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Commentary

We’re Not in Kansas Anymore.

ruby slippers

And we may never return.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There’s no place like home.

photo credit: drurydrama (Len Radin) via photopin cc

01 Jun 2013

Ethics and Morals in the Emerging Church

New Rules for Winning in the New Church

TV’s top shrink has written a new book.

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

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

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

Watch out for people who take advantage of your trust.

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

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

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

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

It is a new world!

Two factors make his advice particularly applicable to religion.

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

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

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

Rules start to be broken. Polity is ignored.

Constitutions are tweaked to increase power.

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

When at last leaders are challenged, they MUST win.

All the tenets of faith are quickly forgotten. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

elca mock logo

The Church today is desperate.

New rules are needed. 

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

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

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

And we wonder why churches are empty on Sunday morning. 

31 May 2013

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

Anglican Bishop Sues Vocal Lay Member

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

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

It all began with a land grab.

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

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

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

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

The Bishop of Niagara was one of his targets.

The claim seeks:

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

Link to full story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Jenkins already took down the offending blog posts.

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

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

27 May 2013

Cartoon: Expectations of Modern Christians

Expectations of Modern Christians

22 May 2013

Achieving Diversity in the Church

The road to diversity. Who has the map?

How does a denomination reach diversity goals when diversity is so difficult to measure?

Here’s what probably won’t work:

  • assigning a pastor who brings along personal friends who fit diverse criteria and adds them to a congregation’s membership roster without going through the constitutional membership process.
  • pigeon-holing already diverse populations and directing them to churches where you think they will be happier.
  • assuming that individual personal worship preferences are dictated by skin color or ethnicity.
  • assuming that one congregation can serve only one demographic—the one they served 40 years ago.
  • trying so hard to appeal to new populations (that might not even be local) that the long-time supporters feel like strangers.
  • locking out an already diverse community, which has made major contributions to the denomination, with a stated goal of replacing them.

Each of these tactics was tried by SEPA leadership at Redeemer. Each failed.

What does work?

  • consciously welcoming whomever walks through the door.
  • consciously creating a fellowship that draws newcomers in. (Just setting up a coffee urn and snack table isn’t enough.)
  • empowering all to invite others. (Find a way to model this  to make it part of your congregation’s personality.)
  • providing a quality worship experience despite numbers. (This doesn’t mean hiring a lot of professional musicians. It means nurturing the worship experience, not always going with the obvious, expanding the experience so that there is something for new worshipers to connect with and something for older members to own and cherish.)
  • expanding or changing the worship experience incrementally, not all at once.
  • fostering participatory worship every week. (Let go of the reins. Really engage worshipers and give them a leadership role in planning worship.)
  • not forcing old ways on new people.
  • not forcing new ways on old people.
  • using repetition. (Introduce new elements slowly and repeat them often until they are accepted.)
  • re-examining the “givens” in our worship life to determine if they are understood and appreciated by the current group of worshipers or if a change might make an overall difference. (Example: Are an opening hymn, sermon hymn and closing hymn enough musically? Is the frequency of communion attracting people or keeping them away? Would shorter or longer sermons be appreciated? Should children be excused for most of the service? Is the time of worship interfering with attendance?)
  • listening to newcomers to understand their worship preferences.

Redeemer used these methods with success. We didn’t know all this when we started. We worked at it. We made mistakes. What we learned from mistakes makes us more certain of our success.

We hope our experience serves as a roadmap.

 

13 May 2013

Networking and the Modern Church

Will the Church Use the Power of Networking?

One of the joys of being excommunicated from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is the freedom to not only think outside the Lutheran box but to explore religion and the concept of church beyond what is expected of the traditional congregation.

Here’s an interesting quote from a prominent blogger in the Jewish community, Rabbi Hayim Herring. He addresses many of the problems the Christian church faces but from a Jewish point of view. Do they have different solutions?

It seems one of the Jewish initiatives is building network-based communities. Here’s a quote from a recent discussion.:

Established organizations are structured as hierarchies. They still have a command and control model, complete with organizational charts that visually portray a chain of command. But networks rest on platforms and platforms abhor hierarchies. They are self-directed and not directed ex machina. They rely on influence and not control, connections and not command.

