Three weeks ago a church with some 250 worshipers was blown up as Sunday worship was ending.
“Go in peace and serve the . . . BOOM!”
85 worshipers were killed. 17 of them were children. 150 were injured and the injuries are serious.
A week later a second bomb just a few hundred yards from the first killed another 40 people and injured 100 more.
Redeemer attended two worship services since this happened and held one of our own. The only church that even mentioned the bombing was our own. Our few people took an offering and sent it to Pakistan. Exactly how to do this took four trips to the bank, but now we know how to do it.
The need is ongoing. Alone we can’t do enough. We tried to find an agency to work with.
The service region for Lutheran World Relief doesn’t include Pakistan.
The ELCA representative for mission in the Middle East did not respond to our email inquiry.
We act as though we are unaware of this horrendous attack against our faith. There is no outrage that Muslim terrorists would attack the Christian Church in lieu of working with governments—the true source of their anger.
In today’s world, do we really think that this action will remain isolated? Do we really think it won’t happen again closer and closer to home?
We ask every church to pray for Pakistani Christians and search their hearts for what they might do to help. Recognizing the Pakistani Church would be a start. Finding a way to demonstrate Christian compassion would be another.
Otherwise, our mission is limited to safe places where happy groups of Americans can make annual feel-good visits.
But aren’t we needed most in the places that are dangerous?
The needs are for food for the families who lost multiple loved ones, warm clothing for winter, and most desperately medical supplies. They try to care directly for the injured as much as possible as they distrust Muslim hospitals.
2×2 is here to help. Contact us if your congregations’ mission efforts might include Pakistan. We know it’s not the way things are done in the ELCA, but that’s not much comfort to the victims!
Some things never change. Some things change a lot.
A problem in today’s Church is that we aspire to be modern and boast of “doing something new.” The truth is —and this is not necessarily bad—our feet are planted firmly in the past. Try as we like, we just can’t take the exit ramp that leads to the future.
We want to find that ramp. We’ve pulled over on the shoulder with the exit sign in sight. We are checking and rechecking our maps, plugging a new address into our GPS, waiting for the GPS voice to give us instructions . . . but it just keeps saying “recalculating.”
We are lost.
Or are we just afraid of what we may face if our over-stuffed luggage flies off the car rack on the sharp turn?
The Interconnected Church
One term for our era is the “The Interconnected Age.”
The Church has been big on that concept for centuries. We should be thriving.
However, today’s interconnection is different. We approach it not from need and dependence but for empowerment—long-overdue empowerment.
In the past our interconnectedness defined who we are and who will fit in. It gave us structure, complete with rules.
The result is hierarchy. There is much less need for hierarchy today but hierarchy does not like to be messed with!
In the beginning, hierarchy was cost-efficient and helped many lowly churches do great things in a big world. The rank and file didn’t have to be educated. They just had to follow leaders and things would be fine. This continued long after the Renaissance and public schools and any need for such strict structure. But change is slow and in the Church is slower.
The currency of this system was threefold—offerings, prayer and volunteer labor.
This isn’t working any more.
Today’s people will give, but they prefer to give directly — not out of rebellion or disdain for authority — but because people know it is more efficient to give directly and because for the first time, WE CAN. The established hierarchy actually stands in the way of innovation.
The result?
The Church is not ready for today’s world.
Individual congregations are not ready for today’s world.
Individuals ARE ready but won’t sit in the pew for long waiting. They feel more useful outside the Church.
The effectiveness of both the greater church and the congregation is weakened.
Congregations are like small bubbles within the larger bubble of the church. All are fragile.
Lutherans are proud of their interdependent structure. The structure doesn’t really exist. Congregations for the most part work in isolation. They know very little of what is going on in the next parish or even in their community. Each congregation is its own little bubble.
Structure becomes a pacifier.
As long as we worship and commune weekly, as long as we meet a budget that provides for a pastor and building, as long as we have a choir and some semblance of a Sunday School (even if it’s just sending the children away during the sermon) a congregation can be content.
The same thinking goes on at the regional and national level. Higher levels feel that they are pivotal to church life. In fact, they are far more reliant on the congregations than the congregations are reliant upon them. Shh! Don’t tell.
They work hard at maintaining staff and function but they are well aware that the congregations they serve can no longer afford the expense—especially since it is growing less effective and may soon be obsolete.
Interconnectedness means popping bubbles—one by one, until we are not just interdependent one with another but also with the world we serve.
How do we find that exit ramp into the future?
