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Mission Strategy

Social Media Will Guide the Church of the Future

2x2CategoryBarSMSocial Media Is a Game Changer for Churches
…and that’s a good thing.

It’s not easy to understand the Social Media Revolution. Everyone is trying to figure out how it applies to them.

Let’s look first at the business world — something everyone interacts with.

Every business covering every life need from cradle to grave is exploring social media. One of the leading speakers on the topics gained his expertise promoting his swimming pool business.

Most businesses know they must have an interactive online presence if they want to stand out.

Most churches are making no effort whatsoever to enter the lives of the people who populate the modern world.

Let’s look at what businesses are learning and apply it to church mission.

At first businesses tried to lure customers by “hanging out” like buddies.

The hoped for benefit was to create loyalty, buzz and awareness of their expertise which would translate to success and dollars.

The reality is that no one is really going to spend a ton of time hanging out with every business they interact with.

If they visit a social media site they probably fit into certain categories.

Churches, look closely at this list and consider how each might apply to church life. It will help you develop a content strategy (mission strategy).

People who engage in Social Media are seekers. They find your website for a personal reason:

  • They have a specific question. Something made them think you might have the answer.
  • They are curious. Some experience sparked their interest and they want to know more.
  • They have a problem that needs to be solved.
  • They have a passionate cause and are looking for like-minded people.
  • They have had an experience with your product or service (good or bad) and feel a need to share with others.
  • Something is missing in their lives. They may not know what it is.
  • They stumbled upon your site serendipitously and an interest was sparked.
  • They found something entertaining.

If  you want readers to make visiting your site a habit you must engage them by meeting one of these needs, especially if you want to engage readers to a point that they take  action. That’s what evangelism is all about.

Yes, it is likely to cost some money to find the talent to devote to this. Done correctly it is guaranteed they will work as hard as any pastor, organist or sexton. Online communicators are pivotal to the emerging church.

Relating Social Media to Ministry 

Let’s explore each item on the above list.

  • They have a specific question—something made them think you might have the answer.

Seekers have questions. If your church regularly provides answers, your site will attract an audience. You could create a one-time Frequently Asked Questions page and let it sit there OR you could regularly engage your audience in finding answers themselves (the better educational technique).

  • They are curious. Some experience sparked their interest and they want to know more.

You can provide a service to readers by building links to information in your field. Often this translates into providing a link to the regional body or national church entity. That’s probably not what curious web surfers are looking for.

2×2 regularly provides a collection of art that might supplement a congregation’s understanding of scripture. We provide links to sites that will help them learn more about religious art. This feature is starting to draw some traffic from search engines.

  • They have a problem that needs to be solved.

Churches serve individuals. Individuals come with needs and problems. How can your website address this need? It may be a daily spiritual reading. It may be a directory of your members with their skills and experts attached (your own little LinkedIn). Your congregation will become known as more than Sunday morning church-goers. They will be recognized for their skills, talents and willingness to become involved in their communities.

Churches serve communities. Communities have problems. Identify your community’s challenges and address them regularly. Members of your community with an interest in the same problems will find your site.

2×2 found that people are looking for object lessons. We were familiar with a site that catalogs object lessons for children. We found our own niche: object lessons for adult learners. About 600 people per week find our site when they are searching for object lessons for either adults or kids. We fill a need and are opening a relatively unexplored teaching tool for whole congregations. We target the adults but keep the whole congregation in mind with our tips. 

Another church found that families with an autistic member felt shut out by society, including the church. They developed a church curriculum to embrace this need.

  • They have a passionate cause and are looking for like-minded people.

2×2 has a passion for small church (neighborhood) ministry which is being gulped up by corporate church economics. We write about this topic regularly.

  • They have had an experience with your product or service (good or bad) and feel a need to share with others.

Churches love to talk about the good. No problem understanding this need. But dealing with the bad (they like to call it “baggage”) is not their strength. The Church tends to pigeonhole all but the most exuberant emotions.

