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Redeemer

Branding: Don’t Forget to Be Yourself

How Branding Can Quickly Go Wrong

The Mission Statement is written. The Vision Statement is being drafted.

The process of writing the Mission Statement helped you define your congregation.

The Vision Statement is a congregation’s crystal ball overview. Where do you see yourself as a congregation in five to ten years?

The Vision Statement is an invitation to dream.

You will be tempted to write a beautiful Vision Statement, wrapped up in all your hopes for your beloved congregation. You will stumble over one thing.

You are who you are.

Unless you are a brand new congregation, people already have expectations when they walk through your door.

This is nothing new. It’s how denominations came to be and how they continue to be defined. We expect a bit of pageantry when we enter a Roman Catholic or Episcopal Church. We expect a different focus in a Baptist or Methodist Church.

Example of Branding Challenges

The Lutheran Church (ELCA) is a good example of branding gone awry.

Lutherans are a congregation-based denomination that spans the liturgical tradition. The broad definition provides a wide door for participation, but no one quite knows what they will encounter when they enter a Lutheran Church.

The local congregation, therefore, must be diligent in defining its image.

Without definition, there is a subtle competition to be more of whatever the current trend might be. This changes over the years and varies culturally and geographically.

Currently, Lutherans are trying to emulate the Episcopalian traditions. Leaders worked hard to reach agreement at being in Full Communion, a concept that benefits only top leaders. A document was drafted accordingly. And then a disclaimer was added. The disclaimer is rarely read. It negates most of the agreements made in the document! We are in full communion — just kidding.

The result is a classic “branding” problem. Compare this to the business world.

You expect a certain type of movie from Disney. You expect a certain type of thinking to come from Apple. You don’t expect lullabies from Mick Jagger.

If a company strays from its mission, confusion and disappointment results.

What do we expect from our Lutheran congregations, especially when there is a difference between the leadership of our denomination and the congregations?

Local congregations must find a balance between sudden change and its established image.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Denominational pressure encourages change. Demographics are examined with a marketer’s eye. The real, unstated mission is to find members willing to support the denomination.

Congregations may decide that they will attract young professionals if they offer a praise band. But that offering may go against who you actually are as a congregation and the community may read this as desperate marketing. Result: no one is comfortable. Pretty soon, your congregation doesn’t recognize itself.

On to the next marketing “hook.”

Like it or not, the Church is involved in marketing.

Know Thyself

A congregation’s “branding” must grow organically from who we actually are. Any changes on the road to transformation must first enhance the life of the existing congregation so that our members are confident in their evangelism efforts. Presumably, the drafting of a Mission Statement helps this process. Know thyself and don’t try to be all things to all people. 

Otherwise you may as well lock out the faithful members of the congregation. With this unwelcoming behavior on display to the community, you can then try to build a new membership more to your liking.

This may sound absurd, but it is the actual strategy of some synods in the ELCA!

07 Nov 2012

Prayer Is the Answer. Now What Was the Question?

I had an uncle who was a Methodist preacher. He often said, only partially jokingly, “Jesus is the answer. Now what is your question?”

There seems to be a similar “go to” response in the Church today. When you don’t know what to do—or when you do know what to do but don’t have the courage to do it, there is an easy answer. Promise to pray.

It’s been tough going for our congregation as members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod went on the warpath against Redeemer Lutheran in East Falls, Philadelphia, including personal attacks on lay members. Acquiring the assets of Redeemer seems to have been part of the plan to fund massive budget deficits from the very beginning of her first term in 2006.

Large deficits have been routine since the beginning of SEPA back in the late 1980s. Giving and attendance were (and still are) in serious decline. There was no plan for reviving small church ministry beyond neglect and waiting for failure. Several congregations folded rather than swim upstream without the cooperation of SEPA leadership.

The assumption of SEPA leadership is that if they neglect ministry for a decade, ministry will fail to the benefit of Synod coffers. Under Lutheran polity this isn’t a given. Congregations can determine where to donate their assets. But Synods are finding a work-around that guarantees they will benefit. Simply declare the congregations “terminated” before they can have any say. This means that the congregations have NO rights within the Church they have served for decades or centuries. They need not even be consulted! Constitutional checks and balances are ignored.

