Social Media is going to change the Church—whether or not the Church participates.
The Church is slow to embrace the power of this influence in our lives. It goes against the way the Church has worked for a very long time.
Trust and obey. Foundational words of faith. It means to trust and obey God, by the way.
Somehow the God part gets forgotten. Keeping Christians in line becomes an emphasis of anyone feeling empowered. The lines drawn by church leaders can be moving targets. Ideas change from century to century, decade to decade, and nowadays, year to year.
No one dares to quote the Bible to justify slavery anymore, but it worked for nearly 2000 years.
It worked when slaves had no voice.
Centuries of habit are going to be hard to break, but the time has come to trust the people of God. If we do something egregiously heretical, there are any number of forums for redress. There is no longer a need to monitor the thinking and voice of individual Christians.
We have always believed in this. It’s just been hard to practice.
We teach every three-year-old — Let your light shine.
Then we start to add the “buts” until their little lights are snuffed out.
The Church has never had more potential power. It can motivate and move EVERY member. You don’t have to roster us. You don’t have to qualify us. You don’t have to sort us out by race, age, status, or genitalia. We’ve been structuring our faith around such nonsense for a long time. Someday we are either going to laugh at our historical efforts to limit or exclude (thereby protecting power) — or hang our heads in shame.
This potential power of social media should spur our efforts to effectively share our faith outside the church. We are going to have to be part of the dialog outside our walls — because that’s where the conversations are taking place.
We have to be educators in many forums. We have to mix with the rest of the human race.
SEPA has a new website for congregations to share ministry initiatives. SEPA has been ignoring Redeemer ministry initiatives for years. We doubt our contributions to their website would be recognized.
We’ll share them here.
Please keep in mind that the initiatives we list are in addition to the work every church does — planning worship, caring for the needs of congregants, and witnessing our faith.
God has been doing something new at Redeemer for a long time.
Ministry to and by immigrant community. God has been reaching out to immigrants through Redeemer for nearly 16 years. How is this new? There are two traditional methods of reaching out to ethnic communities.
Have separate worship services with separate leadership, creating a community within a community.
Have one size fits all liturgical offerings.
Redeemer’s approach differed because we worked hard to unite new church members with older community members. We could write a separate entry for many of the techniques we integrated into our community life. It has been a broad-based comprehensive outreach effort. It was successful. The congregation was growing (probably at the fastest rate of any SEPA congregation) when SEPA Synod Bishop Claire Burkat (sensing that a long-desired wish to control our property might be slipping away) declared, “White Redeemer must be allowed to die; black Redeemer…we can put them anywhere.”
God is doing something else new . .
Community involvement.SEPA Synod locked Redeemer members out of God’s House and kept the doors locked for nearly three years. Meanwhile, Redeemer has found new ways of maintaining our worship life. We’ve built on our existing relationships with the community. An offer of free meeting space has strengthened our connections with the local theater club. We have become more involved in the East Falls Community Council. At a recent Community Council meeting we sat and listened to SEPA Representative Rev. Patricia Davenport tell the community they are interested in having a Word and Sacrament church here. Meanwhile they haven’t a clue as to what to do with the property they took from us — that was being used as a Word and Sacrament church with a vibrant ministry.
God is doing something new . .
Ambassadors Program. Without a church home, Redeemer representatives began visiting other churches, learning from them and sharing with them. This has broadened our traditions . . . even as SEPA calls us closed. We are seeing the common challenges of small churches and are gaining an advantage in finding ways to serve small faith communities.
God is doing something new . . .
Internet Ministry. We experimented with our web-based ministry with great success. We are still collecting ideas and implementing initiatives through our website and watching very carefully how the site is viewed and what problems are most on readers’ minds. We are challenged to find ways to respond to the needs we discover . . and they are very interesting.
God is doing something new . . .
Worldwide mission impact. Redeemer is in conversation with church leaders from all over the world, using the internet to grow ministry. We believe our work will have widespread influence in the regional church and worldwide among Lutherans and interdenominationally. We will create a strong base of support for initiatives that will help small churches. We believe it is possible to fund small ministries through initiatives that compensate for the challenged offering plate.