The standard solution for disgruntled Christians is facilitate their becoming unchurched. The Church is happy that way. They’ve avoided unpleasantness  by sacrificing their mission. Forgiveness, reconciliation, etc. are easier to talk about than to engage in.

The Church that is emerging in the Social Media Revolution will have to start handling the whole person. They will no longer be able to avoid the baggage or assign it to short-term scapegoats to deal with. The disgruntled now have a place to go.

Business is learning that it is a big mistake to not work with their critics. Will the Church learn from their experience?

  • Something is missing in their lives. They may not know what it is.

People love to share when they are happy and when they are angry. Webmasters love happy people. We figure out how to handle angry people. But there are a lot of lost emotions. People are less willing to share when they are sad and lonely and hurting. But this is when they need other people (the Church) the most.

Here’s an emotional niche the church must fill. Online is a good place to start.

  • They stumbled upon your site serendipitously and an interest was sparked.

People talk. Talk leads to questions. Answers to questions these days are frequently found by googling. If you can anticipate questions and provide the answers, curious people will find you.

People looking to expand their experience or interest will find you if you let them know that you have people who share the same interests. Churches already do this when seeking musical talent. What if they put the same interest into finding and nurturing other talents.

Example 1: One church our Ambassadors visited had a passion for serving people dealing with cancer. They developed resources for patients and caregivers and families affected by this decease. They haven’t done this, but if they put those resources online, people would begin to view them as partners on a difficult journey.

Example 2: Another church realized that economic development was important in their community. They offered classes and even small loans to help small businesses. They built a relationship with a nearby business school. The networking could help the church grow—if they are online.

In these examples someone googling “cancer” might find your site. Likewise, someone googling “business education” might find your site.

As Google localizes their algorithms, this will become even more valuable for churches! Local needs will be easier to identify and fill. You will come up online as the answer—if you addressed the need.

Get started! Start answering the first concerns on the list and watch people find your site serendipitously.

  • They want to be entertained.

Everyone likes to have fun. Everyone appreciates beauty. Address these basic human qualities online. Post cartoons. Take a poll. Share a video. Ask questions. Engage!

Social Media Is A Game Changer

The Church often views Social Media Ministry as something to be added to what they already do. In fact, the use of Social Media will change everything about how we “do” church as we move into the digital future. There will be less guessing about how to reach people. You will know your community better and you will be prepared to serve your community better.

Social Media will guide your ministry. But only if you are online!

 

16 Sep 2013

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

10 Characteristics of A Successful Ministry

Advice from the Marketing World

Some advice from a marketing class was posted on marketing email list that I follow.

A successful entrepreneur who had built and sold four businesses before retiring and starting a fifth business shared her self-taught business management philosophy. She has some interesting advice which with a little editing can apply to church builders and evangelists.

We are reprinting her business advice with the Church in mind. We’ve noted language changes or additions in red.

Read these to your church council  or board to start a discussion on mission strategy.

