How the Internet Can Force Us to Take A Good Look at Ourselves
A young man has been ranting online about the death of his sister in a car accident and her insurance company’s maneuverings to avoid paying the benefit included in her policy. They have probably spent more than the $75,000 the policy promised.
Considering the tragic circumstances, Mike Fisher’s writing is civil. His arguments make sense and are presented graciously. The battle that his parents have had to wage reveals the failing of corporate thinking. Money and litigation experience allows the Corporation to abuse its customers.
There was a time when victims of bad corporate behavior had little recourse.
They bet on short memories and the healing power of marketing dollars, commercials and discounts. Employees are pushed to focus on bureaucratic policies and quarterly numbers, not a realization that individuals, not corporations, are responsible for what they do.
The Corporate Church is no better than Progressive. They are mired in “corporate think.” It’s handling of its members has strayed far from biblical teachings. Dollars rule. People: too bad.
In Redeemer’s conflict with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the same thinking is evident. The Church turned on its own “policy holders.” The conflict was vicious from the opening bell. The bishop attempts to make it look as if great efforts were made otherwise. They weren’t. In all the rhetoric explaining how hard they worked with Redeemer, they never give examples. There aren’t any.
The Church, from the start, used corporate power and pooled assets of 160 congregations to go after individuals in one small church.
The people of Redeemer always thought we were on the same side.
The lives of 82 lay volunteer church members have been turned upside down for four years with no end in sight. The Church is oblivious that their actions are against their own members— old people, children, immigrants, disabled people, students—faithful, hard-working people—the people the Church advertises that it cares for.
To SEPA, we are the enemy.
This enemy has been fighting for one thing—that SEPA and the ELCA keep the promises made to member churches.
The courts don’t want any part of church disputes. Unfortunately neither do other congregations, clergy, Presiding Bishop Hanson, or the national church.
Progressive Insurance creates enticing advertisements. Get the dollars flowing.
The Corporate Church preaches that it cares about bullying and social justice, love, reconciliation and compassion. When put to the test, it is just as self-protective of power and money as the Corporate Insurance Agency.
They are both in the “people business.” It’s time they both act like it.
People could stop the abuse. Will they?
We won’t buy Progressive Insurance. We still call ourselves Lutheran.
Small churches are the Church’s secret weapon.
They just don’t know it!
Here’s the paradox of church work.
The mission is to reach all the world, right?
Only a small percentage of the world can afford to support “church” the way it is understood in the West. Even we in the West are having a tough time of it! Do we really welcome the ill and indigent to be part of the economic burden of Church?
The Church has set itself up for perpetual failure. It blames the few people who are supporting it for that failure. Result: morale is in the pits. Visitors sense gloom!
The people who still support neighborhood congregations are very good people. Passionate. Self-sacrificing. Dedicated beyond measure!
The Church, blinded by economics, saps as much from them as possible before exercising hierarchical powers — constitutional or not — throwing its strongest supporters to the curb (literally in Redeemer’s case!).
Forced church closings, where hierarchy self-righteously grabs assets is bad enough. When this is done by design it is downright sinful.
“You do not have the luxury of giving everyone who asks for help whatever time you have available. Some tough decisions need to be made as to where your Regional Body is going to invest time, energy, and resources. Thinking in terms of TRIAGE is a most responsible thing to do at the present time. Congregations that will die within the next ten years should receive the least amount of time and attention. They should receive time that assists them to die with celebration and dignity. Offer these congregations a ‘caretaker’ pastor who would give them quality palliative care until they decide to close their doors. It is the kind of tough-minded leadership that will be needed at the helm if your organization is to become a Transformational Regional Body.”
There it is in black and white. Don’t waste time and resources on congregations that will close in ten years (if you do nothing).
A decade is long enough to fight two world wars!
And so the premise for mission changes. This part is not written down in congregational mission statements.
Churches want people who can support the way things are. Even better if they could support the way things were. Property and the staff come first. Programming and mission a distant last.