God is doing something new . . .
Justice. Redeemer is learning the cost of standing for what we believe in and are learning the weaknesses of Lutheran government. We are in conversation with other small congregations struggling with their cash-strapped synods. We hope our experience will one day make the church we love (despite its attacks on our members) stronger. We envision a church active in mission in new ways with renewed vision for a new generation ministering to a changing world.
God has more work cut out for us . . .
Reconciliation. We hope that one day SEPA Lutherans feel powerful enough in God’s love to reconcile with us. That too will break new ground.
SEPA was stronger with Redeemer than it is without us.
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.
Each access point is a link in a strong chain.
Worship
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
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
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.
Service
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
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.
Church Camping
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.
Summer Programming
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?
Community Involvement
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.
Special Needs Interest Groups
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?
We are reposting some information which has a permanent home on the 2×2 web site on our Proverbs Page.
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!
A shepherd does not strike his sheep. For lack of criticism, the trunk of the elephant grew very long. When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful. The powerful should mind their own power. A clever king is the brother of peace. The house of a leader who negotiates survives. To lead is not to run roughshod over people. A quarrelsome chief does not hold a village together. Threats and insults never rule. He who dictates separates himself from others. A leader does not listen to rumors. If the leader limps, all the others start limping, too. Good behavior must come from the top. An elder is a healer. One head does not contain all the wisdom. A leader who does not take advice is not a leader. Whether a chief is good or bad, people unify around someone. The cow that bellows does so for all cows. A powerful leader adorns his followers. True power comes through cooperation. The chief’s true wealth is his people. Where trust breaks down, peace breaks down. If you show off your strength, you will start a battle. A leader should not create a new law when he is angry. What has defeated the elders’ court, take to the public. It is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life. If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail. Do not call a dog with a whip in your hand. Leaders who use force fear reason. To agree to dialogue is the beginning of peaceful resolution. If two wise men always agree, then there is no need for one of them. If you feast on pride, you will have no room for wisdom. When the village chief himself goes around inviting people to a meeting, know there is something very wrong going on. Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool. Force is not profitable. Do not light a fire under a fruit-bearing tree. In times of crisis, the wise build bridges. It is easy to stand in a crowd; it takes courage to stand alone. Be sure you stand on solid ground before you stretch out to grab something. Be a neighbor to the human being, not to the fence. Calling a leader wise does not make him wise. A leader who understands proverbs reconciles differences.
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
A first rule in business is “Listen to Your Customer.” Good businesses are good listeners . . . and amazing responders.
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.
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!
“I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.”
The Church has fallen on hard times. This is widely documented — no need to go into detail.
It’s hard to blame the world. The world was here long before the Church. Reaching the world has always been the challenge, yet we remain surprised that the world is not lining up at our doors, wallets in hand.
Today, however, after some mid-century prosperity, we’ve forgotten that the Church’s mission is to reach out. It is not the world’s job to embrace the Church. It’s our job to embrace the world.
We typically greet the challenge with a number of tactics. Some show initial success and then fade. Some are the foundations of long-term ministry. Some are a mixture of frequently used bad ideas. All the ideas below represent actual ministry tactics — for better or worse.
We can pretend to be someone else.
We can figure what the community wants and pretend to be the answer. You might gain some currency in your community but it is most likely temporary. Community interests change and will probably change just as you are getting the hang of yesterday’s priority. In chasing public demand, we often forget who we are and what we are about. We start to look for best ways to meet demands and that often means abandoning our mission. Religious social services, which routinely deny their connections to the Church so as not to jeopardize government subsidies are a prime example. Services are provided. The Church is buried.
You can scale down ministry.
This is a frequent road traveled by struggling congregations. It never works. When a congregation decides to go “part time” in its ministry, it projects failure. Any part-time solutions should from the beginning be approached as temporary measures. Clergy chosen for part-time ministries must be missionaries. They rarely are.
You can hire more help.
