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Judith Gotwald

Niche Churches — Hmmm!

This is from a blog by the Rev. Larry Peters, a Lutheran pastor from Tennessee. He was commenting on the writings of Terry Mattingly.

If churches want to reach millions of independent-minded young Americans they should learn a thing or two from craft brewers. . . . It’s time, he said, for “craft churches” that reach niche audiences.

This is an astute observation. Small churches have been serving niches for some time.

Our Ambassador visits reveal that most churches, large or small, serve a niche, but probably with little intent!

The largest church we visited (non-Lutheran and twice the attendance of the largest Lutheran church we visited) was a congregation of 25-35-year-olds.

Birds of a feather . . .

Small churches know their niche. Any intention of being all things to all people, though tempting, is out of reach. Even if people wanted that kind of ministry, (and most mission statements sound like they do!), finding leadership is daunting.

Church leaders often view small churches as failures—undesirable places for pastors to serve. Part of this is economics. All churches must rise to the same budget expectations, which in the modern era have priced many communities out of the faith business. Pastors assigned to small churches often view their role as care-taking, never bothering with outreach. Some even use the offensive term “hospice ministry.”

Perhaps it’s time to seriously examine the economics of church.

People will make their church home where they can see their offerings and efforts at work. They will neither participate nor attend a church where they do not feel fully welcome.

We at Redeemer know the difference between being welcome to attend church and being welcome to participate. Our bishop made it clear that we are not welcome to participate in SEPA Synod. She seized our property and pledged to close our church and reopen it under new leadership. She wrote to us that current members could attend this new, improved Lutheran church but former members would not be permitted to participate. She unilaterally denied us vote or voice. When we started visiting churches she sent a letter to pastors warning them!

How’s that for a welcome statement!

Redeemer was welcoming East African immigrants who were moving into our community—not just to use our building, which is the more common outreach approach, but to join their traditions with ours. We saw our unique niche ministry as adding to the mosaic of the greater church.

But SEPA was determined that one population had to die before a new population could be fully welcomed. As Bishop Burkat said, “White Redeemer must be allowed to die, black Redeemer . . . we can put them anywhere.” Control of assets was the objective.

Religion is not supposed to be a spectator sport.

Part of the problem with niche ministries is that few pastors are trained to serve niche populations.

Defining a niche (while recognizing the likelihood that niches will change every decade or so) may not be such a bad idea. It will take decades to recognize and train leaders to actively serve niche ministries and not view them as “hospice” assignments.

Another problem with niche ministries is that the “niches” that are most in need (the ones the Bible talks about), often can’t support them.

The true mission of the church is defeated by cost—at least with today’s budget and funding expectations.

Meanwhile, rejected and criticized by our denomination, Redeemer has created a niche ministry. You are visiting it now. Today, two months into our third year, we are reaching more people every week than the largest church in our denomination’s local region. We are just getting started.

photo credit: Grant MacDonald via photo pin cc
29 Aug 2012

Adult Object Lesson: September 2, 2012

Be Doers of the Word

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9, Psalm 15, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Today’s object is a hand mirror.

Begin the talk with something about you in obvious disarray. Your hair might be disheveled or your shirt buttoned wrong or you might have a mismatched or missing earring or if you are robed, wear your stole backward. Having created a visual flaw, look into your hand mirror and discover the flaw.

Today’s combined lectionary readings examine God’s reaction to human flaws.

Retell briefly the story of Moses and God’s refusal to grant him the reward of entering the Promised Land after Moses had grown old leading the Israelites through the desert. For all the hard work of keeping a disgruntled people together on an arduous, perilous journey, Moses had to face his failings—his tendency to doubt.

The passage from James reminds us that God gives us the power to do more than hear God’s Word. We must act.

James asks us to look in the mirror. If we look in the mirror and do not like what we see we are compelled to do something about it.

