4/7InkzHVUEQeEdU9vpc1tikzEhChrKmPfvXI-FSDBrBQ

Judith Gotwald

Adult Object Lesson: September 16, 2012

Are We Ashamed of What We Believe?

Isaiah 50:4-9a, Proverbs 1:20-33, Psalm 116:1-9, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster. — Proverbs 1: 32-33

The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced. —Isaiah 50:5-7a

Today’s object is a dunce cap. You might make your own from a large sheet of oaktag or you can decorate a party hat with the word “dunce.”

Wear your hat and face your congregation. You might have a teacher carry it to the front of the sanctuary and place it on your head for more drama.

Point out that it is September — back to school time. Students are once again facing their teachers.

Two lessons from the Old Testament talk about the role of student and teacher.

The dunce camp was once a commonly used form of punishment in American schools. Students who were unprepared or lazy were humiliated in hopes of setting them straight.

It was something to be dreaded.

Today, we attempt to be more understanding. Struggling students may be battling learning disabilities. Even so, teachers today sometimes control students and classrooms with a quick tongue designed to shame them into better behaviors.

Rebellious students are nothing new. The analogy is part of both the Isaiah and Proverbs texts.

Isaiah faces humiliation head on, embracing it. He wears his dunce cap with pride (facing the crowd who watched as he was beaten).

The critics will wear themselves out. God will sustain.

The gospel lesson that accompanies these lessons (Mark 8:27-38) is also a teacher/student session. Jesus is questioning his students and preparing them for the trials they will soon face—the final exam, so to speak. Peter steps up and gives the answers his best shot. Jesus rebukes him in front of the disciples. We can only imagine his embarrassment and shame. Did it stop Peter?

Jesus prepared him. In Verse 38 he cautions disciples:

“Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Witnessing in today’s world is a challenge. We all face the possibility of being ridiculed for our beliefs. We weigh carefully in every social situation just how bold we should be in expressing our faith.

We fear shame.

Today’s message: Face shame with confidence. (And there is a definite “Or else!”)

photo credit: foreverdigital via photo pin cc
11 Sep 2012

Creating A Remarkable Church


In the business world there is a new trend in thinking. It isn’t good enough to create a good product or provide excellent service. Your business must create “remarkable” experiences—something to write home about.

Think of this as more than a mint on the pillow welcoming a hotel guest. It’s the mint and the slippers/robe tied in a bow with a handwritten welcome note—something beyond the ordinary.

How does this apply to church?  We believe we have a truly remarkable product — salvation, love and unity with the God of all creation.

So why does the mainline church get “buzz” only when things go wrong?

Most church people interact with the church on Sunday mornings. Most Sunday morning worship services are satisfactory for the initiated, with little for congregants to talk about or remember the next day.

Can they be made remarkable?

The argument can be made that this isn’t why we gather for worship. We gather to praise God.

If that isn’t remarkable, it should be!

So how do we achieve this?

We have created hurdles over the centuries. Tradition, which provides order and sense, can become a straitjacket.

There should be a balance between providing comfort and security and moving beyond traditions to expressions that result from deeper self-exploration and the infusion of differing, if not new, ideas that result from broader inclusion.

Here’s where we go wrong: The Church tends to sweep into congregations with edicts of change, which alienate existing members and don’t attract new. When this fails, the Church criticizes church members.

This approach creates “buzz,” all right. But it is not the kind of buzz that will grow churches.

Most people aren’t as afraid of the new as they are afraid of losing the old.

The old is our foundation. There is no reason our foundations cannot be remarkable.

In church work, it might be wiser to start by concentrating on the foundations—the individuals who already worship regularly. Enhance their experiences, making the familiar remarkable. When they are happy, valued and feel included, they will feel confident in telling their remarkable story.

But that’s Sunday morning. The Church has six more days in a week to create remarkable experiences in their communities. People will talk about these. They might even get some press!

