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Commentary

To Dream the Impossible Dream

Today’s Alban Weekly Newsletter promotes a book, The Small Church, by Steve Willis.

Willis points out that large churches are historically a new phenomenon—only 100 years old!

2×2 has made this point for a while. Most churches set out to serve their own communities with little thought of growth.

When churches grow, it is usually because of societal change, not a dedication to mission, fueled by a carefully drafted mission statement.

Willis points to the rise of mega church as a result of mobility in society made possible by mass transit and a reliable highway system.

The article quotes Tony Pappas, an American Baptist minister:

So for the first time in human history, thousands of people could get to a one- or two-hour event and get home for lunch! So large churches, big steeples, big pulpits, Old Firsts came into being. As we think of them today, large churches have only been around for a little over a century–only 5% of the history of our faith.

Before the concept of mega church, most congregations were pretty much the same in their needs and mission. Pastors were expected to do the same things and there was little mobility. There was no need. Pastors served the same church for decades.

Today, a pastor may, in following a call, carefully calculate how accepting the call will position him or her for a “better” or more lucrative call in three years.

Meanwhile, the congregations still think they are calling a pastor for the long haul.

The article makes a case for the mega church as an attractive business venture. Business entrepreneurs supported large congregations as an investment.

The early mega churches included congregations of just 1000 or 2000 members. Today, the mega church aims for five times that number. (Churches with 1000 or more members are called corporate churches. There aren’t many of them either.)

A model church budget today relies on the support of 1000 members. Most churches with 1000 members have only 10% worshiping on a typical Sunday morning.

In our 55 Ambassador visits, we have encountered only a handful of churches with worship attendance of more than 100. Most of those were on holiday Sundays. The average attendance of all the churches we have visited has been under 50. One congregation listed its average attendance as 400 in its Trend Report. Attendance at the 11 am service the day we visited was 27 (including us, the pastor and the organist).

In the last 100 years, we have created a model that the Church and its volunteer memberships never set out to support. And can’t.

So here we are in 2013, looking at the ruins of our church. And we are still thinking — if everyone can just change and be like the one or two percent of churches that manage to reach “mega” status, all would be wonderful.

Pastors are still trained to serve congregations as if they are neighborhood congregations. When expectations don’t match reality, the laity are blamed.

Most lay people just want to join a church to worship. They never set out to reinvent it.

But then there is 2×2.

04 Feb 2013

The Modern Church in a Tribal Culture

Today’s Church exists amid a new and perplexing dichotomy.

Our world views bigger as better. Bigger means more money, more resources, more power. Better goes along for the ride.

This seems to go with the fundamental view of corporate church. It certainly goes with the traditional structure of church since the Middle Ages

The Church is not going to give up on this idea easily!

Within this bigness is a new power of the individual. Individuals do not have to be part of a big organization to fulfill needs which were once met ONLY through association with large organizations.

The FBI with all its state-of-the-art technology and the funding of the leading nation in the free world can be hacked by an adventurous school kid with no particular ill will, as easily as it can be hacked by an enemy.

Big brands with solid positioning in our culture can be challenged by a single new marketing concept. What is Woolworth worth today?

The same thing is happening in the Church. Those accustomed to being big and powerful are finding their secure position in society threatened by the small church and even perhaps by individuals.

Where do television preachers get their start? They rarely rise through the ranks of the organized church. They may have started out there but their ambitions outgrow church structure.

There was a time when it was difficult to exist outside denominational structure if you felt called to serve God.

No problem today. Raise some money. Get on TV. (Or write a blog!) The media of the day can make all the difference.

Soon they have created what modern business calls a “tribe.”

Nothing new here. Israel had its tribes. Moses had a tribe. Jesus had a tribe. Paul had a tribe.

The members of a modern evangelist’s tribe probably had roots in the traditional church, too. The difference today is that individuals within the tribe have more power. They can and will come and go from the traditional church. Meanwhile, they can pick and choose between involvement with multiple tribes. One tribe might interest them socially. Another culturally. Still another might be addressing a cause dear to their heart.