Redeemer was getting the “10 years of neglect” treatment. But it wasn’t going as Synod planned. Lay leadership grew. Alliances were made with several dedicated pastors. Redeemer was in a promising position, with a five-year commitment of a qualified Lutheran pastor, working under a detailed plan that the congregation had spent six months drafting. In fact, our ministry continues to grow, despite the abuse.

But the efforts of lay people are not valued.

And there was that $275,000 deficit budget approved by Synod Assembly at the same time they voted (against Lutheran rules) to take our property.

The deceitful maneuverings which characterized this hostile attempt at a land grab have been a fiasco that Lutheran leadership is unable to resolve without jeopardizing ministry, the livelihoods of lay people and perhaps even the entire synod. And at considerable expense.

It’s a mess. A shameful, unnecessary mess.

And all of this has gone on while the clergy of SEPA Synod have watched.

Our members have approached people who should be in a position to at least open dialog on the issues.

There are fairly specific guidelines for resolution of disputes in the Bible and there are governing documents that could be followed within the Church. But ELCA leaders do not bother. They rely on “wisdom.”

We’ve heard all kinds of excuses.

  • From Bishop Hanson: Just talk it out. I have great regard for Bishop Burkat.
  • From a Synod Council member: We have no intention of negotiating with you. (Synod Council is supposed to represent the congregations.)
  • From deans: Silence
  • From pastors in a position to help: We have to trust the wisdom of the bishop.
  • From pastors who visited Redeemer 30 or 40 years ago: We know your history (as if Redeemer was stuck in a time warp).
  • From pastors who don’t know anything about Redeemer — but voted with the crowd anyway: Sorry! We didn’t know.

Whatever the excuse, it is always accompanied with a sanctimonious, conscience-assuaging promise to pray.

We wonder what these learned church leaders expect to come of prayer.

  • That someone else—anyone else—will play peacemaker.
  • That God will suddenly fix everything without any work.
  • That whatever happens won’t affect them.
  • That miracles will replace gumption.
  • That whatever happens, their jobs will be secure.
  • That they will never be the victims of the type of leadership abuses that have characterized this sad episode (and perhaps others before us).
  • That life in SEPA will go on as if Redeemer, and Epiphany, and Grace and others never existed—and the list will probably continue to grow.

Lutherans pride themselves on an interdependent structure. That means we are supposed to work together.  

Here’s a suggestion:

By all means, keep praying, but recognize that the answer to prayer is probably in getting off your backsides and doing something.

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do
for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 

02 Nov 2012

All Saints Day in East Falls

Remembering the Saints of East Falls

Today is All Saints Day. This Sunday the remnant of Redeemer will meet for worship in East Falls and pay tribute to our saints on All Saints Sunday.

Just as in most churches that have their own altar to kneel before, we will recall the saints who have walked ahead of us on the path to Glory.

Some congregations will remember those who died this year. At Redeemer, we know the time measured by mankind compares little to eternity. We remember all the important saints in our lives.

We even remember those still living. It is ALL Saints Day! As Lutherans, we believe in the sainthood of all believers, whether living on earth or in heaven.

Today, and as we approach All Saints Sunday, we remind you that the saints in East Falls are still working to build Christian community while the Christians of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) seek to destroy us.

  • We still worship.
  • We still serve.
  • We still share the Gospel.
  • We still help others.
  • We still teach.
  • We still have fellowship.
  • We still witness and give.
  • We still fall short of God’s expectations.

And so do you.

01 Nov 2012

Can Lutherans learn from the past as they plan for 2017?

How do you share the grace of God in Christ with someone whose days are filled with messages that they do not measure up and who feel excluded rather than welcomed? How shall we talk about faith in a culture of mistrust and deception? In a world steeped in violence, how do we talk about the cross of Christ as the place that reveals both the depth of God’s love incarnate and where Jesus’ life for others is offered fully?

Bishop Hanson wrote this as part of a message in the recent issue of The Lutheran Magazine. He was looking ahead to the 500th Anniversary of Luther’s brave, death-defying actions, which spurred the Reformation of the Church and laid the groundwork for changes in society that we enjoy today.

Don’t expect such actions from Luther’s heirs.

A recent visit to China sparked Bishop Hanson’s comments. He doesn’t need to travel far to find a culture of mistrust and deception.

