional bodies!)
Service offerings are generally cookie cutter. A few embrace a cause.
One congregation we visited had several service opportunities all centering on cancer. Will prospective members feel this must be their cause, too?
Some have embraced sexual orientation causes. Will visitors feel that joining these congregations is making a statement on these issues?
Many participate in Habitat for Humanity or popular Walkathons.
There seems to be less association with denominational service organizations. This was unintentionally encouraged when Lutheran social service agencies started currying favor for public dollars.
Many Lutheran churches we visited are just getting by with little sense that there is a future.
What do visitors see when they walk through your doors? Is there a reason for them to return?
How we see ourselves matters. How others see us may matter more. Most people visiting a church are asking questions like these.
Will I feel welcome?
Will my whole family feel welcome?
Will my membership make a difference in my life?
Will I be able to participate with all my heart and soul and mind?
Our assumptions about why people choose to join a church can be very wrong.
Back in 1998, a Tanzanian family began attending Redeemer and asked to join. Bishop Almquist was interested in closing Redeemer. They had already seized a good bit of our money. We were discouraged from accepting new members. A synod representative actually visited this family and asked a rather presumptuous question. “Why would you want to join that church? Wouldn’t you be happier in a church with more people like you?”
That family made their own choice to join Redeemer and became the backbone of a new ministry. A decade later SEPA Synod, stuck in their prejudicial past, decided that the nearly 60 members with East African roots who had joined Redeemer since 1998 didn’t count. They claimed this mission outreach had been done without their oversight—although there is no requirement to check with SEPA before accepting new members. Why was a racial distinction made in a Church that claims to be EVANGELICAL?
In this scenario church leaders made an assumption. They assumed what might be best for Redeemer. Their vision for us was not our vision. We were judged on their assumptions.
Assumptions in today’s church beg to be challenged. Assumptions lead to status quo. The status quo in today’s church is decline.
Question everything. Explore.
If you want your congregation to stand out in some way, it would be helpful to know what other congregations in your region are doing.
Here’s a reality—
Few pastors ever hear other pastors preach.
Few choirs hear other choirs.
Most active church members have no time to visit other churches.
Most churches buy into the same curricula and purchase the same hymnals.
And so most muddle along, assuming they are doing a great job—living in their own bubble. They wonder why more people don’t become involved. They don’t really have a way to measure. The statistics they are able t0 gather reflect failure.
Here’s a suggestion.
Visit other churches. Send two or three members once a month to visit and report on what they learn. Visit churches in your own denomination. Cross denominations.
You may discover a need you can fill.
You may learn about a new resource or mission opportunity.
You might become allies in local projects.
You might begin to see yourselves through a visitor’s eyes.
I’m just back from a week’s vacation in the rolling hills of Upstate New York where my family has been vacationing for more than 100 years—since a group of pastors and seminary professors built a colony on the shore of a beautiful lake and began passing the legacy on to six generations.
It is always refreshing to revisit the past amid God’s beauty. Reinvigorating! New life!
“New life” is a concept dear to Christians of many denominations. We celebrate it. We preach it. We say we value it.
But what do we do with it?
The new life which was gifted to us in the Resurrection is supposed to free us. We are free to worship and free to serve, free to think and free to interpret, free to tell.
What do we do with all this freedom?
Sometimes all we do is create new boxes, new restraints. We see it as creating order or tradition. Not bad, by any means.
But “order” can become confining. Soon the order we create defines our lives. We begin to serve the order.
The Resurrection freed us.
And so we worship on Sunday mornings, in much the same way our grandparents worshiped. We spend our offerings the same way. We maintain. We repair. We hold one potluck supper after another.
We pray for the whole people of God and hope that does the trick. Suffering will end. Disease will be cured. The poor will be fed, clothed and housed. What has been ravaged by man or nature will be rebuilt. Justice will prevail without a struggle. Our leaders will be wise.
How will this will get done? Who knows! We did our part. We prayed.
Time, perhaps, for the Church to take a vacation and rediscover “new life.”
Three Redeemer Ambassadors returned to Hartwick Seminary Church in upstate New York last Sunday. Hartwick is a small church. It has always been a small church. It has no illusions of ever being a large church. They are about to celebrate their 175th year in mission to their rural community which includes seasonal tourists.