You want to reach families so you hire a youth minister. You want to tend to the elderly and sick so you hire a visitation pastor. Soon you have a budget that is out of control and threatening the congregation’s ability to conduct any ministry at all. This avenue is taken by individual congregations, regional bodies and even national denominations. Hiring someone and creating an additional monetary challenge may make us feel like we are addressing needs. By the time results are measured, the newly created positions are secured by custom whether or not they proved effective.
You can copy the equally challenged.
Churches are great at copying one another’s ministry ideas. However, they often copy before the results are tested. Result: failure is replicated. Individuality and creativity are lost. The church becomes less meaningful.
We can form alliances to pool resources and diversify our talent pool.
This idea needs more testing in the church. It is somewhat foreign to church structure which traditionally focuses all energy and resources on one leader and many followers. This worked well for the church when small, homogenous communities were the norm. The world is changing faster than the Church seems to be able to adapt. We need each other now more than ever.
We can employ teamwork.
This sounds like something churches would embrace but it actually hasn’t worked very well. We are all protective of our own territory in the church. The structure for alliances is fostered in theory but rarely used. Church bodies have congregations, social service agencies, missionary outreach, seminaries, schools and church camps. All are looking to the same membership to provide support, but often the major sources of support — individual congregants or congregations — have very little interaction with arms of the church. Congregations hope that members will remember them in their wills, but you can bet the regional offices, seminaries and social service agencies with funded development offices want a big piece of the same pie. Interaction in the church suffers. Congregations are the financial losers. The others, recipients of occasional windfalls, slowly erode their long-term foundation of support.
We can become predators.
This is a very real dynamic in today’s church. We don’t help struggling congregations when help is first needed, we wait for years as downward trends continue — and almost all congregation’s are experiencing downward statistics. Our inability to support one another in ministry forces congregations to close. The dice are rolled to divide assets. We need to find ways to help the weakest among us so that we can all be stronger. Survival of the fittest may work in nature, but it is not the foundation of the Gospel.
We can live beyond our means.
This tendency in the church has created predatory ministries. The terrible lessons are being learned slowly and at significant loss. When those with hierarchical power operate on deficit budgets, they jeopardize the ministries of their supporting congregations. It becomes easy to find fault with them and force them to close in ways that guarantee assets are turned over to them.
We can return to our roots.
We can study the evangelism techniques used by Christ and the apostles. There are good lessons in the scriptures. Why is it that this is often the last place we turn for help?
Today, SEPA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Communications Director Bob Fisher sent a plea to SEPA congregations for interaction on a web site the synod created for congregations to share ministry ideas. The site was launched in November and had an initial outpouring of about 100 submissions. Then it fizzled. Involvment on the web site has been flat ever since.
There is little reason to post a time deadline on a web site like this. But Fisher’s request for submissions asks for responses by April 26 — one week before Synod Assembly. You want good statistics for Synod Assembly!
Meanwhile, during the same period, 2x2virtualchurch.com, sponsored by the SEPA-excommunicated members of Redeemer, has grown to more than 200 visits per week, with more than 80 followers and 30 new visitors daily. We’ve pioneered social media in church work and have been gaining respect around the world for our work — interdenominationally and among churches of every size. Look at 2×2’s statistics for roughly the same period (screen shot taken in midday/midweek for last bar):
The concept of SEPA’s web site is flawed. No one needs to submit ideas for review and verification by a central office any longer. There is nothing stopping any church from posting their successes and ideas on their own website. Synod should be encouraging community between congregations without a middle man. Don’t worry . . there’s plenty of work for communications middle managers.
This site is not likely to create dialog. It is rigid in a medium that operates best with freedom. It allows three categories of questions. It limits responses to 50 words. (Most of the questions had close to 50 words.) The message conveyed to a visitor to this site is that their ideas will be monitored, judged and verified — controlled. This thinking is foreign to internet users who are accustomed to the free flow of ideas on Facebook, Twitter and blogging platforms—all of which are community-building platforms.
Why invest time posting to a site that might reject you?