  1. We ALWAYS put our members’ and community’s needs before our own. NOTE: The Church tends to put the needs of hierarchy and clergy first.
  2. We are not driven by money, but by serving people and doing what we love. (We know that the money will come as a result of that.) NOTE: The Church grew the fastest at times when money was less an objective. Things always go awry when assets become central to ministry—from turf wars of the Middle Ages to indulgences in the Reformation era to the plague of denominational land grabs today. 
  3. We take care of the people who take care of us: members and nonmembers alike. 
  4. We set boundaries of mutual respect, and use negativity as a tool for change, and nothing else. NOTE: This comment interests 2×2. Those who don’t like what we write about call us “rogues” and “cohorts,” citing negativity. Many others say or write to us that they always find our comments to be uplifting. We intend our criticism to lead to much-needed change and work and continue to minister with joy—loyal to, but excluded from the denomination most of us have been part of all our lives.
  5. We don’t waste time trying to turn our weaknesses into strengths, but instead, surround ourselves with people whose strengths are our weaknesses. NOTE: This is a challenge to the Church. We intend to attract leaders with all the same skills at a time when new skills are very much needed. We’ll keep paying preachers and organists until the money runs out, when today’s church needs teachers, evangelists/communicators and entrepreneurs.
  6. We don’t know what “failure” is because we inherently see it as a lesson learned. NOTE: The Church understands failure as an opportunity to confiscate assets. 
  7. We look for guidance and learn from the people who are where we want to be because they’ve done what we have to do. (As opposed to those who are there because it was ‘given’ to them.) NOTE: The Church looks at the success of newer denominations as flukes, unworthy of emulation. We know best. Other church leaders should copy our failure!
  8. We know the difference between re-inventing the wheel and trying something new. NOTE: The accepted parameters for innovation within the established Church are very narrow. The Church cries for change but won’t allow it if it requires a change in hierarchical thinking.
  9. One of our greatest strengths is being able to adapt and “turn around on a dime.” NOTE: A dime in Church time is about 150 years. 
  10. And most important, we never stop. We are ALWAYS listening, learning, looking around and planning ahead.  

Oh – and here’s a bonus one – We always blame ourselves first.  

NOTE: In the Church — that will be the day!

 

29 Jun 2013

What Are We Risking . . . and Why?

In the unending quest for transformation, churches in our area have been asked by their regional leader to take risks.

Sounds very daring!

But look before you leap!

What are congregations being asked to risk and why?

We presume our leaders are asking us to change. They are never very clear on how. Just change. (When they bring their experts in to to evaluate, they usually try to set things up the same old way.)

So what are our leaders expecting to happen now?

They could be looking at society and seeing a spiritual desert. They could be concerned for the troubled individuals, broken families, the children who live in two houses with torn parental loyalties, the outcasts of society, the people who struggle with illness and addiction, the jobless, the homeless, the youth who feel left out, or the lonely and unnoticed in general. They could be concerned with the growing number of people who do not know God and can’t pray.

They could be looking more globally at a world of injustice, hunger, disease, tension, prejudice and discrimination.

Most Christians would agree that if these were the major concerns, taking risks and making changes would be well worth a congregation’s efforts.

Unfortunately, the changes sought by the Church are economically based.  The risks we are being asked to take are so the Church can survive—that the hierarchy can survive— just the way it always has. No changes there!

Small churches have proven to be resilient. Immigrants and pioneers, uprooted from the established Church of the Middle Ages, came to America and started the Church anew. These small churches survived for hundreds of years. They changed over the years without prodding. Many actually grew!

The cost of hierarchy is weighing down the small church. The need for change and risk today is because hierarchies are failing.

They don’t intend to fail alone.

Change will happen in the small church when hierarchy demonstrates that they, too, can take risks and make significant changes. This doesn’t mean cutting ten percent of the staff or freezing salaries. It means revisiting everything they do. Reallocating initiatives more in line with the modern world. Changing the way they relate and communicate with congregations, and how they value the contributions of members—all members.

It means looking at our relationships with our schools and seminaries and our social service agencies. Are they serving the mission of the Church or have they adopted a secular mission while expecting support from the Church?

It means examining what is expected of professional leaders at every level. If pastors can be settled in ministry for 10 years while statistics steadily drop — and be applauded for nothing but having a satisfied congregation — well, it’s the same problem academia has with tenure. Security tends to trump mission.

Things are just fine here. Let someone else take the risk. Ten years to retirement.

The Church will not survive the present age without taking risks. Let’s make sure the risks are for the mission of the Church, not the survival of our comfort and way of life.

And leaders, congregations are more likely to take risks when we see you in front of us, not prodding (or picking our pockets) from behind.

30 May 2013

Transforming the Role of Clergy in the Future Church

Transformational Ministry Requires Structural Change

Part of the challenge facing today’s Church is that the role of clergy and how they relate to congregations must change. Changes have already occurred in the numerous short-term and part-time pastorates. This is likely to continue while our expectations remain in the past.

