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Redeemer East Falls

As SEPA Synod Assembly 2012 approaches . . .

“Why don’t ‘you people’ just find another church and stop all the anger?” a pastor asked one of our ambassadors on a recent visit.

That would make life so easy—if only victims would not fight back when they are bullied.

We assure the people of SEPA that Redeemer does not like being angry. Sometimes anger is appropriate.

Jesus became angry at the sight of the moneylenders defiling the Temple. For the last four years, Redeemer has watched those with financial interests in our property behave in similarly greedy and self-serving ways in our sacred space.

Anger is not fun. The alternative — to ignore anger—is to deny our sense of worth, our passion, our community…and not least…our faith. SEPA demands we mothball our memories and our heritage and that we break our friendships and connections with the community where we still live. We are expected to hide our light under a bushel and become passive pew-warming Christians in some other place than our own community.

SEPA discredits the volunteer hours that went into making Redeemer grow in the last ten years. Our documented successes go unrecognized; they collide with SEPA’s prejudice and true goals — acquisition of our assets.

The resulting conflict was needless. Despite reports to the contrary, there was NO forum for mutual discernment, NO long period of working together, NO consideration for the elected leaders of Redeemer.

There WAS ample abuse of the constitutional processes.

Lawsuits could have been avoided. Financial challenges could have been minimized. There were numerous paths to peace. SEPA leadership chose aggression at every turn.

In another synod, a congregation much smaller than Redeemer appealed a similar synodical decision to close. Their story is much like Redeemer’s, complete with a locksmith raid. But comparisons end there. Their Synod Assembly supported the congregation. This congregation is still small but has started community outreach that is funding their church well. They have been helping Redeemer.

Redeemer, easily five times the size of this church, had similar plans which by now would have been quite lucrative and supporting an exciting ministry in East Falls.

Instead Bishop Burkat continues to create a widening wake of hurt, anger and destruction.

Lutheran constitutions and government depend on the understanding that laity and clergy are equals and the organizations within the church are interdependent. Lutherans are supposed to work together.

This cannot happen as long as SEPA Lutherans stand on the sidelines and watch in silence as member churches endure abuse.

Back to the pastor who advised us to just stop being angry.

Why don’t we just find another church?

Our answer. We’ve been vagabond Lutherans for nearly three years. We’ve reached out to 43 of SEPA’s 160 congregations. We’ve visited. We’ve left contact information. We’ve written letters. We’ve made some friends along the way, but the fact is . . . none of the congregations still within the ELCA have reached out to us. No active pastor has visited our members to offer any kind of pastoral care. (Two retired pastors have helped.)

SEPA, the conflict is in your hands. You could turn this around at May’s Synod Assembly by demanding your leadership work to reconcile with the Lutherans of East Falls.

We repeat a wonderful quote all congregations should take to heart.

People should not have to find a church.
The church should find them.

03 Apr 2012

Significant progress made in healing SEPA/Redeemer conflict

Redeemer is happy on this joyous Palm Sunday to report significant progress in reconciling  all differences with the bishop and representatives of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

In a lengthy arbitration process, SEPA leaders agreed to drop all lawsuits against the congregation and its individual members and work together toward peace. It was noted with pride that SEPA is a reconciling denomination.

In a statement read by a SEPA representative, it was further noted that the Bible recognizes that differences will arise within the church, but by following biblical remedies, peace can be attained with love and mutual respect. “How can we expect to reconcile with people of different faiths if we cannot reconcile with our own people?” a SEPA spokesperson asked.

It was announced that the congregation will worship in the sanctuary (that has been locked for three years) beginning this Easter. The service will be presided over by a clergy representative from SEPA’s roster, chosen by the congregation. The service will follow both African and East Falls worship traditions within a traditional Lutheran liturgical structure, reflective of Redeemer’s congregational makeup.

A series of biweekly meetings will be held to include the congregation’s remaining church council, Redeemer members, and synodical representatives. Regular worship and the reopening of the congregation’s day care and after-school programs will be first on the each meeting’s agenda with projected revenues supporting Redeemer’s ministry.

The synod will assign a pastor to visit every Redeemer member to extend an olive branch of peace and reconciliation.