There are other ways to achieve sharing. Start developing content that is helpful to congregations so there is a reason to come to the site in the first place. Begin linking and commenting and taking part in the dialog. Recognize that there are no boundaries to good ideas. Why limit the submission of ideas to just 160 congregations when there is a world of mission out there? It’s the social media way. And it works.
Redeemer would submit its ministry ideas to www.godisdoingsomethingnew.com, but we doubt our ministry would be recognized. It hasn’t been for a long time!
No problem. We post our ideas daily on 2×2. Welcome!
(2×2 be glad to help any church get started in social media. Just contact us! We can have a web site up and running for you in a week, train members to use it and even help you develop content.)
Redeemer’s experimental congregational web site just tallied its 5000th first-time visitor.
Little Redeemer reaches more people every week than most large churches reach on Sunday morning.
Redeemer started 2x2virtualchurch.com in late February 2011.
The site was started as a mission vehicle when Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seized our property.
Redeemer knows that small churches are capable of big ministry. The internet seemed to be a perfect vehicle for a congregation with no church building.
By the end of summer 2011, 2×2 had only a few dozen visits. We were posting sporadically — a few times a month.
We began posting daily.
We focused on three strengths of the congregation: Social Media, Children in Worship and Multicultural Ministry. The site also includes commentary on issues facing many neighborhood congregations today.
We learned to create content with others in mind.
We write interdenominationally, but we don’t hide our Lutheran roots.
We link to other related sites and engage in conversation in other religious forums—all things encouraged in this new communications medium.
Statistics guide our content development.
At Easter we posted a short play, written and produced by Redeemer a year before our doors were locked. It was downloaded 150 times. We responded to this interest by posting a Pentecost resource for small churches.
Much of our traffic comes from our ongoing exploration of Social Media topics.
Our Multicultural series did not attract as much attention, but it was reblogged — linked from other sites—more often. This tells us that there is intense if not broad interest.
Several seminaries posted articles from our website for discussion. One of our recent posts was broadcast by a retweeting engine.
We now have more than 80 followers who subscribe daily via Facebook, Twitter or direct email feed. An additional 30-80 visitors per day represent every state in the Union and more than 70 countries with just shy of 1000 visitors a month. As that number continues to grow, we expect to have between 12,000 and 20,000 readers by the end of our second year.
Our highest international traffic comes from Canada, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, South Africa, and Australia. Traffic is growing in the mid-East and Africa.
There are interesting, inexplicable spikes in readership. One day we had 26 readers in the Bahamas! The very next day we had 16 readers from the Netherlands.
We hear regularly from small mission congregations in Pakistan and Kenya and support one another with ministry ideas and prayer.
We are encountering Christians from many denominations — some of them represent very large ministries. We learn of interesting projects and try to help by providing links. A college student in Texas, who has created a ministry recycling VBS materials, gets a few daily visitors from 2×2 links.
Redeemer may be one of the most active and growing congregations in Southeastern Pennsylvania—even if we are shunned by our own denomination. SEPA justifies its actions in East Falls with accusations of lack of mission focus. There is no lack of mission focus at Redeemer. We are just using a very wide-angle lens!
We will be glad to make a presentation to SEPA Synod Assembly on our growing experience in web ministry. Just contact us!
Redeemer is not closed; we are locked out of God’s House by SEPA Synod.
Who gives out those ribbons to committees as they are about to go to work? Shouldn’t the blue ribbons be given after the work is done and the decisions have proven to be wise? Or does the ribbon automatically make the decisions wise? Chicken or egg?
East Falls is still reeling with the news that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese has determined, with the help of a Blue Ribbon Committee, that the parochial school children of St. Bridget’s in East Falls should no longer walk to their neighborhood school but should hop on buses and head to a brand new (well, somewhat renovated) school three neighborhoods away—if you take the most commonly traveled route, Henry Avenue. (East Falls, Wissahickon, Roxborough, final destination Manayunk)
A new name has already been bestowed on this school. There won’t be any fighting over existing names and no debate among vying factions. St. Blaise it is. (Read what has happened since!)