This observation will benefit Christian community in the new information era.

The Church that will survive in the 21st century will master network-building. Social Media is the turbine for network building.

Network building means reaching out beyond who we already are.

Why think “networks”? Why now?

Because now we can. Now we have the tools to reach people like never before. Now we can think beyond our traditional membership base (which is waning). We can easily look beyond family, friends, and immediate neighbors. Now we can go directly to the people in society who can help us or whom we feel we can help without the gatekeeping of hierarchy or the institutionalizing of our efforts.

 Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all people.

Hierarchical thinking may have once facilitated the goals of Christianity. (It is debatable.) It may now be a handicap—an expensive handicap. Networks are not created by command but by nurture. We will not build networks effectively if we are looking over our shoulders for hierarchical approval.

Hierarchical thinking in today’s world will hinder the spread of the Gospel. As the self-proclaimed “Greatest Generation” fades, the new and as yet unlabeled generations will see no reason to submit to hierarchical thinking in most realms of life and certainly not in religion.

We, as Church, can spend the next decade trying to preserve the past, or we can start to build the platforms and networks that will keep our religion viable in a spiritually competitive world.

Every dollar spent preserving the past is a mission dollar squandered.

This should not be alarming. It is really what we have all been waiting for—a chance to open dialog with people who are not necessarily like-minded. (Don’t most churches look for people who will fit in and contribute in traditional ways?)

The new evangelist will listen and respond. Hyping the Church’s agenda will not build the networks and platforms. The new evangelical approach will return us to our mission of love.

Are we ready for the new world?

11 May 2013

The Social Media Revolution (or Reformation?)

 The Transformational Tool the Church Is Waiting For

The Church is slow to understand Social Media and how it could impact the local congregation.

The fact is Social Media can benefit congregations—both large and small. It can do more. It can transform them.

Larger churches have more resources for exploring this new world, but the emphasis should actually be on helping small churches master Social Media. Their success will benefit the entire Church.

People like small churches. Most churches are small. Most small churches are struggling. Social Media could change this.

The power of Social Media, if unleashed, could change how we understand church and mission foundationally.

Church structure has been pretty much the same since Moses. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. With that command in mind for thousands of years, God’s people have gathered once every seven days for worship. The structure of Christian worship is built on the traditions of Jewish scripture.

It’s quite a heritage. Why change?

There are at least two reasons.

  1. The number of people following the age-old traditions is dwindling.
  2. For the first time in history, we CAN make significant changes.

Most church leaders view Social Media as additive. It’s something new they have to do in addition to all the things that already keep them busy. That’s one reason why they never get around to mastering new skills.

But Social Media can be so much more. It can be a game changer. It can turn church life inside out and connect congregations to the very people we have so much trouble reaching. 

Look, for instance, at what is happening in the world of education because of the influence of social media.

The old model of education is to gather students around a teacher who lectures them. The students then go home and do homework to reinforce what they learned. Students who understand breeze through their homework. Students who don’t understand often return to the classroom to hear another lecture without mastering the foundations of the previous lesson. This model of education works for students with an academic mindset. It leaves a lot of great minds that  think differently behind.

But now, progressive teachers are beginning to understand that the best lecturers in the world can present the lessons to students online. There is no longer any economic benefit to gathering students around one teacher to hear them talk. One  excellent teacher can lecture a million students! Students can listen to the lesson before they come to class. They can repeat sections they don’t understand and search for additional information, if they are so inclined. 

The role of “teacher ” changes. When the students gather together for the state-mandated school attendance, the teacher can work with them hands-on. The classwork (as opposed to homework) can involve debate and projects and individual instruction. Using this time to lecture is a waste!

How does this apply to Church?

We are accustomed to the gathered people of God coming together once a week to worship and listen to the Word. The Word is presented by one person who may have spent a day preparing the message. The format is 20-40 minutes — way longer than the modern attention span. There is little or no actual exchange with the congregation (unlike the accounts of Paul’s preaching in the book of Acts). There is no way of reinforcing the message. Even the best sermons are forgotten before the Sunday dinner table is cleared!

Social Media can change this. It means changing habits or perhaps creating a new discipline.