What would happen if the Church concentrated — really concentrated — on small church ministry? What if they found a way to help congregations be small, proud and strong — as opposed to dictating ministry solutions that work only in larger settings.
Small churches still have one big thing going for them. People still tend to prefer smaller churches!
It’s up to the smaller churches to insist on a change in attitude. This may not be as hard as it seems. Together, small churches outnumber large churches.
Here is an uplifting video which reminded us of Redeemer’s experience.
Redeemer hosted the East Falls Children’s Choir and held a music camp every summer. About 11 years ago, a new choir formed, meeting in East Falls. We fed the boys that attended the choir and our camp into the Keystone State Boychoir. (A girl choir formed a few years later.)
The choir gave the boys confidence, discipline and a passion for music. In the choir’s first ten years the boys that stuck with it sang on every continent. Yes, every continent.
The directors’ philosophy—allow self-conscious boys to sing with boys and they will grow to love singing in general.
Most churches have a rough time convincing their boys to sing. Typical mixed choruses in any youthful venue are 90% female. But boys do like to sing.
The link below will take you to YouTube. Come back for the translation to the hymn (below).
In 1979, Alfred Krass, A United Christian Church pastor from nearby Levittown, Pa., wrote a “white paper” on Evangelism in Mainline Denominations, published in Christian Century magazine.
Reading this study 33 years later reveals that many of the issues raised remain serious issues in mainline denominations. As is often the case in the Church, issues raised that are not on the popular agenda are often ignored.
Rev. Krass’s paper ends by identifying two questions for which he saw no denominations taking any steps to address. One involved the methods of communication used by the Church. The article did not foresee the internet and its tremendous potential for change (largely ignored by the Church).
The other problem he identified 33 years ago was the absence of families in Church and the ineffectiveness of motivating families as evangelists.
Redeemer’s Ambassador visits reveal that this is still a crying need in the Church. Rev. Krass identified the absence of 15- to 45-year-olds. Redeemer’s Ambassador visits reveal that the spread is now even broader. With very few exceptions, among the nearly 50 churches we have visited, children and youth are absent. When present, they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Furthermore, the missing age group in church today is more realistically 1-50.
This was not true of Redeemer. Our age spectrum was fairly broad with no one age group dominating.
This problem unaddressed for the last three decades remains a problem. What are we doing about it?
The missing age group is the demographic where multiple generations actually live together under one roof — or in today’s world — under two roofs. The prevalence of the divided family is probably a big part of the problem. Religion can be an additional divisive agent.
How do we shape our message so that it reaches this majority population?
He closes with a point that church camps are ideally situated to minister to families. Interesting! Redeemer was a big supporter of church camping, making sure that as many members as possible were able to attend family camp and other church camping programs. Perhaps Rev. Krass’s ideas were working for us!
East Falls is an interesting place to study this question. This traditionally working class neighborhood happens to be blessed. It is a nice place to live and raise families and many generations stayed in East Falls through the years of “white flight.” Property values are strong despite the average family income. Families that raised six kids in their millworkers’ rowhouses and hung onto their property are now property rich. The vultures are all too willing to swoop in.
The conditions in East Falls and the actions of leaders of its faith communities reveal the priorities of hierarchies.
East Falls has Redeemer, where SEPA Synod has evicted the families and locked the doors, claiming the property the congregation had owned and the building they had built on working class salaries. More recently, St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church, was forced by its hierarchy to close its school. Redeemer had a strong family ministry. St. Bridget’s School was the hub of parish activity.
In sharing their experiences, both congregations noted the same thing. The “hierarchy” wasn’t listening.(Note: Lutherans aren’t really hierarchical. Their leaders just act that way.)
Another thing the two congregations have in common: Their hierarchiessee church property as of more value to them when they are occupied by people who can pay more to use them than church members who live in the neighborhood.
The ELCA hitched its star to the Episcopal wagon a number of years ago and announced with great hoopla that we are now in full communion. (Called to Common Mission)
Lutherans were promised that the alliance was for flexibility, broadening the resource pool. Lutheran clergy and Episcopal priests could now vie for calls and employment in either denomination.
