Large churches don’t need them.
Small churches can’t afford them.
If they are to have value, hierarchies must do more than exist. They must make themselves relevant, affordable, and a force for the best of what the Church can be.
There was a time when small churches had little choice but to affiliate with larger church bodies. It was their only way of assuring access to quality leadership, resources, and to effectively reach out to the world at large.
Times have changed. Hierarchies have grown while supporting churches struggle. They are expensive. Congregations can’t afford them and are beginning to realize they are not as necessary as they once were.
During formational years, denominations are eager to sign up as many congregations as possible. As time passes, relationships change.
Meanwhile, the care and feeding of the hierarchy continues. Smallest neighborhood churches are in jeopardy.
The measure of a regional body is how it honors the promises made to the smallest congregations when they joined the denomination.
Some joined with as few as 20 charter members. Today, with 80 or more members they may be deemed not worth saving. Their property and assets? That’s a different story.
Few congregations ever set out to grow beyond a certain sociological level. Church experts call them family/parish/program or corporate categories. Family churches are happy being family churches. Program churches are not trying to be corporate churches.
The focus of most congregations is and always will be local. Sometimes congregations find themselves adding a new sanctuary or growing their staff. It is usually a reflection of neighborhood growth. Often significant growth never happens, but the church can still fulfill its mission in its neighborhood.
If growth is the goal, most neighborhood congregations are at a severe disadvantage. They have far fewer options in attracting professional leadership. Denominations even admit to assigning “caretaker” pastors with low expectations for ministry. This drains a congregation’s resources and self-esteem.
A pattern begins. Small congregations know they are not getting equal services. They withhold support.
But hierarchies accumulate more than wealth. They accumulate power. With dwindling support from small and neglected congregations, they begin to exert power. As part of the process, they equate the level of support they are receiving with the congregation’s viability. They try to get resources wherever they can and if the congregations choose to not support the regional body — well, watch out!
Regional bodies and church agencies start to look for ways to fund the structure they have become accustomed to. “Development Offices,” funded with the offerings of many churches, target donors — who are most likely members of the participating congregations. The word “mission” will be in all their promotional material. People are more likely to give to corporate “mission” than to corporate “rent.”
They are now in competition with their member congregations for offerings. They want a bigger piece of the church pie.
With the recent court ruling in southeastern Pennsylvania, church hierarchies — even those prohibited from taking church assets by their founding constitutions — can legally reach directly into the wallets of their congregations without their permission. They need only issue an “opinion” that the church is not viable. We at Redeemer, know how easy it is for leaders to reach that “opinion,” especially when the denomination is running a six-figure deficit budget.
In the end, this is self-defeating. Eventually, the regional expression of the denomination will be funded by a roster of churches — all in financial decline.
Eventually? Look at the church statistics.
Almost every church in SEPA Synod is in decline!
The success of the future church is still dependent on a presence in neighborhoods. That’s where most people attend church — where they live, vote, send their children to school, and where every other aspect of their lives has roots. It will always be this way. People are not attracted to church by the size of the parking lot but on how they fit in. Statistically, most Christians choose to join small churches.
That’s 2×2’s mission. We support small church ministries.
People promoting a message often talk about looking for seven access points — seven ways people can learn about their product or service. What can serve as “access points” for churches? Here are some possibilities.The first, most obvious (and often only) access point is the Sunday morning worship service. Good start. Is it effective for growing your church?
Is it participatory? Is everyone involved? Many professional entertainers point to their youthful experiences in church as the entry point to their life careers. This doesn’t happen if worship is presented in a static way with paid professionals providing all the leadership.
Child care is a common access point for congregations. Judging from the number of children our Ambassadors encounter in church, it’s not working very well. It’s a good idea and churches should analyze their child care programs to make them effective as church access points not only for the children but for families.
Advertising is a way of creating access. This was once an expensive proposition with little measurable return. The internet is changing that.
Newsletters may seem like an access point. They are not. Only church members read them.
Use of the internet has a better chance as serving as an access point, especially if churches use the internet to communicate with the unchurched. Social media makes this very possible. That includes everything from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest to Blogging and web sites. Very few churches have scratched the surface of this promising access point.
