Will the Grinch run out of fingers?

The year-end statistics are in. 2x2virtualchurch, the blog of Redeemer Lutheran Church in the East Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia, grew again. This year we averaged 1000 readers each week. Often twice that! Although we were deemed to be too small to exist, these statistics prove we are among the largest congregations in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that attempted to close down our ministry.

2×2 could have racked up bigger numbers, but that was not the goal. The site was growing fast. The blog format was becoming cumbersome. There were about 1500 posts—many of them buried by time. Although people were finding posts through search engines, we wanted the site to be more helpful. We posted less frequently while we laid a new foundation.

In the summer, we started reorganize the material already on the site. This is a bit behind our projected schedule, but will soon launch. We learned something from this—daily posting is helpful to growing community.

2×2 started as a simple blog in February of 2011. The goal was to keep our congregation active while under fire. During a six-year challenge, we were locked out of our property, a move that was supposed to drive the last nail in our congregation’s coffin. We had confidence in our mission and wanted to continue. We wanted to do more than just get together for worship. We wanted to be a serving church.

With no property or money and no professional leadership, we just kept going. We used the resources we had—the skills of our members. We learned a lot!

• We discovered that size doesn’t matter.
• Money doesn’t matter as much as we think it does.
• Property is important to local ministry but insignificant to world ministry.
• Concentration on size, property and wealth inhibits mission.
• The measures of ministry are not limited to size and wealth.
• Lay members have skills that the modern Church needs and that many clergy do not have.

While 2×2 doesn’t have all the answers, we do have significant and unique experience.

• We know what the Church looks like from the outside.
• We visited more than half of the congregations in our synod and have seen what published statistics don’t tell you.

Here’s our plan for 2015.

• A revamped website will organize the object lessons posts and the slideshow posts so that they are searchable by text and theme. We hope this accomplished by the end of February.
• With that accomplished, we will return to more frequent posting.
• New resources for congregational use will be available. We are working on offering trainings geared to small congregational ministry. The first, Welcome Is A Verb, will be ready to pilot at the end of January. This three-part, online training is a new look at creating a welcoming church environment in an increasingly diverse society. If your congregation would be interested, please contact us by commenting below or by emailing creation@dca.net. We will send an outline of the material and a link to a sample part of the presentation.
• We know that we will learn a great deal from this pilot project. More courses will follow. These will begin with a series on using Social Media for ministry—something we have helped pioneer at the congregational level.
• When the dust settles on these large projects, 2×2 will resume offering weekly resources, and add a new feature—monthly and weekly tips for social media posting.
• Last, but most exciting . . . We will revive our presence in our own community this year.

Pope Francis had harsh words for the Roman Catholic Church’s top leaders.  He named five deadly sins afflicting today’s leaders like a plague.

• Spiritual Alzheimer’s
• Feeling immortal or immune
• Existential schizophrenia
• Spiritual and mental hardness
• Terrorism of gossip

People in power are often the last to recognize these symptoms. The symptoms are comforting to those with a sense of entitlement. That’s the devil’s way. He does his best work with a pat on the back. This diagnosis is coming from someone elected to the job of shepherding. The message just might get through—to Roman Catholic leaders and maybe, just maybe, to their Protestant counterparts.

Redeemer ran into every one of these symptoms in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We encountered church leaders so confident in their pursuit of our land and money that walked into our church and forgot why they were supposed to be there—to help. Spiritual Alzheimer’s.

They pursued us in court with the sure and certain knowledge that they are immune to laws—and the laity aren’t.

For five years Lutheran leaders went from the altar to the courtroom with a total disconnect with their mission. There would be no discussion with us. There would be no attempt to work things out in any biblical prescribed way or even with common sense. Lutheran leaders displayed hearts of granite. The basic message of the Church—God is love—is lost.

Bad as these symptoms were and are, the most pervasive—the hardest to fend off is the terrorism of gossip.