But it has resulted in more fundamental changes. It is changing the way we think and act, which isn’t necessarily bad. But it’s not necessarily good either. Martin Luther left a good legacy.
The ELCA and its predecessor bodies are historically a broad demographic with both low and high church values represented, often among ethnic or cultural lines. The American experience, which never answered to the Archbishop of Canterbury or any European figurehead, has traditionally no such loyalty to hierarchy.
The Lutheran tradition of congregational polity is a strength which small congregations should never be asked to sign away. Small churches must be free to adapt to their changing communities. This is harder to do under hierarchies. Hierarchies understand “big.”
Did the decision, advocated mostly by clergy, change our polity? No, but . . .
Are there statistics on how much this has benefited anyone?
How much resource sharing has been going on? (There doesn’t seem to be a lot of resources for either denomination to share!)
It is becoming increasingly clear that dissenting Lutherans were correct about many things.
Lutheran leadership has become more and more hierarchical. It began with a shift in language, then in behavior.
Lay people don’t tend to care much about things like apostolic succession. We know that our bishops (which we used to call more appropriately “presidents”) are elected. Now every Lutheran clergy to be ordained must submit to Episcopal approval. Many of them have probably never set foot in an Episcopal church, but now their calling needs their blessing.
From reading this report, it is clear that we have sacrificed the wisdom of our experience to a troubled denomination.
The Episcopalians are so concerned that some want to scrap their leadership structure entirely, realizing they cannot support, nor do they need, a hierarchy. We have written about this before.
Meanwhile, Lutheran leadership is separating itself from its constituency more and more. They are planning to have full church assemblies every three years instead of two. If they operate like our local Synod Assembly, it won’t matter much—and that’s too bad. The regional assembly is fairly well orchestrated to get the approvals it wants with as little discussion as possible. But at least there was a chance of making a difference every two years. But then, maybe this is an admission that the hierarchy has less purpose.
Regardless, the action serves to alienate lay people — who still provide the support and funding for the mistakes made by the hierarchically minded.
Soon, if Lutherans want to rise to a call to change anything, they will have to wait three years. This may save money but it is unwise. Change is happening at a faster pace. More forums are needed, not fewer.
But the deed is done. We are in full communion with a denomination that doesn’t know where it is headed to the point that some talk about starting over. Have we been set up for a bait and switch?
If you think this shift in governance isn’t part of SEPA’s attitude toward small congregations, think again. In East Falls, Bishop Claire Burkat was assisting our Episcopal neighbors—we suspect for hire—while trying to destroy her own denomination’s church a few blocks away, hoping for assets to make up their huge deficit. The Episcopal Church in East Falls was of no stronger number than Redeemer with a far less desirable location for mission purposes. Bishop Burkat gave the Episcopalians of East Falls more consideration than the Lutherans.
Redeemer, East Falls is too small to serve its “missional” purpose (“missional” is not a word but church people seem to understand it).
That was the premise used by Bishop Claire Burkat and her coterie. It was never true. It sounded good to the people they needed to convince in order to have their way—which had nothing to do with mission but was all about money and property and synod’s habitual deficit spending.
SEPA’s actions did tons of damage to our people, our congregation and to our neighborhood, but Redeemer’s mission continues to grow. That’s what happens when you work a plan with selfless resilience and flexibility!
One of our projects was to develop our ministry online (since we had no building). We started slowly, doing research and following best practices. The site grew slowly at first, but after about six months, it was apparent there was a foundation for steady growth and an inexhaustible potential.
The site has grown steadily over all. There are day-to-day peaks and valleys, but the weekly and monthly trends reveal steady growth that is picking up.
In the last two weeks a few remarkable things have begun to happen on www.2x2virtualchurch.com.
We now have 100 people who read out posts by email each day. We have an additional 50 unique visitors every day. Our weekly unique readership (not counting those who follow us on Facebook, Twitter or email) hovered between 180 and 275 for the last six weeks. Adding our subscribers or followers to that number puts us at around 1000 readers each week.