Media can be an access point. Some denominations have TV or radio programs. The old Davey and Goliath animated children’s programs from the 60s (or earlier) are still aired—complete with a scratchy rendition of the Reformation hymn at the end.
Social service projects can be access points if the congregation can interact. Sponsoring social service projects without a human face attached does not promote the Christian message. Yet many religious social service agencies have followed the lure of government subsidies and lost their ability to convey their message. As hard as we work and as much money as church people contribute to social service agencies — and even with the immeasurable good they do — the message is lost.
Cultural excellence can be access points. Church schools (pre-K through university) were once associated with religion. Many church-sponsored schools have focused on enrolments and bottom lines and abdicated their religious affiliation. Even the Catholic church with its traditional parish school system is struggling with this concept.
The arts can be cultural access points. Often churches host concerts. The more hands on a church makes their art offerings, the more effective they will be as access points.
Often overlooked or viewed as a quirky a la carte church offering, church camping is one of the most effective church access points. Church camps unabashedly teach and preach and work with the hearts and souls of campers who take the time (usually just five days) to leave the world behind and think about their relationships with God and the world. Church camps, with a purity of message, interest many in church vocations.
Small churches — get your members to camp! There are opportunities for all ages. Sponsor seekers.
People make life changes in the summer. They relocate. They change jobs. They change schools. But many churches exist on short rations in the summer. Think about it. What opportunities to you offer that will attract people in transition?
Encourage your members to be involved in community activities. Show your colors and get involved. Be front and center at community meetings. Volunteer as a church for community projects. Wear church t-shirts and send a crew to park clean-up day. Take a table at the local flea market.
People need help. Grieving people. The poor. The hungry. The sick. Elderly. The addicted. The mentally and physically challenged. Families. Youth. Caretakers. Care needers. So many potential access points for congregations!
We were looking for seven. That’s nine. Are there more?
SEPA Synod Assembly convenes one week from tomorrow. We always hope that as a body, Lutherans can improve their policies and services to the many small congregations which make up their membership. As long as small churches are seen as prey to fund Synod’s budget shortfalls — limiting services (for which all contribute) to the clergy and larger churches — there will be inequity and injustice within SEPA.
The cannibalism of the church must stop for the good of all. 2×2 has visited 44 SEPA congregations. We’ve seen many of them facing challenges with little hope for help from the denomination they joined in the 1980s. Many feel alienated and wary of involvement with SEPA.
This is a weakness that can be fixed!
The Lutheran Church was founded by a man who called out to the Church of his era to end policies that took advantage of weakest members. Any Lutheran who claims today that leadership cannot be challenged is denying this proud heritage.
We hope that someday the many members of SEPA Synod will muster the fortitude to right the wrongs against Redeemer and other small congregations that have been victimized by intentional neglect (which Bishop Burkat terms “triage”).
The prevailing “wisdom” must be challenged.
We collected some wisdom from the heritage of our members—all of whom have been locked out of the Lutheran church and denied representation at Synod Assemblies for four years. The first section is a collection of proverbs from Africa—the majority membership of Redeemer. The last entry is a very old tale from the tradition of our European heritage. Enjoy!
Of course, there are a host of proverbs in the Bible!
We have one remaining proverb/parable from the tradition of our European members. Some little child should speak up and say, “This is sheer foolishness.”
______________________________
And so the Emperor set out at the head of the great procession. It was a great success. All the people standing by cheered and cried, “Oh, how splendid are the Emperor’s new clothes. What a
magnificent train! How well the clothes fit!” No one dared to admit that he couldn’t see anything, for who would want it to be known that he was either stupid or unfit for his post? None of the Emperor’s clothes had ever met with such grand approval!
But among the crowd a little child suddenly gasped, “But he hasn’t got anything on.” And the people began to whisper to one another what the child had said till everyone was saying, “But he hasn’t got anything on.” The Emperor himself had the uncomfortable feeling that what they were whispering was only too true. “But I will have to go through with the procession,” he said to himself.