The Church must recognize this as it nurtures its own tribe. Your most loyal members are probably sharing their loyalties, time, talent and money.

They may attend worship (or not). They may serve on a charitable board or two. They pick and choose between the charities that do the best job of soliciting their help — usually on Sunday mornings.

There is no longer brand loyalty among Christians. People want to make a difference. If the Church cannot provide the diversity of opportunities to serve, there are plenty of organizations that will.

There is also individual power. A person can abandon the whole tribe mentality and go it alone and still be effective stewards of God’s gifts.

Mainline denominational churches can cry about this, fight and scheme for positioning, and grasp at what’s left of the old order.

Or they can fashion a ministry that attracts multiple “tribes.”

03 Feb 2013

Want ideas for Lent? Stop denying; start giving

In Favor of a Proactive Lent

Lent is traditionally a season of denial.

Devoted Christians choose something to deny themselves. It’s supposed to be something we miss and it’s supposed to be something done in secrecy.

The tradition is intended to create a sense of sacrifice in honor of the sacrifice of God’s Son. This started out much more grandly than it is typically practiced today. It was a season of serious fasting. But that was just too hard.

Fridays were once like that, too. Friday was a day of Christian fasting in a regular remembrance of Good Friday. When that became too difficult, the custom shifted, with the Church’s permission, to shunning meat. Fish didn’t count. Whew!

Lent has been similarly compromised from its original intent. The things most people sacrifice in secrecy are things we want to give up anyway—cigarettes, liquor, sweets.

We are not very good at this sacrificial stuff, are we?

Perhaps it would restore a sense of Lenten sacrifice to do something proactive for the 40 days of Lent. Perhaps our sacrifice should be our time and self-centered attention.

Instead of dwelling on ourselves and our suffering for atonement, perhaps it would be more helpful to sacrifice in ways that would benefit more than our personal state of grace. Instead of NOT doing something this Lent, think about what we CAN DO to help others.

  • Instead of not eating meat or ice cream or chocolate, feed someone.
  • Instead of spending time on our own entertainment, take an hour a day and do something with family.
  • Instead of shopping for a new Easter outfit, clean out the closets and give good clothes to the needy. If you want a real sense of sacrifice, give away a favorite outfit!
  • Instead of checking Facebook five times a day, send one greeting card a day to someone who needs to know they are loved.
  • If you’ve neglected your God-given talents, use them daily during Lent to write, paint, sing, sew or practice the piano.
  • Create a new faith discipline. Start a faith journal.

Doing something for others — and thereby sacrificing self-interest — just might make for a more meaningful Lent.

How might you sacrifice proactively?

02 Feb 2013

Practicing Our Emotions

The Church is in the Emotion Business (so to speak)

Faith and religion are all about emotion.

You might not know it to sit through a Sunday worship service.

In some ways, the church has stripped emotion from its agenda. Church services are designed for corporate expression. The people are like marmots, responding in tandem.

An emphasis on ritual tends to do this.

A seasoned pastor once shared his experience working with a seminary intern.

Several weeks after the intern arrived, the pastor went over the worship service the intern had just led. The pastor asked him what he noticed about the congregation. The intern responded with a list of demographics. He described the age, race and gender of the people sitting in the pew.

The pastor kept quizzing the intern, but he couldn’t get him to see beyond the demographics.

Finally, he gave up. Didn’t you notice the woman crying? She was sitting on the right near the window. This is the anniversary of her husband’s death.

Didn’t you notice the man sitting by himself near the back on the left side of the church. His wife and children were sitting a few pews away on the right. Did you notice how the children were turning toward him while the mother stared straight ahead? Couldn’t you feel the tension when you shared the body of Christ with them at the communion rail? You’ve been here long enough to know them. The parents have separated. The children are torn. The whole family is in pain.

This seasoned pastor saw the worship service as a drama. During the week, he would respond to pain he witnessed on Sunday morning. The intern saw the worship service as a performance. Now he could go home and rest.

This approach to worship isn’t limited to interns. Some pastors never reach beyond it.

People are attracted to church and faith because of emotion.

People go to church to make sense of things in their lives that are beyond their control. They know the difference between how they are supposed to feel and how they actually feel. They want someone to notice.