The Gospel from Mark focuses on the interpretation of Jewish dietary laws. Jesus listens to the questions and criticism of the scribes and responds by pointing out that defilement comes from within. It isn’t bad or wrong food that gives the Devil its power. It is what is lacking within our hearts and minds.

Coupled with James insistence that Christians act upon what they learn from scripture the concluding message for today’s object lesson is to look into our mirrors every day. If we don’t like what we see, do something about it.

End your object lesson by fixing your obvious flaw.

Keep your lesson upbeat. Self-examination is difficult even when we have balloon-sized egos. Many people feel bad about themselves as it is. Offer encouragement, help, forgiveness and love as tools to overcome human failings.

Thoughts to keep in mind:

  • There is a related message in the signs posted in public concourses, “If you see something, say something.” (If you hear the Word, do something)
  • The lessons for today coincide appropriately with Labor Day, America’s celebration of the worker.
  • The book of James was such a challenge to early Christians (and even the great reformer, Luther) that it almost wasn’t included in the Bible.
photo credit: MistoAcrilico via photo pin cc
28 Aug 2012

To SEPA Deans

The following is from a letter to parishes from a SEPA dean:

When we think about what is needed to help our congregations become as healthy and as strong as they can be, we need to develop our capacity to be confident in prayer, inspiring in worship, sacrificial in service, rooted in scripture, intentional in invitation and generous in giving.
—Serena Sellers

All of these qualities describe Redeemer. We were even growing where we were planted as her letter also recommends. Too bad SEPA decided they needed our assets more than we. . . and not a single SEPA dean (who are supposed to be liaisons between the synod and congregations) spoke up.

Pastor Sellers points you to the synod website, godisdoingsomethingnew.com.

God is also busy in East Falls. See our news here and here.

27 Aug 2012

Conflict in the Church: Why Does Anyone Care?

Why Does Anyone Care?

This question is not asked often enough.

Why do church people care enough to get up every Sunday morning, dress better than usual, fuss to get the children and teens ready, leave their homes greeting their neighbors jogging by or walking their dogs, and drive their cars—passing diners and big box stores with full parking lots—to come to church.

Why, with all the demands on their lives at home and at work, do church members dare upon occasion to challenge church leaders?

The answers to these questions were probably taught to them in Sunday School and nurtured in their homes. Church leaders today are able to take advantage of the fact that fewer and fewer of the few people in the pew have a passionate religious upbringing.

Church leaders can take advantage, playing to the common denominator, risking church division to achieve their goals. When disagreement turns to conflict, leaders, quick to take all resistance personally, often resort to labeling church members. Members are resistant to change, ignorant and incompetent. They are incapable of leadership and not very good at following either. Members are dehumanized with terms such as “alligator” to describe lay people who oppose clergy. Church members are quickly considered expendable.

The “discernment” process in the church is widely cited, but rarely practiced. It would ask questions.

  • Why do members care enough to challenge leadership?
  • Why are members willing to risk peace in the congregation and in their personal lives to advocate against an idea?

The answers to church conflict are the answers to these questions.

But they are rarely asked.

Also not considered: If members don’t care enough to stand up for what they believe, why does the Church crave their benign attendance? Or maybe they don’t!

photo credit: StarrGazr via photo pin cc
27 Aug 2012

Ambassadors Visit St. John’s, Hatboro

The Ambassadors were back on the road today. Our visits are taking us farther as we have visited most of the churches near us.

Today we visited St. John’s, Hatboro. Our former pastor’s wife served here until they both fled the synod in 2006. We were surprised to find St. John’s still in transition or in transition once again.

We turned at the road just before the church, seeing a few parking spots along the church. We found these spots were reserved so we set out to park on the street. Parking was allowed on only one side of the street and NOT the side we happened to be on. As we drove, looking to remedy that, we found the exit from their parking lot and we entered against the Do Not Enter Sign. We would have had to cross a four-lane highway to find the proper entrance. No one was coming; no harm done.