One way is to start using the communication tools of the future. The Church tends to look down on media evangelism. We are reminded of evangelists who beg for money to support media costs and lavish lifestyles.
But media costs today are negligible. 2×2’s annual operating budget is under $100. We will reach 40,000 people this year with our ministry.
It is true that the Church of tomorrow will be different.
It will have more local flavor. We can trust people with that now.
It will have less denominational loyalty. Admit it. This is holding us back. We work so hard at being Lutheran, Catholic, etc., that we forget how to be Christian.
It will align itself with outsiders—business, charities, community groups and other faiths—and it will be refreshed in doing so.
It will rely far less on structure. There just is no need and it costs too much.
Media is integral to modern life—the lives of the people you want to meet, the work of the organizations you want to work with and support, and the community the congregations hope to serve.
A church that has no internet ministry or only a self-serving internet presence, is wasting the key evangelism tool of our age. It may be the exit ramp that leads to the future the Church so desperately prays for.
2×2 (Redeemer Lutheran Church) raised $250 to help the victims of the church bombings in Pakistan—one of the most difficult places in the world for Christian witness.
Pakistan is so off the map of western Christianity that raising money is difficult.
It was also difficult to transfer the money, but after four visits to the bank we figured it out. We’ll be able to do better and more efficiently next time.
Every penny raised was converted to rupees and wired. 2×2 paid the wire fees.
Thank you to those who participated. We will continue to hold New Life Fellowship in our hearts and prayers and send any contributions sent to 2×2 and marked Pakistan to help.
Christians were targeted because Muslim extremists equate America with Christianity.
The survivors fear that that Muslim hospitals will not provide adequate care to Christian patients so church members are providing as much care as possible themselves.
Relief efforts will help with medical care, food and clothing for victims.
Imagine your church being blown into the sky some Sunday morning.
11 Oct 2013
East Falls: Religion’s Bank
East Falls, an eclectic Philadelphia neighborhood, was once populated with a vibrant spiritual community. Recent decades have seen several church struggles with their form of hierarchy. East Falls is always the loser.
The churches of East Falls, for the most part, were built by working class people with occasional gifts from successful East Falls entrepreneurs. For example, Hohenadel’s Brewery, now long gone, gave annual gifts to the churches.
Redeemer was the unexpected recipient of one such estate in 1987—the Steinle Estate. That’s when the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America started salivating.
First, came the claims of Lutheran retirement home, where our deceased member was planning to move. She died before that happened, but Paul’s Run wanted to keep her hefty deposit. We settled out of court giving them about $20,000. (I was present when our church treasurer visited Paul’s Run and asked to see the director. He was turned away. “The director is not in,” the people at the front desk said. Our treasurer turned and started to leave but abruptly opened an office door by the reception area. There was the director, sitting pretty as he pleased!).
A decade later, Bishop Almquist grabbed $90,000 from our bank account, but returned most of it after two years—a sort of forced, interest-free loan.
A decade after that, SEPA tried again, this time claiming everything but our people. They went after our people in court.
No one can say that Redeemer was not contributing to the Synod! By the way, contributions to the synod are not required constitutionally.
Why East Falls?
Denominations have few ways of raising money except to seek more offerings from fewer people. Far fewer people. The suburbs are feeling the pinch, too!
There have always been rich people in East Falls going back to the 1700s. Our streets and schools are named after them. Today, the richest live north of Henry Ave or along Warden Drive. The middle of East Falls—roughly Henry Avenue to the railroad tracks remains solidly working middle class, but rising within that class. The positive trend for East Falls is that the other side of the tracks, the homes of mill workers and the mills (turned condo), is experiencing gentrification. East Falls is coming up in the world!
Redeemer is centrally located to all of East Falls.
Government housing projects on three sides of East Falls had plagued this neighborhood for decades. It was difficult for the community to connect and they became havens of desperation and crime. This had always been a challenge to our churches (for which the higher church had no answers. I asked!). But now two of these projects are gone and the third is better managed. There is nothing stopping the value of East Falls property from rising. Entirely new populations are making East Falls home. Many were finding their way to Redeemer.
Good time to rethink ministry, one might think. And Redeemer did!
Many of those who fled the city in the 60s and 70s became cornerstones of suburban churches. Now the regional bodies are returning for what they left behind.
The land their heritage churches sit on has risen in value.
Denominational regional offices have noticed. One by one, the communities of faith have struggled with their hierarchies with land being the rope in the tug of war.
When Catholic and Episcopal leaders need money, they hold title to congregational properties. Their people can fight, but winning is tough!