On this Sunday, they were fulfilling their mission. Their attendance was about 30 and a third were tourists.
What a pleasant experience!
The congregation pulled together as a team. The organist was great. A wonderful soloist stepped up to fill some time while they were waiting for their pastor who was coming from conducting a service at a sister congregation. The leadership was obviously accustomed to rolling with the punches.
The sermon actually addressed the gospel in contrast to some of the churches we visit where the sermon is a meandering of thoughts.
The children were actively drawn into the children’s message, interacting with the congregation. All the visitors were invited to a potluck following the service.
They passed out a new hymn that was written by the pastor.
As we have often found, the size of the congregation has little to do with the quality of worship or the fulfillment of mission.
I’d seen this episode of Dr. Phil before, but it was just as compelling the second time. Dr. Phil was interviewing a mother and her adult daughter. The daughter was a family outcast. The mother did nothing but criticize the daughter, who could do nothing to earn her mother’s approval. The siblings were cautiously following the mother’s lead, shunning the sister.
At first, I was tempted to think the girl was given to hyperbole, but Dr. Phil was being unusually harsh with the mother. What was he seeing?
He pointed to various events in the daughter’s life which had drawn criticism. Sure enough, the mother was unrelentingly critical. There were plenty of good reasons to shut the daughter out of the family circle and she had no trouble recounting each one. Nothing her daughter said was true. Why waste time with her? The daughter was trouble. All drama. Always was; always will be.
Slowly, point by point, the doctor provided proof that the daughter was telling the truth in many of the accounts. She was truly deserving of the family’s attention or support in some difficult circumstances. The mother’s attitude, not the daughter’s actions, had poisoned the family.
At the end of the program, Dr. Phil pointed out that what the mother was doing was applying her expectations (which were low) to every interaction she had with her daughter. When the daughter slipped up, she was quick to point out that her failings were exactly what was expected, proof of the mother’s superiority. Every misstep had an “I told you so” waiting.
While she was busy counting her daughter’s flaws, she was failing to see anything good. A son was cheered; the daughter jeered.
It was hard to watch, especially when you’ve walked in the girl’s shoes.
We, at Redeemer, have lived this story.
Dr. Phil pointed out that everyone can fall into this mother’s habit. We have to learn to see beyond our expectations.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been picking on Redeemer in similar fashion for decades.
Someone at some time in the past — does anyone know who or why? — decided Redeemer was trouble. Ever since then, church leadership has looked to see their low expectations of this good congregation proven. Every little thing that might be construed as wrong was paraded before the entire church. Every good thing (and there have and continue to be many) count for nothing. Add the fight over property and the synod’s ongoing financial crisis and you have a whole new dynamic.
In the mother/daughter scenario, the whole family was drawn into the drama, finding it easy to take the mother’s side. We’ve seen the same behavior. The whole church—clergy and congregations—are willing to accept the bad, never looking for reasons. In this case, they stood to gain in doing so. It wasn’t just a broken relationship. It was a broken relationship with a $2 million property attached as the economy was making things difficult for everyone. The potential payoff made it all the easier to find fault.
SEPA cannot see beyond its expectations foreshadowed in 2006. Redeemer’s president at the time knew nothing of SEPA’s fault-finding with the congregation he and his family had joined ten years before. In fact, 95% of Redeemer’s members had joined in the last 10 years and knew nothing of Bishop Almquist and previous episodes with SEPA.
Redeemer’s president was trying to work with the Synod. He contacted SEPA offices many times. No response. At last, a synod staff member confided, “It doesn’t matter what your congregation does, the bishop intends to close your church.”
This was right after Bishop Burkat’s first election. All she knew about Redeemer was what she had been told. It did not come from any process of “mutual discernment.” Such claims are just part of the myth.
People find it easy to believe the story.
It’s Redeemer. What do you expect?
The situation wasn’t beyond hope in 2006. There was enormous potential. (Still is!)
There could be healing. Dr. Phil gives the recipe for reconciliation and healing. (A similar recipe can be found in the Bible.)
You have to look beyond your expectations, he advised. Start with small talk. Get to know one another again.
