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Judith Gotwald

Churches Exercise POWER in Philadelphia

The Church Knows How to Run an Airline

I happened to be in Philadelphia City Hall yesterday. I was there on business for once. No synod chasing me this time, although for a moment I wondered!

As I waited for my appointment on the fourth floor near City Council Chambers, I watched the security screening process. It was a slow day until about 3 pm when the line to pass through security started to grow.

Many of the people in line were clergy. A man with a camera labeled Channel 6 set up his equipment next to me. I thought I recognized one or two of the clergy from our Ambassador visits. They were carrying signs that said POWER. One in particular seemed to be taking charge to some degree.

So, I thought, the clergy do know their way to City Hall. So few showed up for all the hearings on the Synod’s lawsuit against Redeemer (something for which they were directly responsible).

I looked up POWER when I returned home.

POWER stands for Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild. 

They were in City Hall to influence the vote on airline leases with an interest for better pay for airport workers. The airlines are wealthy enough to pay their workers better, they feel.

Sounds like a good cause. And they may be right about the airlines. Everyone deserves good pay. I’m sure they know best.

The website has a list of 40 churches. Most participating POWER churches are Roman Catholic. Three are Jewish. There are some Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal congregations represented and a few others, too.

Only two of them are Lutheran (or at least have “Lutheran” in their name) and one of the two is closed. Our Ambassadors had visited both of them. My memory served me well. The two pastors were who I thought they were!

POWER’s mission in part (from their website):

POWER uses our belief in God’s goodness and compassion for the suffering to organize and empower the people of Philadelphia to live and work together so that God’s presence is known on every block, that people work together to transform the conditions of their neighborhood, and that life flourishes for all.

Shining a light on broken systems:

POWER has come together to lift up a new prophetic voice and bear witness to the fact that these systems no longer work for too many families in too many Philadelphia neighborhoods.

We at Redeemer know that we can count on clergy for one thing. They will always stand ready to hold other people accountable for decisions and policies. Shining a light on their own systems rarely happens.

If they could just hold up their protest signs at their own Synod Assemblies and address how their leaders, systems and policies are shaping our city.

One of the pastors I recognized is on Synod Council, a key policy-making body.

It looks to us like grabbing the property of city churches to benefit hierarchical salaries and suburban missions is their city-shaping policy. Part of that policy is neglecting urban congregations and allowing the laity to work hard with little help and no hope of recognition—even when their work is successful. Attacking lay members who raise an objection to this system is their idea of justice here and now.

However valid the objectives, let’s look at who is talking. The Church doesn’t pay minimum wage to its most loyal workers. They pay them NOTHING. In fact, in the Church, the workers are expected to give. The best ones aim for 10%. Entitlement? Tradition? Whatever, it’s free labor with no earthly benefits. (I’m not complaining about the decades of work I gave for nothing. I wasn’t serving them.)

Only a couple of Lutheran churches are represented in POWER—both from the city and one of them recently closed. One of the things our Ambassadors have noticed is just how powerless the Lutheran clergy are in running their own affairs.

POWER believes that people should have a say in the policy decisions that shape their lives and therefore should not shy away from the exercise of power to promote justice and advance the common good.

What is that old saying? Practice what you preach?

05 Jun 2013

The Widow of Nain in Art

Two artists’ views of an often overlooked Bible story

The story of the Widow of Nain in Luke’s gospel is interesting. The focus could be the miracle. Jesus restored a dead young man to life as he was being carried to his grave. That is pretty amazing. Worth writing about—no question!

But the focus isn’t on the miracle. It is on the compassion. Why did Jesus intrude on this funeral procession?

It wasn’t for pity for the young life cut short. It was for what that young man’s life meant to those around him—particularly his mother.

We don’t know how the young man died. What is it illness or accident? We know only that he was the only son of a widow. He was the family provider.

Jesus saw a woman in distress and a society that couldn’t cope with supporting her. They had problems of their own. The social system as known to everyone was about to fail. All the widow’s friends, gathered on this day to help her mourn, would soon desert her. Bad things were going to happen if someone didn’t take preemptive action.

