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Why Churches Need a Church Social Web Site

19th century bank robbers

Why do people rob banks? That’s where the money is.
Why should churches use social media? That’s where the people are.

The web is the most powerful medium the Church does not use.

The web is no longer new. It’s been part of our lives for 20 years. With each passing year it is more integral to our society and lifestyle. And still a good number of churches have NO web site—not even a billboard presence.

The majority of churches WITH web sites don’t use them for anything but posting the most basic parish information. They are narcissistic. “We’re great! Come to us!”

It is not unusual to hear older people argue, “I don’t do computers. I’m not going to learn. I don’t want to spend the money.” It is often followed with, “Do you mind looking this up for me?”

Apologizing for not using computers is like explaining that you don’t brush your teeth.

There is no excuse.

Any arguments will fall on modern ears like this:

You don’t have a web site. That means you aren’t serious about your mission. Why should anyone take a second look at your ministry?

The web is how you reach people in today’s world. It may be the only hope for smaller congregations. Done correctly, it’s not a “Hail Mary” by any means. Done correctly it can be the catalyst of a whole new ministry. There are some basic questions to ask before you commit to a web presence or revise the site you now have.

  • Who do you hope to reach? If you are hoping to communicate only with members, you are wasting your time. You have the ability to reach thousands of people you never thought might find their way to your pages, but who do you see as your audience?
  • How are you going to announce your presence and spread the word? Turn to your members—especially your younger members. You will need them. (Knowing they are important to mission beyond their pocketbooks will boost morale.)
  • How are you going to respond to your online community?
  • What will appeal to your prospective readers visually and content-wise? Looks matter on the web. If your site is crafted in awkward HTML , it broadcasts that you are not serious or knowledgable. This does not mean you need tons of training or that you need to hire an intermediary. It is VERY possible to look very professional with only a day’s experience.
  • What do you expect visitors to get out of your site? Do you expect them to take any action? You have to ask them!
  • How do you want them to feel when they leave?

If your web site is nothing more than a list of worship opportunities and a list of staff these are not concerns for you. But if this is the type of site you have today, you are squandering a valuable resource.

Here’s our experience. Keep in mind as you read this that our regional body considered our ministry dead. We had no professional support and dealt daily with hierarchical hostility. All our property and monetary assets had been seized. Any church reading this is going to be in a stronger position than we were in!

Redeemer’s Social Media Ongoing Adventure-2×2

2×2 started this experimental site in February 2011—about a year after our regional body took our property and locked our members out. The Holy Spirit knows its way around locks!

Our property had already been empty for 16 months. We had been meeting in members’ homes, which was frustrating because we felt isolated and unable to serve as we had been. (Isolating us was part of the power game.)

We had a pretty comprehensive mission plan before all this happened. We revised it.

We no longer had a physical site we could invite people to visit, so we made the web site as welcoming as possible.

We built on our strengths. Redeemer worship was very inclusive and somewhat innovative. We had minimal pastoral presence for decades and had learned to do many things as lay workers. We expanded on this experience, drafting ideas for small church worship.

  • We began offering the same types of resources we shared weekly in our worship. Art. Music. Poetry. Plays. Worship ideas.
  • Since we were exploring Social Media, we reported regularly on our Social Media experiment and sharing what we learned.
  • As a congregation of immigrants (both historically and recently) we explored multicultural ministry.

Redeemer was always a small neighborhood church. We had no illusions of ever being a large congregation. 2×2 has changed our vision. We now have about 1000 readers a week. We have formed mission partnerships all over the world. We have gained authority in the areas we addressed. We lead search engine traffic in many of them.

Embrace Serendipity

If you implement this type of ministry, it will take you to places you never expected. You cannot control who reads you, likes you, or friends you on the web. You can prompt them to share, but you can’t make them!

You can control how you react. It will reshape your ministry. You may find that you didn’t just add a new feature to your existing ministry. You may be changing the whole way you approach ministry, allocate funds, and how people work together.

Enjoy the ride. 

Why do people rob banks? Because that’s where the money is.
Why should churches use social media? Because that’s where the people are.

Click to tweet.

01 Aug 2013

Another Lesson in Church Math

majority

What to Do When the Majority Is Wrong

We’ve written before about church math—how it doesn’t add up the way we expect it to.