Redeemer will be restored to the list of active congregations with full voice and vote in Synod Assembly with its rightful number of delegates as a multi-racial/cultural church under SEPA’s constitution.

A summer outreach will be conducted focusing on a two-week Vacation Church School, led by members and local college students. The school will feature a major community service project. Redeemer has worked on this concept during its three years of exile from the Lutheran Church.

The congregation will approach the neighboring public school to work on a flex-time religious education offering.

A long-term plan for settling the debts incurred from four years of litigation will be negotiated. A low-interest loan will be sought to pay off the congregation’s high interest loan, thus ending third-party claims against the church and the synod. The congregation’s loan has been in default since January 2010 after SEPA was granted the deed to Redeemer’s property by Commonwealth Courts in a suit which resulted in a split PA Commonwealth Court decision favoring SEPA. Redeemer will repay the loan under 20-year terms.

A first congregational meeting will be held a week after Easter to restore Redeemer’s  council and government. Semi-annual meetings will be held with SEPA leadership to monitor progress in reestablishing the congregation.

The congregation’s comprehensive mission plan, presented to SEPA in 2007, will be revised to take into account new realities. The congregation will vote on the revisions at a meeting to be held within six months. A SEPA staff person who recently approached East Falls community members requesting ideas for use of the Redeemer property was pleased with the careful thought put into the plan by Redeemer members.

A pastor skilled in multicultural outreach will be sought with input from Redeemer members. The search process will begin immediately.

A Reconciliation and Atonement service with transfer of the property to Redeemer Lutherans will be scheduled to be held after the details of Redeemer’s government are worked out.

Redeemer and SEPA leaders, in a joint news conference, announced that they were pleased to be working together in mission and to the glory of God. “Forgiveness and compassion are key qualities of the church,” a spokesperson for Redeemer said. “We long to take any and every step possible to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ in the spirit of Christian unity.”

A SEPA representative noted that Palm Sunday, the day the people of Jerusalem lauded Jesus as King and begged for salvation, was a fitting time to exercise the teachings of the Church and to begin working together interdependently in the Lutheran tradition.

Happy April Fools Day!
(A Church can dream, can’t it!)

And if all of this doesn’t happen today, on April 1, it never will!

01 Apr 2012

East Falls Weighs In on How to Use Redeemer’s Property

What is SEPA’s mission in East Falls?

Redeemer members attended the East Falls Community Council meeting to listen to Rev. Patricia Davenport attempt to make inroads into the East Falls community with SEPA’s plans to use the property they seized from Redeemer. The discussion lasted 18 minutes. That’s 18 minutes more than Rev. Davenport gave the people of Redeemer before she came to our door with a locksmith back in February 2008.

Her timing was off. She told the community the building has been empty for four years. It’s not quite two and half. (September 27, 2009). She applauded when someone mentioned parking. Bishop Burkat used lack of parking in her opening volley against Redeemer back in 2006. Parking has never been an issue at Redeemer!

She claimed repeatedly that she very much wants a Word and Sacrament church there, but didn’t explain why they locked out the Word and Sacrament church that had been there for 103 years.

Her presentation was more noted for what she didn’t share about their involvement with the property. We thought for a moment she might attempt some candor when someone asked her when they were going to start using the property. She deflected this by coyly saying — if I say when, you’ll hold me to it and so I won’t say when.

As for the community, one member who was active in the children’s choir hosted by Redeemer suggested that the discussion was premature. Others stated that they missed the arts program which Redeemer used to host. Pastor Davenport talked about having a school . . . as if Redeemer had never had a school and wasn’t about to open a new one when they evicted us. So far every idea mentioned Redeemer had already done or planned to do. We doubt Pastor Davenport noted that.

The local newspaper editor thought the education building should be senior housing. That wouldn’t affect parking. Sounds like Redeemer should become a parking lot!

There was one suggestion so insulting that we almost forgot. It was the first one offered. Our church should be made into a dog park.

No one asked the BIG questions.

If SEPA’s oft-stated passion is to have a Word and Sacrament church on the corner of Midvale and Conrad, why don’t they just open a church?

Why did they work for a decade to destroy the church that was there?

Why are they making overtures to the community, if they know their mission?