Our Ambassadors recently saw this in action in a church (St. John’s, Hatboro, Pa.). A member gave a passionate temple talk about the congregation’s food pantry and how it has grown to meet changing needs over the years. This retired school teacher was proud to tell his story, starting from his interest in this type of ministry from his boyhood experiences. He concluded by describing a thank you note the pantry had received.

You see, something to write home about.

photo credit: JackVinson via photo pin cc
10 Sep 2012

Why Churches Should Reach Out to Boomers

There is a demographic that the church rarely considers, the Boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964. They were called Boomers by their parents’ generation before that generation christened themselves The Greatest Generation.

The Boomers are an outstanding generation that face difficult years. While their parents had a World War to unite them, the Boomers faced the rise of individualism and the moral and societal changes of a democracy gaining sudden world prominence.

Their experience and strengths represent many and varied feats.

Many are caring for The Greatest Generation and putting children through college, while taking on increased grandparenting demands.

Professionally, their careers were peaking when the Recession hit. Many are struggling to find employment comparable to their pre-Recession lives.

Adding to the challenge is the sharp shift in job skills that technology has demanded. Most Boomers feel a need for schooling and juggle learning with work and home demands — while their competition (their own children) still live under their roof, unburdened by the financial pressures of running a home.

They are experienced. They lived through the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, the Space Age, The Gulf War, Iran, Afghanistan (too many unrests to mention) and now 9/11 and the Arab Spring. They’ve witnessed the end of the Cold War and demolition of the Wall that remained from the war their parents fought. They have battled polio, AIDS, and new virus strains. They’ve seen cures for the diseases that claimed their grandparents. They’ve witnessed the societal change among the races and genders. They have seen the Church crippled by scandal.

The maps they studied in school have been recharted dozens of times.

Boomers were part of information revolution that continues to reshape society.

Women of Boomer age were at the forefront of the fight for equality. Some achieved it. Most still struggle.

Many boomers are divorced or widowed. Many parent blended families. They know firsthand the challenges that younger Americans will face.

They are reaching the age when their health may be challenged.

They are facing end of life decisions—their parents and their own. They can be troubled and grieving.

With all the challenges that Boomers face, they are still a capable lot! They have skills and better health than previous generations. Many were raised in church even if they have abandoned religion as adults.

They are the decision-makers of many families. They are not likely to go to church to be told what to do. It is more likely that the Church can learn from them.

With all the attention on youth and the Greatest Generation, they feel forgotten.

They are a generation that could be very well served and also serve the Church.

Should we mention that the commercial world is discovering they have economic clout?

But how many churches set out to serve the Boomers?

Something to think about!

photo credit: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester} via photo pin cc
09 Sep 2012

Mission Churches with No Web Site!!!

God is doing something new and the church is Out to Lunch. We are tempted to say Gone Fishing, but that might have theological implications that do not apply.

Redeemer Ambassadors always turn to the internet to plan our visits. We check service times, read newsletters and find out as much as we can before we visit.

We follow the process any newcomer to a neighborhood in 2012 would take when searching for a church home. They would Google their neighborhood and the word “church” to see what comes up.

Our search process reveals that neighborhood church seekers will have problems finding Lutheran churches.

Since we are looking for Lutheran churches, we start with the ELCA Trend Reports web site and use their Church Finder. We plug in 15, 20 or 25 miles for the radius and press the LOCATE button. Up comes a list. Then we click the link provided to each congregation’s web site.

We are now preparing for our 50th visit. We’d like to visit a nearby church tomorrow morning. Some of our ambassadors have afternoon plans. There are several possibilities. We’ll look for a church with an early service.

THIRTY of them have NO WEB SITE!

Several of those with no web site are mission churches under the direction of synodically appointed leaders. Note: These are just the churches in a 15-mile radius of East Falls.

A MISSION CHURCH with NO WEB SITE!

We Google the name of one nearby congregation. Maybe they have a web site that isn’t listed in the national database. Great! They have a Facebook page. We check it. It has NO information beyond the church’s address.