The church tries to attract them with facts. Knowledge of the Bible. Doctrine. An accounting of good deeds. Great programs.

But it is emotion that draws people into life together as Christians.

With emotion comes a certain amount of chaos and a great deal of discomfort. But that’s our job. If we try to avoid it by relegating problems to committees, etc. we are failing in mission. Our reason for existing is gone. We haven’t loved our neighbors. We haven’t reached out to the world.

Church members should never be treated as robots.

There is a tendency to relegate church members into robotic emotional behavior. It is Lent. You will be sorrowful and repent. It is Easter. You will be joyful. It is Christmas. You will feel warm and cozy.

Be prepared to table your individual feelings and join in the prescribed emotion of the day.

  • If you came feeling cheated.
  • If you came feeling used.
  • If you came feeling guilty.
  • If you came in anger.
  • If you came feeling unworthy.
  • If you came feeling desperate.
  • If you came in loss or grief.
  • If you came looking for courage.
  • If you came looking for justice.
  • If you wanted peace and comfort.
  • If you came with a need to shout for joy.
  • If you wanted to feel hope.

You might find it—if you hit the right Sunday and have leaders who actually can see the drama playing out in the sanctuaries.

Otherwise, join the crowd.

Maybe this is why people find other things to do on Sunday morning. 

29 Jan 2013

No More Mister Nice Guy

A friend wrote a note of encouragement this week to Redeemer, a congregation that continues to be abused by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (SEPA / ELCA).

He wrote that our situation reminds him of a song by Alice Cooper of the 70s. He quoted a song:

“I went to church, incognito, when everybody rose. The Reverend Smith, he … he recognized me, and punched me in the nose. I said, ‘No more Mr. Nice Guy.'”

That doesn’t begin to describe how the Lutherans of East Falls feel about the way their denomination has treated them. But it’s as close as anyone in the church has tried to get.

27 Jan 2013

The Asset-based Church Is the Church of the Future

In our previous post we talked about the demise of the offering-based church. We wonder if it was ever a good idea!

The church will never be able to do more than patch the ills of society if it relies on the offerings of the needy to sustain a comfortable lifestyle for the parish.

Programs and outreach will then be created to benefit the affluent with a nod to the needs of the poor. Rich kids will travel to poor areas for a short-term mission project and then return to their comfortable lives.

The poor? We address their needs once or twice a year at holiday time.

Consequently, the model of the church relies on a caste system. We, the givers, serve the unfortunate takers. The takers are excluded from full participation in church because they cannot contribute.

Today’s difficult times have pushed this faulty model to the limits.

Without substantial gifts, the local ministry cannot provide outreach even within its own community.

The problem trickles up. The local ministries cannot sustain the regional bodies and the regional bodies cannot sustain the national church.

There is a stick in the spokes of this treadmill.

The offering-based church may survive, but it is unlikely to thrive or grow. Church statistics support this conclusion.

A new model must be found.

Local congregations must assess their ministries as if offerings do not exist.

They must begin to operate their outreach endeavors in a way that will sustain them in increasing mission and fund future initiatives.

Property assets are first. How can property be used in a way that the costs of maintaining the property will be covered through use.

This has led many churches to operate day schools. Good start.

Second are the talents of the people. Congregations can probably get far more value from their memberships by utilizing the vast range of lay skills and knowledge beyond the offering plate.

Most churches attempt to involve lay people in approved roles — lectors, choir members, Sunday School teachers, etc. They rarely consider if those willing to volunteer are really any good at these skills. Their most valuable gifts may be in areas the Church has never considered allowing lay people to influence.

Redeemer found among its new members a professional architect, property manager and mortgage broker.  The three got together and began to donate their expertise to form a ministry that would help our growing immigrant population identify and purchase first homes. Their efforts would guide immigrants through the purchase of a starter home. The projected annual income from their volunteer services would have created a recurring income of about $10,000 per month. (An entire annual offering plate income.)