At the end of the program, Dr. Phil revealed the family incidents that had occurred when the daughter was just four years old. They were very real and horrifically tragic. The mother, the leader of the family, had not handled the situations well. She found a way to escape. The daughter became a reminder of a terrible time. A new child became the focus of all attention. A fresh start. The daughter was left behind, bearing the blame for something beyond her control for twenty years—throughout her entire childhood and into her adult years.
There are real reasons for the on-going tragedy in East Falls that continues to burden the SEPA family. There were incidents in the past that caused division. Many have no recollection of these incidents, but since then everyone in the church has been looking for only bad things from this congregation (while benefitting financially).
Multicultural ministry. Doesn’t matter.
Multilingual ministry. Doesn’t matter.
Blended worship. Doesn’t matter.
Neighborhood Christian Day School. Doesn’t matter.
Six-week, full day summer Bible School. Doesn’t matter.
Ground-breaking web site. Doesn’t matter.
Five-fold growth in two years. Doesn’t matter.
International fellowship. Doesn’t matter.
What matters is a history that none of us can remember. Can you?
It isn’t fair. It isn’t right. It could happen to any church. We wonder if it already is!
Any congregation could become the church’s whipping boy. All you have to do is dare to disagree. Write this church off. Collect its assets for your own use. No one was supposed to notice or care!
The good news. This can be fixed. Start with small talk.
We’ve explained this before but not for about a year. We’ve gained a lot of experience since then. Last year, search engines brought a lot of people looking for object lessons to 2×2 (about 16,000!)
Other websites present ideas for children’s object lessons. Redeemer contributed regularly to one site, posting our weekly children’s sermon. We didn’t have our own site at the time. We learned something in that process. The object lessons were enjoyed more by the adults present.
Adults have the ability to think abstractly. Children are developing this ability. Most won’t be ready to understand an object lesson until after they stop running to the front of the church and stay behind with the adults.
There are probably no studies on whether or not it works. We doubt it.
2×2 witnessed a children’s sermon last Pentecost. For once there were children in church!
A lay person was delivering this message. Often that is a good move. Many pastors lack training in teaching children and it shows.
The children were eager listeners.
The teacher had a few balloons. She blew one up and fwwooff. She let the air out and the balloon flew across the chancel and will probably be retrieved from behind a decorative screen 20 years from now.
Did the children understand the Pentecost message about being filled with the Holy Spirit? One child begged for a balloon the whole time the teacher was talking. Concrete thinking! The other children listened pleasantly and eagerly as the teacher filled a second balloon with air.
The concept she was teaching makes sense to adults. The adults present were observing and pondering the Holy Spirit and how we cannot control it.
The children were somewhere else. Interestingly, one girl was still thinking about the previous week’s children sermon. We weren’t present for that but it was clear that the teacher had directed the children’s attention to a stained glass window depicting the Ascension.
This girl had probably been thinking about this all week. She still had questions.
“Last week you said we were going to say good-bye to Jesus and we never did.”
A week has passed and it’s still on her mind! Can you remember last week’s sermon?
This exchange went unanswered—a teaching moment lost. In this case there was no object with a special meaning—just a story and a picture.
Children understand stories and pictures. Adults understand object lessons.
2×2 provides object lessons geared to an analysis of scripture for adult learners because object lessons work best with adults.
We are preparing to publish our first book of Adult Object Lessons which will follow the Standard Lectionary. We hope you will enjoy it.
I began my morning experimenting with a new plug-in called Anthologize. If you are blogging on WordPress, try it.
Anthologize allows a blogger to collect posts and categorize them—edit, rearrange, whatever— and then export them as a single document into Microsoft Word for publication as an ebook.
2×2 has posted a weekly Adult Object Lesson for a while. Had you asked, I’d have said six months or so. Object Lessons account for a lot of our traffic.
When I collected the weekly posts with Anthologize, I found more than 70 posts with object-based sermon illustrations geared to adult learners! Many can be adapted for children. More than a year! Half of Year B of the Standard Lectionary and half of Year C.
Quite a little ministry for a church that doesn’t exist (according to the ELCA)!
Imagine what all the churches that DO exist could be doing on the web!
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
Print or Kindle copies are available on Amazon.com.
For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
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Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