News flash: Preachers do not have to wait for congregants to come to them!

There is no reason a preacher cannot interact with congregants (and seekers) every day of the week. Short, thought-provoking messages tied to the daily lectionary as well as the weekly lectionary can bring the congregation together on Sunday prepared to be more involved in worship. Worship and post-worship can become more hands on. The pastor may learn much more about the congregation he or she serves and new mission ideas and opportunities are bound to surface.

What could come from this is a new understanding of the talent that today is simply sitting in the pew. Congregants, with daily reinforcement, will make religion more a part of their lives. With daily inspiration, they are more likely to talk to others as they go about their work and family lives. When they come to church once a week, they will come not as passive listeners but as empowered, knowledgeable Christians who are eager to put their faith to work. They might argue with the preacher (just as the temple-goers in the Bible did). They might present new ideas or come up with new mission possibilities—which can then be addressed online during the week—for all in the community to read. It will expand a congregation’s witness.

For Social Media’s power to reach full potential, we must be willing to transform how we structure our expectations of pastors. Pastors and educators of pastors must be part of the transformation.

It may even change the role of seminaries. All the newly empowered lay people might see value in studying more about their faith—not necessarily to become pastors, but to become more involved and knowledgeable lay people.

What are we waiting for?

06 May 2013

How the web works for 2×2 and could be working for you!

2x2virtualchurch is the web project of Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls, Philadelphia, shunned by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They view us as too small to fulfill any mission purpose and seized our property and locked out our members. 

2x2virtualchurch is now two years old. We started knowing very little about the web but it seemed to be a logical and viable mission opportunity for a congregation raped of its  heritage. 

It’s been a voyage of discovery.

We’ve documented our growth statistics before but in the last month we began to add new dimension to our ministry.

About a month ago, businessesgrow.com (Mark Shaefer’s marketing website) featured a 2×2 guest blog.  

That blog was picked up by five other major blogs including a couple of business web sites and two Christian Social Media web sites. (These are the ones we know about!)

business2community

socialmediatoday

businessesgrow.com

Yesterday, we received a request to participate in a podcast for a Christian Social Media site. At the same time we are about to launch our first multimedia video.

This is all within a few weeks!

So the progression has been:

  • 2011: Readership grows from 1 reader per month in February to a few hundred per month
  • 2012: Readership grows from an average of 20 readers per day to 50 readers per day
  • 2013 to date: Readership grows from 50 readers per day to an average of 90 per day and more than 4000 per month

This makes Redeemer and its 2×2 ministry the congregation with the widest reach in SEPA Synod—which declared us to be closed and unfit to manage our own ministry in 2010. (They wanted our property.)

The lessons to be learned from our ministry:

  • Prepare to give a solid year of dedicated work before making any value assessments. 2×2 started to gain momentum when we started posting daily in the summer of 2011.
  • Post frequently at least three times a week.
  • Look for interests that aren’t being addressed. We discovered a demand for object lessons for adults that draws daily traffic to our site. Churches are also looking for easy dramas—plays that don’t require a lot of costumes and rehearsals. We are trying to figure out how to offer music!
  • Your audience is the world once you begin using the web. You can write for just the people who live near you but don’t close the doors on interesting opportunities. We have many stories to tell of how our ministry is impacting the lives of Christians thousands of miles away in surprising and exciting ways.
  • Be helpful to your readers. Our free resources geared to small congregations drives our traffic.
  • Cast a wider net when fishing for men. Most church web sites are all about them. They may succeed locally with this approach, but they will be missing mission opportunity.
  • Don’t look to professional leadership to have the skills needed to forge the way in this type of ministry. They have been busy learning other things. Turn it over to lay people.
  • Don’t rely on hierarchical support. They are not likely to understand the potential of the web. They were born of an era when church structure was locally focused with distant oversight. This is not likely to change without a major reformation.
  • Don’t expect accolades for your success from the greater church. Again, they frequently don’t understand the web and are still assessing congregational viability by 1950 standards. It will be five years at least before they realize what they are missing. By then things are likely to have changed still more.
  • Don’t expect regional bodies to admit their weaknesses.

Where to from here?