So he drew himself up and walked boldly on holding his head higher than before, and the courtiers held on to the train that wasn’t there at all. — Hans Christian Andersen
The Church can learn from this.
Every time we are tempted to think we know what’s best for the people we hope will support our churches we should stop dead in our tracks and ask, “Is our ministry driven by their needs or by our needs.”
Are we listening?
Listening is humbling. It is admitting we don’t have all the answers.
We want people to accept us just as we are. That’s natural.
Strangers to church are looking for the same acceptance. We are equally needy.
And so we are on a treadmill. The Church keeps on churning out variations on the same themes, done pretty much the same way, by the same people . . . with the same results.
What we have is cinema’s iconic “failure to communicate.”
When people care enough to tell us exactly why the church has turned them off, we owe it to them to listen — not in a patronizing way. “Poor souls! They just don’t know how wrong they are.”
When we don’t listen, we don’t know what we are missing.
The modern church needs to listen to modern people. If people are talking to us at all, that’s a sign that they care. If all we do is nod our heads and then criticize them as soon as their backs are turned, we will never be able to reach them.
And they will have proved their point.
An argument is always that we are not of the world. We are here to transform others—to follow the way. However, we are hoping to reach people who are of this world. God sent his Son from heaven to come to earth to be like us, to suffer and die. The only reason He had was that He cared about us. That’s how He approached transformation. The least we can do is listen.
Listen to objections. Find ways to overcome objections. Look for ways to help the entire congregation overcome objections.
Of course, some of the objections are nothing more than excuses. Keep listening until you find the real reason people prefer separation from God’s people.
You’ll be demonstrating that you care.
If you want to drive the message of the Church, hop in. But you won't be the only car on the road.
There is power in Facebook. The power is twofold.
Jason Stambaugh of heartyourchurch.com talks about Facebook as the Weekday Bridge of the Church. It can be used to foster relationships that happen Monday through Saturday. Face-to-face encounters are invaluable, he recognizes. But the little midweek interchanges help to build the connections that make face-to-face interactions more possible, more frequent, and foster more tightly knit community.
The discussion will not be led or moderated as is the custom in the world of religion. That may be why the Church doesn’t understand it. There’s nothing stopping anyone from adding their two cents.
Part of the hesitance of the church to embrace Facebook is fear of losing control.
The fact is the Church lost control of its message a long time ago.
Yesterday, you could control your message with cumbersome qualifying hoops and censorship. Hard habits to break.
Today, the only way to control the message is to be part of the dialogue.
If you want to drive, hop in. But you won’t be the only car on the road!
Looking at rough and round numbers, the average Facebook user has nearly 200 friends (a number which continues to grow). Allowing for overlap, each of those friends adds another 100 or so to the network. So if your congregation has 50 people using Facebook during the week, your community has the potential to reach 10,000 people at the first tier of the network and 1,000,000 at the second tier of the network.
Just do the math and stop spinning your wheels.
photo credit: Stuck in Customs via photo pin cc
Redeemer's right to be represented at SEPA Synod Assembly was removed by decree of Bishop Burkat before 2009 Synod Assembly one week before the 2009 Assembly — before there was ever a hearing or vote of Synod Assembly. Redeemer appealed this decision but Synod Assembly did not vote on it. In fact, Synod Council didn't vote on this until June 2010. Constitutionally, Redeemer should have had a right to challenge that 2010 decision. Redeemer should have had voting privileges in 2009 and 2010. Redeemer never voted to close. There is no requirement for congregations to own buildings. Redeemer remains faithful in worship and mission. Since the only aspect of our appeal addressed by Synod Assembly was our property, Redeemer still has voting rights under SEPA's constitution.
Today is election day in Pennsylvania. We are expected to go to the polls as informed citizens to make wise decisions. Most of what we have heard for the last six months is what’s bad about the other guy.
Mud-raking in American politics is an old tradition. The best mud-raker wins. And so, one quality every presidential candidate must have is the ability to tear the figurative limbs from opponents.
Successful mud-raking gets leaders their way.
But there is a cost. The cost is to the spirit of the people, who go to the polls weary and uncertain that they are voting for the most capable leader . . . or the best-funded, best-organized critic.