The gossip against our congregation grew unchecked for years. Clergy says to clergy — did you hear . . . . ? By the time the gossip gets to lay ears, it is unshakable even if there is nothing to it.  We continue to hear ridiculous untruths about our congregation bandied about the church circles with no one daring to ask for supporting information. (This will be the topic of a separate post.) The last eight years of ugliness would not have happened had leaders in the church not felt so secure in starting and spreading rumors that had only one purpose—to justify theft.

Lutherans are at heart good people. Lutherans want to care about one another. All Christians fight an uphill battle when we are asked to subscribe to a culture that follows without question. That, after all, is very un-Lutheran. And it will always lead to St. Francis’s Five Deadly Sins of Church Leadership.

Do we have leaders who can right our course as Pope Francis is determined to do in the Roman Catholic Church? If so, now might be good time to speak up! Pope Francis has opened the door for some real soul-searching.

Today is the day that we remember the brave Americans who put aside personal lives for a few years to defend our country.

They have a special day named in their honor. They deserve it. They stood up, guns in hand, for what they believe.

There are people in America who don’t have a special day in their honor. They are the people who stand up for what they believe without donning a uniform or carrying a gun. They are plain old American citizens who take a stand.

Some get recognition. Rosa Parks comes to mind. But there are thousands or millions more.

• The mothers and fathers who fight for the rights of their children.
• Students protesters—there’s always something to protest!
• The detectives who toil for years to bring justice to crime victims.
• The whistle blowers holding positions (at least for the time being) in corporate America or in government.
• Nurses and police—two professions that work every day with people facing the most desperate times in their lives.
• The people working for any number of causes—from  manning the election polls to raising awareness for AIDS, MS, cancer, domestic violence, etc.
• Teachers who take on the challenge of reaching children who are still left behind despite many a political pledge otherwise.
• The advocates for not yet popular causes.

All these people have something in common. They are working at low-paying jobs, often volunteering.

But then there are people who not only volunteer but are expected to pay the freight for all the people who are paid in their field.

The church volunteer. All we get is a special word. We are the laity.

As we at Redeemer found, laity stand up for what we believe without even the Bill of Rights to protect us. The Bill of Rights, it ends up, protects only the hierarchy. Otherwise, you are on your own.

What about the Bible? Well, it’s a little dusty in a lot of churches.

And so, my post today honors the brave men, women and children, who dared to say NO to a church that has lost its way—that hides the message of Christ in a screwed up corporate structure—that can do as it please with its member churches and people and count on no one in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to cry “Wait a minute!”

A glass held high for the veterans of Redeemer—the men, women and children locked out of our church home for five years by land-grabbing clergy—the veterans of six years of court battles during which our case was NEVER heard.

To the ELCA, we have one message.

The sacrifice of the thousands of veterans—those who died and those who returned—means nothing if we haven’t got the gumption to protect the rights they fought for at home and in our churches.

We at Redeemer tried. We are still trying! We remain LUTHERans!

An All Saints Sunday Message for Bishop Eaton

Last year, on Reformation Day, I wrote to the newly elected Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton.

 

I wrote with hope and respect that new leadership would bring order to the Church and recognize obvious wrongs. I heard nothing in response. No real surprise. We have written letters to her predecessor and other national church offices and been ignored for six years. Since the Lutheran way is to ignore dissent, I’ll post this year’s letter online.

 

No letters would have been needed had our regional bishop been talking to us, if our regional Synod Council had done anything but follow orders, if our Synod Assembly had checked their constitution before voting on a member congregation’s property.

 

All dreams of true participation in the Church and its message of reconciliation evaporated early on—when our bishop first came to us with a lawyer at her right hand. The Bible warns against this pretty clearly, but . . . .

 

When Christian denominations turn first to lawyers they have lost their way.

 

I post on All Saints Sunday—a day when we can remember our Lutheran roots—we are all saints and sinners—priesthood of all believers. Remember?

 

It is so easy to forget in challenging times. When the road gets rough, we grasp for any methodology—constitutional or not.

