There is a delightful foreign film playing in artsy movie theaters. It was filmed in Italy and is subtitled. It is titled in English “We Have A Pope.”
It is not likely to draw huge audiences. That’s a shame. It is a great film.
The premise is simple but daring. A pope dies. The College of Cardinals meets to elect a successor. After many ballots, a dark horse emerges and receives a substantial majority. The black smoke wafting over the Vatican turns white. Throngs eagerly await the new pope’s first appearance on the balcony.
The new pope has second thoughts. He doesn’t want the job. He flees.
All of Catholic Christendom waits unaware of the drama behind the Vatican’s closed doors. Rumors fly.
The new pope explores his misgivings. He walks incognito through the streets of Rome for several days. The audience is slowly introduced to a man who appears to be a perfect candidate for pope. He seems so kind and understanding. He has his “pope” outbursts but he is generally humble, charmingly vulnerable, and in touch with humanity.
Meanwhile, back at the Vatican, an atheist psychiatrist is sequestered with the College of Cardinals, held captive by the rules of the Church until the new pope is introduced. He emerges as the leader of leaders.
The movie poses many questions about the Church and its unquestioning dependence on hierarchy and its definition of leadership.
The ending took the audience by surprise. Many were grumbling with dissatisfaction as they filed out of the theater.
It was the perfect ending.
It leaves us asking if the church, with all its rules, rituals and traditions can make mistakes. Can the College of Cardinals make a mistake? Can they elect the wrong person?
Can Synod Assemblies make mistakes?
Are the people we look to for leadership any more sure of themselves than the people they lead? Are the people who crave power the best candidates to hold positions of power?
Most important: What do we do when “the system” fails?
Watch this film because it’s funny, entertaining and great story-telling. It is filled with characters we have encountered in any church structure. Think about this film because, even as fiction, it airs weaknesses in the church that few people care to ponder.
Social Media makes introductions. It opens doors. It is a vital tool.
But the rest of Church Work is as old as the Palestinian hills.
The people of the Church must worship. We must be aware of our surroundings—our fellow worshipers and the community we will step into when worship ends. We must teach the Gospel. We must help the sick and frail. We must care about the troubled. We must be a voice for the disenfranchised. We must respond to crises. We must do this individually. We must motivate groups.
There is no substitute in Social Media for reaching out with an open hand. The sense of touch may still be the most valuable tool of Christianity. That’s where Social Media ministries must kick the keyboard aside and go to work.
Marketing Guru Seth Godin’s blog post this morning is short but speaks volumes to a topic near and dear to the hearts of Church leaders — transformation. What’s the quickest way to achieve transformational goals?
Don’t demand authority.
Eagerly take responsibility.
Relentlessly give credit.
The blog post has only one more sentence, a caveat warning that it is not the easiest way but the quickest.
Contrast this to the way Church leadership often approaches “transformation.”
They demand authority (constitutionally or not).
They relentlessly find fault within congregations and assign blame to volunteer laborers.
They grab credit for any success.
No wonder Church “transformation” so often ends with results that are counterproductive to the mandates of Christianity.
Seth says so much in just a few words. So we won’t add any more.
One of Redeemer’s young men graduated from college today. New York University’s commencement ceremony filled a good bit of Yankee Stadium. The president of NYU, John Sexton, gave a talk about how NYU was founded by Albert Gallatin in 1831 (when New York was still a small city) to be a university “in and of the city.” He talked about how NYU has never strayed from the mission of being a vibrant part of New York City but has expanded to become an influence in the world. The graduating class of about 12,000 included representatives from every state and about 133 countries. He described what NYU’s transformation as becoming “glocal”—a combination of the words “global” and “local.”
What he described is what had been happening at Redeemer. As we continued to serve the local neighborhood, we were becoming the faith home of people from many countries—all of whom were becoming active in our neighborhood and ministry. All of them lived with a five-mile radius. They were part of our neighborhood.
Most of our newer members were from Tanzania, but there were about five other African countries represented and a few European and Asian countries as well. Early on, we had determined that we didn’t want to be separate faith communities sharing a building. We worshiped and worked together.
We believe that this approach to ministry has a strong future. Unfortunately, our bishop refused to recognize our African members even though some of them had worshiped with Redeemer for as many as 10 years.
Bishop Claire Burkat was so intensely focused on acquiring our property that she counted only our white members and dismissed our black members, saying
“White Redeemer must be allowed to die. Black Redeemer . . . we can put them anywhere.”
