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Redeemer Lutheran Church

The Church and Its Elusive Goals

disruptiveGood Enough Can Be Great

Let’s look at the second principle of Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work.

 Noting that “good enough” can be great.

Many innovators seek to leapfrog over existing solutions, essentially hoping to win by playing the innovation game better. Disruptors win by playing the innovation game differently. [emphasis in original] Disruptions are all about trade-offs. Disruptions typically do offer lower performance along dimensions that historically mattered to mainstream customers. They aren’t bad along these dimensions; they are good enough. But they more than make up for that — in the eyes of their customers — by offering better performance along different dimensions.

This is very applicable to church life. Congregations are bombarded with demands to transform. We are competing to reach a standard that no one has measured. The drama sets congregation against congregation as they vie for attention from their regional body in access to professional services and standing. Transform becomes conform.

Concentrating on growing can be frustrating. It can discourage people who never joined church to work to reach other people’s goals. New members need time to settle and mature.

Sometimes churches are exactly the right size. They can afford their pastor. They can maintain their building. People know each other and are sensitive to one another and their community. They work well together and are confident enough in their sense of mission to welcome new people.

So why can’t we accept congregations the way they are? Is the push to grow important to the mission of the church or is it important to maintaining the three budgets each congregation is expected to support (their own, and those of the regional body and national entity)?

Churches will grow if they are growing for the right reasons. Their way of achieving their mission may not suit church professionals, but it may be good enough—at the moment. It may be great.

Redeemer was good enough. Redeemer was great at what it was doing in mission work — which no one else was doing quite the same way. We were not replicating a model foisted on us from above but we were innovating in ways from which others could learn and which we could afford and had the talent to support.

We don’t know what would have made the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America happy.

  • We had grown five-fold since Bishop Almquist’s interference in our ministry in the late 1990s. SEPA didn’t know that because SEPA ignored us for a decade. When faced with the facts, they simply refused to count the new members. “White Redeemer must be allowed to die. Black Redeemer — we can put them anywhere.” (Bishop Burkat)
  • We had achieved diversity, a stated goal of SEPA.
  • Our members spanned the age ranges and was no longer top heavy with older Christians.
  • We had several pastors interested in working with us.
  • We had some money in reserve.
  • We had lay leaders with diverse talents that complemented those of professional leaders.
  • We had a ministry plan that had the potential to create ongoing revenue.

We were and are good enough. We might even be great.

But recognizing Redeemer’s unique ministry didn’t meet SEPA’s agenda. They needed us to fail so they could justify taking our property (which their Articles of Incorporation forbid, but who cares).

So they quickly, in a blink of an eye, acknowledged our success but followed it with criticism for not achieving it under their direction. (They were AWOL.)

Since they kicked us out of the ELCA, we’ve visited 52 congregations. We know our ministry is just as active and effective as those who sat in judgement over us. And it is unique. We don’t have a food pantry. We don’t sign up for every charity run. Our kids don’t go to Synod youth events. But we do support ministries in other countries. All our kids and families had an opportunity to attend church camp. We have developed a social media ministry which reaches 1500 people a month. We’ve made a project of connecting with other Lutheran congregations. We have fought to maintain congregational polity, which will someday benefit every other SEPA congregation. We continue to meet for worship and ministry weekly.

If we had tried to be like bigger churches we would not have been able to accomplish the things we did. We did our own thing with our own resources and remained true to our mission. If we had concentrated on emulating bigger congregations we would have failed. All of our resources would have been spent keeping up with the St. Joneses. We found areas of ministry in which we could excel and make a difference.

We were good enough, we like to think, to be welcome in God’s house.

We were not good enough, we know, to be welcome in the ELCA.

09 Dec 2012

Prayer Is the Answer. Now What Was the Question?

I had an uncle who was a Methodist preacher. He often said, only partially jokingly, “Jesus is the answer. Now what is your question?”

There seems to be a similar “go to” response in the Church today. When you don’t know what to do—or when you do know what to do but don’t have the courage to do it, there is an easy answer. Promise to pray.

It’s been tough going for our congregation as members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Bishop Claire Burkat of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod went on the warpath against Redeemer Lutheran in East Falls, Philadelphia, including personal attacks on lay members. Acquiring the assets of Redeemer seems to have been part of the plan to fund massive budget deficits from the very beginning of her first term in 2006.