Politics is part of American life. It’s also part of the Protestant Church. We elect our leaders. Unfortunately, our leaders have learned lessons from secular politicians. You can gain support by tearing down your opponents.
We don’t have campaigns between “hopefuls” so it is a field day for those in power. Opponents in the church can be anyone who challenges the status quo.
The techniques are more subtle in church politics. In the ELCA, each bishop has six years to plant innuendo, to ignore opponents’ good ideas, to neglect some churches and curry favor in others, to charismatically rally support. Every action is supported by well-chosen Scripture.
Who are the opponents? In the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, it can be the very churches who provide support — but not enough support in the leaders’ eyes. It can be clergy who speak against policy or who simply advocate for new policy. It can even be the congregational members who volunteer with no expectation of power, or recognition, monetary or otherwise. It can be congregations who have small memberships but more assets than SEPA.
Looking for faults becomes a habit. Finding faults (an easy job) can have rewards when powers (constitutional or not) are exerted.
American politics is wearying. Church politics is self-defeating.
Church politics are supposed to model servant leadership—also true of public servants — but in the Church we have the life of Christ as guide. In the Lutheran Church, the constitutions assign equality to each entity. There really is no power to wield. We are supposed to be partners in ministry.
Violating the intent of the constitutions makes immediate winners/losers—a situation which is unChristian. In the end the whole Church suffers. It takes awhile, but the erosion of spirit over a decade becomes obvious.
The Church relies on knowledgeable people doing the right thing. Abdication of that role leads to abuses of power.
And yet, in the Lutheran Church it is not uncommon to hear the best educated church leaders justify non-participation with “we elected the leaders; we have to support them.” This is nonsense—an abdication of responsibility. You don’t have to support a leader who is making bad decisions.
This is also an election year for SEPA. What kind of leader will you elect? One who finds fault with the congregations served and their volunteer members who dare to disagree? Or one who builds on their strengths and nurtures them in faithful service to God and His people?
During a recent panel discussion, a reporter explained the process of ferreting out the news. She described the many story pitches that come to her every week from enthusiastic, community-minded groups that are doing “worthy” things — but not “newsworthy” things.
Your walk for charity is not “news.” Lots of people are doing this — every weekend.
She went on to say that when an interested party calls, she begins to engage the caller in conversation about the upcoming event. The caller, with great passion begins to talk about the people, and suddenly, the reporter senses there is something newsworthy in telling the story about the people involved — not the event itself.
Church communicators can learn from this. Our story is often best told through our people. When we tell our church story we should focus on our people and their faith stories. If church makes a difference in their lives, it may make a difference in someone else’s life. You don’t have to use names (although it’s nice when you can). Tell the story of your people on their faith journey and you will be teaching the Gospel.
Facebook is a good place to tell the people side of your story.
One Maryland church applauded a 12-year-old member who made and served the congregation lunch after church one Sunday. It’s Facebook page encourages the readers to press the “Like” button on the story to show the young man how much his work is appreciated. (It’s in the scroll bar on the left of the linked page.) Just that one short note on their web page tells any reader that their church values and encourages the contributions of their young people. It is likely to be far more effective than any newsletter or bulletin kudo.
You can use the same technique in focusing on your members’ faith stories.
Tell your story . . and make it personal!
You’ve seen the signs. Most churches have one. “All Welcome.”
Easier said than done.
Lucas Cranach Painting
A topic in a popular church forum today discusses inclusion—specifically that of the disabled in the life of a congregation. The author cites the profound sense of rejection experienced by members of a group home for the mentally challenged who were asked to not return. You know why — they were different and differences are unsettling. The Church loves neat and tidy.
Rejection by the Church is all too common. Frequently, the rejected have no voice. They must rely on an outside advocate. Fortunately for the members of that group home, they found an advocate who helped them find love inside the church’s walls.
Rejection isn’t a one-time incident. It stings forever.
The members of Redeemer have experienced rejection. Big time and long-term. The Lutheran Church locked us out, literally and figuratively. Having rejected us from Christian community, they continue attacks on our members.