2×2 has gained credible blogging skills. We will now look to be adding more video and podcasting and more helpful resources for small church ministry and world mission.

We hope to cooperate with other local ministry efforts, offering our expertise to their causes.

We’ve grown a bit “like Topsy” but we will now become more intentional in creating our ministry plan—something Redeemer was always good at!

We have achieved this success on a $0 budget as our hierarchy claimed all our offerings at the same time it challenged us with legal expenses. We now have a readership base that can monetize our ministry. The economics of scale will allow us to do this at prices far lower than traditional publishing and we will remain dedicated to providing most resources for free as part of our mission.

There is a lot of hard work in learning all these new mission skills. We will be glad to share our experiences with any church interested in diving in!

01 May 2013

Has the Culture of Church Changed?

Today, Seth Godin, renowned marketing blogger, quotes an organization he supports. In doing so he is exploring the impact of the mission statement.

Churches, these days, are heavily “into” mission statements.

There is more to mission than writing statements. Seth likes the term “manifesto.” It’s a stronger, more action-oriented term. Your manifesto defines your culture, while your mission statement collects dust. (Click to tweet).

Here’s the manifesto he quotes from an organization called Acumen:

Acumen: It starts by standing with the poor, listening to voices unheard, and recognizing potential where others see despair.

It demands investing as a means, not an end, daring to go where markets have failed and aid has fallen short. It makes capital work for us, not control us.

It thrives on moral imagination: the humility to see the world as it is and the audacity to imagine the world as it could be. It’s having the ambition to learn at the edge, the wisdom to admit failure, and the courage to start again.

It requires patience and kindness, resilience and grit: a hard-edged hope. It’s leadership that rejects complacency, breaks through bureaucracy, and challenges corruption. Doing what’s right, not what’s easy.

Acumen: it’s the radical idea of creating hope in a cynical world. Changing the way the world tackles poverty and building a world based on dignity.

Love the phrase “hard-edged hope.” It describes Redeemer.

The problems Redeemer has faced in the ELCA is that the ELCA has become a complacent church. Congregations seem to be increasingly self-focused. As long as things are fine for them, what problems can there be?

The problem is that this complacency quickly defines our culture.

Our culture is worshiping together in a fairly defined way. It is friendly chatter around coffee before or after worship. It is choosing from a fairly short list of acceptable public charities to support (Habitat for Humanity seems to be the most popular). Some congregations support or operate food pantries and nursery schools. Ladies Groups knit prayer blankets and fix meals. Toys are donated at Christmas. Cookie cutter ministries.

The church that grew from the biblical teachings of Martin Luther was anything but complacent. 

Lutheranism grew from the ability of Christians to question authority and to fashion ministry with scripture as a guide — not pronouncements from hierarchy. The whole structure of the Lutheran Church, which focuses on the congregation is designed so that congregations can look at local possibilities for mission and respond independently, without carrying the weight of bureaucracy.

The ELCA uses the word “interdependent” to define this structure. The intent is that each level of church might draw strength from one another. Our regional body has reinterpreted this to mean that they are authorities unto themselves. No one can question them. There is no structure above them to check their power. The churches below them are supposed to do that — but that has proven to be ineffective at best and risky at worst.

The result in our region is SEPA Synod—a collection of 160 congregations that instead of drawing strength from one another, tends to exist with each member church living in its own little world. The way to avoid challenge is to never stray from conventional ministry. Just keep doing the same thing as the world around us slips into history.

Redeemer, on the other hand, had fashioned a ministry around new challenges. This was made all the easier by SEPA’s refusal to provide pastoral leadership. Our priority was not in maintaining good relations with leadership. It was in exploring ministry possibilities. We continue to do so.

Redeemer’s manifesto addressed many of the same points as those quoted above. It was the mission plan we created in 2007.

We were fashioning multi-cultural ministry in a new way. Diverse cultures were joining together in ministry, worshiping  and serving together. We weren’t just sharing a building.

We were investing our resources in this ministry. Our resources. Not SEPA’s resources.