It was an evening at the theater. SEPA has no money or resources for dog parks or art centers and it is not about to enter the kind of renovations necessary for housing anyone — especially when none of these are within their mission as a Synod. Any of these peripheral uses would side-track and delay their supposed mission and protected tax status.

They were trying to create the illusion that they care. They have demonstrated very well that they don’t.

Someone asked about desanctifying the land. It has already been defiled by Synod’s behavior.

They are waiting for clear title to the land they seized. That could take years in the courts. Then they are likely to sell the property — their plan from the start. Would you house Aunt Nellie in Redeemer’s education building only to uproot her when the day comes for SEPA to hightail it out of East Falls, cash in hand, once and for all?

SEPA told Redeemer in 1998, “Ministry in East Falls is not good use of the Lord’s money.”

Dog parks? That’s another story.

We video-taped the discussion. The EFCC allowed us to distribute a flyer.

12 Mar 2012

More Questions for SEPA Synod and Bishop Burkat

“We will travel by listening and praying and discerning, not by resisting, complaining or reminiscing.”

This sentence from Bishop Claire Burkat’s recent letter to professional leaders in the ELCA’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod is troubling.

There seems to be a hidden meaning. Listening, praying and discerning are the good things, right? Does that mean resisting, complaining and reminiscing are bad things?

If no one resists when they are mistreated, if no one complains when they see wrong in the world, and if our life experiences mean so little that we cannot share and remember them and build our identities around them, then how is anyone to listen, pray and discern wisely?

Isn’t a devotion to the Bible a form of reminiscing?

There is power in the things Bishop Burkat proposes we avoid. Listening, praying and discernment are fueled by resisting, complaining and reminiscing. No one should want to be a part of a church that does not honor these along with the others.

Bishop Burkat seems to long for easy leadership—one where church leaders and church members do as they are told. This philosophy can be rephrased: We’ll figure out what is best for you; you will comply.

Now that SEPA Synod has decided that your property and money are theirs for the taking, will congregations dare resist, complain or be caught remembering their heritage?

This poor leadership philosophy has been the driving force behind the five-year conflict between Bishop Burkat/SEPA and Redeemer. Does SEPA need more evidence that this is bad for all Lutherans?

By the way, Bishop Burkat’s opening dialog in her one meeting with Redeemer back in 2007 included her complaint, “I sense there is resistance.” Well, she was right about that!

She then set about destroying all memory of Redeemer — locking our doors for nearly three years, tearing down all signage, refusing to allow us even the name of our church. (Doesn’t this sound a bit like the way the U.S. treated the native Americans? If you can control their identity, you can control their land.)

SEPA congregations know what they have to look forward to if they don’t toe the line.

13 Feb 2012

When a Church Makes Mistakes

“There will be dangers, and we will surely make mistakes.”

Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church  in America (SEPA, ELCA), wrote these words to rostered leaders a couple of weeks ago.

She is talking about the future. It is also part of SEPA’s past.

Bishop Burkat’s message warned leaders that they don’t quite know what they are doing or where they are going in today’s religious climate. We suspect that has been the case for a while. There have been needless and costly casualties as SEPA leadership reached their newfound epiphany.

We all make mistakes. Church members, clergy, congregations, and yes, even bishops make mistakes.

Our question for the bishop and other SEPA Lutherans is this: When, at last, you’ve identified an action as a “mistake,” what are you going to do about it?

Redeemer and 2×2 are in an excellent position to predict the future.

When leadership mistakes happen within the part of God’s Kingdom called SEPA, the rostered clergy are protected at all cost. The volunteer laity shoulder the blame. We cannot move comfortably into the uncharted future as long as this continues.

By now, it should be dawning on SEPA congregations that the actions they endorsed in East Falls— if not by vote, by neglect — are a huge mistake. And now SEPA is warning that more mistakes are likely.

So far, SEPA congregations have behaved as if they are powerless. The annihilation of one little congregation has been a focal point of Bishop Burkat’s entire term. By setting out to destroy one expendable congregation, she has weakened the whole Church.

The Church must practice four pillars of church community—repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and atonement. Without these, the church will crumble.