Bishop Burkat criticized our congregation for not having a parking lot, but the walk from the parking lot this morning to the front door of the church was considerably farther than we ever had to walk after parking on the street in East Falls.

We were early. We found a nice outdoor sitting area, a memorial garden surrounded by shrubbery and begonias.

We entered a church which was much wider than it was long with very long pews flanking a center aisle. The only window was a circular stained window at the peak of the domed roof.

We were attending the second service of the morning at 11 am. There were just shy of 40 present and the people used the full width and depth of the church in choosing seats. We do not know how many were present at 9 am service. We were reminded that the synod trustees never visited our worship before announcing they intended to close our church and a visit by one of the trustees a week before synod assembly reported only the attendance at one of our two morning services in their report to the assembly. According to the online newsletter, St. John is one of the larger churches in SEPA.

We managed to hit another stewardship Sunday (our fourth!) with all the lessons addressing Christian giving. A member, a retired school teacher, opened the service with a temple talk and spoke passionately about the congregation’s food pantry mission. It was a service he had learned as a boy scout and he was proud of St. John’s enterprise in helping the needy of their community in a supportive and dignified manner.

The names of the pastor and music director were not in the bulletin but their web site says that the pastor is The Reverend Marcia Bell, of Mount Airy Seminary, and the music director is Michael Brinkworth. The pianist enhanced the hymns with many flourishes and upped the tempo of the closing hymn, Take My Life, as a spirited recessional. The width of the sanctuary seemed to affect singing.

Pastor Bell’s sermon talked about the need to make commitments and to take risks in determining offerings to the church. That message probably hit our ears differently than the congregation’s as Redeemer members took risks, made commitments and gave generously only to have Synod confiscate our assets and put our members in jeopardy with law suits as they try to get still more.

26 Aug 2012

Church Properties Become a Burden to Church Hierarchies

2×2 points to a recently reposted article about closed Philadelphia churches.

Tons of property now stand empty in the greater Philadelphia region.

Episcopal Bishop Bennison says, Where is the Gospel in this?

Good question, Bishop Bennison. The question should have been asked long ago!

The article deals with the stones and mortar problem church leaders are facing.

It barely mentions the lives of the people who have been affected.

The Church misplaced its priorities long ago. They point to a changing economy and demographics. Where were the experts on change when the changes were happening?

The neglect of God’s people is the real problem.

Most of the church leaders quoted in this article are from Roman Catholic and Episcopal traditions where church property is owned by the denomination.

One person quoted in this article, Bishop Claire Burkat, comes from the Lutheran tradition, where property belongs to the congregations. Her actions, in one neighborhood (East Falls) defied the rules of the church she serves. Courts have refused to hear the case the congregation brought. They want churches to settle their own problems, citing separation of church and state.

The Church does not have a good record of solving its own problems!

Now, they, like the hierarchies modern Lutheran leaders emulate, have a problem. They have successfully acquired property they cannot support or have any use for! Each denomination is competing for few willing buyers.

Costs are rarely discussed openly. This article states the realistic cost as $55,000 per property. No figure like this appears in the regional Lutheran church budget!

The real problem began years ago. The Church fled neighborhoods and considered the people left behind or newly moving into those neighborhoods as demographically unsuitable for their investment in ministry. They paid experts a lot of money to support their decisions.

They sought short-term solutions that would one day be someone else’s problem—presumably the laity’s.

They routinely, assigned part-time, minimal effort, caretaker pastors to see how long they might keep money flowing without actually ministering to the community.

Reliance on demographic studies is not helpful. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America analyzed Philadelphia’s demographics and found only one zip code in the city worthy of mission investment—Chinatown.

Eventually, they officially quit trying and started helping congregations close. Initially, in the Lutheran Church, they allowed the congregations to dispose of their assets as is Lutheran law. But regional bodies were struggling, too. They started imposing new “rules” which would make the assets of congregations go to them. Any such new rules are in defiance of the ELCA Articles of Incorporation and cannot be changed by fickle, expedient bylaws. Only Redeemer is challenging this, although the practice will one day affect many.