Large deficits have been routine since the beginning of SEPA back in the late 1980s. Giving and attendance were (and still are) in serious decline. There was no plan for reviving small church ministry beyond neglect and waiting for failure. Several congregations folded rather than swim upstream without the cooperation of SEPA leadership.

The assumption of SEPA leadership is that if they neglect ministry for a decade, ministry will fail to the benefit of Synod coffers. Under Lutheran polity this isn’t a given. Congregations can determine where to donate their assets. But Synods are finding a work-around that guarantees they will benefit. Simply declare the congregations “terminated” before they can have any say. This means that the congregations have NO rights within the Church they have served for decades or centuries. They need not even be consulted! Constitutional checks and balances are ignored.

Redeemer was getting the “10 years of neglect” treatment. But it wasn’t going as Synod planned. Lay leadership grew. Alliances were made with several dedicated pastors. Redeemer was in a promising position, with a five-year commitment of a qualified Lutheran pastor, working under a detailed plan that the congregation had spent six months drafting. In fact, our ministry continues to grow, despite the abuse.

But the efforts of lay people are not valued.

And there was that $275,000 deficit budget approved by Synod Assembly at the same time they voted (against Lutheran rules) to take our property.

The deceitful maneuverings which characterized this hostile attempt at a land grab have been a fiasco that Lutheran leadership is unable to resolve without jeopardizing ministry, the livelihoods of lay people and perhaps even the entire synod. And at considerable expense.

It’s a mess. A shameful, unnecessary mess.

And all of this has gone on while the clergy of SEPA Synod have watched.

Our members have approached people who should be in a position to at least open dialog on the issues.

There are fairly specific guidelines for resolution of disputes in the Bible and there are governing documents that could be followed within the Church. But ELCA leaders do not bother. They rely on “wisdom.”

We’ve heard all kinds of excuses.

  • From Bishop Hanson: Just talk it out. I have great regard for Bishop Burkat.
  • From a Synod Council member: We have no intention of negotiating with you. (Synod Council is supposed to represent the congregations.)
  • From deans: Silence
  • From pastors in a position to help: We have to trust the wisdom of the bishop.
  • From pastors who visited Redeemer 30 or 40 years ago: We know your history (as if Redeemer was stuck in a time warp).
  • From pastors who don’t know anything about Redeemer — but voted with the crowd anyway: Sorry! We didn’t know.

Whatever the excuse, it is always accompanied with a sanctimonious, conscience-assuaging promise to pray.

We wonder what these learned church leaders expect to come of prayer.

  • That someone else—anyone else—will play peacemaker.
  • That God will suddenly fix everything without any work.
  • That whatever happens won’t affect them.
  • That miracles will replace gumption.
  • That whatever happens, their jobs will be secure.
  • That they will never be the victims of the type of leadership abuses that have characterized this sad episode (and perhaps others before us).
  • That life in SEPA will go on as if Redeemer, and Epiphany, and Grace and others never existed—and the list will probably continue to grow.

Lutherans pride themselves on an interdependent structure. That means we are supposed to work together.  

Here’s a suggestion:

By all means, keep praying, but recognize that the answer to prayer is probably in getting off your backsides and doing something.

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do
for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 

02 Nov 2012

If SEPA Leaders Cared . . . .

ELCA motto appended to reflect SEPA's actions in East Falls.The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has been embroiled in trouble, largely of its own making, since 2008. It wasn’t sudden, there was a nearly decade-long prologue of neglect.

During this long period of absence from the ministry of Redeemer Lutheran Church in East Falls, SEPA leaders made unfortunate miscalculations.

SEPA had discouraged professional leadership from serving in East Falls. The strategy they were following—as published at about the same time in a book co-authored by then Synod staff member, Claire Burkat—was to let Redeemer die. SEPA presumed that lay people with no one to tell them what to do would drift rudderless and get tired. One day, the last Lutheran on board would call the Synod and beg for a lifeline.

This may have seemed like the easy way to gain the congregation’s valuable property and substantial financial assets. It is proving to be disastrous—for Redeemer and the entire Synod. It may even trickle UP to the entire ELCA as other Synods (having read the book) attempt to implement the strategy!