Really, SEPA churches, what are you thinking? Are you serious about outreach? Are you part of your communities? Do you open your doors on Sunday morning and expect the neighborhood to flock there by magic?

A church can have a nice looking web site for an annual investment of $25 and no more than an hour’s set-up time. Facebook is FREE, for St. Pete’s sake! 13-year-olds know how to use it.

If you don’t have a web site, you are not serious about serving your community.

Most of these congregation’s have pastors who could set up a basic site and at least have a community presence.

Even Redeemer, the church that doesn’t exist according to SEPA and the ELCA, has a web site.

In the world of the ELCA, these churches, that are not serious about ministry, feel they have the right to take votes about the ministries of other congregations and gain from their actions. (They don’t have this right under governing laws, but that hasn’t stopped the churches and clergy of SEPA!)

God is doing something new in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and many churches are not equipped to perceive it—much less take advantage of it!

We’d like to think they have Gone Fishing for Men, but the evidence is they are Out to Lunch.

photo credit: bobfranklin via photo pin cc
08 Sep 2012

The Problem with Vision Statements

Seeing What We Want to See

These days it is a common for regional offices to request congregations, especially congregations searching for a new pastor, to draft a vision statement.

This is always done by a group. Sometimes a special committee is named.

The problem: groups rarely have vision. Vision is a gift that usually comes to the masses via an extraordinary person. With luck, your local visionary is also a godly person and a communicator with some leadership skills and the ability to work hard. With real fortune, your visionary will be someone people like and will listen to.

If you think this is the job of professional leaders, think again. Pastors are not required to be visionaries. Most aren’t.

This is nothing new. Jesus chose 12 disciples. Only a few, maybe only one — or maybe none — can be said to have been men of vision. Their leadership skills were nurtured and tested over time.

So what happens when congregations draft vision statements.

They end sounding remarkably the same, the better to please regional offices.

We are going to call a dynamic, charismatic pastor. We are going to reach out to the community and they are going to love us and support us.

That’s not vision. It’s wishful thinking.

08 Sep 2012

A Pastor’s Secret Transformation Weapon

The Children’s Sermon As Catalyst

A pastor may think that a children’s sermon is a waste of time. The children might be better off somewhere else, engaged in age appropriate activities.

The children’s sermon time is so much more. It is a golden opportunity to introduce change to your congregation.

Many pastors do little more than talk at the children—a watered down “trailer” of the 20-minute version about to come.

It is painfully obvious in many cases that the pastor has little experience talking to children. All those years of seminary study so you can expound to five-year-olds!

The children’s sermon is a time when you can communicate to everyone. Many adult Christians have not been well-schooled in church matters. This is an opportunity to not only reach the children but to review basic church teachings without “talking down” to the adults.

You can experiment in the few minutes you spend with the children. Few will object. It is a chance to create the experience modern worship so desperately needs—something that people will remember and talk about when they go home and off to work.

In the business world, this is called creating a “remarkable” experience. Business people know that their best advertisers (evangelists) are customers (congregants). They aim to provide the best service possible so that the customer/congregant talks about his or her experience.

Most worship services are fairly predictable in format and even in content. They are no doubt meaningful to the congregants, but few are anything anyone will talk about during the week or even remember a few days later. (Quick! What hymns did you sing in church last week?)

More people will be tuned in for a ten-minute children’s lesson than for the full 20-minute version. Use this opportunity to create a “remarkable” experience.

This is a pastor’s opportunity to introduce change without objection. Congregants may not even notice that the praise song you taught the children last week is the sermon hymn this week.

The children’s sermon is an excellent opportunity to introduce media, teach the kids (and adults) to move in liturgical dance, practice a new prayer technique, read a story or poem, or perform a little drama. Don’t put a stopwatch on the activity. Some sermons may be five minutes long. But if people are engaged, milk the moment.