Not so under the rules of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. But they flexed their muscles in East Falls anyway, hoping no one would know better. With all the land issues in the news with Episcopal and Catholic denominations, people wouldn’t notice that the Lutheran Church does not own congregational property. The scheme worked. The courts never heard the case, ruling they don’t have jurisdiction in church issues. If they say they own the property, that’s good enough.
No one in the Lutheran Church seems to care about this. They should. It is foundational to their future. Once seized land is sold for a quick financial fix, the ability to make an impact in neighborhoods is gone. Mission fails.
The Lutheran way has always been to empower the foundation—families first (Martin Luther felt the home was the hub of Christian learning), congregations second, neighborhoods third. Regional and national entities are supposed to serve that end. No more.
Land values in East Falls coupled with a working class population makes us seem like easy pickings. We are not supposed to be smart enough to know the rules they are breaking.
St. James the Less lost their battle with the hierarchy ten years ago. The ploy there was to fabricate doctrinal issues.
There were no doctrinal issues raised with Redeemer Lutherans. Any justification for the actions of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod was fabricated to support greed and prejudice after the fact. There was never a discussion with the congregation to test the claims. The synod made claims; that’s good enough.
It wasn’t supposed to stop here. SEPA lawyer stated in court that Redeemer was the first of six or seven churches they intended to claim, close and reopen as MISSION churches. Sounds good. Don’t be fooled.
SEPA STRATEGY: This is part of a complex strategy. Lutheran rules assign certain land rights to churches started by a Synod and initially funded by Synod. They are called mission churches. Congregations with roots as a mission church cannot leave the ELCA WITH their property. Many Philadelphia churches were NOT started by synod. SEPA strategy is to seize control of these congregations and make them mission churches so that property rights revert to Synod. That’s what all the incremental tweaks about Involuntary Synodical Administration in the constitutions are about. That’s why it is so important to SEPA that churches close first and reorganize rather than just outright serving them under their existing names and constitutions. They say its about eliminating baggage of the past. Part of that baggage is land rights. They want property rights. In some cases, the Synod may actually be spending the congregation’s money, but by claiming it as theirs first and then spending it, they gain property rights.
Redeemer’s Neighbor: St. Bridget’s
In recent months, the heart and soul of much of East Falls — St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church — has been feeling the impact of the hierarchical clenched fist.
Last year, their school was closed by the archdiocesan “blue ribbon” committee. How can you argue with people who have blue ribbon status before they do anything?
In community discussions, the voices of outrage are heard.
The school had weathered four years of recession better than others. Their closure was supposed to boost the enrollment of schools which were struggling but which the archdiocese had sunk some money into refurbishing. Now both schools are closed.
The school is now the focus of commercial and community developers. The opportunity to use the land to foster religion may be gone.
The congregation had been subsidizing the school by as much as 35%. One community member stated. “Our church is in the black without the school.”
They are in the black for now. The school was an investment in their future. School’s create family involvement and long-term loyalty. Check back in 10 years to see if St. Bridget’s is still in the black without their school.
Meanwhile, the finances of the archdiocese were not discussed. Funny how the focus is always on the finances of congregations and not leadership. The archdiocese is struggling with major legal problems stemming from wide-ranging clergy sex scandals. Children were the victims then. Children and their education are the victims now. Millions of dollars are being spent to settle claims. Schools are closing.
SEPA Lutheran Synod (diocese) is also financially strapped, running six-figure deficits or shortfalls every year.
When regional church bodies cannot support their salaries and rent, they know where to turn. To nice, working class neighborhoods with rising property values.
East Falls fits the bill.
The spoils of East Falls will last only so long.
It will be someone else’s turn tomorrow. Maybe other Lutherans will start caring then!
I led a workshop on writing press releases this evening.
We discussed the basics of writing a release, adapting it to different news outlets and audiences, understanding the interest and needs of news editors, developing your own distribution channels and more!
Some attendees had an interest in church communications so it was a great discussion.
We are nearing the end of the year exploring Luke’s Gospel. Soon Jesus will be entering Jerusalem for his final trial.
But as he sets his face for Jerusalem, he encounters still more marginalized members of ancient Palestine—the lepers.
The disease was so feared that colonies were created in the most bleak areas to separate them from the healthy.
Leprosy is rare today. It can be cured. In Jesus’ day it was a disease that you could not hide. It was a death sentence, at least as far as living with any quality of life or ever living with anyone but other lepers ever again. The tenth leper was separating himself from the only people he had probably known since his disease became apparent.