Church leaders, with managerial mindsets, look at church statistics and conclude that it would be better use of resources to combine two  churches and sell one property with everyone joining together as one big happy family in the best-positioned location.

They go ahead and put things in motion and discover that instead of two churches with 100 members each merging to form one church of 200, they now have one church with 50.

Here’s another math problem for churches. Which is more reliable? One voice or thirty?

Imagine a controversial issue. The Church’s usual response is to form a committee of 30, choosing the best minds of people representing all sides of an issue. Finding the right committee members could take months!

Next, schedule meetings and discussion groups. Fly committee members all over the country, if necessary. Add a few more months to the process. At last, write a social statement that defines the group’s resolution. Attach a disclaimer to the end that negates everything the paper says to satisfy the minority and trust that no one will read that far.

Publish the committee’s report with fanfare. Post it on the web. Forget about it.

The issue usually remains unresolved, but at least there is something to provide to curious outside parties. They probably won’t read the whole thing.

Nobody is really happy. The most disgruntled will leave. Life will go on as if the committee had never met in the first place.

Some issues are not for group resolution. They are for us to resolve as individuals with our consciences open to God. Kudos to the founders of the ELCA in recognizing this with their constitutional “interdependence.”

The problem is they failed to provide a structure to support the goal of interdependence.

When individuals resolve issues in their own minds, their ideas take on power. Passion results and passion is high-octane fuel.

Committees have power only when there is a dynamic leader. Otherwise, they sputter along on watered-down low octane.

Sometimes the majority is wrong.

There aren’t too many examples of majority voting in the Bible.

  • The majority voted to create a Golden Calf.
  • The majority voted for King Saul.
  • The majority voted for Barabbus.

The Bible is largely a record of the power of individual faith—self-discernment. God usually spoke to individuals in the Bible. It’s mankind that strives for the validation of numbers.

Mark Schaefer tells an interesting cautionary tale in a recent post. 

This true story is about a company who routinely spends significant money on product research. focus groups and consumer surveying. They were proud of their process and product.

Then one day one person said something that made a difference.

Fortunately, he was heard and the company acted on it. It wasn’t popular. The company was making big changes based on a comment of just ONE person. There was plenty of grumbling.

Read the story. In the end, they were all thankful they had listened.

How does the church treat the lone voices out there?

Church people are like any organization. We discuss. We vote. We follow majorities. Sometimes we work toward consensus. Sometimes we follow orders. Sometimes when the numbers aren’t going our way, we look for ways to bypass our rules.

Rarely do we find a place for that lone voice that persistently says, “Wait a minute. This may not be the way we ought to go.”

Sometimes one person is right and the majority is wrong. It can be a very uncomfortable pew!

We must make room for the lone voice.

If we don’t, we are squandering resources.

Sadly, that’s usually just fine with the Church.

photo credit: tantek via photopincc
30 Jul 2013

Imagination: The Source of Innovation

Hold “What If?” Parties

innovatorsThe Church is looking for innovation.
Or so they say.

Innovation is usually the result of a very few innovators.

The Church tends to be unkind to innovators. Judgmental.

Result: little innovation.

Every few centuries, an innovator makes a difference. It really doesn’t happen very often. Some of them become “official” saints. Some of them just go down in history—like Martin Luther. Often their bold thinking was sparked by the times, like Martin Luther King, Jr.

Or did Dr. King spark the times?

More often, innovators go unrecognized.

In the day-to-day life of the Church, innovation has a different definition. It doesn’t mean change in a significant way. It means finding a way to stay the same, to keep the same statistics up and the bills paid as the odds grow against that kind of success.

Look at the congregations that are viewed as most successful. Their success is often in doing ministry the same way a bit longer than other churches. Worship Sunday morning. Sunday School. Same staff positions and the same list of committees. Same set of service projects. They are successful. No need to innovate!

Innovation will come from smaller churches.

True innovation is rarely pretty at first. It takes experimentation and a willingness to take significant risks. It can be life-threatening. Ask either Martin!

Church leaders encourage innovation, but they are also waiting in the wings to assess your failures. This might be OK, if their judgment resulted in collaboration and help. However, it often results in property and asset grabs and a demoralizing treatment of church leaders and members.