The book leaves out the last chapter. It doesn’t always go as planned.

The group of elderly members that Bishop Almquist assumed would soon fail by attrition did not go to their heavenly reward without laying a new foundation for the church they loved. Redeemer grew during SEPA’s years of neglect. By the time Claire Burkat was elected bishop, there was a new group of Lutherans in East Falls, who had no idea they were heirs to SEPA’s prejudice.

Had Bishop Burkat worked with Redeemer’s leaders (as she falsely claims she did), she would have seen great promise. But her intentions for Redeemer were announced long before she ever set foot on the corner of Midvale and Conrad Streets on that ill-fated day in February 2008.

Consequently, Bishop Burkat, intent on exercising powers not found in Lutheran governing documents, led SEPA into a financial boondoggle. They lack the leadership skills to retreat. They are relying on the secular courts to resolve Church problems. Courts don’t want the job.

Had Bishop Burkat cared about the people of East Falls and its mission, she would have strategized to protect her sheep as if they were as valuable as the property she coveted. The ministry that was initiated and nurtured with the investments of the laity would not have been shuttered, but would be earning a steady income, paying the congregation’s obligations with no dependence on SEPA and its member churches.

But SEPA had its own problems. It had been living on deficit budgets for most of its 20-year history. In 2008, that deficit was $275,000, approved by a Synod Assembly at a time when giving was down in nearly every congregation. There was no plan for making up this deficit except to close churches and seize assets. Bishop Burkat is insulted at this suggestion. But it was explained to that Assembly that money to make up shortfalls traditionally comes from the Mission Fund—which is the repository for the assets of closed congregations. No other plan for funding this huge deficit was presented.

Bishop Burkat further denies that selling church properties is part of synod’s survival strategy even in the face of evidence that she offered Redeemer’s property for sale to a Lutheran agency without the congregation’s knowledge just prior to the Synod Assembly that approved the huge deficit and voted to take Redeemer’s property.

There WAS (and perhaps IS) a plan to close churches and sell their property.

Bishop Burkat seems amazed that anyone would resist her clandestine takeover, fraught with deceptive maneuvering, and which defies Lutheran polity. Lutheran congregations own their properties and manage their own assets.

Resistance is a right of every congregation. But SEPA found a way to sidestep congregational rights. Declare them “terminated.” Deny them access to the constitutional benefits of church membership. Treat members as enemies.

What is going on in East Falls is dismissed in Bishop Burkat’s mind as “heart-breaking”—as if she had no leadership influence to prevent or remedy it.

She has become a victim of her own lust for power.

And it is costing all of SEPA.

If Bishop Burkat had cared about East Falls . . .

  • Redeemer would be open for worship.
  • The school Redeemer was about to open as a Christian day school would be operating to the benefit of East Falls and the income of $6000 to $10,000 a month for Redeemer.
  • Redeemer’s mission capabilities, which have continued to grow despite repression, would also be showing fruitful reward. They are already gaining influence.
  • The congregation’s expenses would not be burdening all of SEPA. (The price tag is well over $320,000.)

Instead you have locked properties and alienated members and a community that will always be reminded — The Lutherans? Yes, they are the Church that sues its members.

Even if Bishop Burkat did not trust the loyal Lutherans of East Falls, whom she did not know, she could have done something to keep the problems from escalating. She could have tried to raise funds. She could have worked with the people she leads. She did nothing but turn to the courts (which the Bible expressly discourages—1 Corinthians 6).

The Church does not need leaders to do nothing. We need leaders to solve problems. In this, SEPA leadership has failed. Pride and greed have blinded all sense of mission. Hatefulness and vindictiveness have replaced the messages of love and forgiveness. There is no effort to reconcile. SEPA wants to WIN at any cost. Silence the pastors. Call in the lawyers.

The only people who can fix this, the Lutherans of Southeastern Pennsylvania, are content to let the church attack lay people as their preferred management solution. They foolishly do not envision being in the same situation. Our Ambassador visits reveal that there are dozens of congregations in SEPA that are no larger or wealthier than Redeemer. As Redeemer goes, so will they.

In looking for the WIN, we are all LOSERS.

25 Oct 2012

Who Is Watching the Priests and Clerics?