This painting is by William Brassey Hole who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Hole was very fastidious in his details. Here is a link that discusses his methods. He traveled to study and learn the culture of the regions he painted. However, he couldn’t escape his time. He often depicts architecture that wasn’t built in Bible times and the wardrobe (which he collected for his models) was often more Arabic than Jewish as the demographics had changed in 1800 years. What I like about this depiction is the focus on the face of the thankful leper. The happy lepers are blips in the background.
Also from the 19th century is this version by French artist Jean Marie Melchior Doze. He takes a much more dramatic approach to telling this story. All those lepers just begging for Jesus’ attention. Doze concentrates on cure—not the reaction!
The story has long caught the attention of artists for centuries. This dates back to medieval times.
I like this one with the life of the times depicted as much as the key characters. Jesus is walking along probably passing many a shepherd, goatherd or cowherd. Then he encounters people who need care just as much as the animals need care.
Don’t you just want to join the happy dancers in the background? They are leaping off the page with joy. This image appears in several places on the web. No one seems to know the artist. If you know, please share. I have a guess but I haven’t been able to verify.
Bishop Kinisa was listening to the young pastoral candidate, but she was growing impatient.
The whole experience was bizarre—a recent seminarian coming to her with a proposal for a call. “If I listen to Bruce, how many other seminarians will line up at my door?” she wondered.
The time had come, she thought, to cut to the chase. She respected Gil and had enjoyed teaming with Bruce on the Undercover Bishop visits. But now she was not sure how to respond to Bruce’s appeal, especially since Gil was clearly in his corner before either had thought to approach her.
Young pastors were usually eager to be considered for any vacant church. Her usual role was to interview candidates, make recommendations to call committees and oversee the negotiations.
What was happening today was not the way things are supposed to be.
Bishop Kinisa decided to take charge.
“Bruce, correct me if I’m wrong, but you are not rostered in NEWS Synod.”
Bruce had anticipated the objection. “That’s right, I was sponsored in seminary by my home congregation which is in another synod. Frankly, I enjoyed working with you and the three Undercover Congregations. I have no real loyalties to any synod. It was only my home congregation sponsoring me. I have no financial obligations to my home synod. I thought it would be a good idea to explore possibilities. If my ideas have merit they may have wide-ranging benefits.”
“What hubris!” Ruby thought, but she maintained her calm.
“I confess I’m confused, Bruce. Are you here because you want to be considered for a call to a NEWS congregation? If so, I really don’t understand all the talk about Social Media.”
“I can see that what I’m trying to say might be confusing. I assure you it’s not my intention to cause difficulty. I keep thinking back to that conversation we had earlier this year, Bishop Kinisa. You asked me if I would consider serving in a small congregation. I’ve spent the best part of the year thinking about this. It seemed natural to return to the person who asked me the question in the first place.”
Ruby was encouraged with Bruce’s response. “And your answer is…?”
“I’d love to serve a congregation like Grace, Zion or Pleasantville. But I’m married with two boys about to enter college.”
“So your answer is no . . . just like so many other pastors.”
Gil interjected.
“Ruby that’s what Bruce is getting to. He has an idea that might make it possible for him to work with smaller congregations in a truly creative way.”
He turned to Bruce.
“Lay it out for the bishop, Bruce, just like you did for me at the conference last week.”
Bruce swallowed hard.
“Bishop Kinisa, I’d like to serve a small parish part-time, perhaps even two yoked small congregations. I’m hoping that such a call might support my ministry with a base salary of about $2000 per month.”
“But we know you can’t live on that,” Gill prodded.
“No, I can’t support my family on that, But I’m hoping to interest NEWS Synod in funding an experimental Social Ministry Model. I’d like to pilot a program that would help all 200 NEWS churches learn from my work.”
Both Gil and Bruce paused for Ruby’s reaction. She hesitated to answer at all, but finally said. “Bruce, I just don’t know enough about internet ministry. My gut reaction is that no one will be willing to support this idea. If there was any interest, someone would already be doing it.” She paused and smiled. “That being said . . . I’d have no trouble turning down either one of you…but the two of you together!”
All three enjoyed a laugh. That broke the ice.
At last Ruby said, “Bruce, I’d have to seriously study your proposal. Of course, I’d have to run it past the Synod Council and perhaps even the Synod Assembly before we could get funding.”
Gil interjected. “I think we can make it work. It will take a few months of meetings. Bruce will have to make presentations—beat the bushes, so to speak. The Synod Council might need a meeting or two to make a decision. That will leave only a few months left in this fiscal year. We can find the money.”
