Many church leaders are bemoaning that Church isn’t what it used to be. Bishop Claire Burkat wrote to her rank and file lately warning that the road ahead is uncharted and there is no blueprint for moving foreward. The old ways just aren’t working.
Perhaps it is only an illusion that they ever did!
Welcome to the “horizontal” Church.
Church can learn from what’s happening in the rest of the world. Business leaders, too, are noticing that the old ways of doing business are ineffective, inefficient and unprofitable. There is a TV show that brings this “epiphany” to us every Sunday evening — Undercover Boss.
In the old business world, upper management controlled all things. An employee’s future relied on his/her ability to control people, material, budgets, customers. The power in the business world has shifted to the consumer. Smart business people are meeting the challenge by restructuring their businesses to be less vertical (hierarchical) and more horizontal. Create a good product, serve your customers well, and your business will grow by word of mouth or by keystrokes on the internet or cellphone.
The Church lives in the same world. It has relied on hierarchical control for a very long time and so change may come a bit harder and a tad slower, but things are changing. Hierarchies are crumbling under the weight of their own weaknesses. Rank and file spiritual church members are resisting the support of vertical management and for good reason. It’s expensive, unproductive and crippling. Offerings, we can conclude, are better spent on direct service than on supporting hierarchy.
And so, the Church today is mirroring society. The Church is becoming more horizontal. We still have a good “product” and the laborers in the vineyard are committed. The Church will survive by spreading person to person (2×2!).
This is where Bishop Burkat is wrong! There is a blueprint! It’s called The Bible.
This is the headline of an e-letter recently sent to the professional leaders of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by Bishop Claire Burkat.
Bishop Burkat announced that she and the church were having an epiphany.
“The age of the mainline Church as many of us have known it has passed, and there is no blueprint for our journey in this next, rapidly accelerating age.”
The epiphany may have struck sooner and taken fewer casualties if Bishop Burkat had taken time to get to know congregations when she took office. Heart to heart dialog at the time might have helped her hear things we congregations were trying to tell her. We could have helped her lead. That’s the Lutheran way. Interdependence.
It has taken almost every day of her six-year term, but Bishop Burkat has discovered some things for herself.
“The most apparent changes in our congregations and denominations so far see us shifting our focus from relying on professional staff, planning programs, keeping-up buildings, and preserving institutions toward engaging people inside and outside our churches in spritual conversation, as well as creating caring communities, collaborative service, and collective discernment.”
Redeemer was trying to tell her that. We had forged our way, with very little reliance on professional leadership. We had fostered good relationships with neighborhood organizations. We had relied on the gifts of the laity. We recognized that God was at work in our community in a new and creative way.
Now SEPA has a new blog to share ministry stories of its member churches. Although the site invites us to Tell Our Story, we doubt that our story would make it past moderation. So we will tell our story here. Feel free to tweet or reblog or post it on God Is Doing Something Good Blog for us.
Redeemer had a growing outreach ministry to East African immigrants. They had found a church home in East Falls and were growing in participation and leadership. Redeemer of the 20th century had welcomed the 21st century, adapting our traditions—not forsaking them—to welcome many new people. Bishop Burkat and SEPA discouraged our ministry and locked us all out of God’s House.
Redeemer was concentrating on developing lay leadership. That need is the topic of Alban Institute’s Roundtable this week. Redeemer had been working at this for a decade.
Redeemer had a plan to help immigrant families locate starter homes, obtain mortgages and make necessary renovations. Bishop Burkat and SEPA made this impossible.
Redeemer had a plan to pioneer congregational use of the web. The fact that we were locked out of our church home made this a priority. If you are reading this (along with our more than 100 daily readers) you have discovered our ground-breaking blog.
Redeemer recognized that our property, rented to a Lutheran Social Service agency, was contributing to a valued neighborhood ministry. This was a mission alliance that served a church agency, our congregation and neighborhood. If money were our sole objective, we could have rented our property for more. Bishop Burkat and SEPA’s interference put the agency in the middle of a property dispute. They chose to shut down their 25-year presence in our community.
With this long-standing mission project ruined by SEPA, Redeemer worked for a year to develop a school that would serve the community in a way which would also foster religious values. Bishop Burkat and SEPA evicted the school just as it was about to open.