Our global reach is picking up. There are a few countries that check in daily—France, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Australia, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines and most recently, India. Twice this week our foreign readership outpaced United States readers, at least until the very end of the day when there is often a surge in North American readership.
People are slowly beginning to participate in the discussion, often by email rather than on the site.
Yesterday, we had a request to find a way to have the site translated into Urdu, so Pakistani Christians might have access to our posts.
We invited churches to follow the site. That invitation has led to interesting friendships with four other congregations—two in Kenya, one in Pakistan and one near to us in Philadelphia.
Redeemer was never more able to fulfill its “missional” purpose. We believe our mission and ministry activities measure well with every other congregation in SEPA (large and small) — who now have the benefit of our resources.
2×2 invites small churches to join this page and share ministry experience—not just successes but ideas, criticisms, problems and challenges. If we don’t talk about things, how can we improve?
(If you’d like to join, send us your story. There is no cost and no money changes hands. We share our experiences, ideas, and pray for one another.)
Five churches have been part of our exchange in our first year. In this post we will spotlight their exciting ministries.
SPOTLIGHT on Glory of Pentecost in Eastern Kenya
Glory of Pentecost’s leader, Silas Kadenga, first wrote to us last spring asking us for help with their Vacation Bible School. They had read about our idea for helping small churches restore their summer outreach efforts. Their first email did not give their location. We started asking questions. We were surprised to learn they were in eastern Kenya. Our first reaction was there was little we could do to help. Our program was focused on the USA and even more locally. But we kept firing questions. The responses revealed a very different ministry scene than anything we expected.
How many students do you expect? Do they speak English? How many teachers do you have?
The answers: About 200 students. Most speak English as a second language. Three teachers and a few more that show interest but need training. Their obvious need was training for teachers and for resource material.
We pointed them to some free resources on line and kept in regular touch.
Today, their pastor sent us a notice of a new program and asked that we help publicize it.
Please join us in prayer for their new ministry.
Welcome to The Silas Faithfull Foundation
The Silas Faithfull Foundation (SFF) is the only Kenya-wide child protection charity dedicated solely to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused. We work with entire families that have been affected by abuse including: adult male and female sexual abusers; young people with inappropriate sexual behaviours; victims of abuse and other family members.
Drawing on our expert knowledge about child sexual abuse we offer a broad range of services for professionals and members of the public. These include: assessments, intervention and treatment of known offenders, case specific advice and support, training and development courses and workshops, educational programmes for internet offenders and their families, circles of support and accountability and internet safety seminars for schools (teachers, parents and children).
In 2009, The Silas Faithfull Foundation established the prevention campaign, Stop it Now! Kenya East Africa which supports adults to protect children through providing information; educating parents, carers and other members of the public; training those who work with children and families and running a Freephone confidential helpline_+254 708 403 409 +254 707 434 093_silasabali@yahoo.com More information Stop it Now!
Through that we are looking forward to request your Support for this Organization to continue to Help more people all over the world your support of Prayer will make our Vision and Mission to be complete
Together We Can Change the World
Message from founder of Silas Faithfull Foundation Kenya-wide
SPOTLIGHT on Kiorori Church in western Kenya
Simion Sagwe and his wife, Florence, have been caring for a number of widows and orphaned children in Kisii District, Nyanza Province, Kenya.. They work hard to feed and clothe them and find the money for their medical care and schooling.
We sent them a recording of a little song we thought the children might enjoy. They wrote to tell us that they learned the song and sang it in church. Now they sing it all the time. Meanwhile, back in East Falls, we often use the hymn in worship as well!
Simion has been traveling to attend classes at a Bible College. His wife is making jewelry in hopes of starting a cottage industry to support their mission work. We may be able to help their efforts. We will work on that.
We get weekly reports of their Sunday services and walks through the village afterwards to interest new people.