“Who do you think will give up their budgets for this?” Ruby asked.
“Social Media is so new that it doesn’t fall under any one committee. That’s probably why we have done so little with it. No one sees it as their job!” Gil said.
Bruce interjected. That’s the beauty of Social Media. It fits under several committees. It can be used for Witness, Education, Evangelism, Communications, Social Ministry, Justice Ministry and some churchwide agencies might be willing to get involved.”
Ruby smiled “Oh, to be young again,” she said. “I’m warning you, it won’t be easy.”
Gil added, “Bruce, it’s going to be your job to convince the movers and shakers in each area that there is something in this for them.”
“I’m up to the challenge, Bishop. Seriously, I really feel called in this direction. I hope I can count on your support.”
Ruby was not yet ready to commit one hundred percent, but she saw Gil’s enthusiasm and decided to leave the door open.
“I’m not yet on board, Bruce—at least not with both feet. A lot of work must be done before I approve this idea. But I am willing to put you in front of some people and see where you take us.”
Gil started humming, ”Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.” Bruce and Ruby joined in the last words. “Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me.”
2×2 Foundation of Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls, has spent much of the last two weeks promoting consciousness of the horrific events in Pakistan. There have been three bombings in or near churches that killed about 125 and wounded 250. We reported the stories of terror from our friends in ministry there. We asked for contributions to assist the Christian community in northern Pakistan, mostly to help with the ongoing care of the seriously wounded.
Tomorrow we will wire the gifts sent to us earmarked for Pakistan. There were four contributors, including two Redeemer members and two followers of 2×2. We did not raise much money—just $250. But we are betting that this is more than most other Lutherans.
We looked for an organized Lutheran effort which might facilitate getting the gifts we raised to the right people.
We discovered that Pakistan is not on the Lutheran map. There are no companion synods in the ELCA. Lutheran World Relief which is jointly supported by the ELCA and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has no indication on its website that it serves the needy in Pakistan.
That part of the world just isn’t on our map.
Keep Your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer
The problem may be that enemies of freedom such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban have links to Pakistan.
And so we keep all the people in that region at a distance. Out of sight; out of mind.
It might be wiser to pay more attention. We may not think we are part of the problems of that region but Muslim terrorists equate US policy with Christianity. It would be short-sighted to believe that they will limit their aggression to Christians in their own land for long. Or did we learn nothing on 9/11?
The Christian Community should take note of what is happening in Pakistan. We should find a way to express compassion. They are very aware that the Western Church knows nothing of them. It’s a lonely feeling. And yet they continue to witness, knowing that they are political targets. Their church buildings, their families, their weak and needy—all targets.
We will probably have to experience a similar loss on our soil before we are able to empathize.
2×2 can’t do much. After all, we don’t even exist according the ELCA. We are no longer part of the great interdependence of Lutherans. We’re on our own.
We’ll keep their needs before the world and contribute as we can.
Send contributions marked Pakistan Relief and we can wire them to Christian leaders in Pakistan
What is happening in Pakistan in the last two weeks should be to Christianity what 9/11 was to the United States.
In two bombings at and near a Christian Church in Pakistan some 120 worshipers were killed and 250 were seriously injured. Taliban takes credit. They blame Christianity for their problems.
It didn’t happen on American soil, so there is no outrage. There isn’t even very high awareness.
Faithful Christians who value the right to worship should be outraged. 2×2 is in touch with the Pakistani Church. They are desperate for help—food, medicine and clothing. They cannot get the Christian world’s attention. They believe we don’t care. They feel very alone. And still they are faithful.
I checked the ELCA web site to see which of its 65 synods might be partnered with Pakistan. The answer is none. I wrote to the ELCA representative who oversees the Companion Synod program that teams an American Synod with a foreign Lutheran entity. I’ve had no answer.
It’s the same bureaucracy that never answered our congregation’s letters during the last five years. But the problems in Pakistan seem to outweigh ours.
This should be to all of Christianity what 9/11 was to America.
I’ll repeat that a bit louder.
This should be to all of Christianity what 9/11 was to America.
Here are some links to articles in the world press.
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.
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For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
MISSION INSPIRATION OFFER
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Contact Info
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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
This painting is by William Brassey Hole who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The story has long caught the attention of artists for centuries. This dates back to medieval times.
Don’t you just want to join the happy dancers in the background? They are leaping off the page with joy. This image appears in several places on the web. No one seems to know the artist. If you know, please share. I have a guess but I haven’t been able to verify.