The monetary demands on congregations have grown while the source of funding has been steadily dwindling.

Clergy spent decades griping about being highly educated but poorly paid. They had a point, but the resolution of their complaints has put their services out of reach for many congregations.

“Too bad!” might be a quick response.

The fact is that every church that fails diminishes the mission of the whole Church. Small churches reach more people. The economics of fewer larger churches make economic sense but don’t really work.

Fewer recent college graduates are entering the ministry. Today, candidates for ministry are often mature adults. Some are nearing the end of their careers—drifting from a professional calling. As older servants of God, with established families, lifestyles, and debts, they are looking for economic security and as little disruption to their settled lives as possible. Since clergy often view themselves as CEOs, the pay expectations are the pay expectations of older professionals.

The talent pool in which all congregations fish for leaders is crowded with candidates who can make only part-time commitments within tight geographic parameters. The pool of available talent may not fit congregational needs. Yet it is the role of regional bodies to place their rostered leaders in their rostered churches. Lots of square pegs in fewer round holes. That translates to unhappy clergy and congregations. Conflict often results.

That’s one side of the equation.

On the other side of the equation—the congregational side—an ongoing revolution has been underway. People have stopped attending church. The Sunday morning worship demographic is upwards of 50+.

The younger demographic—the demographic absent from church—represents well-educated career people, whose varied expertise is hard for professional church leaders to recognize if it competes with their own.

This is only part of the picture.

The needs of congregations change so dramatically that they are difficult to define and fill when the need is greatest. Community demographics, once stable for generations, now shift every few years. Congregations using the “settled pastor” model can easily be left with beloved leadership that is unable to serve the changing neighborhood. Decline sets in and everyone is afraid to make changes. We are church people. Nobody likes to complain—even those charged with the welfare of the congregation.

It is fairly clear that most congregations can no longer afford a full-time theologian in residence. Even if they could, it might not be to their mission advantage. The skills of theologians are no longer a congregation’s most urgent imperative.

Theologians are trained in the art of preaching — pulpit to pew communication. Modern church leadership must concentrate on communication beyond pulpit to pew. The pews are nearly empty.

Communication in today’s world is person to person. Very pastoral.

Money spent on making sure a good sermon is provided to a dwindling number of listeners is money that cannot be spent on reaching the people who are not in church—a key mission.

Yet the pastor’s salary is the foundation of every church budget.

The power in the world has shifted to the individual. This changes the way individuals think. We are no longer wired to understand the need to gather on Sunday morning—especially if our presence in Church does not recognize our abilities.

This trend is not likely to reverse. The Church is going to have to adapt.

In the Church, we see a structure that cannot budge. It continues to make unrealistic demands on the few people who remain loyal.

It is disheartening to be a lay person in today’s Church.

The typical congregation of the future, large or small, needs communications experts, education experts and service providers. We need business and entrepreneurial skills. It will be the rare pastor who can fill every need. It is unlikely that the growing pool of second career clergy perceive these skills as part of the role they are adopting late in life. (It may very well be the demands for change in their first careers that inspired them to turn to the Church.)

The day is coming when clergy will not be called to one congregation long-term but to multiple calls defined by skill sets which they will provide to congregations only for as long as they are needed.. They may join teams of clergy with complementary skills. Congregational budgets will detail mission tasks and will no longer allocate a large sum to one pastor.

This is an economic necessity and it will further empower the laity.

And then the Church might be transformed.

19 Mar 2013

The Strategy and Tactics of Love in the Modern Church

The strategy and tactics of love are the backbone of most storytelling.

Here is the standard scenario.

Boy sees girl or girl sees boy. They want to get together. (Strategy)  They plot to be together, surmounting one obstacle after another until they are happily and forever in each other’s arms. (Tactics)

Is this not like the longed-for scenario of church work?