The plan is backfiring. Even suburban churches face serious challenges.

Regional bodies are looking for any way to put properties they now manage to work. They would rather work with hot dog vendors and theater troupes than people in the neighborhoods who profess the same faith.

It’s time to start looking at more than property. 2×2 will examine the more important question.

What happens to the people and neighborhoods when churches close?

25 Aug 2012

Why the Small Church Is the Future of Christianity

Church hierarchies love big churches. They offer a sense of accomplishment and power. Big churches can be featured in the résumé and portfolio of each pastor or bishop that played any hand in their growth—or who rode the coattails of predecessors.

Big churches make church leaders feel rich. There is the illusion that large churches will provide the revenue to keep things going. There is short-term truth in that. In the long-term, even larger congregations are going to have to hoard more of their offerings to keep the lights on.

Little churches seem like work. In reality, they probably demand less from the regional body. They have been forced to me more self-sufficient and the more self-sufficient they are, the less money they share with regional body—the foundation for bad relationships!

If you study church statistics, you will find that big churches are in decline, too. One of the largest congregations in our area lost a third of its members and income in the last ten years. They’ll get along fine for a while, continuing to support a large staff and plant while offerings wane, but they are traveling downhill on a wide highway. They will be sending less and less to the regional body.

Meanwhile, the self-sufficient small churches are gaining strength because the ways of the world are handing them tools that make regional bodies less important to everyone. Small churches are no longer dependent on centralized publishing houses and managers of mission services. The internet has changed that.

Large churches will have a hard time breaking from traditions, established customs and expensive obligations. Small churches have no choice but to use all the new resources to mission advantage.

The future of the church is growing today — in the small congregations.

Somewhere in church hierarchical thinking there is a tipping point where the value of the church property becomes greater than the value of the people who own the property. At that point the people and mission become expendable. And the attitude of regional bodies can change from shepherd to predator. The tipping point is reached more quickly when the regional body is, itself, scrambling to meet expenses. These are dangerous times for any church with average weekly attendance of 50 or less.

Here is what is happening in many small churches across the United States. (Our parable, Undercover Bishop, tells the story.)

  • Small churches, ignored by regional bodies, are free to redefine church.
  • When regional bodies fail to find adequate professional leadership, small congregations develop their own.
  • When the centralized church publishes worship materials and curriculum designed for use with professional leadership in graded settings, small churches develop methods that work with small, mixed groups led by members.
  • Large churches can get by with 20% of members contributing 80% to ministry. Small churches  can’t survive if they allow the bored and uninvolved to define their mission. They will seek the passionate and they will find them.
  • While members of large churches can wait for someone else to carry the ball, members of small churches scramble to recover fumbles and head for the goal.
  • They will develop leaders, recognized on the local scene, if not by the regional bodies, further alienating neighborhood churches.

The pendulum will swing back. Neighborhood ministries will be valued again. There will be a new tipping point. Land will be needed to conduct ministries in neighborhoods where they have squandered congregational assets on their own salaries. With a little luck, some of these churches will still be open.

24 Aug 2012

Does Your Community Have patch.com?

If so, use it!

Patch.com is an innovative news source, operated by AOL (America OnLine), headquartered in New York, but very specifically neighborhood-based.

Here is their corporate site explaining their philosophy and introducing their key officials.

Note their “mission” list (to use church terminology).

Patch.com allows people in their neighborhoods to:

  • Keep up with news and events
  • Check out photos and videos from around town
  • Learn more about local businesses and the people behind them
  • Participate in discussions
  • Share your perspectives via our Local Voices blogging platform
  • Submit your own announcements, photos, and reviews

Go to patch.com. You will see a box asking you to identify your state. Once you submit your state,  a list of neighborhoods with their own Patch comes up. See if your neighborhood has a Patch. Large cities will have neighborhood-specific sites. Smaller towns might have their own Patch or be linked with a nearby town or township.