Have you visited a church that was scheduled to close before the grand closing rally? Have you seen the pain of the people? Have you sensed their feeling of despair, isolation and worthlessness. This will be camouflaged when you bring in the big guns for that all-important closing service, designed to make everything seem all right — when it’s not.

Innovation doesn’t happen very often. It’s just too scary. Innovation requires resources. Those resources are needed to keep doing things the same way.

Innovation is not moving the worship time forward or backward by one hour.

Innovation is not offering Holy Communion every week.

That’s just rearranging the same things that have been part of Church in one form or other since Stephen was stoned.

Innovation is doing things differently. Listening to different people. Looking for different sources of funding. Serving a different need in a different way. Structuring your government differently. Emphasizing a different passage from scripture.

What was Martin Luther’s biggest innovation? Telling the gospel story in the native language of the people. Unheard of at the time. An abomination.

Really, not such a big deal.

What was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s innovation? Believing that all races could live together in peace and equality. This was not only unheard of at the time—it was against the law in many places.

Really, not terrible. Kind of nice. Why didn’t we try this sooner?

What sacred cows are we keeping in our pastures that need a bit of freedom? (I’m not going to use the faddy “resurrection” simile. It’s, frankly, offensive and has led to abusive behavior by church leaders. Churches don’t have to die to be reborn.)

Maybe you have an innovator in your community. Are you giving him or her half a chance?

Be aware: innovation often comes from unlikely places. If you think that by calling a certain pastor, you’ll achieve innovation, you are likely to be disappointed. Your innovators might be sitting in the back row. They might be coming only once every few weeks. They might be 80 years old. They might be 10. They may be “lifers.” They may not have joined—yet.

We need leaders who can imagine, who can think outside the sanctuary, who can ask the “what if” question and rally energy and resources to test new strategies and create new alliances.

What If?

Asking “What if?” is the rabbit’s foot of every creative person. Writers use it. Musicians, Visual artists. All creatives in every field.

  • What if we create a band without brass—just guitars and a drummer? The Beatles.
  • What if break up what we see into dots and strokes of various colors? Impressionism.
  • What if we hold a progressive talent contest that lasts 15 weeks instead of just a one-shot deal? What if we let the people vote? American Idol, a host of copycats and the rise of dozens of young artists.
  • What if we try a different kind of filament? The light bulb.

Host a quarterly What If? Party, where members can dream and brainstorm. Process the ideas presented. Make no decisions for two weeks, at least. Use that fallow time to let people talk, gripe, advocate, hone an idea. . . whatever they need to do.  

Create opportunities for those in opposition to work together. When people work together, they talk. When people talk, amazing things can result.

A What If? Party should have some kind of ice-breaker activities or exercises. Mix people up. Make it fun.

At Redeemer, we once divided people by birthdays. Four groups. One for each season. We had a small bowl on the table for each group. The bowl held slips of paper with a few ideas for a group activity—like tell some jokes, or write a skit about _____, or sing a song. Hey, it’s work to get a group of people to agree on the same song! In this case, the people had to agree on an activity and then take a few minutes to pull it off.

Then we’d have an impromptu talent show. Fun!

This was our ice breaker. There is power in this silliness. People break out of their comfort zones and work side by side with people they see every Sunday but don’t really know.

We’d follow the icebreaker with discussion on various topics.

This created an environment that influenced our ministry every week when we’d sit down together after worship for coffee and soup—at one big table—the “roundtable” (even though it had corners) where we were all equal.

  • What if we ran our own school in our own building?
  • What if we started a web site that reached out?
  • What if we encouraged our African members to invite their friends?
  • What if we found a pastor that spoke Swahili to facilitate this effort?
  • What if we used Swahili in our services?
  • What if we put the outreach in the hands of the African members?
  • What if a youth led the children’s sermon?
  • What if we used some of the equity in our property to expand our ministry?

Of course, getting the results takes time and hard work and you can’t always foresee the obstacles but it’s better than gathering dust or locking doors.

Try a What If? Party and see what happens.

Be prepared for failure. Failure is necessary for well-rooted success.

 

28 Jul 2013

Ambassadors Visit Immanuel, Somerton neighborhood, Philadelphia

immanuel-somerton
Today we made our 68th visit to a SEPA congregation. We traveled up the Boulevard for the 9:30 service at Immanuel, Somerton—a congregation in Philadelphia’s far NE, proud of its German heritage. The 9:30 service is advertised as the English service.