What might have happened if SEPA and Bishop Burkat had practiced the techniques of listening and discernment she references in her latest letter to clergy? What might be happening in East Falls if SEPA actions had been motivated by love — which is the primary message of the Gospel? What might be happening in East Falls if SEPA had worked with Redeemer in the interdependent relationship their constitutions call for?

The Redeemer/SEPA conflict was needless. Once started there were numerous roads toward peace. Redeemer suggested many possibilities in letter after ignored letter. Every decision made by SEPA leadership for the last four years regarding Redeemer has escalated conflict with no end in sight. Faithful laity were treated as enemies from the get go.

We do not have to polish our crystal ball to predict that this is what SEPA congregations can expect if they are the victims of anticipated synodical mistakes.

  • Your clergy will disappear. Laity will be blamed for all consequences and have no one to speak for them.
  • Members will be named in personal lawsuits, their lives affected for years after being banished from their church.
  • Property and assets will be valued while people are thrown away.
  • Your congregation and its members will be called names, mocked, threatened, strong-armed, and dragged through the courts with every expectation that you submit to bullying.
  • No stone will be left unturned in pursuit of evidence to justify actions — after the fact.
  • Your members will be treated as if their faith and dedication are subservient to synod’s wishes made in greedy isolation.
  • Your denomination will use the full power of the courts in their attack against your members, while taking full advantage of their First Amendment protection of “separation of church and state.”

Maundy Thursday is eight weeks away. The imagery of Maundy Thursday is Christ in humility.

Church leaders like to display their humility ceremonially on this sacred occasion.  If this humility is genuine, the doors of Redeemer should be unlocked and our bishop should preside over a service, kneeling to wash the feet of Redeemer members. That would be the start of a new Church that practices what it preaches — repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and atonement.

IMAGE SOURCE PAGE: http://laughing-listening-learning.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html
10 Feb 2012

Closing Churches Creates Pariah Parishes

The announcement of church closings is a common scenario in the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholic church structure places property ownership in the hands of the bishop.

Not so for Lutherans. Yet in recent years, Lutheran “bishops” are assuming the powers of the Roman Catholic “bishops” and declaring churches closed without the participation of the congregations. As resistance builds, the process becomes uglier and more heavy-handed.

The true measure of a denomination's strength may be how it treats its smallest congregations. Declaring churches closed is asking for trouble. Churches with any life must resist if they are to act on their faith and beliefs — which is what religion is all about.

Once lines are drawn, parishes that resist become pariahs. Gossip starts. No one wants to be involved.

How does a denomination guarantee that determinations of viability are about the parish and not about the denomination?

More congregations will face the mysterious “viability” test. They may not even realize they are being tested.

The signs that this may be happening are

  • no cooperation from the denomination in finding pastoral help
  • pastors sent as caretakers who do nothing to grow the congregation
  • failure to communicate with the congregations (letters unanswered, phone calls not returned)
  • in general, the absence of the denomination until . . . .

Once a congregation is labeled “not viable” word spreads. There is little a congregation can do to change minds. Pastors will disappear and the congregation will find themselves limited to working with lay talents and retired pastors whose careers can no longer be influenced by the denomination.

Any measure of a congregation’s strength made by a denomination, itself in fiscal crisis, must be questioned.

Redeemer is notorious at this point.

One clergy member commented that closing Redeemer doesn’t matter. “There are plenty of churches in that neighborhood.” There were plenty of churches. The Congregational Church on Midvale closed and the building is now the office of a Lutheran Social Service agency. The Methodist Church closed. The Baptist Church closed. The members of St. James the Less were evicted by the diocese. St. Bridget’s is endangered.

The Presbyterian Church faced challenges but has managed to revive their ministry with the support of their denomination. The Episcopal Church, located on a remote street, was assisted by SEPA Synod in creating a ministry plan. Yes, the same synod that determined their own ministry in the heart of East Falls was not viable was assisting the Episcopalian congregation on the fringe of the neighborhood.

At the time Synod declared “synodical administration” on Redeemer, it was the fastest growing church in East Falls.

Decisions are being made about neighborhood ministries by people who know nothing about the neighborhoods.

Money is the issue in East Falls. Redeemer was a small congregation with cash. When Bishop Almquist targeted Redeemer in 1998, we had received a $300,000 endowment a few years prior. We resisted his action successfully, but we became a pariah parish.