Here is a list of guidelines.

  • Don’t treat the adults as passive bystanders. Engage them in music, question and answers, or other activities. Enlist their help. They will be more likely to step up to help the children then if you asked them to do something for their peers. Ask a choir member to lead or teach a new song, for example. Or have an usher explain what happens to the coins the children put into the offering plate. It will strengthen your congregation’s sense of community.
  • Don’t be afraid of repetition. Kids love it. Adults learn from it, too.
  • Don’t be afraid of interaction. Throw out a question to the adults. Better yet, have the children ask questions. Imagine one of your older members telling the story at work: “In church yesterday, a little girl asked me a question . . . .” 

It’s all about story-telling. We all love to tell the story. The children’s sermon can be the vehicle for congregational story-telling. And this can lead to transformation.

photo credit: Jenn Durfey via photo pin cc
07 Sep 2012

Why Are We Counting the Days?

See the countdown box to the right. 2×2 Foundation, which grew from Redeemer’s ministry, is counting the days to the third anniversary of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s excommunication of all Lutherans in East Falls so that they could take our property and assets as their own.

We are marking the occasion with the issuance of our annual report which will include a report of our 50 visits to other SEPA churches.

Nine months after they locked our doors, SEPA’s Synod Council, with no constitutional authority or any contact with Redeemer members, voted to officially close our congregation. We found out a year later when we Googled our name. SEPA’s idea of working with us! Perhaps all churches should Google their names to see if they are open!

Why these actions do not outrage SEPA Lutherans passes all understanding. The Gospel is totally abandoned when the subject of Redeemer comes up.

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ — Matthew 25:40

Redeemer is not closed. Redeemer is locked out of God’s House by SEPA Synod.

We look forward to sharing our annual report three weeks from today.

photo credit: Eva the Weaver via photo pin cc
06 Sep 2012

Transforming Congregations: Changing Attitudes

Discovering Our Target Demographics

Imagine this common scenario.

Your congregational leaders are meeting with representatives from your regional body or with paid consultants. You are part of the “congregational study” process.

Part of congregational studies is to examine demographic data. 

Now, listen for the words that will be used. It will be something like this: “Which group of people should we target.”

Our relationship with our community is defined with predatory language. TARGET.

The most common — almost universal — outcome of this discussion is “Let’s target families.” All churches want families. Our Ambassador visits reveal that few are achieving that goal.

In our mind’s eye, we still see families as Mom, Dad and a bunch of children to populate our Sunday Schools. We see income, we see longevity of relationship. These are the things the Church wants for its own survival. When we think in terms of targets, we reveal our self-interest.

Today, families are in disarray on one hand and inclusive beyond any old-fashioned measure on the other. Families are not a well-defined target!

What church goes through the congregational study and decides to TARGET the elderly, the poor, the immigrants, the homeless, the unemployed, or people with special needs? These are not populations with expendable income. Most are members of families but that’s not exactly what we are thinking when we define our goals.

There are congregations with inclusive ministries worth mentioning. Prince of Peace in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., for example, is developing programming for families who have members with autism and developmental delays. Their ministry did not grow out of the “congregational study.” It stemmed from a teaching/preaching series.

When we start to think of segments of our community as “prey,” we cloud our vision of God’s total Kingdom.

When we narrow the focus of ministry, we become, unconsciously unwelcoming to everyone else.

Redeemer experienced this once some 30 years ago. We asked our regional body for advice on dealing with people who were finding their way to our door from the state psychiatric hospital in our neighborhood. The answer we received was, “That’s not the synod’s emphasis (target) right now.”

Church people see ourselves as welcoming. If we are to be truly welcoming, we must adjust our attitudes and stop approaching our neighborhoods for what they can do for us, but for how we can serve them.

When they walk through our doors, they should not get the “once over” to see if they fit our ministry’s target demographic.