We were greeted as we got out of our car near the sanctuary door. A friendly woman directed us downstairs. In the summer they gather less formerly in their fellowship hall. The service was short and employed minimal elements of the liturgy. We sang only two hymns, both to familiar tunes with revised words. It seems that the congregation uses the summer to catch up on mission opportunities. This week the pastor was concentrating on relations with Islam. Next week, the bulletin announced a speaker from a SEPA Social Service Agency. The week before featured a different local mission project.

The topic of Islam holds special interest to this congregation as there has been some concern in Germant with Islamic immigration and an organized attempt by one group in Cologne to distribute copies of the Koran. The pastor, The Rev. Sönke Schmidt-Lange, said that their distribution method would be akin to Bishop Burkat urging SEPA Lutherans to buy a new Bible for themselves and at the same time give a Bible to someone not of the faith. He spoke of fear of Islamic extremism and referenced other extreme actions in history based on religious conviction.

The service traveled a bit today. After the passing of the peace, the congregation migrated to a spot on their ample grounds where a tree was being blessed as a memorial to a deceased member. They were then returning to the church for coffee and to view a 25-minute video on Islam. The pastor seemed to have done ample research in preparing for the discussion. Presumably, the German members arriving for the second service could also view the video.

We invite Immanuel to take the message of today’s sermon seriously and put their pastor’s suggestion in action.

Pakistan Palm SundayRedeemer, through its 2×2 online ministry, has been working with a mission effort in Pakistan which is truly impressive. Our mission friends there have initiated a project. They are intent upon starting 1000 home churches in Pakistan this year and they are looking to provide 1000 Bibles in the Urdu language — one for each home church. Each Bible costs about $16. We will be glad to forward any offerings for the purchase of Urdu Bibles in Pakistan to this mission project in a manner that would ensure every dollar going towards mission. You can read about their ministry on this site.

This is a mission effort in a land which is hostile to Christianity. Our friends write to us often about persecution. They told us of how a Lutheran church burned during the uprising caused by the critical internet video a few months ago.

And so we should be supporting their work in Pakistan while being less fearful of our new Islamic neighbors.

Redeemer can tell you this. Our friends who came to Christianity from Islamic roots have been very supportive of our ministry during our five-year exile from SEPA — while most SEPA Christians have turned their backs on us.

ELCA statistics have the baptized membership of Immanuel as 441.

While the congregation migrated for the tree blessing, we spoke with a member who shared with us news of their VBS program. They don’t have young children anymore but they had a program for 10 enthusiastic youngsters. I gave them the link to our VBSaid.com web site.

There were about 50 at worship, including just one child. The numbers were swelled a bit, they told us, as the family of the person for whom the tree is a memorial were present for the blessing.

They historic roots are closer to center city. They moved to the far NE part of the city some 25 years ago. The diaspora continues, according to one member. Their younger members are moving still farther from the city.

That leaves them with a mission challenge right there in Somerton!

 

21 Jul 2013

A Painting We Sent to Friends in Kenya

paintinglr

13 Jul 2013

Signs of a Failing Church Structure

3eggsThe reason the Church is failing is because large churches are failing.

In today’s Alban Weekly post Steve Willis points out that even in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the Protestant Church was at its statistical peak in America, one denomination’s statistics showed 44% of all congregations had fewer than 100 members and 73% had fewer than 250 members.

Small churches have always been the backbone of the greater church.

Today, church hierarchies eye small congregations and label them “dying.” They’ve maneuvered their governing documents to make sure they are the primary, if not sole heirs. They even actively attempt to speed the death process along.

During the halcyon days of the American Church, the vision was that small will become big. This is America! There are only three sizes of eggs—large, extra large and jumbo. We worship at the altar of big. Big churches must be better churches.

Why are they still outnumbered by small churches?

In postwar America, Christian pastures looked to be forever verdant. Denominations which operated for decades with a president (now upgraded to bishop) and an assistant and secretary, began to grow staffs of eight, nine or fifteen. The support of booming suburban churches made this hierarchical growth possible.

In many cases, these churches were booming because of white flight from the cities. They were already benefiting from the assets of the small churches. Today they are returning for what they left behind.

Smaller churches were never large supporters of hierarchy. They could support a small denominational office, but never at the modern levels. Truth be told, they received very little attention or benefit from hierarchy, so it is easy for them to question benevolence dollars sent in that direction.