In 2007, after nearly a decade of Synod neglect. we still had operating funds and a rented property. The congregation was active and growing. Synod was operating on a recurring six-figure deficit budget. With giving down, the only way out was to look for congregations to close.

Five years after being declared not viable, and more than two years after being physically locked out of their house of worship, Redeemer still meets weekly for worship. Redeemer still develops mission projects which are gaining national interest, if not interest from the denomination. Redeemer remains viable. Imagine what might have been done with the support and respect of church leaders.

One might think that mission and scripture play a role. Love, helping the needy, reconciliation, forgiveness, sacrifice . . . just words when denominations attack their congregations.

Synods must solve their own fiscal problems . . and not on the backs of its small neighborhood churches. The true measure of a denomination’s strength may be how it treats its smallest congregations.  

SEPA member churches, find a voice . . . or you may be next.

13 Jan 2012

SEPA-ELCA Rethinks Its Attitude Toward East Falls Ministry

  • “Ministry in East Falls is not good use of the Lord’s money.”
  • “A church with no parking lot has no chance of survival.”
  • “Mission outreach? You’re not allowed to do mission outreach.”
  • “White Redeemer must be allowed to die. Black Redeemer . . . we can put them anywhere.”
  • “There are no ministers for you.”

These are quotes from SEPA leadership regarding Redeemer in the last 15 years. Apparently the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is changing its attitudes and platitudes. They have hinted a new ministry is about to begin to the people of East Falls (while they are still pursuing the people who sacrificed for the old ministry in court).

Are they admitting they were wrong all along!? The Lord’s money (provided by the people of East Falls) can be well spent in East Falls?

Are they really planning a new ministry for this neighborhood which they have bullied and abused for nearly two decades? Or . . . is this a pre-election move to satisfy those voting for bishop in 2012 that SEPA’s motives in East Falls were part of a well-planned strategy with God’s Love at its core?

Will SEPA suddenly stop suing East Falls Lutherans and welcome them back into their church? Or will the “new ministry” in East Falls welcome only new and better Christians who have no baggage in life — and therefore little need of a church?

Will this new church in East Falls be the only Lutheran Church that does not own its property and is totally managed by outsiders? Will this new community of Christians be divided from the outset by those “allowed” to serve as leaders and those who, by virtue of being part of Redeemer in the past, will be banned from full participation. This (which has no constitutional foundation in Lutheranism) is precisely what SEPA recommended in court.

Is SEPA a reconciling denomination? Time will tell.

Today’s scheduled “Clean Out” of Redeemer Lutheran Church, announced as a preparation for a new ministry to this neighborhood, did not draw a crowd. We counted three or four adults and a couple of youth. By noon they had mostly carried armfuls of items and placed them in the trunks of their cars. Hmmm. If these items are worth saving, shouldn’t they be saved for the newer and better Lutheran Church planned by the Synod?

We’ve already watched as other things were carried from Redeemer. Ten folding chairs were placed in someone’s hatchback. Four cartons of records went into another car. The neighborhood reports.

The items they were salvaging from the people of Redeemer this morning included boxes and books and kitchen items and such treasures as Christmas stockings. Some hopeful Lutheran children, eyes bright with Christmas excitement, may receive a gift of four-year-old candy courtesy of the people of Redeemer.

Meanwhile Redeemer, “closed” by a constitutionally questionable edict, plans a Whoville Party to celebrate the third year SEPA has locked the neighborhood out of God’s House on Christmas Eve.

What did the Grinch do? He cleaned out Whoville just before Christmas. Yes, Virginia, there is a Grinch!

17 Dec 2011

Ministries in Decline — The Boat’s Getting Crowded

The year was 1998. A few representatives from SEPA Synod Council were meeting with Redeemer congregation.

They had just made their first attempt to close our church and seize our assets. Working with the congregation council behind the backs of the congregation, they had convinced leaders to resign en masse to create constitutional grounds (where none existed) for SEPA to step in.

On cue, seven council members tossed their resignations (drafted by a synod staff person) onto the table. A synod representative scooped them up and declared “synodical administration.” But three council members refused to be part of the scheme. With the help of two anonymous pastors, they re-established the congregational council — following the constitution — and successfully challenged SEPA’s plot.