The increasingly common scenario has become a process which, as Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the ELCA attempts to justify, usually “goes smoothly.”
What makes this horrific process seem smooth? Well-orchestrated use of the age-old weapon of the Church — fear.
The process is designed to be as pain-free as possible for the perpetrators. The pain of the victims: there’s an app for that!—the closing worship service which even has an official liturgy.
Church officials gather in full clerical regalia as the emotions of the faithful are put on display. The swelling tones of the soon to be moth-balled organ drive the nails into the coffins of a faithful worshiping community. The doors are locked, remaining bank accounts secured, and no further thought is given to the people. Neat and tidy.
Most abandoned church members never find a new church. They are gone and forgotten. The elderly are left without the support of the church they served faithfully in more capable years. Newcomers are left to feel inadequate — like fools for buying into the welcoming message. The clergy return to their parishes to preach the message of love, forgetting that love is a verb.
It’s not OK, fellow Lutherans. Damage continues long after you walk away with the spoils.
The process is a slap in Christ’s face.
We’ve listened to the excuses of the clergy as if the gospel they preach happens without effort—as if Christ had not died for them. Most laity seem unaware of what’s going on.
Redeemer can tell you how it feels to be rejected by the Church, to be vilified for our beliefs.
Faith makes us strong. Why do we act as if we are powerless?
The Sister goes on to analyze the Roman Catholic Church’s male-dominated hierarchy. She claims it simply doesn’t know how to deal with the encouragement women religious received under Vatican II.
We suspect the rift has less to do with male hierarchy than the nature of hierarchy itself.
The Lutheran Church, which constitutionally is not a hierarchy at all, is exhibiting the traits of the Roman and Episcopal Church hierarchical systems. The ELCA is no longer male-dominated. Nevertheless individual Lutheran bishops are muscle-flexing. The three 2×2 knows the most about are women.
The church in the 21st century is entering an era where hierarchies have little purpose. Consequently, those who have reached the pinnacle of church leadership find themselves with little to do — hierarchy-wise.
Lutherans as a congregation-based denomination have similar challenges. Top leaders have meetings, travel, visit, write occasional messages to the people, and seek the status of appointments to high level advisory positions — while the churches they serve operate without them.
Try this—write to Chicago (Lutheran national offices) and ask for help. If your experience is like Redeemer’s, you will receive no response or a letter denying responsibility for involvement.
So what do we pay them for?
Lutheran constitutions give the power to manage congregations not to the bishop, not to the parish pastor, but to the congregations.
Unfortunately, current challenges to the national church involve assuring member churches that all the players follow the rules. No one is watching the constitutions. They are becoming meaningless. That puts lay people at risk — if they insist on following the rules. Any volunteers?
Economic challenges have exacerbated the problems of purpose-challenged hierarchies. Self-preservation becomes a priority. This exhibits itself in budget crises and in leaders’ relationship with member churches. They can view the respect given to their role as power. Power craves control — bigger staffs, more programs. But bigger staffs and more programs are proving to be unneeded. Decreasing staff and cutting programs feels like failure. It’s not. It just feels bad.
Constitutionally Lutheran bishops have very little power. The constitution calls for consent of the congregation at every turn. Bishops are assigned the role of servant leader, which doesn’t mix with illusions of power very well.
It is interesting to watch the conflicts in the Roman Catholic Church. One can’t help but wonder if this latest pronouncement will distract attention from the other challenges facing the American Roman Catholic Church — a drought in the pool of clergy and religious professionals, the clergy sex scandals and its drain on the Church’s assets, the departure of the faithful from regular participation in the parish and the resulting trickle-down effect on one of the traditional strengths of the Roman Catholic faith community — its school system (its future).
Lutherans have plenty of problems as well. We don’t seem to have leadership that is ready for the 21st century.
How should our non-hierarchical leaders keep busy?
They should be serving the congregations most in need. That’s the way Lutheran governance is designed. And it’s biblical.
As the Sister concludes, “I don’t think the bishops have any idea what they are in for.”
They should — but probably won’t — start by listening.
A visual and biblical guide to help congregations define their missions.