Jesus, a stranger, intruded. Thank God!

There are several well-know depictions of this scene. Let’s compare just two.

Mario Minniti tackled the topic in the 1600s. The elements of the story are here. The crowd is bewildered. Jesus and the young man are central.

WidowofNian-Minniti

But look at this modern depiction by artist Corinne Peters. Here’s a link this work on her website where you can view other excellent modern Christian art.

5.-The-Widow-of-Nain-1024x458Here, too, the focus is the reaction of the crowd just as the miracle is occurring. There is still no time to put their experience in perspective. They are frozen in the moment. They are joyful. They are relieved. At the same time they are frightened at the power of Jesus. 

04 Jun 2013

2×2 Ministry Influence Continues to Grow

Last week 2×2 heard from two readers, each identifying themselves as a fan of 2×2—and each from Nigeria. 

We had noticed growing traffic in this area of the world, but this was the first time we had connected.

We do not know if the two who wrote to us are acquainted, but their interest added to a phenomenon that we never dreamed would be part of our ministry.

2×2 Connects Churches Worldwide

A few months ago, 2×2 made an effort to put some of our regular readers in touch with one another. With permission, we shared email addresses and wrote letters of introduction.

We were surprised when a church in Pakistan told us of their plans to send a representative to Nairobi, Kenya. We were surprised again when a church leader in Nairobi took his Pakistani guest to visit a church in western Kenya. They had all met through 2×2, which is the web site of the excommunicated Lutherans in East Falls, Philadelphia.

Last week, one of the Nigerian readers asked to be connected to churches in Kenya. Again, with permission, we connected 2×2 readers.

Meanwhile, here in Philadelphia, a missionary couple, home from their work in Sweden visited 2×2. We had lunch together and talked about their house church ministry.

The ELCA and its regional entity, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod, considers its East Falls church to be closed. There was never a vote. There was never any dialog or mutual discernment. Just a decree, five years of litigation, and a foolish, self-serving land grab. This could not have happened if ELCA rules had been followed.

Excluded from Lutheran fellowship, Redeemer’s Ambassadors have visited 61 sister congregations. Most of them have the same basic ministry.

Redeemer was heavily engaged in experimental ministry and succeeding. We were taking the risks (with our own resources) that Bishop Burkat is now asking all churches to take.

But the ELCA is intent on destroying us and taking our assets for their own survival.

2×2 has operated on a shoestring budget.

Imagine the influence we could be having within the ELCA — the denomination we supported for 122 years.

Imagine what we could be doing with income we could be earning with our educational building—an asset we built with our own resources and were fully prepared to use again when SEPA locked the doors.

Imagine the influence we could be having locally with the use of the property our members purchased and the buildings we built. We could be building the same kind of connections in our own community that we are building all over the world.

But we are kicked out, attacked in court and treated as undesirables. Why?

No one ever told us, but then we know the answer. SEPA Synod is funding its regional office by closing churches and assuming property and endowment assets as their own.

Here’s the lesson they have failed to learn.

  • There is more ministry potential in open churches than in closed churches.
  • There is more economic potential in open churches than in closed churches.
  • There is more possibility of innovation when regional offices are not trying to control parishes.

Redeemer knows this because we never closed — no matter what SEPA says. We do all the functions of church and we do this under horrendous conditions.

Last year, we sent some recorded music to churches who follow 2×2, with a suggestion that they teach the songs to children. Today, one of the mission workers wrote asking us to send more recorded music for their children to learn.

We’ll send them some of the songs we used to teach our own children.

03 Jun 2013

Amazing Faith—Five Years and Counting

Our worship gathering started a little blue today. We Redeemer members are tired of being ignored or looked down upon at best and demonized at worst. Our members walked through our worship doors this morning fed up. We allowed some time for complaining.

Our members have plenty to gripe about. This month, we enter our sixth year of persecution by the leadership of the ELCA. We’ve been treated very badly and the courts, which are beginning to sympathize with us, still must defer to the original court ruling that says the church has to settle this themselves. The dissenting opinion that sided with Redeemer seems to be gaining support as court actions continue.