SPOTLIGHT on New Life Fellowship in Faisalabad, Pakistan
Pastor Sarwar Sadiq writes to us daily, sharing Bible verses and reports of his ministry. He wants to learn as much as he can about our church and writes his prayers for us, asking about our members by name. He describes the difficult mission of growing a church as a minority religion and the effect it has on their families and their children in school. He sends many photos of their ministry.
Their internet service is iffy and we are going to try to help them by setting up a mirror service on our site.
They have a vibrant ministry in their neighborhood but take mission trips into more remote areas to spread the Gospel. The above photo is from one of their mission trips.
They pray for better and affordable space for their ministry.
SPOTLIGHT on Prince of Peace, King of Prussia
Prince of Peace is a small, suburban congregation near Philadelphia. They happen to be the first congregation our Ambassadors visited two summers ago. We have stayed in touch and tried to help them with some projects.
Their current project is called “No Family Left Behind.” It aims to reach all families with worship and learning opportunities, including families including elderly, disabled, or children with learning disabilities. They are partnering with the Community Center directly across the street from their church and with Ken-Crest, a Lutheran Social Service agency.
They plan to make iPads available to help people with disabilities communicate, read, and take part in activities. The Rev. Dr. John Jorgenson, a retired pastor serving the congregation, has drawn on his years of service with the LCA in developing curriculum to develop the innovative program.
SPOTLIGHT on Redeemer, East Falls
Much of this web site talks about Redeemer’s very active ministry so we’ll list just a few.
Redeemer Ambassadors visit churches
2×2 Foundation pioneers Social Media Ministry
Maintaining a Lutheran presence in East Falls
Staying active in East Falls organizations and government
Working to maintain Lutheran congregational polity by challenging actions of SEPA Synod
America was founded on the principle of Freedom of Religion. Early settlers came to escape state oppression of the emerging sects in Europe. Over the centuries, many faiths have sought refuge on American soil.
The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion.
The legal system lives in fear of stepping on the exercise of religion. In recent court decisions they have gone so far as to determine that religious groups do not have to follow their own rules. That opens a new door. The leaders of religion can themselves become lawless oppressors.
That is the result of a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that determined the case brought by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA against a member church (Redeemer, East Falls, Philadelphia) could not be heard. Yes, they brought a case against a member church and then argued that the case they brought should not be heard.
The court gave SEPA Synod a victory by default —not based on evidence. They determined that it was up to the denomination to police its own rules. Fat chance.
A strong dissenting opinion concluded that if the law is applied, Redeemer’s arguments deserve a hearing. How are members of faith communities to assume that the laws they agreed to upon joining the community mean nothing?
That creates a very real problem for all the faithful. If constitutions agreed upon by religious groups when they go to the legal trouble of incorporating mean nothing, then faith communities are faced with potential lawlessness. The laity are sitting ducks for potential abuse. Clergy will run.
Faith communities can expect to be victimized by hierarchy. It is happening with greater frequency. The conflicts are usually about the value of real estate — not doctrine. Within the ELCA there are several cases of “hostile” takeovers—raids in the middle of the night or by stealth and deceit. One bishop, anticipating trouble, went so far as to call ahead to the sheriff and police department and warn them to expect a call from church members, but that they were allowed to change the church locks.
It is not the Church’s finest hour. As proven by Redeemer’s experience, Church leadership will not hesitate to use their protected status to tyrannize their members — those with the least power, the laity. You won’t read much about this on the pages of The Lutheran.
“I have the power,” Bishop Burkat was heard to say as she prepared to raid Redeemer. If so, it is a power allowed by courts side-stepping the issues. It is not a power given by the ELCA constitutions/articles of incorporation or by God.
It’s legal because the law exempts the church. Perhaps there is hope.
The law has finally stepped in on the Roman Catholic Church and its handling of crimes within its ranks—but not before a great deal of damage was done to both victims and the Church.
On this Independence Day, it is worth noting that the Bill of Rights does not protect the members of faith communities from the abuses of their own leaders. This can be stopped by the members of the faith community, but experience is proving that the religious don’t care unless they are directly affected. They are free to use other provisions of the Bill of Rights such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly. Odds, in the current atmosphere, are against it.