We, at Redeemer, who have experienced little but abuse within the ELCA, wonder if Bishop Hanson recognizes that his own people feel unwelcome, unvalued, violated, and deceived. We have learned to distrust the church he leads.

We know we are not alone. There has been a mass departure from the ELCA under Bishop Hanson’s watch.

Similar land grabs continue. Synodical bishops act with the certainty that Bishop Hanson will not require them to honor the intent of the ELCA’s founding documents or constitutions. Dodge’s sheriff  has gone fishing (and not for people)!

The Redeemer travesty has featured personal attacks on lay people with no way within the ELCA to object or defend.

Bishop Hanson, Lutherans are weary of empty words.

We point out once again the decision of the Pa appeal court. It may add up to a win in the short run, but this could come back to bite hard.

The appeal court’s minority opinion determined that if the law were applied, Redeemer’s arguments have merit and deserve to be heard. The majority opinion cited Separation of Church and State, relying on the Church to police its own rules. There is NO mechanism within the ELCA for this. The result: a weak church where everyone can legitimately fear injustice within their own body. Safer perhaps to criticize other cultures!

Redeemer wrote to you for help in 2008, Bishop Hanson. After about ten letters over the course of a year, we gave up. You blew us off, expressing regard for a colleague over concern for a congregation.

You advised both us and Bishop Burkat to talk it out. Today, nearly five years later, there has been no talk, just law suits.

Bishop Hanson, we want peace. We want to work things out within the Church. This is a mandate of scripture (1 Corinthian 6). It’s not going to happen if Church leaders don’t believe the scriptures they preach.

Your sheep need their shepherd. Your bishops need their shepherd.

Help us find answers to the questions you pose. Lead us in our ongoing birthright — the Reformation!

photo credit: Adam Polselli via photopin cc
27 Oct 2012

Vignettes from Our 2×2/Redeemer Faith Community

God is doing something new in East Falls!

The Power of Persistence (and being yourself)

One Redeemer member often reminisced about life in Tanzania. One of the things she missed most was walking out to the back yard and grabbing a few bananas from a banana tree.

She’s been in East Falls for some 16 years now. Firmly planted, but still missing home. Nostalgic, she planted a banana tree by the front door of her row house.

It grew to be a sizable tree, but it did not bear fruit.

It was an oddity that people went out of their way to see. Her children explained, we cut it back every year but it keeps growing—but no bananas. The climate won’t support bananas. There is no hope for bananas.

This year, it grew bananas—a small bunch of green bananas, but BANANAS!

A miracle! No one expected success at something so hopeless in East Falls!

But then, East Falls is like that! The demographics don’t support having a church here. But here we are! And we grow green bananas in our ministry every day.

Next year, who knows!

2×2 is a real church! Don’t tell the ELCA!

Our own denomination doesn’t recognize us, but that doesn’t matter. 2×2 is a real church. Other people recognize us!

Our web site, which is starting to grow exponentially, has had record traffic recently. Some of it came from a chatboard for a Christian movement called The Truth. The Truth has a global network of house churches that meet in groups they call 2x2s. They have a “Christ is Lord” creed and are avoiding the costs of hierarchy — the model 2×2 believes will become the church of the future.

In their online chatroom, a member asked, “Is there an actual church that goes by the name 2×2? Someone answered, “Yes.” New question, “Where?” Answer: “I’ll send you the link.” The link was added soon after — to www.2x2virtualchurch.com!

God is doing something new in East Falls! Join us!

We are open 24/7 on the web. We meet monthly at Old Academy Playhouse in East Falls, Philadelphia, Pa.—first Sunday of the month, 10 am. Subscribe to 2×2 for more information on other activities.

banana photo credit: heritagefutures via photopin cc
27 Oct 2012

If SEPA Leaders Cared . . . .

ELCA motto appended to reflect SEPA's actions in East Falls.The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been embroiled in trouble, largely of its own making, since 2008. It wasn’t sudden, there was a nearly decade-long prologue of neglect.

During this long period of absence from the ministry of Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls, SEPA leaders made unfortunate miscalculations.