We were recognizing something that the rest of the Church does not want to admit. We cannot serve needy populations when the expectation for every congregation is to support a building and professional staff at a minimum budget of $130,000 before a dime is spent on mission or outreach. This model is creating a church where only the rich and middle class can expect to participate fully. This worked in a culture where everyone attended church and knew what was expected of them. It doesn’t work when you are trying to reach the vast and growing population of unchurched people.

Redeemer was responding to this economic challenge, not by pleading for stewardship. We taught stewardship, but we recognized that it would take decades to develop personal giving. (This was made much more difficult by SEPA raiding our bank account in 1998.)

The only way toward fiscal viability was to develop our own funding streams.

We were unafraid of failure. We learned from it. Our early attempts to reach the diversity of our neighborhood were not particularly successful. Our pastors were not comfortable with multicultural ministry, so evangelism was difficult. Our success came when we were free to find professional leadership who could actually further our mission beyond status quo Sunday worship. It came into full flower when we put outreach leadership into the hands of our immigrant members.

SEPA was so intent on seizing our resources that they never really looked at what was going on in our community. They ignored our success and dwelt on ancient failures.

The past five years have proven that they really don’t care about their congregations and their missions. They certainly don’t care about the people.

Our suggestion for congregations:

Spend more time writing your manifesto and less time on your mission statements. Let’s regain our Lutheran culture!

 

24 Apr 2013

Who Are Today’s Shepherds?

mother sheep and twin lambsWhat Does A Shepherd Do, Anyway?

My early years were spent fairly close to the earth. We were not a family of farmers but we always lived near farms and among farmers. I was born into a home that was across the country lane from a large poultry farm. Our parsonage lot was carved out of a cow pasture. We moved to our next parsonage. Its lot was carved out of a donated corn field. When our family finally moved into our own home it was the farmhouse of a working sheep farm.

My brother is among the few people who can start their résumés with the experience of being a shepherd.

Most people don’t know much about sheep or shepherding these days.

When Jesus claimed to be s shepherd, that meant something to the people whose families measured their wealth by counting sheep—a concept that puts us to sleep today.

What did Jesus mean? What does a shepherd do, anyway?

Here’s what I remember from the years when I woke to the sound of bleating sheep.

  • Sheep are not smart animals. They cannot get themselves out of trouble. If they fall into a ditch or catch a leg in a fence wire, there they will stay, crying for rescue.
  • Sheep follow without question. When one runs through the pasture and leaps, just because, the sheep following will leap when they get to the same spot, too.
  • Sheep like to stick together. They know their own kind.
  • Sheep are content to spend their lives nibbling on grass, seeing to their own interests.
  • Without a shepherd, when the grass runs out, they will stray. This is dangerous. Sheep rely on numbers. It’s the shepherd’s job to find grass and water.
  • Sheep have no ability to defend themselves from predators, outside of gathering together so that only one or two of their number are sacrificed to settle the wolves’ appetite.
  • Sheep need someone to watch their tails. They are born with long fluffy tails which just get in the way. Off they go.
  • Sheep will obey a ruler without question, even one that barks and runs around in circles.
  • Sheep, despite their weakness, have value. The wool from one or two sheep can keep a family warm. The milk from a few sheep can nourish a family. Some people like their meat—camouflaged with mint or wine sauces.
  • Sheep do not tend toward aggression, although a mean streak can sometimes be detected in individuals. They will quickly become mutton.
  • Sheep without a shepherd are in danger. Sheep with a lazy or negligent shepherd are in even more danger.
  • Ewes predominate in the flock, but both rams and ewes are needed to sustain the flock.
  • If we want to eat meat, an animal must die.
  • While sheep know their shepherd’s voice, sometimes shepherds have a hard time knowing one sheep from another. They splash a bit of color on their coats.
  • Fences make shepherding easier—or unnecessary.
  • The sounds of sheep are pleasant. The smell you get used to.
  • Sheep are good-looking bright spots in a green field.
  • Touching sheep makes your hands soft.
  • There are black sheep, brown sheep and white sheep. They all smell like sheep.
  • It is easier on your shoes to walk through a sheep pasture than a cow pasture.
  • Lambs make us laugh and forget ourselves.

Jesus had his shepherd hands full!

How does understanding sheep help us understand the biblical analogy of shepherd?

photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar via photopin cc

 

20 Apr 2013