Patch is the most accessible news source for churches and charities. You can submit your events to a neighborhood calendar. You can post your news stories, photos, and even videos. You can start your own patch blog and comment on things that are going on in your neighborhood from your congregation’s point of view. You can respond to dialog on neighborhood topics. You can publicize your response to local needs. You can find out about your neighborhood schools and businesses. You can reach your neighborhoods EVERY DAY!

If your neighborhood has a patch.com, you are no longer beholding to the daily or weekly print media that must pick and choose news to fit their publishing budget and space. This is GOOD NEWS for every church. You don’t have to be mindful of deadlines a week in advance!

Use it wisely! Remember social media works best when we emphasize others. You can write about yourself, but don’t upload all your photos from the last pot luck dinner. Choose one good photo from an event that impacts the community and write a newsy caption. Take 30-second videos from participants in worthy events (charity runs, neighborhood projects). Your time on Patch will be best spent responding to what others publish. Using patch.com will help churches better understand and serve their communities.

24 Aug 2012

New Life Ministries in Pakistan Sent Some Photos

Visit their page to see more of their ministry.

23 Aug 2012

Practicing Happiness Techniques in Worship: Part 5 of 5

Random Acts of Kindness

The last of the five steps recommended by The Happiness Advantage author, Shawn Achor is to practice random acts of kindness. 

What fun!

Achor starts by explaining that this is as simple as smiling at the person you pass on the street or in a public hallway. He recommends the 10-5 rule. Make eye contact and smile at everyone who comes within 10 feet. Greet anyone who comes within five feet of you.

He claims remarkable results. The idea was tested by a hospital. The program was implemented over the objection of doctors who considered it beneath their dignity.

The result: happiness spread—even among the doctors who resisted. Soon, the hospital gained a reputation of being a pleasant place that people chose to visit and staff opted to stay even when offered more lucrative positions elsewhere.

Similarly, there is a management technique that grew from the hotel industry. If a guest brings you a problem, you own the problem until it is solved — even if it’s not your job. This can be effective in any setting. In most grocery stores, a customer who asks where they will find the canned vegetables is told, “Uh, try Aisle 8.” In a popular grocery store, the employee (who might be stocking shelves or coming back from break) answers a customer query like this: “I’ll show you! Please follow me!” It makes a difference.

How does this apply to church life?

Our Ambassador visits reveal friendliness is harder than it sounds. Sometimes we stand as wall flowers in the church narthex as people pass by never making eye contact.

The most genuinely friendly church we visited was a small congregation, St. Michael’s in Fishtown. People greeted us on the street before we entered. Virtually every member approached us. The service had a greeting section built into the worship service. Friendliness is part of their culture.

A larger church, St. Paul’s in Ardmore, had an official greeting station, staffed by volunteers. They met us as we entered the sanctuary and even offered us a mug filled with candy as we left.

Both are good options, but one makes “friendliness” the job of a few. The other weaves it into their entire church life.

Churches of any size can be awkward at the social graces. Not just the laity! Often, pastors make no attempt to circulate during fellowship, often staying in a hallway or the sanctuary chatting with just one or two members.

Achor’s ideas might help us get over that. Start by enlisting and training leaders. Modeling by the pastor and lay leaders will go a long way to making it part of a congregation’s culture.

In addition to the personal greeting there is the power of greeting cards. Redeemer uses cards. We send about three a week. Our Ambassadors usually follow visits with custom greeting cards. Think what a card in the mail means to leaders, students, homebound or elderly.

Random acts of kindness can be so simple. In one church visited by our Ambassadors an older woman made it her duty to sit near us and guide us through the service. It was a lovely gesture.

It is tempting to list some acts of kindness, but listing them makes them self-serving and diminishes their value as spontaneous and heartfelt. Start with eye contact and a word of greeting and let kindness flow.

Remember: give it three months before evaluating!

photo credit: Nina Matthews Photography via photo pin cc (retouched)

23 Aug 2012