The Philadelphia Inquirer has discontinued its religion beat and reassigned its religion reporter to the Philadelphia’s suburbs east of the Delaware River. The Inquirer joins the media trend which leaves many city people wondering if we live in Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware.

There is no area of American life which needs an occasional outside eye more than religion. It’s hard —but more likely—to get the attention of media when things are going smoothly. Otherwise, the media often fail to pay any attention until things are dire. They can be dire for a very long time when no one knows what goes on behind closed church doors. It’s religion—nobody else’s business.

Religion is at the heart of a great deal of world conflict. The lack of empathy within and between religious groups is the root cause of much unrest. It’s not insignificant. It actually changes—and sometimes costs—lives.

Religious leaders exercise authority over people who think they join church to honor and serve God. They consider God to be the ultimate authority in their lives and they are encouraged to believe that. They can then be taken advantage of by their leaders—who revel in separation of church and state.

Religion can be a haven for the unscrupulous. Just fake it ’til you make it and coast unquestioned after ordination.

Religious leaders enjoy autonomy unlike any other arena of American life. Some denominations own all the untaxed land and wealth contributed by their members. Others have internal rules regulating the control of land and wealth. The Bill of Rights guarantees that no laws will hinder their operation —or enforce their rules.

When the courts declare no jurisdiction, the Church itself looks the other way, and the fourth estate finds things too complicated to explain—church members are sitting ducks for all kinds of abuse. Meanwhile, church leaders have proven that they do not mind using the courts (from which they themselves claim immunity) to ensure their autonomy, imperiling any members who dare to challenge their actions.

The resulting lawlessness creates the conditions for a modern Inquisition. The last few years have brought to light the incredible disregard by some religious leaders for both law and doctrine. Predictably, the weakest members of the Church are the easiest victims.

The child sex scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church took years to come to light. Countless lives are shattered. Settlement expenses are surely contributing to the church/school closings affecting dozens of neighborhoods who trusted the wisdom of their leaders. It may even be a root cause of empty pews on Sunday morning. Who knows!

The situation in the Wild West that is today’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is similar. Our denominational leaders provided a church structure they call interdependence. The belief in the priesthood of all believers, they thought, called for cooperation between levels of the church. Lay Lutherans were proud that this empowered them, but it has become a vague concept that is defined and redefined at whim. Interdependence is interpreted by those with a lust for power as anything they want it to be.

Funny thing! Of the three tiers of church life — congregation, regional body, hierarchy — the higher the authority, the more dependent they are on the people. You’d think they’d make friends!

But no, synodical leaders ignore their own governance prohibiting the conveyance of congregational property without the consent of the property owners. They arrogantly assume that they cannot be stopped by the law or by those elected to oversee their work—a good number of whom rely on synodical leadership for their jobs and many more who simply don’t want to imagine misbehavior by their trusted leaders.

Christians are like that. They are blind and fail to see.

This defines Redeemer’s conflict with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Redeemer was not the first victim of SEPA greed. We may be the first to say “no,” which is within a congregation’s rights. In the face of a massive recurring six-figure annual deficit, at a time when support was in steady decline, synodical leaders sought to close small churches so that they could keep operating as usual, guaranteeing their own jobs and salaries above their mission.

Instead of working for mission, church leaders engage in a waiting game. Small churches with valuable assets are neglected by design in hopes that they will fold and leave their assets to the hierarchy. But in Lutheran governance a church voting to close can dispose of their assets as they choose. “There’s got to be a way around this,” runs through leaders’ minds. “We need that money—-uhh—for mission. Let’s create a Mission Fund and feed it with the assets of churches we close. We can use it any way we like. No one will notice.”

Church leaders scramble to make new rules concerning “termination” and “involuntary synodical administration” and lock out the local leaders (literally) while they get their ducks in a row. Anything to protect those assets—for themselves.

Lay people are at risk, especially those who are knowledgeable enough to know the polity of their denomination. They have the least power and voice, especially when the denomination fails to provide clergy to serve them.

Courts have determined that they have no jurisdiction to require church leaders to honor their own governing rules. But two judges dissented, citing the law. There is hope!