SEPA had discouraged professional leadership from serving in East Falls. The strategy they were following—as published at about the same time in a book co-authored by then Synod staff member, Claire Burkat—was to let Redeemer die. SEPA presumed that lay people with no one to tell them what to do would drift rudderless and get tired. One day, the last Lutheran on board would call the Synod and beg for a lifeline.

This may have seemed like the easy way to gain the congregation’s valuable property and substantial financial assets. It is proving to be disastrous—for Redeemer and the entire Synod. It may even trickle UP to the entire ELCA as other Synods (having read the book) attempt to implement the strategy!

The book leaves out the last chapter. It doesn’t always go as planned.

The group of elderly members that Bishop Almquist assumed would soon fail by attrition did not go to their heavenly reward without laying a new foundation for the church they loved. Redeemer grew during SEPA’s years of neglect. By the time Claire Burkat was elected bishop, there was a new group of Lutherans in East Falls, who had no idea they were heirs to SEPA’s prejudice.

Had Bishop Burkat worked with Redeemer’s leaders (as she falsely claims she did), she would have seen great promise. But her intentions for Redeemer were announced long before she ever set foot on the corner of Midvale and Conrad Streets on that ill-fated day in February 2008.

Consequently, Bishop Burkat, intent on exercising powers not found in Lutheran governing documents, led SEPA into a financial boondoggle. They lack the leadership skills to retreat. They are relying on the secular courts to resolve Church problems. Courts don’t want the job.

Had Bishop Burkat cared about the people of East Falls and its mission, she would have strategized to protect her sheep as if they were as valuable as the property she coveted. The ministry that was initiated and nurtured with the investments of the laity would not have been shuttered, but would be earning a steady income, paying the congregation’s obligations with no dependence on SEPA and its member churches.

But SEPA had its own problems. It had been living on deficit budgets for most of its 20-year history. In 2008, that deficit was $275,000, approved by a Synod Assembly at a time when giving was down in nearly every congregation. There was no plan for making up this deficit except to close churches and seize assets. Bishop Burkat is insulted at this suggestion. But it was explained to that Assembly that money to make up shortfalls traditionally comes from the Mission Fund—which is the repository for the assets of closed congregations. No other plan for funding this huge deficit was presented.

Bishop Burkat further denies that selling church properties is part of synod’s survival strategy even in the face of evidence that she offered Redeemer’s property for sale to a Lutheran agency without the congregation’s knowledge just prior to the Synod Assembly that approved the huge deficit and voted to take Redeemer’s property.

There WAS (and perhaps IS) a plan to close churches and sell their property.

Bishop Burkat seems amazed that anyone would resist her clandestine takeover, fraught with deceptive maneuvering, and which defies Lutheran polity. Lutheran congregations own their properties and manage their own assets.

Resistance is a right of every congregation. But SEPA found a way to sidestep congregational rights. Declare them “terminated.” Deny them access to the constitutional benefits of church membership. Treat members as enemies.

What is going on in East Falls is dismissed in Bishop Burkat’s mind as “heart-breaking”—as if she had no leadership influence to prevent or remedy it.

She has become a victim of her own lust for power.

And it is costing all of SEPA.

If Bishop Burkat had cared about East Falls . . .

  • Redeemer would be open for worship.
  • The school Redeemer was about to open as a Christian day school would be operating to the benefit of East Falls and the income of $6000 to $10,000 a month for Redeemer.
  • Redeemer’s mission capabilities, which have continued to grow despite repression, would also be showing fruitful reward. They are already gaining influence.
  • The congregation’s expenses would not be burdening all of SEPA. (The price tag is well over $320,000.)

Instead you have locked properties and alienated members and a community that will always be reminded — The Lutherans? Yes, they are the Church that sues its members.

Even if Bishop Burkat did not trust the loyal Lutherans of East Falls, whom she did not know, she could have done something to keep the problems from escalating. She could have tried to raise funds. She could have worked with the people she leads. She did nothing but turn to the courts (which the Bible expressly discourages—1 Corinthians 6).

The Church does not need leaders to do nothing. We need leaders to solve problems. In this, SEPA leadership has failed. Pride and greed have blinded all sense of mission. Hatefulness and vindictiveness have replaced the messages of love and forgiveness. There is no effort to reconcile. SEPA wants to WIN at any cost. Silence the pastors. Call in the lawyers.