In the Church, achieving togetherness (oneness with God) is the strategy. Tactics are the methods used to reach this goal.

Too often in church work, we employ tactic after tactic with no clear strategy. Strategy starts to stray — usually in the direction of making a traditional budget.

We write mission statements to remind us that the strategy of the Church is to reach God’s people with the message of love.

What follows should be an examination of tactics. Too often it is simply putting into place the tactics of the past.

Typical tactics include:

  • Membership drives
  • Pot luck dinners and seasonal festivals
  • Visitation
  • Worship innovations
  • Educational and social opportunities
  • Newsletters
  • Sermons
  • Service projects

There are new tactics that the Church has not yet conquered.

  • Social media

This contains a host of sub-tactics — blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, podcasting, video, etc.

But what is the strategy?

The message of the church is love. The strategy never changes.

The strategy is engagement.

Jesus engaged people.

He approached them as individuals.

  • The woman at the well
  • The midnight lesson with Nicodemus
  • The paralytic by the pool of Bethesda

He engaged them in groups.

  • The wedding guests
  • The disciples
  • The multitudes on the mountainside
  • The people in the temple
  • The family of Lazarus at the graveside

Once engaged, Jesus employed tactics.

  • Miracles
  • Rituals and observances
  • Personal conversations that often had a supernatural nature
  • Teaching
  • Storytelling
  • Protesting (clearing the temple)
  • Service (blessing the children, feeding the hungry, curing the ill)

We must emulate these tactics. We must teach and serve, pray and worship. We must do some things in a traditional way and we must do many things in more modern ways. To some extent we must do them simultaneously because we live in transitional age.

A common tactic employed by regional bodies is to close churches on older memberships — expecting elderly members to assimilate into other congregations that might also be forced to close within a few years. This is a cruel and dead-end tactic because it has lost view of the overall strategy of the church. The strategy of engagement has been overtaken by the strategy of economics.

The rut which is engulfing the Church is that we have become accustomed to people coming to us. We expect this and even demand it—without success, but we keep doing it anyway! This expectation is becoming less realistic with every passing day. The problems we face today are because the tactic of neglect has been employed for decades.

And so we must adjust our engagement tactics.

If people are not going to come to us, how are we going to reach them? How do we engage God’s people today?

09 Mar 2013

Social Media—Revealing the Real You

manbehindthecurtainPeeping Out from Behind the Curtain

2x2virtualchurch.com has been an experiment in using social media in the realm of religion. We started in February 2011, following a WordPress how-to book.

Wait a minute? I just wrote “we.”

2×2 is a “we.” Our members subscribe, comment on posts (usually off line), suggest direction and lend support. We get together every week and discuss 2×2’s direction. But the writing on 2×2, for the most part, is an “I” job.

One thing I’ve learned about social media—it is hard to write that word “I.” I posted for nearly a year without using it. I was thinking about “we,” so I thought it was the fair way to represent our mission.

However, in this journey of discovery as an online ministry, we/I have discovered that the word “I” is more powerful than the communal “we.”

“We” can become a crutch. The person saying “we” can say with confidence almost anything. There will be someone in a group that thinks that way. The more and louder you speak, the less likely those that disagree are going to speak up.

“We” can be an excuse for thinkers with ideas that aren’t fully cooked. It becomes an army of phantom support — like the Wizard of Oz. Pull back the curtain and what do you see?

“We” can become theologically lazy. “Well, if that’s what everyone else thinks, they must be right.”

It can take centuries to undo the sometimes tragic results of “we” thinking.

This is especially hard in church work. Church/congregations are communal in nature. We are used to expressing ourselves as a group. That’s what church hierarchy is about—making sure the voice of the church is authentic to the word of God.

The practice began with authentic concern but has morphed in the modern world (and probably long before the modern world) to being a shield—protecting influence and sanitizing the behaviors of church leaders who we all know are just as human as everyone else—capable of sacrifical love, tempted by selfish interests. It becomes crippling to the millions of church thinkers who don’t have a platform in the church — unless they blog!