Every person who enters a church has a story. Every church should make some effort to learn something about that story before they leave. Then we will understand the demographics of our neighborhoods!

photo credit: emiliokuffer via photo pin cc

06 Sep 2012

Why Don’t More Churches Blog? Answer 2!


Here’s another answer to the question “Why don’t churches blog?”

Church leaders don’t understand the reach and impact of the internet or the new definition of community.

Congregations, by tradition, are geographically bound. For several decades, congregations which had support from people who lived some distance from the church building were criticized. Membership was considered “scattered.” The regional or centralized church didn’t care about this as long as offerings were flowing, but if there were any signs of fiscal trouble, a “scattered” congregation was in trouble with its judicatory.

Geography is no longer as important as it once was. There are definite benefits to physical community, but it is not the sole criterion.

Community is a group of people with common interests. People, today, are discovering people with common interests all over the world. Just because this was not possible from 35 A.D. to 1985 A.D. doesn’t mean it has no value in 2012 A.D.

Recognizing that the Church and its sense of community has changed WILL redefine Church and its structure of support and service.

2×2 is on the frontline exploring this new definition of Church. We are learning every day. Our effort, barely 18 months old, has taken our ministry to places we never imagined.

Our regional office considers us “scattered and diminished” and worthless.

Scattered? Not when they made this claim, but today, maybe. But now it doesn’t matter!

Diminished, not at all. 2×2 (Redeemer) is reaching more people every week than it ever reached on a weekly basis at any time in its history. We can prove it!

Some contacts are fickle accidents. Others are developing into true friendships. That’s really not so different than the neighborhood church that reaches many visitors with only a small percentage actually joining.

We made all of these connections by blogging daily on diverse subjects, analyzing the wealth of online data, and producing content that answered the needs revealed in search engine data.

We did it on a shoestring budget — less than $100 per year. We followed our own members’ interests and talents.

We’ve only just begun. We’re here to help and serve.

Contact us if you need help developing an online ministry.

05 Sep 2012

Why don’t churches blog?

The answer to this question is simple: They don’t know how. They keep busy doing what they always do, aware that it’s not working very well, but unable to make changes — even when they have the tools.

The accepted structure of the Church calls for one thoughtful 20-minute message per week. That’s the way church leaders have communicated for decades or centuries.

In addition, they persist in relying for communication on the church bulletin, which only those who attend worship read, and perhaps an online newsletter, which requires the initiative of members to access and read.

Each has its place, but neither is effective at reaching new people.

There is NO interaction possible with any of these methods, no way of engaging seekers, no way to build your following. But this is the accepted way of communicating—as ineffective as it is.

Blogging is a new discipline. Church leaders have to shift gears sharply.

They must learn to plan a daily message. They must learn to divide thoughts up into shorter messages. They must get used to identifying topics and planning ahead. They must establish a voice and learn to build lists of interested people. They must address different audiences — instead of just the one which shows up on Sunday. And they have to get used to the idea that people will respond online. They are no longer alone in the pulpit!

Blogging has tremendous evangelism potential.

The hardest part is getting started.

Here are some quick tips to help you get your feet wet as you work toward a daily presence on line.

  • Look at next month’s church and community calendars and lectionary readings. List 15-25 topics that come to mind. For now just write a headline for each. You can change it later.
  • This is your roadmap. Write a post for five of the headlines, aiming for 300-500 words. Write the others later after you’ve created a rhythm.
  • Now go to your chosen blog platform. (We use WordPress). Register a url (web address).
  • Choose a theme. You can change it later. Post just one post, adding the others every other day or so. Blogging twice a week is a good starting point, but things will start to happen when you start posting daily.
  • Remember to write for other people — people who may not have any church affiliation. Remember to address — Witness, Education, Stewardship, Worship, Social Ministry, Fellowship and other topics pertaining to your congregation and community.

This is how you start. There are more details in our archived posts on Social Media.

HAPPY BLOGGING!

photo credit: Dominic’s pics via photo pin cc
05 Sep 2012