Why? Why didn’t our faithful African members count? Why did white Redeemer . . . who were relatively young and vibrant . . . have to go anywhere? Redeemer had successfully charted a new course without shutting people out.
This divisive inanity is even more difficult to understand when we read of SEPA’s assigned ties as a sister synod to part of Tanzania. This prompted one Redeemer member to comment, “Bishop Burkat thinks Tanzanian Lutherans are great . . . as long as Tanzanian Lutherans stay in Tanzania.”
It remains a puzzle why a synod dedicated to teaming with Tanzanian Lutherans would treat local Tanzanian immigrants in such a condescending manner. Redeemer’s members should have been valued as a potential strength in building this international bond. Instead, they were evicted from Redeemer’s property along with “white Redeemer.”
Nevertheless, Redeemer continues its ministry and although we didn’t coin the term “glocalization,” we understand it, are practicing it, and think that it is a concept that must be explored by every congregation that exists in a changing demographic. Local people from the older part of a changing demographic must not be made to feel that they have been replaced and are no longer welcome.
Newer members of emerging demographics must become active as quickly as possible. It is absolutely absurd to insist that all members of a glocalized church be evicted to facilitate the ending of one demographic while distant regional leadership tries to figure out how to minister in the neighbhorhoods they just wrote off.
Redeemer’s ministry continues to define and redefine the “Glocal Church.” We are making contact with ministries all over the world. We don’t have a manual for how to minister this way, but we are taking notes. We may write one!
Jay Baer of Convince and Convert made an interesting comment today. The average customer has 20 times the communication power available individually than a media giant like NBC had in its entire field twenty years ago.
Jay was speaking to the business community, but think how that translates to your congregation’s power to evangelize.
At the recent Assembly of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop Claire Burkat announced with pride that SEPA was adopting its first balanced budget in more than 20 years. It was formed in 1988. That’s almost its entire history.
The practice of budgeting and spending far more than they had any hope of bringing in through voluntary contributions from member churches was a very bad practice that 2×2 believes led to coveting the assets of smaller congregations. Large churches had the benefits of services from staffs they could afford only by relying on small churches giving up everything. This led to neglecting the needs of small congregations. Part time, revolving-door ministries wore down the lay people until they gave in. Several churches were forced into closure with assets going to the synod.
This is presented as good stewardship. We think it is squandering the lay people’s legacy and investments in their neighborhoods.
Constitutionally, there is no requirement that any member church contribute to Synod. There is also no constitutional requirement that congregations must designate assets to the Synod upon closing. Congregations may sell their property at any time and determine how the proceeds are to be spent. This is historic Lutheran polity. There are many stories of congregations voting to close and leaving nothing to their denomination. There is an expectation that remaining assets be used for some charitable purpose in keeping with the congregation’s mission and with the approval of the congregation, but Synods are not to be the determiners. The congregations are.
Bishops and Synod Councils are not given constitutional powers to vote congregations out of the ELCA without serious negotiation. This requires a vote of the congregation. Of course, in SEPA, if the congregation doesn’t vote SEPA’s way — you can always just declare things to be the way you want them to be. Let the people eat cake.
But thinking changed in SEPA. They were passing six-figure deficit budgets and relying on the sale of closed church properties to save the day. They placed the assets in what they called The Mission Fund. They dipped into this fund whenever their deficit budget hit the wall. Declining membership and giving in even the largest churches made this a regular occurrence.
Things have changed. SEPA’s finance committee objected to the practice of including projected sales of properties in their proposed budget. Kudos.
We like to think that Redeemer’s insistence on Lutheran polity helped turn the tide. It is very unfortunate that this new-found wisdom was at the expense of the East Falls faith community (and about six others).
Not so many years past, mission work in far away places was something congregations knew about and supported but little more. It was impractical and impossible for congregational members to be directly involved in distant outreach.
Mission work was the realm of specially trained and denominationally sponsored missionaries who traveled to faraway places, often with their families. They either found work in foreign places and evangelized on the side (the tent-making approach) or worked full time — preaching, building hospitals and schools, gaining trust and creating Christian community.
The method was a choice driven by the philosophy of a denomination or sponsoring group. Christianity spread around the world, but it took decades to train native leadership to take over the “mission fields,” a popular term that became politically incorrect a couple of decades ago.