Today there was a celebration in East Lansdowne, a Philadelphia suburb.
Over the past seven years, the aging Lutheran congregation, Immanuel, found new life by hosting a community of African immigrants led by a pastor, who himself had immigrated from Liberia.
They named their community Faith.
Today they officially merged with the remnants of Immanuel to become Faith Immanuel. Congratulations to the new congregation, its lay leaders, and Pastor Moses Suah-Dennis.
Tuesday’s Inquirer carries the story and quotes the previous bishop of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA), the Rev. Roy Almquist, who is ready—even in retirement—to take credit for the new congregation.
In a telling quote he reveals SEPA policy.
“Under normal circumstances, you would close a church that size,” Almquist said. “But they were determined not to close. They wanted to find a way for their church to minister in a changing neighborhood.”
He does not say who the “you” is who would close the small church. Constitutionally, it is the congregation itself that must vote to close.
In 2005, as Bishop Almquist was nearing the end of his second term, he recommended the arrangement which lead to the congregation’s merger.
At the same time, there were other opportunities beating relentlessly on his door that he just plain ignored. His inaction has been costly to his synod and to the neighborhood of East Falls.
East Lansdowne’s story is similar to that of Redeemer, less than ten miles away. The only difference is that Redeemer did not have to come crawling to SEPA, begging for help. In fact, Redeemer had more money than SEPA at the time Bishop Almquist was trying to help little Immanuel. In 2005 —and much of Bishop Almquist’s two terms — SEPA was in severe financial crisis.
Redeemer was every bit as passionate about “staying open” and had nearly four times as many members as Immanuel. Why help East Lansdowne and refuse basic services to Redeemer?
Redeemer had received a large bequest in the late 1980s and SEPA had eyes for it, actually withdrawing $90,000 from our bank account in 1998. Redeemer protested.
This conflict was unnecessary and fateful. Redeemer was left with a reputation of being “trouble.” Few Lutherans take the time to analyze the source of the trouble or to ask themselves what they might do if the Synod visited their bank without their knowledge.
SEPA returned the money (after two years of needless conflict with Redeemer) but refused to serve the congregation from that point on. Their strategy was to wait for Redeemer to die a natural death. Bishop Almquist’s message was clear: Do things my way or else. Redeemer was shunned.
Bishop Almquist refused to help the congregation find a pastor to call. Redeemer was left to fend for itself.
The rest of the story is not at all unlike Immanuel’s. Immigrants from East Africa began to join the little neighborhood church—first one family, then extended family, then friends. Redeemer found two pastors, both from Africa, willing to serve the congregation.
Having received 49 new members with many more interested, Redeemer approached the new bishop, Claire Burkat, and asked to call one of the pastors.
Bishop Burkat’s head was buried in Bishop Almquist’s play book. She took no time to consider that things might have changed since Bishop Almquist deserted his duty in East Falls.
She reviewed our reports with prejudice fueled by a six-figure deficit budget. She decided that only our white members should be counted. She assigned trustees who reported falsely that the congregation had just 13 members. (In court they are trying to hold us to a quorum for more than 70.)
Bishop Burkat pontificated, “White Redeemer must be allowed to die. Black Redeemer, we can put them anywhere.” Destroying Redeemer was the priority — not mission. She set things in motion to force the church to close. It has now been locked for nearly three years.
Why not reward success?
The answer: SEPA was passing massive deficit budgets fairly routinely, relying on closing churches, seizing assets and selling property to make up shortfalls. Redeemer was known to have money and a valuable property.
We celebrate the successful union of Faith and Immanuel and wish them the best.
However, a wise church would also review its failures. The concurrent neglect and harmful policies practiced in East Falls are routinely swept under the rug as if the mess was all the fault of the people. This is wrong and innately dishonest.
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).
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
Print or Kindle copies are available on Amazon.com.
For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
MISSION INSPIRATION OFFER
A visual and biblical guide to help congregations define their missions.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