The Church is powerless to fix its own problems. They seem to be unable to practice much of anything that they preach. What good is any church that when put to the test is totally impotent? That’s the ELCA.

We soon put our problems aside, learned a new hymn and began worship. By the end of the service and our discussion of the amazing faith of the centurion, we were in a better mood.

Sometimes people outside the Church can see the bigger picture most clearly. That’s Redeemer’s experience, too. Many of the people who have been most generous in helping us have no church affiliation. Church people look the other way. Silence and inaction is all we’ve seen from SEPA congregations.

Redeemer has maintained our community. We are poised both financially and administratively to resume our ministry in our own community with our own resources.

If our situation was so dire—as SEPA falsely claimed—we could not have maintained our ministry for more than a few months. We’ve continued to grow our ministry for the last four years!

Our ministry was not the reason for the conflict in East Falls. SEPA Synod’s failing finances are the cause. Six years later, they are still in pretty bad shape. Redeemer is holding its own!

02 Jun 2013

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore.

ruby slippers

And we may never return.

When Dorothy left home with no particular plan for her future, she ended up visiting the land of Oz. She returned to the world she knew wiser for her visit and assured that the place she called home was heaven on earth. She needed to leave in order to appreciate it.

Not so in the mainline church. Fifty years ago there were six major mainline denominations that accounted for the majority of people who called themselves Protestant Christians. Lutherans were one of the six.

Today these six denominations are in serious decline. Non-denominational churches or smaller denominations have a bigger piece of the Protestant pie. But the pie is being nibbled away.

I’ve been reading the statistical studies of George Barna. His Group did research the scientific way, issuing a report in 2008.

Redeemer’s Ambassadors just started visiting churches of our denomination. Nothing scientific about it. But our findings are empirical. We look up a church on Saturday afternoon and visit on Sunday. We’ve visited close to half the congregations in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We’ve found the Barna Group statistics to be true. If anything, they are even more dire today, five years later.

The average age of a mainline pastor in 2008 was 55. We’ve seen only a few younger than that and most are considerably older.

His report talks about today’s short pastoral tenure. Most pastors stay in one parish only about four years. Since the current custom in our denomination is to place an interim pastor for as long as two years when a pastor leaves, there is really no realistic expectation that any pastor will become a “settled” pastor. The key leadership position in most churches is a revolving door. Smaller churches tend to be waiting rooms for pastors hoping for openings in larger congregations with bigger budgets.

We hear pastor after pastor talk about taking the training for serving as an interim. They may soon be the majority! That this is so widespread disproves the tendency of church leaders to blame congregations when tenures are short. The commitment level seems to be low.

Shorter tenures may not be a bad thing.  Society is no longer settled. But how this is to work while maintaining congregational polity and the interest of lay people will be the challenge. Lay leadership is bound to wane when lay Christians provide the continuity in ministry but must exist under synodical scrutiny for an undesignated period of time—every four years. 

This 2008 report reveals that 35% of people attending church are 60-plus. Our experience is that number can be easily doubled. The elderly are the majority in almost every congregation we have visited. Children in worship are rare. Frequently, there are none. Youth are even rarer. Young adults are in the minority.

The report cites the inability of the mainline church to attract racial and ethnic minorities, particularly Hispanic and Asian. Our visits reinforce that finding. In addition, we see very little diversity within congregations. There are just a few that have any measurable diversity. Most are either predominantly black or white—mostly white. Synod Assemblies can crow all they want about diversity. Statistics don’t back it up.

Interestingly, the report points to the quality of leadership as presenting serious challenges. “especially regarding vision, creativity, strategic thinking, and the courage to take risks.” Our experience mirrors and magnifies this finding. Church leadership is in a rut. It cries to the laity to pull them out of the rut, but it gives them no power to do so. In fact, it can be very judgmental, even punitive, towards lay leadership if they attempt differing approaches to ministry. Yet the need for transformation is regularly preached. 