But now the big churches of the suburbs are struggling with dramatic drops in attendance and giving. Some have lost a third of their members. Some half. It will be a while before they can’t pay their own bills. Half of 1500 still leaves 750 supporting members—triple the size of an average church. Nevertheless, the dreams of unending growth and prestige are fading. In order to continue the same level of support for hierarchy, they have to sacrifice their own mission.

That noise you hear is the sound of the church imploding.

It is hard to let go of the flagship hierarchies we’ve created, even when no one really knows what they do! They are part of our brand! After all, we gave them power, and they WILL use it to survive!

How do we keep funding the system we thought would grow and grow back in the post-war boom?

We target the small churches—the churches that were always small, never planned to be very big, had carefully paid their own way, are probably debt-free, but now struggle to meet the expectations of hierarchy. They compete with larger churches for leadership talent, which now expects minimum salary packages that are similar in every church regardless of size.

In historic Lutheran polity (still practiced in places) a church that chooses to close can still determine what to do with their assets. But some synods—the ones with unwieldy hierarchies—have actively made sure that it never comes to that. They look for any opportunity to impose their administration (which under the founding documents is also supposed to be voluntary). They use all kinds of terminology that hoodwinks lay people.

  • You’ve been designated a “mission development” church. You think you are getting special help. “Mission development” status can give your regional office control of your assets. The lay people don’t see it coming.
  • You have an interim pastor. Those interim pastors report directly to the bishop.
  • The last resort: something that doesn’t appear in their governing documents except by incremental tweaks of their constitutions which are now in conflict with the founding corporate documents: involuntary synodical administration. This has become a euphemism for theft. Has ISA (as they cutely call it) EVER been about administration?

All of these methods are ways of diminishing the influence of pesky lay people. They are a means to control—first of the people, then of the people’s assets.

These methods are coming into play more frequently today. The big suburban churches can’t afford the hierarchy they have come to rely upon.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America got by for almost all of its 25-year history by passing hefty deficit budgets—filling the gap with the assets of closed churches. It has been only the last couple of years that they were able to boast of a balanced budget. Even so, their projected incomes have been off by six figures. Only the spin has changed. They can boast of the balanced budget and soft-sell the shortage in funds.

They won’t be so beneficent when they analyze the budgets of the small churches whose assets they covet.

Small neighborhood churches are not necessarily dying. Our communal vision is clouded by greed. That faulty vision is keeping the hierarchies from doing their job in supporting the small churches.

From Willis’s article:

We see our situation through the same spectacles that the domi­nant, secular American culture views the world. The problem is not that we are getting smaller and more peripheral. The problem is a lethargic faith imagination and a graceless cov­enant love….

The small-church lament is not about being left behind. It was always behind, always out of step, and always at the margin. The small-church lament is that things are not as they should be. And that lament has a long, important tradition in the life of covenant people. Angry protestations about declining mem­bership rolls and budgets do not offer a prophetic word to the church. But paying closer attention to people and places and speaking out about who people are and what they are created for carry the potential for genuine transformation.

Today’s small church lacks professional leaders who can embrace their potential. The failing suburban model needs the assets of the cities and rural areas, the places from which they drew their members 40 years ago.

In coveting small church assets, church leaders are doing grave disservice to the churches they serve. Assets which are valued only to fill irresponsible hierarchical shortfalls are assets squandered. Properties in well-populated neighborhoods are sold to replicate a dying model in a new location for a few decades. In doing so, they have squandered the assets of the communities who provided them—at considerable lay sacrifice. In their struggle to control the assets of member churches, they violate the lay leadership — who are the source of all hierarchical wealth.

The Church is shooting itself in the foot.

08 Jul 2013

Independence Day Eulogy

Do we deserve to celebrate today?

Our nation was blessed with a new beginning at a time in history when a new beginning was very much needed.

Life was bleak for the common people. Things were so bad that it was worth considerable risk to create change. Freedom sounded like a good idea.

A good many people from every station in life took these risks to make sure that this new idea — the United States — guaranteed every citizen a voice, a vote and a good stab at happiness and upward mobility.

For the first time in history, the common person could do more than dream of being something more than his or her birth station allowed.

Religious freedom was a key goal for many of the immigrants who fled to America, including both sides of my family tree.