Two other Redeemer members had worked in child care for several years and worked to earn a day care license. Redeemer was helping them start a daycare on Redeemer’s property that would have created an immediate benefit to the congregation of $3000 per month, growing to upwards of $6000 per month.

Another member was interested in social media.

Since the Synod decided (against church law) that they should control Redeemer’s property, all the plans of Redeemer were scuttled and resulted in a five-year legal battle. The only project to survive Synod’s interference was the social media project.

As this project begins its third year, it is poised to begin creating a significant return on the two years invested.

In each case, Redeemer was working with its own resources to forge new ministry. There was no support from the regional or national church.

Our resources/Our ministry.

The regional church (in our case the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or SEPA / ELCA) promotes such initiatives and encourages congregations to do new things.

Then it destroys innovation to meet its immediate needs.

If small congregations are to ever again thrive, the vision of small churches like Redeemer should be encouraged and fostered. Innovation has a price. Without it every congregation will face slow demise.

 

25 Jan 2013

Analyzing the Perception of Power in the Church

“I have the power!”

There is a lot of talk in the church today about power. There is even more posturing.

Constitutions are dusted off. It’s easy to find the denomination’s favorite passage that at first glance gives the bishop and synod council powers over individual congregations. Its pages are well-worn. The sections that support the current desire of leaders are easily quoted from memory. All other sections or even sections that further define the powers are ignored.

The constitutions define very specific powers and they are all to be read in the context of the church’s founding document — The Articles of Incorporation. Very few people in the church ever read these foundational documents. This includes bishops and synod councils. Delegates at Synod Assemblies don’t give them a moment’s thought. Does anyone at a Synod Assembly stand up and ask if they have the power to take votes on some issues?

The Articles of Incorporation define the scope of responsibility. They set the rules for the writing of constitutions and the altering of constitutions over the years. If they are never read, there is a danger of writing new church bylaws that conflict with founding documents. This has created the backdrop for church legal issues, including the ones the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) faces with Redeemer, that little passionate church in East Falls, Philadelphia.

Bishop Claire Burkat reviews the constitution and finds the powers she seeks. She probably cited them to the other churches she closed with less trouble. No one challenged her.

She declared way back in 2008 (or even earlier). “I have the power to close that church and I intend to close it.”

Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn’t. The courts didn’t rule that she does. They deferred to the church to make that decision. In making that decision the church must follow its rules — which most people in the church have never read.

Five powers vested in the church

Let’s not argue any more about it. Putting all constitutions aside, we know very well that the bishop has significant power — should she decide to use it.

Let’s just look at powers the bishop and church leaders have.

Where would we be today if Bishop Burkat had cited the following powers?

  • “I have the power to help that church and I intend to help them.”
  • “I have the power to love Redeemer’s people and I intend to love them.”
  • “I have the power to forgive the people of this synod who disagree and I intend to forgive them.”
  • “I have the power to reconcile with the member churches of this synod who are unhappy and I intend to reconcile.”
  • “I have the power to be a peacemaker, if I value peace over acrimony.”

These are the powers given to Bishop Burkat and all the members of SEPA Synod as defined in our founding documents: the Books of the Bible.

Let’s dust them off for a change.

21 Jan 2013

Hearing the Still Small Voice

AT&T Commercials Reveal the Thinking of Young People

AT&T is currently airing a series of commercials that feature a small group of children. They appear to be carefully chosen, boy/girl/boy/girl, some diversity and all comfortable with a camera recording their answers.

A moderator asks a question. The children give a few obvious answers but with the creative twists of youth and the voiceover concludes, “It’s not complicated.”

Most of the answers are just cute. A couple are more revealing.

In one, the children are asked about the difference between fast and slow. One boy answers with great empathy for a child his age.

What is slow?

My grandmother is slow.

Would you like it if she were fast?

I bet SHE would like it if she were fast.

Very poignant. Grandma should be proud.

Another shows the situation many students deal with daily, especially girls. The attention goes to the show off. Everyone else is shoved aside.

Which is better? Doing one thing or two things at the same time?

The children agree. Two is better.

One boy demonstrates with silly movements. All sit and watch as the moderator turns all attention to his antics.

I’ve never seen anything like it! he exclaims.