Our visits and experience attest that this is a critical problem and perhaps the biggest threat to the future of the Church. The professional leadership model just isn’t working at any level and is unlikely to change without some major fresh blood. The Church has a hard time generating or recognizing talent that can make a difference. Laity are valued for their support not their talent and initiative. Pastors tend to exist in their own worlds. They are rewarded for being good followers, not leaders.

The report goes on to talk about emerging options for Christians and their greater exposure to different religious expressions as changing the face of the mainline Church.

Perhaps we should have been paying more attention to independent churches and the religious expression of smaller denominations all this time. We might have learned something. We still can.

Perhaps our Oz is a “melting pot” phenomenon. Maybe the lessons we need to learn have something to do with recognizing that we and our neighbors are not who we think we are. Congregants are likely to find this refreshing and exciting. Mainline church structure may find it bewildering and threatening.

But most alarming may be the economic statistics. Those who attend church are less well to do than they used to be. The wealthy have found other, more rewarding places to spend their money.  

The educational level of church leaders has dipped. Salaries have risen.

Offerings have dropped. More than a third of those who attend church do not contribute at all. At the same time church budgets have doubled.

In our experience  the aging of the church-going population has sparked a move by church institutions to corner the market on endowment giving. Seminaries, social service agencies and regional bodies encourage the donors to think of them when planning their estates. Any questions, just call their development officer. Be wined and dined while the papers are drawn up.

Fifty years ago, those bequests might have been designated for the local churches. Small churches don’t have development staff to work with members. In addition, regional bodies are assuming powers to claim gifts bestowed on small congregations. Future gifts are unlikely. People want their money to go where they want it to go! A lot of dollars that could be supporting congregations are disappearing.

We are in the Land of Oz. Are we learning any lessons?

If we can ever return to the health and influence of decades past, what might we do differently?

There’s no place like home.

photo credit: drurydrama (Len Radin) via photopin cc

01 Jun 2013

Ethics and Morals in the Emerging Church

New Rules for Winning in the New Church

TV’s top shrink has written a new book.

I don’t want to hype it. He does a pretty good job of that himself.

It’s the subtitle that interests me. New Rules for Winning in the Real World

When talking about his book Dr. Phillip McGraw says (repeatedly) that the world has changed. We can’t approach people or situations with the same level of trust we might have had 30 years ago.

Watch out for people who take advantage of your trust.

We are told we can no longer give people the benefit of the doubt. The advice: Observe. Ask questions. Follow your instincts. Be ever alert to motives and behaviors.

Sad to say, but this is good advice for trusting Christians, too.

Today’s Church is not like the Church many of us grew up in.

We now know that we cannot automatically trust church leaders to behave in godly ways. Headlines for the last decade have shown us that the people we trust, the people we ask our children to trust, are often unworthy. Problems are no longer rare and isolated. We know that criminal behavior has been widespread and enduring, existing under the protected status of “church.” The guilt goes beyond the parish. It reaches into the highest offices.

It is a new world!

Two factors make his advice particularly applicable to religion.

  1. The Church today exists in a state of distress. Mainline membership and attendance are plummeting along with offerings. At the current rate of decline, some denominations will disappear within 40 years. The church is not attracting the best and brightest to careers of service. Seminaries are struggling to find students. Candidates are often second career or interested in part-time ministry only—at their convenience more than at God’s call. The sense of sacrifice and dedication that once characterized candidates for ministry is increasingly rare. The future of church leadership is shaky.
  2. The Church is largely immune from the law. Clergy can operate knowing that there is low likelihood of question or challenge. Many, many people will give clergy the benefit of the doubt and look with suspicion on anyone who makes any challenge.

In the free world, the church is as close as you get to absolute power. We know the saying about absolute power. It corrupts absolutely.

As the mainline church faces continued economic challenges there are greater temptations. Church leaders crave power. The power that wealth gave them is disappearing along with status as our culture grows more and more secular. They are lording power over fewer and fewer people. 

Rules start to be broken. Polity is ignored.

Constitutions are tweaked to increase power.

These actions are begging for challenge, but the Church bets that in most cases they will achieve their objectives without question.

When at last leaders are challenged, they MUST win.

All the tenets of faith are quickly forgotten. 