 

Redeemer is not alone in dealing with the overstepping of clergy authority, but we may have the most experience!

 

In our genetically engineered minds, when threatened, we have three choices—fight, flight, or freeze. In our experience—

• The congregation fought.
• The clergy fled.
• The people froze.

 

The Self-Destruction Superhighway

The Church is on a road to self-destruction. The challenges we face are the same challenges Jesus faced, but we have stopped learning from his example.

 

The response has been to rely more on hierarchical thinking. Just as like our Old Testament forefathers, in troubled times, we long for a king—or queen.

 

 

Laity get shoved aside.

 

Ignoring the laity is a bad idea. Laity hold important keys to the Church—not the door keys, although in the Lutheran Church they are supposed to hold these keys—but the keys to success. If mainline denominations are to survive another century, laity must play a larger role.

 

Laity are needed for more than monetary offerings. We have a great deal to offer beyond the usual choir membership and Sunday School teaching. Church-building skills were once the realm of specially trained clergy. Today, the laity have these skills. We’ve learned them on the job.  We practice them in our secular lives. We network and share our secular messages in a world that is alive with clashing cultures and customs. In the Church, the laity are held back from using their God-given gifts—if they clash with the agenda of clergy.

 

This has created an unnecessary schism in the church.

 

What Regional Bodies Don’t Want Congregations to Know

Difficult economic times affect hierarchical church structures more deeply than local churches. They are dependent on the congregations.

 

Yet they have the power their supporters don’t have—the power to pool resources. They don’t intend to be the first to fold! Consequently, they tend to view their supporting congregations with a critical eye—not to help those who need help the most (the Christian way) but to hasten the demise of the weak to gain control of their remaining assets. Meanwhile, they curry favor with the strongest congregations — the strongest for the time being.

 

 

Threatened regional bodies criticize congregations when clergy exhibit the same symptoms. Congregations are labeled as graying. Clergy are aging, too. Many candidates for seminary are well into their second careers. Part-time work is attractive to their more settled lifestyles.  While the commitment expectations of pastors have changed, payment expectations have risen.

 

Consequently, congregations are encouraged to seek full time pastors from a very limited pool. Leadership is concentrated in a few richer congregations. Part-time or interim ministries become the norm while the traditional structure of church is built on the disappearing norm of long-term pastorates.

 

This is a crisis in leadership—and congregations pay the price.

 

Add to this the fact that many congregations — many of them small — have more liquid assets than their regional bodies. The regional bodies look for ways to “secure those assets for mission” (funding the regional office).

 

Redeemer had more resources available to them in 2006 than the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Yet we were represented as being in dire circumstances. A lie—and not the only lie.

 

Changing the rules is the most viable strategy for them. A tweak here and there and soon the constitutions have reversed their original intent.

 

The battle is being fought on a sharply tilted playing field.

 

Regional bodies and the national church face individual congregations—not with prayer and discernment, where the small congregations might have a chance, but in the threatening and expensive realm of court. David and Goliath.

 

And Then Came the Great Recession

We could have helped one another through the last difficult decade—interdependence at its best.

 

The return to hierarchical thinking precluded that.

 

Hierarchies are crumbling. Leaders in politics, business and academia have had to rethink archaic structures, while the Church reverts to what they know best—the Middle Ages.

 

The result: The sense of mission is more profound in congregations than in church leadership.

 

Redeemer’s situation is an example.

 

A Structure Doomed to Fail

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was proud of its approach when it formed. We are “interdependent.”

 

The problem is that “interdependence” has been inadequately defined.

 

The founding documents are clear.

 

• The laity have administrative control over the property and ministries.
• The clergy are servant leaders. The concept of servant leaders and hierarchy do not mix well.

 

We can fix this.

 

Return to our roots.

 

The Priesthood of All Believers

Martin Luther believed in the equality of laity and clergy—separate roles, equal importance. It became a common denominator across the Protestant Church—an extension of the foundational teaching of our faith—“justification by faith through grace.”