This was all new 237 years ago. Many sacrificed and died that this great experiment might continue to prosper as older and richer nations faltered and failed.

As we look over our experiences of the last five years, we have to wonder. We seem to have become a nation that celebrates our freedoms and the power and advantages they give us, but we so often fail to use them. Our social focus seems to be on protecting ourselves and our accumulated wealth and comfort. If speaking out for the downtrodden or the abused might cost us —well, let some other fool bear that burden. And if no one does — well, it’s not that big a loss.

Religious freedom is foundational to American life. Sadly, churches use their protected status to abuse their most vulnerable members. Whether it’s small congregations or helpless children — the modern church puts its hierarchical interests above the people they serve. And nothing will stop them from protecting their right to bully.

The courts, too, charged to examine corporate issues fairly and impartially are tempted to turn a blind eye to abuses of the freedoms in the church. Avoiding interference in doctrinal issues gives a license to church leaders to create doctrinal issues where none exist so that they can have their way without regard to the law on corporate issues. A few more decades may reveal just how dangerous this lawless monster can become. We are starting to get a glimpse of it as the scandals in the Roman Catholic church continue to unravel. Protestants have their challenges, too.

Until the courts realize that every aspect of church life does not involve doctrine — that a lot of it is contractual with corporate promises that should be binding — there is a remedy. The people — the foundation of  both our country and the Church — can exercise the rights that so many people continue to sacrifice to protect. They can speak up, they can advocate, they can be adversaries for others.

But they probably won’t. It might cost them their status, some money, some comfort and ease. Freedom to be selfish.

Patriots are admired, not emulated. Saints are appreciated most after they die. Click to tweet.

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell wrote a book, A Nation of Wimps. Perhaps there will be a sequel: A Church of Wimps.

04 Jul 2013

Guest Post: What Constitutes Power in the Church?

Joanna Smithlr

 

Today’s post is written by Joanna Smith, a subscriber to 2×2.

Joanna Smith is a Christian and an observer of the good, the bad, and the ugly within the Church. She may be reached at jcsmith19027@yahoo.com.

Dedicated Christians or Power-Crazed Christians?

If the Church is the body of Christ, why do so many of her leaders act like the road to successful church growth is paved with her amputated head and limbs? Click to tweet.

Recently, I was staffing a booth at a regional denominational convention where I had the chance to speak to a pastor who had been put in charge of revitalizing what was considered a declining church in a medium-sized town in Pennsylvania.

This town, like many others across the country, was facing the challenges associated with contemporary American life: changing ethnicity, the rise of secularism, and–let’s be frank—the effects of sin and evil.

This pastor, who also worked in construction and sported a military-style buzz cut, was charged by the denominational leadership to “turn around” this small city church.

“Go in there and act like the Marine. You already look the part,” he was told.

Like a good soldier he followed orders. During the beginning days of his tenure at the church, senior lay leadership made it clear that they were not happy with the changes he was proposing. He pushed back. Hard. And made it clear that changes would be made and that if they didn’t like it, they would be free to leave.

“They are the old line power-hungry elite who are standing in the way of church growth,” he said forcefully. “They’ll find another declining church to join where they can play their power games.”

Expendable Members. What A Way to Grow A Church!

The strategy, which has been proposed by others, was to hound the offending laity until they ended up saying their prayers alone in their living room on Sunday morning.

Talk about wolves in shepherds’ clothing!

What that pastor was saying has an element of truth.  There are people for whom church leadership is a means to power. Quite a few, it seems, end up becoming ordained. Click to tweet.

Most lay people who stay in “declining” congregations are those who teach Sunday School, who sing in the choir, and who serve at the church suppers when there are fewer and fewer people to take on those tasks. They may have held their congregations together through decades of neighborhood unrest and possibly through several poor ineffective pastoral solutions presented by their regional body.

Most likely they were married there and their children were baptized there. Probably their parents were, too.  They were the ones who stayed and put up with the theological experimentation—which at times bordered on heresy—the same denominational leadership who was now trying to force them out.

They are the faithful backbone of the church—the ones you can count on to show up with their sleeves rolled.

I’m no doctor, but I think that it’s considered malpractice to treat a limping patient with a sprained ankle by fracturing his back.