Let’s look at what is happening today in the Anglican Church in Canada. It begins with a familiar story—a land and asset grab. In this case the bishop takes the dispute further.

Five years have passed since this 2008 land grab. Bishop Michael Bird of the Niagara region is resurrecting the conflict by suing a lay person who wrote about church leaders on a satirical blog. The stories we’ve read are just silly, obvious farces.

Bishops expect adulation. They can’t take criticism. They have lost the ability to laugh at themselves.

And so in Canada, the bishop uses his protected status to attack a 66-year-old man, a loyal church member who undoubtedly donated a great deal to his church over the years. The bishop claims that the blog cost him $400,000 in damages. We can only wonder what kind of deficit his regional body might be carrying. We know here in Philadelphia that SEPA’s interest in Redeemer’s assets always came when SEPA faced severe budget problems.

When bishops have tantrums, they tend to be costly, and the Church or its members pay the bill.

The Canadian news has many similarities to Redeemer’s and other land grabs in ELCA synods. The common threads:

  • No attempt to work with the congregation or lay leaders.
  • No dialog, just the strong arm of the Church, wielding what is left of waning power. 
  • Legal actions against lay members with clergy running for the hills.
  • Public presentations that talk about “discernment,” “dialog,” and ridiculous but righteous-sounding allusions to “death and resurrection.” They represent that taking what does not belong to them is God’s work! That’s what they are doing, and the ELCA’s tagline is “God’s Work. Our hands.”

elca mock logo

The Church today is desperate.

New rules are needed. 

  • Don’t trust that church leaders are wise just because they are elected to office. 
  • Don’t assume that church leaders are immune from temptation.
  • Don’t assume that church leaders will practice what they preach.
  • Don’t assume that somebody else will speak up before you, if there is really something wrong going on. Years went by before the Roman Catholic Church took action against 27 priests for misconduct.
  • Do assume that things will get very bad indeed before the whole church recognizes there is any problem at all.

As it is, it’s open season on lay people. The more knowledgable, dedicated and invested in church, the more vulnerable we are.

The only safe Christians are those who sit quietly in the pews (or in the chancel).

And we wonder why churches are empty on Sunday morning. 

31 May 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Luke 7:1-10

kaleidoscopeJesus Is Surprised

Today’s object is a kaleidoscope.

A kaleidoscope is an ordinary looking object. A tube-often cardboard-with a whole on one end. When we look into that whole for the first time we don’t know what to expect. We see a spectacular mosaic of bright colors.

But that’s not all. Each time we turn or shake the kaleidoscope we see something new. The geometry and colors change. Each time is a surprise.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is surprised. He is approached by Jewish leaders who come to make a request on behalf of a centurion who is concerned that a favorite slave is ill. The centurion is not Jewish. He is a foreigner, a representative of an occupying army. He is a man with power that he could use to get Jesus’ attention. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t even come to Jesus himself. He sends people to speak on his behalf—almost as if he fears Jesus would reject him for not being Jewish.

We don’t know what Jesus expected from this encounter. We only know that he was surprised. Jesus, the Son of God, is taken aback.

The centurion asked for help in the most humble way. “Please, don’t go out of your way. Just heal my slave. You can do it.”

Jesus is not the only surprised person. Turn the kaleidoscope and see the surprise on the faces of the Jewish leaders when Jesus praises the centurion. Turn the kaleidoscope again and see the bewilderment of the followers as Jesus makes an example of the centurion’s faith. Make another turn and see the disciples who just don’t know what to think!

We need to turn the kaleidoscope as we view our own neighborhoods.

  • What surprises might await us if we would occasionally refresh our view of our own congregations, our friends, and our acquaintances?
  • Who are we missing when we look for more people like us as we build our faith communities?
  • How might we be strengthened by learning from the centurions in our midst — the good people who respect us even though they do not worship with us — the people we think we know? But do we?

Ask your congregation, “Who are the centurions in our neighborhoods?” Listen to their answers.

Close with Psalm 96:1-9. O sing to the Lord a new song, all the earth. 

photo credit: Lucy Nieto via photopin cc
30 May 2013

What Are We Risking . . . and Why?