 

 

For the first time in the modern church, laity have the same access to learning and communication. The teachings of Martin Luther can be tested among a highly learned laity.

 

The current reaction has been for the clergy to view the most knowledgable and active laity as competition—adversaries. Interdependence becomes a battleground.

 

Unlike other hierarchies, in the Lutheran Church, the top tier of leadership does not own land or control congregational assets. They exist entirely on voluntary contributions.

 

In feudal times, the “lord” would raise an army. Today, the church hires lawyers.

 

Servant leaders become bullies, protected by tradition and the First Amendment.

 

There is little to stop them.

 

When regional and national bodies pool resources of all congregations to fight individual congregations in the courtroom, the playing field is unfairly tilted.

 

The View from the Pew

From the congregation’s vantage, the Council of Bishops is a closed circle. A social club. They support one another — right or wrong.

 

This is what got the Roman Catholic Church in trouble with the sex scandals.

 

This is what is getting the Lutheran Church in trouble with property scandals.

 

 

The Solution

We live in one could be viewed as a magical time for the Church. Cheap, unfettered communication tools are widely available. We can lead the way, if we trust our own message, but our unnecessary dependence on hierarchical thinking cripples us.

 

It may be easy to rally votes to support the ways of the past. This would not be leadership.

 

Bishop Eaton, help us be Lutherans. Listen to laity. Uphold the original promises made to ELCA congregations. Restore order to the Church.

 

A first step would be to provide a forum for disputes between congregations and regional leadership. There were ombudsmen forums in previous Lutheran bodies but not in the ELCA. Bishops can do as they please unchallenged. If there was oversight that is not controlled by the bishop, bishops would be encouraged to respect their constitutions and congregations. Their bullying power would be diminished. Congregations would have a sense of that their Church truly believes in reconciliation. Bishops would think twice before exercising nebulous powers.

 

This is important to the survival of the entire ELCA.

 

We know, Bishop Eaton, that you know the clergy. The temptation will be to believe whatever they tell you. Take the time to know the laity. Build a church for tomorrow.

 

You may be closer than you think to presiding over a group of bishops who are proudly dangling the keys to empty churches.

There is a lot of talk today about the modern phenomenon of “going viral.” But really, Christianity had virality covered 2000 years ago.

 

Think about it. When Christianity was an outlawed religion; when Christians were hiding in catacombs; when the only news sources were the orator in the public square, the gossip, or the personal foot courier; when expressing allegiance to anyone but the current political power was life-threatening—during all these challenges and outright peril—Christianity spread like wildfire—to the ends of the known earth!

 

Why is it is so hard today? Christianity is mainstream—safe. Christian thinking is foundational to our current governing and justice systems—accepted. We have communication tools at our fingertips that early evangelists never imagined—like magic!

 

There is a science to virality that today’s Christians must study if we truly want to reach more people.

 

Derek Halpern wrote about this in a recent post. There are seven characteristics of messages that “go viral”—that people willingly and eagerly share. Here are Derek’s observations and how they apply to traditional Christian mission and our congregations today.

 

Feel free to share your own examples of your congregation’s vitality.

 

1. People share incidents that are memorable.

 

The gospel and Old Testament are full of memorable stories. Yet, a noted seminary professor recently wrote that when he routinely asks students to name a favorite Bible story he is met with blank stares.

 

Practice answering this question. Be ready to share.

 

I thought of Jesus raising Lazarus. There is the drama and the setting in motion of so many agendas—some noble, some founded in fear.

 

I also thought of two Old Testament stories—the story of David facing Goliath and the story of Joseph forgiving his brothers. Both of these powerful stories provide daily inspiration.

 

And what about MY church TODAY? What is memorable—worth sharing? Here is just one small encounter that defines our faith community and is worth sharing.