Last February, The Inquirer looked into the East Falls land grab attempt in 2008 which has been in the courts ever since. They determined that the story might be too complicated to be told in 16 column inches. Most major newspapers have an online presence with no space restrictions, so that’s an outdated excuse.

Meanwhile, another synodical land grab is being attempted in the metropolitan New York area. Here there is an invocation of a brand new unwritten constitutional status — “permanent synodical administration.” More brazen all the time! This follows a midnight raid to seize church property in New Jersey by the Slovak Zion Synod. There will surely be more. Each unchallenged hierarchical action makes the next one that much easier!

They count on people being to timid or uncommitted to care. They also rely on the resources of every congregation fund the law suits against a congregation and the resources it can muster alone.

The courts have given an answer to the question raised in our headline.

Who is watching the priests and clerics?

In America, it’s up to us lowly Christians—the more lowly, the more likely.

That brings us to the Fifth Estate. More later.

19 Oct 2012

Ambassador Returns to Holy Communion, Philadelphia

One ambassador made a return trip to Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion in Center City, Philadelphia. She was looking for help with our very serious situation in East Falls and the prospect of 11 of our members losing their homes so the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod can secure the clear title to our church property.

She had attended services in this church for many years and sang in their choir. She was happy to participate in a Baptism but was struck by the few in attendance over all—really not much higher than a service at Redeemer. She enjoyed the solo, “Deep River.”

She was recognized by one member who asked how she was. She responded that she is incredibly sad at the situation in East Falls. She received the answer we hear commonly. “I don’t know anything about that.”

A second typical answer we hear, usually from clergy, is “There is nothing I can do to help.”

This, of course, is nonsense. Clergy are in the best position to raise questions and demand answers. What they mean is “There is nothing I can do to help without it affecting my standing in SEPA Synod and perhaps endangering my congregation in a similar way.” This is sad. It is also enabling!

An article in Holy Communion’s bulletin addresses an upcoming discussion on Lutherans and their historic discomfort with “works righteousness.” There is not much to worry about, if Lutheran leaders are afraid of righteous works!

Our lone Ambassador put two notes in the offering plate—one to Bishop Burkat, who holds membership at Holy Communion, and one to the pastor.

Redeemer has long sought peace, writing a letter a month to Bishop Burkat in 2008, hoping to avert all the problems of the last almost five years. All were ignored while the bishop makes false public claims suggesting she tried to work with us to no avail.

Our hopes are not high that anything has changed, but we are still trying!

photo credit: stevec77 via photopin cc
14 Oct 2012

A First Step in Branding: The Mission Statement

We’ve discussed the need to look over your shoulder and include your denomination’s regional offices and other congregations.

We’ve discussed how branding helps your members understand their mission.

Now you are ready for outreach to your community.

A typical starting point in any branding campaign is to craft a mission statement.

The mission of every church is defined in the Bible.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. —Matthew 28:19-20

There are other verses you can focus on, but this one encompasses a great deal.

The task of each congregation is to refine this directive in a way that will keep your people on a chosen track of implementation.

We all know how easy it is to become distracted from our mission. This is a special challenge for small congregations. We small churches are so busy putting out fires that it is easy for us to lose our way!

There is a tendency to measure all congregations against some standard that, frankly, isn’t very well-defined. It may be a typical suburban church or a church with a well-known pastor. It is never the small church — although we outnumber larger churches!

This can be a shock to a small congregation’s self-confidence. There the driving force is often a dedicated and changing staff of lay people, who juggle uncompensated mission and ministry with work lives.

In defining your mission be true to yourself. If you are a family church, concentrate on the values of a family church—the warmth, the intimacy, the ability for newcomers to assimilate quickly. If you are a pastoral church you might have an emphasis that is a “trademark” of your leadership. That might be reaching a particular ethnic group or operating a daycare program. Your mission should express whatever binds you together as a people.

Mission is a huge task and one that was never intended to be performed solo. (2×2!) The task of congregations is to answer the question How? (We’ve talked about the Why? question before.)

How will your group of people—with all the things you have going for you (taking into account your limitations)—fulfill Christ’s directive? In short:

How do you reach, how do you preach, and how do you teach?

You might start by asking each member this question. Their answers should help shape the “official” mission statement. Having been included in the process, they will own the mission.