The only people who can fix this, the Lutherans of Southeastern Pennsylvania, are content to let the church attack lay people as their preferred management solution. They foolishly do not envision being in the same situation. Our Ambassador visits reveal that there are dozens of congregations in SEPA that are no larger or wealthier than Redeemer. As Redeemer goes, so will they.

In looking for the WIN, we are all LOSERS.

25 Oct 2012

Imagine: A New Church for the New Age

2x2 is merging the First and Fifth Estates.The Church of the last five decades is doomed.

But that it is good news.

We have spent these post-World War years of prosperity building a model for success that only a small percentage of congregations can hope to sustain. Many congregations exist and serve amid this atmosphere of hopelessness. It is not uplifting.

There is no need to wallow in this failure, pointing blame at the people, society or the clergy.

It just doesn’t matter. The model of Church as contained in a building and managed by a person trained in theology is about to be replaced. It’s long impending doom is at last being recognized. It was born of an era when the larger church controlled wealth and a feudal mentality, providing for its support, was ingrained.

When we found ourselves living in capitalist, industrial, corporate economies, it all began to crumble. The maintenance expenses exceeded the means of the communities we intended to serve. People became less and less engaged as more and more was expected.

No need to mourn this passing! What is going to evolve is going to be so much better!

The changes will be enabled by the First Estate (the Church) harnessing the power of the Fifth Estate (the web).

Imagine.

Here are just a few ways the Church is going to be transformed.

STRUCTURE

OLD: A hierarchy manages all education, communication and publishing, assuring that doctrine and tradition are maintained.

NEW: Congregations will seek help beyond denominational lines. It will be readily available to them online at a fraction of the expense.

OLD: A hierarchy oversees the placement of qualified leaders, with long “settled” ministries being the measure of success, making sure their salaries and benefits meet prescribed standards. Meanwhile, these desirable, settled congregations are constantly urged to “transform.”

NEW: Congregations will forsake the single pastor model as poor use of their resources. They will seek qualified help for specific short-term challenges and form ongoing relationships with several pastors. Flexible teams of ministers will serve without affiliating with any one congregation.

MISSION

OLD: A centralized office seeks theologically trained candidates, immerses them in a culture, provides additional training, and places them and their families all over the world. Congregations participate by giving offerings. Missionaries return every few years and make a tour of congregations to solicit continued support.

NEW: Individual congregations will begin to make contact with like-spirited Christians all over the world online. Denomination will be reflected in their actions not in their management. Many members will correspond, share and pray for one another with weekly engagement. Members of all ages will be online pen pals with multiple Christian fellowships. Eventually, congregations will raise money to send a few members of the congregation to visit, strengthening bonds begun online. The network of online churches will crisscross the world.

WORSHIP

OLD: Large structures with a dedicated building, common liturgy and accepted “playlist” of hymns is replicated across the country every few miles. One certified theologian is given status to repeat the words of our Lord from the Bible. Church members participate in assigned roles. Their names are listed a month in advance in the bulletin.

NEW: The structure of worship will embrace many cultures. Multiple church members will lead. Sermons will be preached online by the best articulators of the Word. Local discussions will elaborate on the Word. Members will become accustomed to weekly, spontaneous participation. Published liturgies and hymnals will be passe.

EDUCATION

CURRENT: Sunday School begins at age three and ends at age nine with desperate attempts to fill in the gap between childhood and old age with confirmation, youth ministry, singles clubs, and adult forums, following expensive curricula supplied by church hierarchy. Less than five percent of the congregation participate.

NEW: Churches, via their web sites, will link members to meaningful online forums, supplementing them with local engagement either online or in church. Short daily learnings will replace hour-long classes. Congregations linked online will share their resources and traditions.

STEWARDSHIP

OLD: Church members are encouraged to pledge to the maintenance of their building and sustenance of their clergy. Regional bodies, seminaries, and various social service entities within the church beg for additional funds. The national church adds to the appeal for dollars supplied by the same small pool of people.

NEW: Church buildings will have to multi-task their usage in the community to afford their cost. Many communities will rent or borrow appropriate space in the neighborhood. Regional bodies will provide fewer direct services. Their staffs and budgets will be trimmed substantially. Church social service agencies will completely abandon church affiliation as they recognize that cord was cut when they began seeking public funding. Congregations will choose to support service agencies that resonate with their sense of mission, regardless of their affiliation with religion. This will be an opportunity for church members to personally witness in the secular environment.