There! Turn in your blue ribbons, committee members. Thank you for your service.
The Blue Ribbon Committee was entrusted with the fate of every Catholic School in the Archdiocese, most of which face economic challenges. They originally announced 40-some closings but changed their Blue Ribbon minds on more than a dozen of their decisions after protests were staged and appeals heard.
You have to wonder why the Blue Ribbon Committees don’t listen to the people before making Blue Ribbon decisions.
St. Bridget’s in East Falls has not fared well in the reconsideration process. They wrote letters, signed petitions, solicited the support from the community council and government representatives—as if Blue Ribbon Committees give a hoot about the views of elected officials. The Catholics of East Falls are left at this point with little but the knowledge that they tried. And we hope they keep trying. (Redeemer is in your corner.)
Why Manayunk?
The Blue Ribbon Committee reports that the parishes of Manayunk have already experienced loss and they don’t want to inflict more on them.
It’s East Falls’ turn to suffer.
Sounds familiar to us at Redeemer, just up the hill from St. Bridget’s.
Redeemer once heard the same reasoning. It was 1998. There were three struggling Lutheran Churches in Roxborough. None in Manayunk. None in Wissahickon. And then there was little Redeemer, sitting on a prime property (owned and paid for by the people of East Falls) with a healthy endowment.
In moves SEPA Synod and the Lutheran bishop with an attempt to close Redeemer.
Bishop Almquist appointed his own version of a Blue Ribbon committee. He called them “trustees.”
“Ministry in East Falls is not good use of the Lord’s money,” one Synod official said.
“We want to merge the churches in Roxborough into one riverfront church,” said another. Redeemer’s assets were to fund the project. Redeemer was never consulted.
Some even dared to invoke the Resurrection parallel. Redeemer should die so that the churches of Roxborough might live. When in doubt turn to Scripture.
Only Redeemer was not dead.
There was a plan made by the Lutheran version of the Blue Ribbon Committee. Redeemer was supposed to submissively fund this venture — which was never likely to work. The three congregations in Roxborough, the largest geographic neighborhood in Philadelphia, were too different. It might have been possible, but there was no unification plan short of ordering Lutherans to do as the Synod says, which doesn’t work very well. Those pesky constitutions keep getting in the way.
The Lutherans of East Falls successfully fought this folly, but the memory of our advocacy for our own ministry in our own neighborhood (the Lutheran way) festered in the minds of SEPA Synod leadership. Pastors disappeared. SEPA Synod began the death watch.
Ten years. That ought to do it.
In 2008, a new bishop moved in again. This time, there would be no fooling around with any attempt at working with the Lutherans of East Falls — which by now was an almost entirely new membership. Bishop Claire Burkat asked for action against Redeemer from the Synod Council—having never met with leaders of Redeemer. Then they waited nearly five months with not a word to the congregation that they were assuming control.
When the cat jumped out of the bag, Redeemer fought back.
The Bishop visited our property with a locksmith. Redeemer turned her away. Fort Sumter.
Bishop Burkat used the committee angle, too. She didn’t call it “blue ribbon.” That probably wouldn’t fly among Lutherans, who believe in the equality of lay and clergy leadership. She named trustees. She simply announced by letter that the trustees were replacing the elected leaders of the congregation — the names of which she didn’t bother to check.
The name change trick was invoked. When Plan A—to sell the property out from under the congregation—failed, the talk turned to closing the church for a few months and reopening under a new name, this time with a synod-approved council.
If only the people of East Falls could have been relied upon to vote the Bishop’s way! Then all this would have been unnecessary.
So take notes, Lutheran bishops. Blue Ribbon committees carry more clout. Forget the constitution. Just find a few loyalists, give them Blue Ribbon status, be clear about the game plan, and declare your work done.
Blame the committee if things go wrong.
Oh, and those three churches in Roxborough. Grace and Epiphany are closed and Bethany soldiers on alone.
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
Print or Kindle copies are available on Amazon.com.
For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
2×2 Sections
Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
Social Media is going to change the Church—whether or not the Church participates.