In the unending quest for transformation, churches in our area have been asked by their regional leader to take risks.

Sounds very daring!

But look before you leap!

What are congregations being asked to risk and why?

We presume our leaders are asking us to change. They are never very clear on how. Just change. (When they bring their experts in to to evaluate, they usually try to set things up the same old way.)

So what are our leaders expecting to happen now?

They could be looking at society and seeing a spiritual desert. They could be concerned for the troubled individuals, broken families, the children who live in two houses with torn parental loyalties, the outcasts of society, the people who struggle with illness and addiction, the jobless, the homeless, the youth who feel left out, or the lonely and unnoticed in general. They could be concerned with the growing number of people who do not know God and can’t pray.

They could be looking more globally at a world of injustice, hunger, disease, tension, prejudice and discrimination.

Most Christians would agree that if these were the major concerns, taking risks and making changes would be well worth a congregation’s efforts.

Unfortunately, the changes sought by the Church are economically based.  The risks we are being asked to take are so the Church can survive—that the hierarchy can survive— just the way it always has. No changes there!

Small churches have proven to be resilient. Immigrants and pioneers, uprooted from the established Church of the Middle Ages, came to America and started the Church anew. These small churches survived for hundreds of years. They changed over the years without prodding. Many actually grew!

The cost of hierarchy is weighing down the small church. The need for change and risk today is because hierarchies are failing.

They don’t intend to fail alone.

Change will happen in the small church when hierarchy demonstrates that they, too, can take risks and make significant changes. This doesn’t mean cutting ten percent of the staff or freezing salaries. It means revisiting everything they do. Reallocating initiatives more in line with the modern world. Changing the way they relate and communicate with congregations, and how they value the contributions of members—all members.

It means looking at our relationships with our schools and seminaries and our social service agencies. Are they serving the mission of the Church or have they adopted a secular mission while expecting support from the Church?

It means examining what is expected of professional leaders at every level. If pastors can be settled in ministry for 10 years while statistics steadily drop — and be applauded for nothing but having a satisfied congregation — well, it’s the same problem academia has with tenure. Security tends to trump mission.

Things are just fine here. Let someone else take the risk. Ten years to retirement.

The Church will not survive the present age without taking risks. Let’s make sure the risks are for the mission of the Church, not the survival of our comfort and way of life.

And leaders, congregations are more likely to take risks when we see you in front of us, not prodding (or picking our pockets) from behind.

30 May 2013

2×2 Is Interviewed on Social Media Podcast

2×2’s moderator, Judith Gotwald, was interviewed by D.J. Chuang for a podcast on a Social Media Church site a few weeks ago. The podcast is now airing.

This was our first such interview. Last month we posted our first multimedia video. We’re learning new skills all the time!

http://socialmediachurch.net/2013/05/social-media-saved-a-church-episode-48/

28 May 2013

Memorial Day Message: It all began with a land grab!

Anglican Bishop Sues Vocal Lay Member

Today is Memorial Day. We honor the many who have fought for the freedoms we have today. It’s a good day to revisit what we in the Church are doing with our freedoms.

A significant story involving the Church comes to our attention this month from Canada.

It all began with a land grab.

Now it’s a court battle pitting a bishop and a denomination’s best legal minds against a vocal layman.

Should we, residents of the Land of the Free, be concerned?

There are significant similarities that ELCA Lutherans should note. Here’s an excerpt from the Canadian story.

The ultra-liberal Anglican Bishop of Niagara, the Rt. Rev. Michael Bird has sued an orthodox Anglican blogger, a layman, alleging that he was libeled 31 times on Anglican Samizdat, a blog by David Jenkins that presents facts and pokes satirical fun at liberal Anglican leaders who depart from “the faith once for all delivered to the saints.”

The Bishop of Niagara was one of his targets.

The claim seeks:

  • $400,000 in damages plus court and legal costs.
  • An interim and permanent injunction to shut down Anglican Samizdat.
  • An interim and permanent injunction prohibiting Jenkins from publishing further comments about Michael Bird.