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

OLD: Members are expected to attend worship regularly and to live within an easy commute of a church building.

NEW: Members can be anywhere in the world and participate in community online. Online statistics will be published along with membership and giving numbers.

TODAY

Much of this is already happening. 2×2 is part of this evolution revolution and already experiencing many of these transformations.

 

22 Oct 2012

Low Expectations and the Under-achieving Congregation

Science documents that expectations play a powerful role in laying the groundwork for success.

Good parents know this.

If we expect nothing of our children, they are likely to fail. Expecting failure takes less effort.

If we expect great things, we go to work for our kids. We cheer for them and help to create the conditions for success. We are not surprised when they change the world.

The same science works on adults and in communities. Jesus did his best to build up the people he encountered. He loved them. He showed them he understood them. He challenged them. He gave them the opportunity to fail. He showed them how to pick up the pieces and try again. That’s the training by example that he gave his disciples.

Many church leaders today have given up on the Church. They look through the statistics and see declining attendance, membership, and giving. So sad. Too bad.

A prevailing attitude among today’s church leaders is to accept failure as the norm. Bishop Burkat even recommends doing nothing to help small churches in her book, Transforming Regional Bodies.

The malaise is contagious—and deadly.

Redeemer will never forget Bishop Burkat’s first visit to Redeemer in December 2006. Bishop Burkat likes to claim publicly that she worked hard with our congregation for an extended period of time to no avail. This is what really happened.

It was a study in the power of low expectations, fueled by prejudice.

She walked into our Fellowship Hall. Gloom filled the room.

No bishop had visited Redeemer to talk with our leaders in nearly a decade. In 1997, Bishop Almquist came to break the 18-month term call (contract) he had made with us and one of his staff members just three months earlier. We were bitterly disappointed. (Bishop Burkat likes to claim that Bishop Almquist worked long and hard with us, too, but he was largely absent and he confiscated a sizeable amount of our money for two years.)

We went without a pastor for a year after that and for most of the following decade. Our lay leaders had worked hard to find ministry solutions on our own with mixed success. Still, we were enthusiastic about our prospects, especially since things seemed to be poised for significant change.

The memory of synod’s abandonment was still fresh for our leaders if not for the many new people who had come to Redeemer. We weren’t sure what to expect from the newly elected bishop, whom none of us had met, but we came ready for a fresh start.

It didn’t take long to dash our hopes. Bishop Burkat greeted us with what sounded like a rehearsed string of criticism.

She walked into the equivalent of the living room of our home and complained that the place looked junky. “No visitor will want to return to a place that looks like this.”

We explained. Epiphany, a neighboring church whose building was condemned, had just moved their things out of storage and into our fellowship hall. We were trying to help our neighbors.

We moved on.

Next. “You have no parking lot,” Bishop Burkat noticed. “A church with no parking lot has little chance of survival.” Our Ambassador visits have proved that the size of the parking lot has nothing to do with attendance at worship, but we answered defensively.

We pointed out that parking at Redeemer had never been an issue. The school and library, which share our intersection are closed on weekends and in the evenings when most church activity takes place.

The conversation continued.

Churches have personalities, Bishop Burkat said, with the clear implication that Redeemer’s personality left something to be desired.

What could we say? We turned the attention to our ministry efforts. We talked enthusiastically about the number of East Africans who were showing an interest in our congregation and the multi-cultural environment that had been fostered by one of our part-time pastors. We wanted to continue in this promising direction.

Bishop Burkat said a puzzling thing, “You are not allowed to do outreach.”

Huh? Say that again.

We told the bishop that we were disappointed in SEPA’s treatment of our ministry and very hurt that Bishop Almquist terminated our call agreement for his own convenience. That was a pivotal loss (by design, we think) for lay people to overcome, but we rose to the challenge.

The meeting ended abruptly. The bishop had a serious family emergency and we urged her to go to be with her family. Bishop Burkat promised to schedule a meeting in three to five months to talk about our concerns and try to heal some wounds. (Never happened,)

We sighed with relief when she was gone.  She exuded negativity. We were glad that only our key leaders were at that meeting. Her attitude would have dragged down the entire congregation. It would have undermined all the work we had done.