 

One day a pastor, filling in during the long-time absence of pastors in our church, broke down in tears as he was giving the benediction. His wife had died weeks before. A nine-year-old boy walked to the front of the church and asked “What’s the matter?” The boy was better than a trained counselor. He stood there in front of the congregation and addressed an adult he had known for only a few weeks. He waited for answers to his questions. He wanted to know the name of his wife—all the details. The congregation waited patiently as the the child comforted the pastor. After church the boy took a piece of chalk and added the name of the pastor’s wife to the memorial for member soldiers that hung in our narthex. Memorable. Worth sharing!

 

All congregations have stories to tell. We just get a little rusty or timid when it comes to telling our own story. But our own stories have the power to go viral.

 

What was the last memorable thing that happened to you in church—that you are itching to share?

 

2. People share material that matters.

 

What biblical events matter? Miracles. Resurrection. Lovingkindness. Three examples.

 

I thought of our how our little congregation was able, through our website, to befriend Christians in Pakistan before their ministry hit the international news with horrific incidents of terrorist bombings. We were poised to help when established church relief systems weren’t.

 

I also thought of the more intimate spiritual lifeline that reaches into our own community.

 

What about your church experience matters so much that you just have to share it?

 

3. People share things of practical value.

 

This is probably the reason most people don’t attend church these days. We fail to see the practical value.

 

What is practical about the gospel message? Curing the sick. Feeding the hungry. Reaching the oppressed. Three good examples.

 

I thought of how our little congregation was able to welcome immigrants and create a cross-cultural fellowship that helped families assimilate into a new culture. Practical, nuts and bolts ministry.

 

How about your congregation? What is the practical value of your faith community that members and visitors can easily recognize and share?

 

4. People share things that project friendliness.

Again, there are many biblical examples—from the admonishment to let the children come to Jesus, to the acceptance of the woman at the well, to the forgiveness offered first to the thieves hanging on crosses with Jesus and then to us at the foot of the cross.

 

I’m reminded of how people once became active in our neighborhood congregation without actually joining or appearing on our church records. They helped with the East Falls Children’s Choir, music camps and our six-week summer camp. They attended AA Groups we hosted or the community meetings that shared our buildings. I am regularly reminded in my encounters in the neighborhood of the number of children who attended one of our day schools during the last 40 years. One mother commented to me recently that she hates walking down the street and seeing our locked buildings.  She was never a member, but involved none the less.

 

How does your congregation project friendliness.

 

5. People share things that are moderately controversial.

 

AUUGH! No one likes controversy. But history teaches that most important advancements in civilization owe a good portion of success to controversy that matters and that grows virally. Controversy was surely part of the success of early Christians.

 

This has been a tough one for our church because we were labeled as adversaries and shunned by our regional body. That put us in a position where we were beyond moderately controversial. But sometimes there is no middle road. Time will tell if our reluctant willingness to engage in controversy will advance our congregation or not.

 

What about your congregation? What is important enough that your members are willing to engage in worthy controversy?

 

6. People share what is popular to talk about.

 

Let’s hope that’s short of gossip.

 

What do Christians like to talk about?

 

Jesus primed this pump with his admonition to NOT share the news of miracles. We still talk about these forbidden stories today.

 

What do we talk about today outside the biblical examples.We could talk about acts of love and kindness, but we often end up talking about things that exclude others from fellowship (homosexuality, popular morality, etc.). Let’s try to focus on the good. (That’s not original, by the way. It’s from Philippians).

 

7. People share things that are entertaining.

 

What entertains us in the church to the point that we want to share? Jesus knew that parables would entertain and teach. They are so very sharable.

 

At Redeemer and 2×2, we found our visits to 80 churches entertaining. We share our experiences in a book—our own parable of sorts. Undercover Bishop: A Parable for Today’s Church weaves our church visits into an exploration of small church ministry. We hope it is entertaining!

 

I didn’t start this post with any intention of promoting this book. But there’s no controlling online virality!

 

How can you entertain while sharing your message? Write your own sharable parable! Start your own spiritual blog.

 

Be a witness! Tell it! Tell it here if you like!