The girl sitting between them tries to attract his attention and starts to say, “Look! I can do it too.”

The moderator cuts her off turning all attention back to the silly boy. Analytically, the boy is contributing nothing. But he continues to get the attention.

The girl shrinks into the background and accepts the passive role assigned to her.

This commercial always makes me sad.

How often do we turn our attention to the show offs, with nothing to say, and ignore the contributions of the quieter members of our church or congregations?

20 Jan 2013

Practicing Church Leadership

The Value of Honing Leadership Skills

choirOne afternoon at Redeemer, we hosted the choir from the public school across the street. The sanctuary was filled, people were standing in the aisles and down the steps. I found a seat in the choir loft behind the choir. It didn’t hurt the sound one bit.

They started an anthem that featured a soloist. She had a hand-held microphone, hardly necessary in the small sanctuary, but it gave her confidence. She was singing with every ounce of her heart and the solo was reaching its climax, building phrase by phrase.

All I could see was the back of the choir. The middle school girls in the back row had a tacit communication going. They were anticipating the soloist’s coming high note. Each of them literally had their fingers crossed, their wrists punctuating every beat as they waited for what they hoped was coming.

And when that singer hit that note, you could feel them rejoicing within the decorum of the choir. But even if they jumped for joy, it wouldn’t have been out of line. The congregation was on its feet applauding in the middle of the anthem.

And so the congregation returns to routine. It’s Wednesday evening. For the last six decades Wednesday evening has been filled with church choir practice.

Every week the choir meets to make sure their Sunday music is as fine as they can make it. Every week the choir pools all its talent and raises voices to God. Even with all that practice, none of the members sitting in the pew expect them to be perfect. They won’t always hit that high note. But they’ll be back working on it next Wednesday night.

What about other skills of church leadership? Where’s the time for practice, honing skills, attempting something a bit beyond the usual, growing together, cheering for one another when a tough job goes great, laughing together when efforts bomb.

Maybe we need to hold Monday—evangelism practice, Tuesday—teaching practice, (Wednesday’s taken!), Thursday—prayer practice, Friday—stewardship practice, Saturday—social ministry practice.

It might be worth considering making these other skills as much a discipline as we expect from our musicians. Practice may not make perfect, but it builds confidence and it opens doors for new ideas. Skill sets grow.

Let’s practice mission. Try some new things. Be intentional enough to work at them weekly. Cheer when we succeed. Back to the drawing board when we don’t. We will experience both failure and success. Failure feeds success. But not if we don’t practice!

photo credit: Shavar Ross via photopin cc

17 Jan 2013

SEPA Embraces the Wisdom of Seth

Lutheran Synod Embraces Marketing Advice

A newsletter from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) today begins with a quote from futuristic thinker, Seth Godin.

There is the mistake of overdoing the defense of the status quo, the error of investing too much time and energy in keeping things as they are.

And then there is the mistake made while inventing the future, the error of small experiments gone bad.

We are almost never hurt by the second kind of mistake and yet we persist in making the first kind, again and again.”

Words of wisdom. Except that SEPA has shown no inclination to follow them. Their decisions tend to be status quo-oriented at best—and remarkably retro overall.

Of course, we live in an age that if an idea is ten years old it is ancient. The playbook SEPA followed in East Falls was written in 2001.

Redeemer’s Ambassadors have visited 54 churches and we see the same ministry plan with few variations in most of them.

SEPA’s vision:

  • You will have a congregation led by a pastor which we will choose for you—but we will pretend it is your call —because that’s the church way.
  • You can worship any way you like, but if you aren’t celebrating communion weekly, you are just not with it.
  • Accepted worship innovations include drums and an audio-visual screen.
  • Your budget will maintain your building and pay for a pastor, organist, choir director, sexton and church secretary. If money allows, your next hires will be a youth or visitation pastor. That’s the church way. Employing clergy is your major missional purpose.
  • Your mission efforts will coordinate with our mission office (keeping us employed as well). Otherwise, any success will not count and your ministry will be judged as uncooperative
  • Your ministry will be supported by offerings from a dwindling number of supporters in a volatile economy. That’s the church way. Go ahead. Keep trying. We’ll wait a reasonable amount of time before we celebrate your failure. Pastoral help? Sorry, no one is available.
  • When at last our prediction of your poor ministry potential comes true, we will make sure any remaining assets benefit synod.