Our next encounter with Bishop Burkat, eleven months later, was similar. There were more people present. Redeemer had grown significantly during that 11 months of neglect, accepting 49 members! We came to that meeting with our recently completed 20-page ministry plan and with a resolution to call the pastor who had been serving us for about seven months.

Bishop Burkat began this meeting by ranting that Redeemer was “adversarial.” She used that word repeatedly in her opening statement. We still don’t understand her wrath!

The rant was undeserved. Only three of the thirteen people present had met the bishop before — two of us briefly, a year before. The third was the pastor we hoped to call who had been a member of her seminary class. All but two had joined the church within the last 10 years and knew nothing about ancient problems, which synod seemed ever-ready to resurrect.   

The meeting lasted more than two hours and we were able to turn the tone around, ending, we thought, on a very positive note. The bishop promised we could work with her newly appointed mission director, Rev. Pat Davenport. Our people began to sing a hymn together as we rode down the elevator and crossed the parking lot. We were excited and united.

And then NOTHING happened.

After four months of silence, including numerous unreturned phone calls, we all received letters from the Bishop announcing she was closing our church.

We wonder how many other churches have experienced such low expectations from leaders.

If this is how every church is treated, it is no wonder there is so little progress.

Our leaders have no faith in their message.

They don’t seem to care about or even like the people they serve. They don’t model their teachings about peace, repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, love, justice, humility, or transformation (though they talk about this a great deal).

Pastors and congregations soon begin to avoid the regional body. They may even fear it.

The only transforming that takes place is destructive.

What would happen if we expected success—if church leaders went into congregations and asked one question: “How can we help you serve?”?

What if pastors—and bishops—were held accountable?  

What if we believed in the message we preach?

All things are possible.

20 Oct 2012

Who Is Watching the Priests and Clerics?

The Philadelphia Inquirer has discontinued its religion beat and reassigned its religion reporter to the Philadelphia’s suburbs east of the Delaware River. The Inquirer joins the media trend which leaves many city people wondering if we live in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware.

There is no area of American life which needs an occasional outside eye more than religion. It’s hard —but more likely—to get the attention of media when things are going smoothly. Otherwise, the media often fail to pay any attention until things are dire. They can be dire for a very long time when no one knows what goes on behind closed church doors. It’s religion—nobody else’s business.

Religion is at the heart of a great deal of world conflict. The lack of empathy within and between religious groups is the root cause of much unrest. It’s not insignificant. It actually changes—and sometimes costs—lives.

Religious leaders exercise authority over people who think they join church to honor and serve God. They consider God to be the ultimate authority in their lives and they are encouraged to believe that. They can then be taken advantage of by their leaders—who revel in separation of church and state.

Religion can be a haven for the unscrupulous. Just fake it ’til you make it and coast unquestioned after ordination.

Religious leaders enjoy autonomy unlike any other arena of American life. Some denominations own all the untaxed land and wealth contributed by their members. Others have internal rules regulating the control of land and wealth. The Bill of Rights guarantees that no laws will hinder their operation —or enforce their rules.

When the courts declare no jurisdiction, the Church itself looks the other way, and the fourth estate finds things too complicated to explain—church members are sitting ducks for all kinds of abuse. Meanwhile, church leaders have proven that they do not mind using the courts (from which they themselves claim immunity) to ensure their autonomy, imperiling any members who dare to challenge their actions.

The resulting lawlessness creates the conditions for a modern Inquisition. The last few years have brought to light the incredible disregard by some religious leaders for both law and doctrine. Predictably, the weakest members of the Church are the easiest victims.

The child sex scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church took years to come to light. Countless lives are shattered. Settlement expenses are surely contributing to the church/school closings affecting dozens of neighborhoods who trusted the wisdom of their leaders. It may even be a root cause of empty pews on Sunday morning. Who knows!

The situation in the Wild West that is today’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is similar. Our denominational leaders provided a church structure they call interdependence. The belief in the priesthood of all believers, they thought, called for cooperation between levels of the church. Lay Lutherans were proud that this empowered them, but it has become a vague concept that is defined and redefined at whim. Interdependence is interpreted by those with a lust for power as anything they want it to be.