Once a mission statement is adopted put it to work.

  • Feature it on your web site, on your stationery, and on your signage.
  • Hold a service to celebrate the adoption of a mission statement.
  • Invite several people to speak to the mission. Do this regularly!
  • Have a pin made or give out refrigerator magnets featuring your statement.
  • Make a congregational T-shirt featuring your mission. Declare T-shirt events (service projects, for example) when members should come in “uniform.”
  • Hang a banner over your door. (Outside where people can see it.)
  • Begin every service or meeting by reciting your mission together.
  • Write a press release and send it to local papers.

Keep your mission front and center.

But remember, your mission can change. Review it every few years to make sure you can still live up to its directive, and that, in focusing on it, you are not ignoring new opportunities. Actually, we live in such a fast-changing world that proclaiming a special mission emphasis each year might not be a bad idea. (Next post!)

11 Oct 2012

Today 2×2 Is in Kenya

Today Glory of Pentecost Brothers and Sisters Fellowship in Kenya is rallying children to the Gospel. Pastor Silas Kadenge invited 2×2 to send a message to the 300 children expected.

2×2 as an outreach growing from Redeemer Lutheran Church is in a unique position to cross the ocean with a message to children. Our ministry here included ministry to children who spoke or heard the Swahili language in their homes. We used many Swahili words in our worship. We often sang popular hymns alternating verses in English and Swahili.

So we sent a message of love and concluded it with the words to Jesus Loves Me in both English and Swahili.

Pastor Kadenge wrote to us that he had a girl read the message to the children and they sang the song. The children wanted to know where we were. He told them we were with them but physically we are in America.

Pastor Kadenge is putting us in touch with other supporters from America.

It will be interesting to see how this network grows.

15 Sep 2012

Mission Churches with No Web Site!!!

God is doing something new and the church is Out to Lunch. We are tempted to say Gone Fishing, but that might have theological implications that do not apply.

Redeemer Ambassadors always turn to the internet to plan our visits. We check service times, read newsletters and find out as much as we can before we visit.

We follow the process any newcomer to a neighborhood in 2012 would take when searching for a church home. They would Google their neighborhood and the word “church” to see what comes up.

Our search process reveals that neighborhood church seekers will have problems finding Lutheran churches.

Since we are looking for Lutheran churches, we start with the ELCA Trend Reports web site and use their Church Finder. We plug in 15, 20 or 25 miles for the radius and press the LOCATE button. Up comes a list. Then we click the link provided to each congregation’s web site.

We are now preparing for our 50th visit. We’d like to visit a nearby church tomorrow morning. Some of our ambassadors have afternoon plans. There are several possibilities. We’ll look for a church with an early service.

THIRTY of them have NO WEB SITE!

Several of those with no web site are mission churches under the direction of synodically appointed leaders. Note: These are just the churches in a 15-mile radius of East Falls.

A MISSION CHURCH with NO WEB SITE!

We Google the name of one nearby congregation. Maybe they have a web site that isn’t listed in the national database. Great! They have a Facebook page. We check it. It has NO information beyond the church’s address.

Really, SEPA churches, what are you thinking? Are you serious about outreach? Are you part of your communities? Do you open your doors on Sunday morning and expect the neighborhood to flock there by magic?

A church can have a nice looking web site for an annual investment of $25 and no more than an hour’s set-up time. Facebook is FREE, for St. Pete’s sake! 13-year-olds know how to use it.

If you don’t have a web site, you are not serious about serving your community.

Most of these congregation’s have pastors who could set up a basic site and at least have a community presence.

Even Redeemer, the church that doesn’t exist according to SEPA and the ELCA, has a web site.

In the world of the ELCA, these churches, that are not serious about ministry, feel they have the right to take votes about the ministries of other congregations and gain from their actions. (They don’t have this right under governing laws, but that hasn’t stopped the churches and clergy of SEPA!)

God is doing something new in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod and many churches are not equipped to perceive it—much less take advantage of it!

We’d like to think they have Gone Fishing for Men, but the evidence is they are Out to Lunch.

photo credit: bobfranklin via photo pin cc
08 Sep 2012

Counting Our Blessings in East Falls

It’s the first Sunday of the month, the week Redeemer members pass our locked church to worship together in a community theater and gather across the street in a neighborhood bar afterwards for fellowship. The bar even added us to their calendar. (God is doing something new!)