SEPA’s interference damaged our church and the network of friendships that characterizes all congregations. The council members who had worked secretly with Synod were disgraced. They left Redeemer with their families. Some had been at Redeemer for decades. We learned that our Synod rarely measures the personal cost of their actions.

There was also damage to our congregation’s reputation. The conflict challenged giving and our ability to attract leadership. Branded.

At this meeting, a synod council member (a pastor from a neighboring church) started to talk to our members about statistics of small churches, patiently explaining that we couldn’t survive.

We pointed out that what congregations in the heart of the city were currently experiencing would become problematic for churches in outer city neighborhoods and suburbs within a decade or so. It was time to find answers.

A decade or more has passed and the churches we visit today on the edges of Philadelphia look remarkably like Redeemer looked in 1998, including the congregation of the pastor who was lecturing us 14 years before. Most congregations are experiencing serious decline, often in double digits.

We are learning through our Ambassador visits, that even suburban churches with fairly healthy worship attendance face financial challenges. Two of the largest congregations we have visited have liquid assets very similar to Redeemer’s and are carrying a similar debt load. A remarkable statistical difference is that Redeemer was growing in membership and attendance while TREND reports show that the larger churches are in decline.

If so many congregations are failing, why are we pointing fingers? Time and resources would be better spent looking for answers.

One thing stands out from our experience. The trustees in 2008 reported to Synod Assembly that we had a vibrant outreach ministry, but it was not run in cooperation with Synod’s Mission Director. In other words, Redeemer was growing without Synod’s help!

There is NO requirement for congregations to run evangelism efforts past the Synod for approval. That goes against Lutheran polity.

The persistent attacks from our denomination have given Redeemer a valuable perspective. We actively seek answers to modern ministry challenges. This IS Lutheran polity.

We recovered from the 1998 damage and were again growing in 2007 when Bishop Burkat, facing serious Synod financial challenges, decided to evict our congregation from our property, effectively excommunicating us. As we approach 2012, without a building or much in the way of money, we continue our ministry and have a glimpse of where churches must go to thrive in a dramatically different world. We continue to grow in ways we did not anticipate as we create a worldwide community, forging invigorating intra- and cross-denominational bonds.

Congregations must be encouraged to find their own answers to ministry challenges. The prescribed way — by every statistical measure — is not working!

19 Nov 2011

Ambassadors Begin 2nd Year of Visits and Discover Connectivity

As Redeemer Ambassadors began our second year of church visits in August, we began to feel more comfortable in our visitation. Perhaps that’s because we are beginning to discover connectivity — sometimes spanning decades, sometimes a century or more.

Our first visit rekindled an old working friendship which had been dormant for decades. In November we visited St. Mark, Conshohocken. The grandfather/great grandfather of two of our Ambassadors was one of the founding pastors of that congregation and visiting the church we had heard about so often from our ancestors was very meaningful. We also discovered that some of the Epiphany members who once shared our building were now worshiping there.

Almost every week, we find something in common with the people we visit. At St. John, Folcroft, one of our ambassadors mentioned her college and a St. John member responded, telling us about her college. We soon learned that the woman had been college friends with one of our ambassadors who was not present and had sung in the college choir with his wife.

At Grace, Mantua, we learned that the pastor and his wife shared mutual good friends with one of the Ambassadors. Similarly, we learned that the pastor of liberti presbyterian shared mutual friends. We had heard stories about one another for years but had never met!

This morning, we visited Trinity, Fort Washington, where one of our former members attends. We were pleased to talk with her many friends. Our former member and her family had been among the earliest and strongest Redeemer supporters. We also discovered that their new pastor was from a church near the childhood church of one of our ambassadors and they knew some of the same people. His home church was that of one of our ambassador’s earliest relatives to come to America hundreds of years ago.

As we share stories of our other visits, we learn of their connections with the people we are currently visiting. “That’s where I was married.” “That’s the church my husband and I visited when we were trying to decide on a church.”

Redeemer is part of the precious interconnectivity of Lutherans and Christians everywhere. Locking our doors won’t take that away!

11 Sep 2011