When we consider the consequences the power the word “I” carries in church work, it is no wonder we refrain from using it. A Martin Luther or his modern namesake—King, a Ghandhi, a Bonhoeffer don’t pop up until things are really, really off track. Saying “I” in the “we” society of church can make life’s journey pretty rocky.

2×2 has learned that “I” is a more powerful word than “we.” The more personal our posts have become in recent months, the faster our traffic has grown. Admitting that I am one person within the group that sponsors 2×2 (Redeemer Lutheran Church, East Falls) is honest. People connect to individuals more easily than to groups. Online readers appreciate honesty.  They’ll keep you honest, too! A writer thinks twice when he uses the word I in the sentence.

In two years, 2×2 has grown from one visitor per month to 2500 per month, doubling its monthly average in the first two months of 2013. (We suspect little Redeemer, has become the congregation with the biggest following and widest reach of any church in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America —SEPA/ELCA.)

There is power in the vulnerability of the word “I.” That one letter is difficult, at first, to type. The advice was always there in the how-to books: write as an individual. It takes a while to become comfortable with the idea that yes, these are MY ideas. I am putting them out there for others to criticize. It becomes powerful when others add their 2¢. The “we” that “I” serve in writing this blog starts to make a difference.

That’s how we all grow in faith. By practicing the “I” word. And remembering that every “I” is a child of God. Every “I” that is part of Redeemer matters. That’s the story I tell.

I think.

I care.

I love.

I hurt.

I enjoy.

I need help.

I can help.

I was made in God’s image for a reason.

So were you!

What do you think?

Photo: 1939 MGM movie The Wizard of Oz
26 Feb 2013

February 24 — A Day of Infamy

Today Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will gather her little chicks under her wing at Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in NE Philadelphia and celebrate its closure. They’ve been moving toward this date for the last year, since they sold the property to the United Church of Christ—and probably still longer.

This is also the fifth anniversary of Bishop Claire Burkat’s attempt to stealthily seize Redeemer’s property in East Falls. It was on February 24, 2008, that Bishop Burkat invited herself to our church supposedly to plan a closing service for a congregation that had never even discussed closing much less been given an opportunity to vote on it as is constitutionally necessary. She brought about nine or ten people with her with no notice, despite the fact that the congregation had warned her that the date she had chosen with no consultation with church leaders was already booked and that the congregation did not wish to meet at that time. The two members of Redeemer who met her that day were soon to discover that her plans had nothing to do with planning a worship service. Among her posse was SEPA’s lawyer who was waiting behind the building and out of sight in a locksmith’s van. When their strategy called for the lawyer and locksmith to make their presence known we don’t know. We had been forewarned by someone in Chicago that she was intending such a move and so when we saw the locksmith van go by, we were prepared.

The bishop’s embarrassment that day, which sparked five years of vindictive law suits, has cost mission and ministry in our neighborhood dearly.

There was never an attempt to work with us — we were not valued enough to be part of the discussion of our future. The names of our lay leaders were dragged through the mud—an attempt to validate Synod’s actions. The work of the laity was treated with total disregard. The people of Redeemer deserved the opportunity to work with and be in discussion with SEPA just as the people of Holy Spirit have been.

SEPA’s Articles of Incorporation forbid the Synod from confiscating congregational property without the consent of the congregation.

The more SEPA congregations allow this very important foundation of Lutheran polity to be ignored, the more endangered each congregation is.

Redeemer’s Ambassadors have now visited 56 SEPA congregations. We know that many of them are no stronger and more than a few are weaker than Redeemer. If Redeemer’s statistics were the reason for closing, about ten to twenty percent of the remaining 160 congregations should also be closed with more suffering the same fate within a decade or two if innovative steps aren’t taken.