Funny thing! Of the three tiers of church life — congregation, regional body, hierarchy — the higher the authority, the more dependent they are on the people. You’d think they’d make friends!

But no, synodical leaders ignore their own governance prohibiting the conveyance of congregational property without the consent of the property owners. They arrogantly assume that they cannot be stopped by the law or by those elected to oversee their work—a good number of whom rely on synodical leadership for their jobs and many more who simply don’t want to imagine misbehavior by their trusted leaders.

Christians are like that. They are blind and fail to see.

This defines Redeemer’s conflict with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Redeemer was not the first victim of SEPA greed. We may be the first to say “no,” which is within a congregation’s rights. In the face of a massive recurring six-figure annual deficit, at a time when support was in steady decline, synodical leaders sought to close small churches so that they could keep operating as usual, guaranteeing their own jobs and salaries above their mission.

Instead of working for mission, church leaders engage in a waiting game. Small churches with valuable assets are neglected by design in hopes that they will fold and leave their assets to the hierarchy. But in Lutheran governance a church voting to close can dispose of their assets as they choose. “There’s got to be a way around this,” runs through leaders’ minds. “We need that money—-uhh—for mission. Let’s create a Mission Fund and feed it with the assets of churches we close. We can use it any way we like. No one will notice.”

Church leaders scramble to make new rules concerning “termination” and “involuntary synodical administration” and lock out the local leaders (literally) while they get their ducks in a row. Anything to protect those assets—for themselves.

Lay people are at risk, especially those who are knowledgeable enough to know the polity of their denomination. They have the least power and voice, especially when the denomination fails to provide clergy to serve them.

Courts have determined that they have no jurisdiction to require church leaders to honor their own governing rules. But two judges dissented, citing the law. There is hope!

Last February, The Inquirer looked into the East Falls land grab attempt in 2008 which has been in the courts ever since. They determined that the story might be too complicated to be told in 16 column inches. Most major newspapers have an online presence with no space restrictions, so that’s an outdated excuse.

Meanwhile, another synodical land grab is being attempted in the metropolitan New York area. Here there is an invocation of a brand new unwritten constitutional status — “permanent synodical administration.” More brazen all the time! This follows a midnight raid to seize church property in New Jersey by the Slovak Zion Synod. There will surely be more. Each unchallenged hierarchical action makes the next one that much easier!

They count on people being to timid or uncommitted to care. They also rely on the resources of every congregation fund the law suits against a congregation and the resources it can muster alone.

The courts have given an answer to the question raised in our headline.

Who is watching the priests and clerics?

In America, it’s up to us lowly Christians—the more lowly, the more likely.

That brings us to the Fifth Estate. More later.

19 Oct 2012

Ambassador Returns to Holy Communion, Philadelphia

One ambassador made a return trip to Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion in Center City, Philadelphia. She was looking for help with our very serious situation in East Falls and the prospect of 11 of our members losing their homes so the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod can secure the clear title to our church property.

She had attended services in this church for many years and sang in their choir. She was happy to participate in a Baptism but was struck by the few in attendance over all—really not much higher than a service at Redeemer. She enjoyed the solo, “Deep River.”

She was recognized by one member who asked how she was. She responded that she is incredibly sad at the situation in East Falls. She received the answer we hear commonly. “I don’t know anything about that.”

A second typical answer we hear, usually from clergy, is “There is nothing I can do to help.”

This, of course, is nonsense. Clergy are in the best position to raise questions and demand answers. What they mean is “There is nothing I can do to help without it affecting my standing in SEPA Synod and perhaps endangering my congregation in a similar way.” This is sad. It is also enabling!

An article in Holy Communion’s bulletin addresses an upcoming discussion on Lutherans and their historic discomfort with “works righteousness.” There is not much to worry about, if Lutheran leaders are afraid of righteous works!

Our lone Ambassador put two notes in the offering plate—one to Bishop Burkat, who holds membership at Holy Communion, and one to the pastor.

Redeemer has long sought peace, writing a letter a month to Bishop Burkat in 2008, hoping to avert all the problems of the last almost five years. All were ignored while the bishop makes false public claims suggesting she tried to work with us to no avail.

Our hopes are not high that anything has changed, but we are still trying!

photo credit: stevec77 via photopin cc
14 Oct 2012