Back home, sponsoring congregations looked forward to periodic reports. Missionaries would return home, visit congregations with stories and photos, and raise support for future work.
That was then.
2×2 is discovering that it is now possible for congregations to become directly involved in mission efforts. We stumbled upon this mission. We put mission content on our website. For all we knew, there it would sit. But within a year faraway congregations found the content and contacted us. Today, congregations in Kenya and Pakistan correspond with 2×2 regularly. We learn about their ministries, share experiences, prayers and scriptures and offer ideas for ministry.
A few weeks ago, 2×2 sent an MP3 recording of a simple anthem we thought would translate well in any culture or language. One African church wrote to us this weekend to tell us their children learned the anthem from the recording and sang it in worship last Sunday.
Another congregation asked for ideas for Good Friday and later for a youth retreat. Another asked for help with a children’s curriculum.
We make it a policy to answer requests as best we can. When we have no answer from our own experience, we point to online resources.
But there’s more to it. We are learning from their ministries as well. The “mission field” includes us!
This was not possible ten years ago. Today, any congregation can expand its mission expression anywhere in the world. The role of regional and denominational offices is likely to change. They may begin to concentrate on helping congregations create and maintain direct connections.
Congregations are entering new territory and must “get over” the sense that mission work is only for the experts—an attitude we’ve encountered even in local outreach. This path was followed in the past because it was the only way possible. The danger we face today is to assume that this is the only proper way to reach out with the Gospel. Because top-down control was the only way then, does not mean it is the only way now.
There are signs that this transition will not come easily. Denominational leaders have invested a great deal in creating mission infrastructure that is becoming outdated. There will be challenges to be sure, but they must be met, because things are going to change. (Use the word “transform” if it helps!)
The Church is not experiencing anything exceptional. Every realm of society is learning the uncharted byroads of the information superhighway.
How this develops congregation to congregation remains to be seen as we explore new territory. Meanwhile, our suggestion is for congregations to keep it real.
Communication must be heartfelt and genuine with participants working to share actual experiences with credentials honestly presented. What your congregation cannot handle should be referred to those who can.
Explore possibilities but never assume patronizing or expert status.
Study the methods of the past. Learn from their vast experience and adapt.
Never publish anything about another faith fellowship without their knowledge and permission. You may make life difficult for Christians in cultures that do not encourage minority religions.
Make sure communication is two-way. Other cultures have a lot to teach us!
Be prepared for the energy of distant congregations to change your congregation’s perspective.
How will you find one another? Add helpful ministry content regularly to your congregation’s web site. Write in a way that search engines will find you. Wait. It may take months, God will work his wonders in mysterious ways.
God is doing something new, but if we stick to the old mission manuals, the Church will never be able to perceive it.
There is Mothers Day in 2009 when two Synod Council members visited Redeemer, barely abiding our worship. Before the service was over, they walked to the front of the sanctuary and announced that, from now on, they are “in charge.”
Tracey Beasley and Larry House were quickly surrounded by Redeemer members who, after heated dialogue, sent them packing. Happy Mothers Day.
This Mothers Day, Redeemer Ambassadors gathered in a hospital room of one of our major clergy supporters. We worshiped and prayed together. Later in the day, we met for a Mothers Day party.
This morning we could have used a van. One of our members had to stay behind because our car was full.
That led us to recall Bishop Almquist’s attempt to take control of our property in 1998. A Synod Staff member dangled a ridiculous carrot before the congregation. Turn your property and endowment fund over to us and we will purchase a van for your congregation to travel to another church. We didn’t fall for that obvious ploy. We were sure that once SEPA had Redeemer’s coveted property there would be a reason to renege on a promise that made no sense in the first place.
Oddly, today Redeemer is doing what Synod suggested back in 1998. SEPA has succeeded, for the moment, in locking the congregation out of the Church, and we travel together to other churches on Sunday morning.
No offer of a van this time. Just criticism and law suits. Happy Mothers Day.
We welcome Glory of Pentecost Fellowship from Eastern Kenya.
Silas Kadenge found 2×2 through our VBS-aid initiative. He wrote and hoped to sponsor a VBS-aid school. We were sorry to tell him that the program is start-up program for small American churches. But we engaged in correspondence and pointed him to some online resources we thought would be helpful.
We were surprised when we asked him the size of his VBS and he said he expected 200 children and wanted help training teachers.