We have always known that Redeemer’s property and endowment were the real attractions. In April of 2008, we discovered that Bishop Burkat had offered our property for sale to a Lutheran Agency without a word to our congregation. We learned this from a letter from the agency, dated in early April (only about 40 days after the February 24 showdown), informing us that they had done an extensive site evaluation and were denying the offer of sale. The timing suggests that the property, owned by the congregation, had been offered for sale even before Bishop Burkat came to the congregation—all without the knowledge of the congregation. Clearly NOT Luthean polity.

SEPA needed our money—quick and easy. This devious situation fueled the character assassination, personal attacks and refusal to work with Redeemer that has characterized the court battles. But SEPA seems to be unable to check and balance their leadership — as their constitutions call for.

In September 2009, Bishop Burkat at last achieved her goal. She locked out the members of Redeemer.

Undaunted, Redeemer continues its mission, achieving its greatest success with our online ministry. We have broken new ground in mission which is being recognized by other denominations if not our own!

While some members of SEPA Synod are celebrating the closure of a church, others are meeting on this date in Lansdale and on Monday in Burholme to talk about communications. Redeemer and its website, 2x2virtualchurch.com, could contribute a great deal to a discussion with church communicators. We have a ton of experience!

But we’ve been banished—ex“communicated.”

23 Feb 2013

Loyalty and the future of the Church

dog is not so sure1The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (SEPA / ELCA) has become a disciple of Seth Godin, the leading authority on marketing and societal change with a voice on the web. They have quoted him to their congregations.

Seth’s blog today should interest them.

Confusing loyalty with silence

Some organizations demand total fealty, and often that means never questioning those in authority.

Those organizations are ultimately doomed.

Respectfully challenging the status quo, combined with relentlessly iterating new ideas is the hallmark of the vibrant tribe.

SEPA begs its congregations to innovate and change. When they don’t change the way the synod has predetermined that they SHOULD change, they close them down and claim their property.

Redeemer is a case in point. Redeemer was growing quickly when SEPA saw their longed-for chance at claiming our property slipping away. Bishop Almquist had made an attempt to close us and seize our assets in 1998 and backed off after two years. But he refused to work with us in ministry if we didn’t accept the part-time pastor he had chosen for us. His call or no call.

We continued to grow without his help.

SEPA has a mission plan for small churches. They call it triage — shoving the smallest churches to the side and waiting for them to die, while attention is spent on larger churches with more promising prospects for supporting the hierarchy. Property values and assets DO enter the equation. A small congregation is better off if it has no assets than if it has an endowment! Compare Redeemer’s story with Faith/Immanuel in East Lansdowne.

Bishop Burkat loves to call Redeemer “former Redeemer.” We are not sure if she means Redeemer of the 1960s, Redeemer of the 1980s, or the Redeemer she visited with a locksmith in 2008 and spent the last five years suing. We exist if only so we can be sued!

Or maybe she thinks because Synod Council voted to close Redeemer in 2010, never bothering to inform the congregation, that Redeemer is closed. We notice in the latest ELCA yearbook that we are still contributing to the national church! Sounds like we are open!

Synod Council does not have the power to vote congregations out of existence. They’d know that if they read their founding documents. We reserve our constitutional right to challenge synod council’s actions when SEPA can provide a fair forum for hearing a challenge. 

We recall very well our appeal in 2009 — which the Synod Assembly never voted on, substituting a vote about our property (not within their authority) when we were appealing Synodical Administration. Check the Synod Minutes and read the question that was voted on. It had nothing to do with our appeal!

Bait and switch. Then claim immunity from the law to pull it off in court.

Redeemer still exists in every way. Redeemer meets weekly — sometimes more often. Redeemer worships weekly —sometimes more often. Redeemer’s efforts to continue ministry— even as SEPA locked us out of the church we built and excluded us from all rights and fellowship within its fold—have grown our congregation in reach and influence despite persecution.