Servanthood in the Church

Christ doesn’t treat His Church that way. In Ephesians, Paul compares the Church to a bride and says that Jesus “gave himself up for her” and “nourishes and cherishes” her.

Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd and said that he would leave the 99 and go after the one lost sheep. He also said that He would never leave or forsake those 99. Any earthly hireling shepherd that would purposely scatter the herd in his charge would be a dangerous fool and should be fired by his employer.

Perhaps today’s church leadership should emulate the Marines, whose motto is semper fidelis for whom honor is sacred. Perhaps we should live by the marine’s primary rule of engagement: never leave one your own behind. 

It would be biblical. Jesus told his flock that he would never leave them or forsake them.

Jesus had some very harsh words for his hired hands: “Anyone who causes even the least of my own to go astray, it is better that he wears a millstone around his neck and is thrown into the sea.” 

I was paging through the New Testament the other day looking for the chapter and verse where Jesus said that it was okay for people to throw others out of his church, abandon and demonize the most faithful, lock doors, claim property and declare their actions to be righteous and praiseworthy—while anyone who might think differently can go eat cake.

Can you find it?

Related post of a successful, more loving (Christian) alternative approach

shepherdlr

Cartoon by 2×2

NOTE from 2×2: Thanks for your heartfelt contribution, Joanna.

A career pastor who made a mission of reviving congregations, spending five to seven years in each, once told me the first thing a transformational pastor must do is “nothing for one year.” Getting to know the parish and forming relationships with lay leaders takes that long, he advised. After that, when you’ve proved that you love the congregation and have their interests at heart (as opposed to your own or that of the regional body) begin to introduce ideas, gently — not like a Marine. Until solid relationships are formed, lay leaders are well within their rights to be resistant and suspicious. All clergy would have to do is practice the Golden Rule. How would you like it if someone treated you like your home would be better without you in it? Lay caution is natural and usually based in love for the church—not a lust for power.  Their caution is prudent.

Lay people with an insatiable lust for power don’t hang around in small churches.

Clergy get away with their self-serving attitudes because they count on lay leaders to have no voice. 2×2 is trying to change that.

We’d love to check back on that Marine Pastor in a year or so to see if his approach worked or if he found himself the shepherd of a closed church.

Thanks, again, for your view coming from a different denomination. Judy

03 Jul 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Luke 10:1-11,16-20

ducksJesus Sends His Followers 2×2

Note: For the first time we are including a musical offering to enhance the object lesson. It’s at the end.

It is summer and the seaside will attract many of us for some rest and relaxation.

Waves are our object for today. If you use a projector in worship, use photos of waves. Or stir up your own waves in a large glass bowl.

There is something refreshing about staring at the motion of water and particularly the sea. It doesn’t matter if the waves reach gently for dry land or crash with untamable power onto the rocks and shoreline. We can’t take our eyes off the beauty, the power, and the fact that we have no control over it. The water will have its way!

Today’s gospel, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20, is about a great sending. Jesus sends 7o apostles ahead of him in pairs or 2×2 (for which our ministry is named).

Jesus gives a list of Spartan instructions, which are designed to make sure the mission is not forgotten. Take nothing for yourself. Try to reach everyone, but don’t waste time if ears and minds are closed.

The thought that God is relying on us is humbling.

There is a warning that things might not always go smoothly. The message they will be preaching will at times be harsh. People WILL have a hard time hearing it.

Jesus includes some fire and brimstone. (Some of this is in the excluded verses. Go ahead and read them.)

The 70 have a pretty good first maiden voyage. They return to Jesus impressed with the power that Jesus gave them.

Who knows how many times these first apostles reached out to new people? How many shores did they reach? How many times did they return to the water of their baptism for revival?

That’s what your adult learners can think about as they watch the waves this summer, returning again and again to the sea, reaching ever higher toward land as the tide rises.

The job we, as modern apostles, are asked to do remains challenging. We still face rejection.

Sometimes the path will be pleasant and rewarding, but there is no promise that the sea will always be gentle. Yet, it is with the power of the Word that we reach out. We are to take no pride in this power. We are fortunate to have the relationship with the Lord and the promise of heaven.

This is a complex analogy for adult learners but today’s lesson can include the children of the congregation by having all join together with one or both of the following songs which relate to today’s gospel. One is a 2×2 original. We’ve paired it with an American spiritual.