Redeemer’s members, most of whom are entrepreneurial in their private lives, determined that we had to have a different kind of ministry. We had worked with Synod’s plans for a decade. Some showed promise, but SEPA’s support for their own proposed ministry plans was self-serving and ephemeral. The interim pastor we agreed to call for 18 months was recalled by Bishop Almquist after three months. He was needed in Bucks County. The covenant we signed with Epiphany was broken with the support (and to the benefit) of SEPA.

Redeemer’s vision:

  • Relying on offerings will guarantee failure. Providing pastoral needs as a priority will deplete resources with no measurable benefit.
  • Serve the community with profit center ministries.
  • Use the educational building to operate a community day school (with religious instruction) which might also reach the neighboring public school. Projected revenue $6000 per month.
  • Invest the skills of members in ministry that would serve the immigrant community while generating income. Projected revenue $10,000 per month (anticipated to grow with experience).
  • Experiment with social media, sharing ideas and potentially creating an income stream. Projected revenue within two years ($1000 per month with much more potential).

So Redeemer set about reinventing its ministry. Redeemer presented a detailed plan to Bishop Burkat who never reviewed it with us before (or after) announcing her plans to close our church. No questions, no answers, no complaints, no discussion, no congregational vote — just a declaration of closure. SEPA had a six-figure deficit clouding its vision. Redeemer, on the other hand, was living within its means.

Redeemer was willing to take calculated risks with its own resources for the benefit of its own ministry. Redeemer asked nothing of SEPA except their approval of the pastor we hoped to work with and who was entirely qualified and agreeable to the plan. He disappeared after a private meeting with Bishop Burkat. He resurfaced with an interim call to good old Bucks County.

While reinventing our future, we were willing to make mistakes along the way and planned for careful monitoring to maximize success. We set about our new ministry by rallying the support of members, involving them in the planning and shaping of their own ministry.

Outsiders, with no interest in our assets, have commented that we were doing a pretty good job. (Some of them were Lutheran!)

But status quo SEPA, facing its own murky future, decided that they had better plans for Redeemer’s assets. And so there has been no SEPA-sponsored ministry in East Falls in four years—Redeemer’s assets serving no ministry purpose. A legacy of distrust growing daily.

Meanwhile, Redeemer continues as much of its ministry as we can, under hateful conditions, while SEPA uses our resources to sue us.

If only SEPA had come across Seth’s words of wisdom before they fouled the baptismal waters in East Falls.

Looking for Success in the Wrong Places

As it struggles, the Church tends to misidentify success. They look at the largest dozen or so churches that attract larger numbers. They can still afford a few pastors and a staff. Careful analysis will show that the larger churches are also struggling. It just isn’t as noticeable. So their “success” is emulated.

We are emulating failure.

The Small Churches and Laity Are Pivotal to Change

The ideas that are going to change the Church are most likely to come from the laity in the smallest churches. (Tweet)

Small churches are keenly aware that complacency endangers ministry. Most small churches have strong lay leadership. Synod shows no interest in serving them. It’s a waiting game. A death watch.

If SEPA Synod is sincere in wanting to foster innovation, they must turn to their smallest congregations and work WITH them.

Here’s why the laity are key to innovation.

  • Lay people do not rely on the approval of hierarchy for their career trajectory. They are more likely to take innovative risks.
  • Lay people tend to circulate among other churches, religions and denominations — fodder for creative ideas.
  • Lay people are dedicated to the church and the neighborhoods where they live. They have no plans to move on to a bigger church in seven years.
  • Lay people provide the funds that support ministry. They care about how THEIR offerings are spent.
  • Lay people collectively bring the wisdom of many disciplines to the Church. Clergy get similar training in whatever seminary they choose.
  • Lay people serve with no expectations of reward or credit.

It’s a good thing. We rarely get it.

15 Jan 2013