Redeemer is a vibrant tribe. We were always a viable, innovative congregation and our experience of the last five years has only made us stronger in innovation. We will relentlessly iterate our innovations for the good of all.

SEPA congregations are not powerless. They can still turn this around for the good of mission. But they have to respectfully challenge the status quo and demand peaceful reconciliation.

But what we’ve heard for the last five years is silence.

Redeemer is not closed.
Redeemer is locked out of the Church by SEPA Synod.

photo credit: WilliamMarlow via photopin cc

15 Feb 2013

Overcoming the fear of Social Media

horseGet ready for the Horseless Carriage

Get ready for Social Media

Many congregations are interested in adding Social Media to their ministries. And so they dabble. They find someone to start a Facebook page. They lean back and relax. That’s done. Innovation isn’t so hard, after all!

Here’s the thing about Social Media.

Social Media is more than Facebook. Much more!

If your congregation embraces Social Media it will mean everything changes.

Social Media, fully embraced, is not a simple add-on — like adding an extra worship service.

It is transforming.

Transforming? Isn’t that what our church leaders have been demanding of congregations for the last decade with little definition of exactly what they mean?

Social Media—fully embraced—will affect every aspect of your ministry in positive and profound ways.

People need to be prepared. The only way to prepare people is to involve them and encourage flexibility. It helps to actually get started!

My family had lunch today in a historic inn along the famous Lincoln Highway. We got to talking about the history of the highway. It seems the opening of this newfangled cross-continental roadway that followed the introduction of the automobile came with no small amount of angst.

The big fear was that the horses of the early 20th century would not be happy.

Unhappy horses meant unhappy drivers.

A plan was developed.

Step 1: Prepare the horses. Warn them. Something new is coming.

Early drivers of horseless carriages were encouraged to carry flares with them. Upon approaching a horse-drawn carriage, they were to shoot up a warning flare. (Bet that went over big!)

Step 2: Protect the horses’ sense of security.

If horses were not reassured by flares (and why would they be?), then drivers were encouraged to carry camouflage. At the sight of a distressed horse, they should be prepared to pull to the side of the road and drape their automobile with a sheet designed to make the car disappear into the surroundings. What the horse doesn’t see will not be scary.

Step 3: Dismantle the horseless carriage.

If a horse is still disturbed by its new competition, drivers should be prepared to dismantle their automobile and hide the pieces along the side of the road until the horse passes as if nothing has changed.

All of this is, of course, absurd — especially to us Pennsylvanians who share the roads with our Amish neighbors. The horses seem to have adapted!

But this is a typical agenda for those who fear change.

  • Warn people of innovation.
  • Protect them from innovation.
  • Be prepared to dismantle all the progress and benefits possible from innovation at the first sign of distress (real or imaginary).

Churches intent on incorporating social media must be prepared to meet the same sorts of resistance.

It will mean doing things very differently — across the board. The very structure of church will change.

Expect something like this:

  • Social Media is clearly too much work for one pastor. But pastors are used to controlling communication in the church. Lay people cannot be expected to handle so much responsibility. Best to wait. And wait. And wait.
  • What do we do if Social Media actually works and lots of new people join a church? (This was a problem Redeemer was dealing with as 49 people joined in one year.) What if those 49 people become a voting block with the potential to ruin any plans made before they joined. Our congregation was dealing with this issue head-on and making progress. But our denomination, intent on Redeemer failing so they could claim our property, couldn’t deal with change they hadn’t orchestrated. They skipped right to Step 3: Dismantle everything! They kicked out the 49 new members along with the 25 or so older members and locked the church doors. 

These are real problems but they are good problems that need solutions. Dismantling everything because things aren’t like they used to be is just plain silly—and it is counter to Christian mission.

Fortunately, there are real solutions waiting to be discovered.

The automobile is now the norm.

The new church that arises from the use of Social Media will soon be the norm, too — and it all may happen just in time to save the mainline church.

photo credit: NCReedplayer via photopin cc
09 Feb 2013