We had many things to celebrate and give thanks for today. Two of our members were awarded good jobs and one is starting a business. We were particularly grateful that one of the retired pastors who worships with us regularly was back with us after a four-month rehabilitation after surgery.

We enjoy having our own worship—singing the hymns we choose, praying our own prayers, enjoying our own fellowship. We also enjoy our Ambassador visits on the other Sundays of the month. But there is nothing like being at home.

We know that the only reason to lock our people out our church was to destroy our community. Lesson to church hierarchies: Find another way!

We were reminded in today’s sermon of an ongoing theme of our Australian pastor — that church is not about what we “get out of it.” It is about God and His relationship with us and our response to His love.

There isn’t a church in East Falls that isn’t challenged. Some of the challenges come from the religious apathy of the community. We can’t blame them to some extent. It’s rather dangerous to be a Christian (or at least a Lutheran) in East Falls.

The greatest challenge is from the Church itself, who values property above community. It is too expensive to operate religious schools. Send the kids elsewhere. Rent the buildings.

The people who invested their time and offerings in Redeemer and St. Bridget’s (and perhaps a few other church communities before them) have had their gifts squandered by outside interests. Fallsers gave to contribute to their community. Their gifts were confiscated or devalued by people who thought they had better uses for our resources but haven’t a clue how to serve East Falls.

If only the courts could hand out consciences as easily as property!

There are reports that the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is negotiating the use of Redeemer Church with community leaders. SEPA spent no time considering the use of Redeemer Church with the people who built the church — the Lutherans of East Falls. They continue their attacks on our members in the courts. That should give the people of East Falls some idea of the character of the people with whom they are negotiating. East Falls beware!

At the heart of SEPA’s problems in East Falls is loss of mission — or to use church-speak — the loss of “missional focus.”

If SEPA cares, they should note: Redeemer is still a worshiping community.

Talk to us! You have a better chance of serving East Falls with the Lutherans of East Falls than without us.

As for the excommunicated members of Redeemer, we will serve the Lord.

02 Sep 2012

God is doing something new AGAIN in East Falls

Redeemer, East Falls is too small to serve its “missional” purpose (“missional” is not a word but church people seem to understand it).

That was the premise used by Bishop Claire Burkat and her coterie. It was never true. It sounded good to the people they needed to convince in order to have their way—which had nothing to do with mission but was all about money and property and synod’s habitual deficit spending.

SEPA’s actions did tons of damage to our people, our congregation and to our neighborhood, but Redeemer’s mission continues to grow. That’s what happens when you work a plan with selfless resilience and flexibility!

One of our projects was to develop our ministry online (since we had no building). We started slowly, doing research and following best practices. The site grew slowly at first, but after about six months, it was apparent there was a foundation for steady growth and an inexhaustible potential.

The site has grown steadily over all. There are day-to-day peaks and valleys, but the weekly and monthly trends reveal steady growth that is picking up.

In the last two weeks a few remarkable things have begun to happen on www.2x2virtualchurch.com.

We now have 100 people who read out posts by email each day. We have an additional 50 unique  visitors every day. Our weekly unique readership (not counting those who follow us on Facebook, Twitter or email) hovered between 180 and 275 for the last six weeks. Adding our subscribers or followers to that number puts us at around 1000 readers each week.

Our global reach is picking up. There are a few countries that check in daily—France, Canada, Great Britain, Netherlands, Australia, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines and most recently, India. Twice this week our foreign readership outpaced United States readers, at least until the very end of the day when there is often a surge in North American readership.

People are slowly beginning to participate in the discussion, often by email rather than on the site.

Yesterday, we had a request to find a way to have the site translated into Urdu, so Pakistani Christians might have access to our posts.

We invited churches to follow the site. That invitation has led to interesting friendships with four other congregations—two in Kenya, one in Pakistan and one near to us in Philadelphia.

Redeemer was never more able to fulfill its “missional” purpose. We believe our mission and ministry activities measure well with every other congregation in SEPA (large and small) — who now have the benefit of our resources.

photo credit: jurvetson (retouched) via photo pin cc
12 Jul 2012