Link to full story.

Isn’t it a bit funny that someone labeled as an “ultra-liberal” would attack free speech—even if delivered with a Canadian accent. 

Canada has its own Bill of Rights, a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

On this side of the Niagara, the same Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that protects freedom of religion also protects freedom of speech.

The root problem is church leaders thinking so much of themselves that they shield themselves with the first amendment as they take actions that in a secular venue could be challenged in the courts—if not considered criminal.

The ruling in the SEPA-Redeemer case was made without ever hearing the case — even after five years of courtroom drama. The court determined that the issues were not within the jurisdiction of the courts under separation of church and state. However, a minority opinion concludes that if the law were to be applied, Redeemer’s arguments have significant merit. Two judges since have indicated that they, too, consider the dissenting opinion to have value.

Church leaders count on loyal obedience of followers who also benefit from their dubious actions. The same Synod Assembly that gave the bishop permission to take Redeemer’s property—defying their own governing documents—approved a healthy six-figure deficit. The Church can do anything they want. They are the Church.

Dissent is part of Lutheran heritage. How have Lutherans become so weak?

Church leaders work hard on their presentation. They hold the future of the clergy in their hands and can rely on their support. They also control all venues for discussion and media.

At least they did until the term “blog” became known.

Even now, Church leaders tell people how hard they work with congregations—how they use a rigorous process of dialog and discernment. They are very sure that everyone will believe them because they are Church leaders—even when there is no mutual discernment, dialog or any effort whatsoever to work together. No one asks for facts or evidence. Lay people who cite statistics and facts must be wrong because they are lay people. Church leaders can just repeat the same unsupported rhetoric and they are applauded. Bishops make pronouncements. Loyal followers stand back, out of the line of fire, and offer support—or more likely, say nothing whatsoever. This type of behavior prompted the Reformation 500 years ago. And here we are again.

Christians are not obligated to follow leaders simply because they are elected. Rank and file Christians are obligated to speak out when they see abuses and wrong actions and teachings. This is part of the supreme document of our faith—The Bible, sometimes called The Word of God.

In a free society that protects religion, it is imperative that religious followers monitor the actions of leaders. If they don’t they are at risk of being a cult.

Sadly, courts are not equipped to see beyond the rhetoric of religious leaders and probe the causes of their actions. Consequently any layperson who follows duty and conscience risks considerable loss, including:

  • heritage.
  • status within the faith community.
  • their property and assets (personal as well as communal).
  • their faith.
  • friends and family.
  • the fruits of years of volunteer service.
  • the benefits of years of monetary support.
  • and now, at least in Canada, all possessions, including the life savings intended to support you in old age. Mr. Jenkins is 65 years old. 

We could simply say “shame on the Canadian church leaders,” but we know how close this scenario is to what has been happening in East Falls with attacks on the individual members of Redeemer going on long after the objective of grabbing our property was decided. (Yes, right here, where George Washington camped with his freedom fighters on the same stretch of land where the LCA once had its headquarters.)

None of this costly and public conflict is necessary. Church leaders need only treat lay leaders with respect (love one another) and follow the teachings of their faith (do not sue one another, do unto others…). They need to stop coveting the property of member churches. Breaking the covet Commandments leads to breaking several other Commandments and the slow and steady deterioration of the Church’s mission.

Church leaders who encounter criticism or resistance, whether merited or not, have a less costly choice. They can write their own blog and respond to criticism. They can actually have the dialog they tell everyone they are having. Why not try peacemaking?

Using the courts against their members while they cry “separation of church and state” has the potential for a dual payoff. They might be awarded a lot of money while humiliating and intimidating lay people and thereby exerting control over anyone who might follow suit. In the Church today, pursuit of the Almighty Dollar is second only to the pursuit of power.

Mr. Jenkins already took down the offending blog posts.

I’m betting that won’t be enough to satisfy his enemies. Once bishops take an issue public, they have to win. Pride and power take control. Humility, forgiveness, reconciliation — just words for preaching.

Happy Memorial Day! Hurrah for the Bill of Rights and the people who lived and died protecting them!

27 May 2013