It is designed to be fun. Having fun together as a congregation is a good educational tool. You can exclude the parts in parentheses and some of the rhythms if you want your worship to be more formal.

To help you learn the songs there’s a homemade audio to give you the basic tune. This is our first venture in offering music. We’ll get better at it. Promise.

2×2 song

2×2

(Each x indicates a clap)

Two by two x
Two by two x
Jesus sent apostles out two by two
And they preached. xx
And they taught. xx
They made the demons take a walk. (Get lost!)
Jesus sent apostles out
Two x by x two. xx

Two by two x
Two by two x
Jesus still is sending us two by two.
We will preach. xx
We will teach. xx
Every nation we must reach. (Each one!)
Jesus sent apostles out (Knock on pew) xx xxx
Jesus sent apostles out (Knock on pew) xx xxx
Jesus sent apostles out
Two x by x two. xx

and / or

You can move directly into a new rhythm and keep it going, rapping on a guitar soundboard or on a pew. Clapping can work, too.

Knock. Knock.
Knock. Knock. Knock. (repeat throughout the next song)

The American Spiritual: Somebody’s knocking at your door

The link above is to a more professional rendition of this spiritual, although it is presented in a very fun style.

Here’s our humble effort: Somebody’sKnocking

Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner. Why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Knocks like Jesus.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Can’t you hear him?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner, why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Somebody’s knocking at your door.
Oh, sinner. Why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s knocking at your door.

Close with the traditional knock:

Knock. Knock.   Knock, knock, knock.

Shout: Who’s there?

You can use this same closing knock on 2×2 Song if you use only one of the songs.

photo credit: wili_hybrid via photopin cc
01 Jul 2013

The Demise of the Hymnal

hymnrackThe Modern Hymnal: Come Buy Here!

It’s only about six years since the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America published its first new worship book (liturgies and hymns) in about 25 years. The official preceding hymnal was used for only about 25 years. The hymnal before that was used a bit longer and the hymnal before that even longer. The life of a hymnal is getting shorter and shorter. It may be extinct.

Today there is no need for a hymnal. But there is a need to fund the offices that create worship resources. Publishing and promoting a new hymnal may sound like a way to keep money flowing.

In our 65 church visits, almost no churches use the hymnal for the liturgy and rarely reference them for hymns. The expensive hymn books gather dust in the hymn racks.

Many churches have not bothered to invest thousands of dollars to restock their hymn racks with the latest official worship publication. Those that have would probably have spent their money more wisely elsewhere. It doesn’t look like there is much future for physical hymnals.

Here is why hymnals are an outdated idea.

  • The liturgies they include are meant to unite congregations in tradition. When a member visits another congregation, he or she will feel at home. But then they have included a fairly large number of liturgy choices. Most congregations use only one or two. So the unity objective works only if every church chooses the same one or two.
  • People can publish their own liturgies now. They are mixing and matching from various traditions and popular songs from Christian radio — and church camp! Try as the church might, those liturgies are going to be mutilated from their intended use. Nothing wrong with that, by the way.  
  • Hymnals are heavy. This newest one is like a barbell. Maybe I’m getting older. Maybe most church people are getting older.
  • People like to sing what they like to sing. If their favorites aren’t in the hymnal (and many aren’t) they are going to reprint them from another source, leaving the hymnal in the rack. The notion that the denomination has approved the theology and tweaked the wording to suit their spin, making sure God hears the right words of praise, sung to the most pleasing (if obscure) tune, well, it just won’t sell anymore.
  • People today have ready and relatively free access to words and chords. The internet is one big fake book.
  • If a stated goal is diversity, we have to look outside one hymnal to reach people. The world is so much bigger than any one hymnal can ever be…unless…

The wisest direction for those entrusted with liturgical integrity is to take their work and message online. That’s where many people turn when putting together a worship service these days. A new economic model will be needed, but that has to happen anyway. The next hymnal ten or fifteen years down the road is not likely to sell.

There is a big opportunity to pioneer such a web service. The Church can tackle it or wait for someone else to corner this audience.

  • If they choose to tackle it, they will reach a much broader audience than their own denomination. Denominational thinking keeps us from realizing this!
  • They can publish and promote new music in real time—not every 20 years.

What a mission opportunity!

photo credit: donjd2 via photopin cc
01 Jul 2013