Redeemer recognized that a neighborhood ministry to immigrants, while valuable and God’s apparent plan for us, was not likely to be funded from the offering plate. Neither would an outreach mission to college-aged youth and young professionals, also a large part of East Falls neighborhood. Both were obvious missions for any church in East Falls. We worked to develop alternate income streams using our assets. Bishop Burkat and SEPA sued us to obtain our property and endowment funds for their own use.
God continues to work through Redeemer.
In our excommunicated state, we began visiting other Lutheran churches. We started to see firsthand many common challenges. We are responding.
We are creating a model for a program that would help small congregations create an eductional outreach and reconnect with their neighborhoods. VBS-aid is getting inquiries from all over the coutnry. It’s an idea that could bring many benefits to the emerging 21st century church and to SEPA. It needs start-up funding.
Abandoned by our own denomination, Redeemer is forming new relationships with other Lutheran groups and other denominations. We are pioneering an educational model for congregations that would not be expensive and would create ongoing dialog and community—another good idea with growing support.
If SEPA hadn’t taken our money, we could fund our projects with our own money.
Bishp Burkat ends her missive to SEPA professional leaders:
“Let’s perceive this journey into uncharted territory as a great adventure. There will be dangers, and we will surely make mistakes.”
Bishop Burkat is right. Mistakes will—and have been—made.
It is not too late to admit that SEPA’s actions in East Falls were just that—a mistake. The art of leadership, especially Christian leadership, is to recognize mistakes and take actions to reconcile.
This is a leadership quality all churches must foster. Congregations must be free to make mistakes without hungry big brother/sister Church waiting to take advantage.
The road into the the future would be smoother if SEPA could admit their mistakes. Instead of counting coup on the neighborhood congregations, try respecting that God may be at work in ways you have yet to understand. That’s the value of an epiphany.
Redeemer may be SEPA’s most valuable congregation — and we’re not talking about land and endowments. Assigned an excommunicated status, declared to be dying, Redeemer has been trail-blazing.
It’s not too late to make things right in East Falls. We are ready for reconciliation. Are you?
As Bishop Burkat points out, “God is God and we are not.”
Today’s post in the Alban Institute’s Roundtable is a fascinating study on a topic important to today’s Church—the role of lay leadership.
The article is an excerpt from a book, Scattering Seeds: Cultivating Church Vitality, by Stephen Chapin Garner (a pastor) with Jerry Thornell (a lay member).
The post begins with their New England congregation’s realization that professional leadership is an endangered commodity. Fewer young people are entering seminary. The number of second career pastors cannot keep up with the demand that is looming with coming retirements.
They answered the challenge by intentionally developing stronger lay leadership. The church grew. An unexpected result—their congregation sent seven members to seminary.
The authors talk about how the familiar visioning process never could have led them in the direction that ended up increasing their membership and helping to solve a denominational problem as well.
It all sounds familiar to 2×2. We found ourselves forced by a number of factors to rely on lay leadership. Had we relied solely on the recommended process of visioning and drafting a mission statement, we would probably still be holding special meetings to change a comma here or there.
Instead, we went to work. We addressed immediate needs and challenges. We prayed — a lot! We returned to the basics — making sure there was a quality worship experience, good preaching and hospitality. We took a few chances.
We relied on the talents of our members. When we were doing the work, we were more inclined to be invitational.
We gave ourselves room to grow. We cultivated a nonjudgmental atmosphere, allowing mistakes so that we could all learn together. We stretched. We maintained good relationships with supply pastors but were soon able to get by with minimal clergy.
The answer to congregational growth in challenging economic times may be in nurturing the laity — not in expensive hierarchical fixes.
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.
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.
The things we measure are not always the things that count.
Churches have vital statistics. Most people in the pew pay little attention to them. Pastors often pay little attention, too. Denominations have a hard time collecting parish data and sometimes they make up their own statistics.
Maybe it’s too depressing. Maybe we measure the wrong things.
Typical parish statistics include:
Worship attendance
Number of baptized/confirmed members
Percentage of members attending worship
Number of members involved in Sunday Schools and VBS programs
Regular giving by members
Endowments and property assets
Operating expenses and debt
Contributions to benevolence (what the local parish sends to the denomination)
Contributions to mission
Ethnic and racial makeup of a congregation
Little of this says anything about what a congregation does or is capable of doing in the modern world!
In most congregations, at least in the ELCA, most traditional statistics are dropping dramatically.
Some of these statistics are rather old fashioned.
Once upon a time, a parish had to give money to centralized authority to be dispersed for mission. Today, congregations can and do choose mission efforts in the community and bypass their denominations, which skews that statistic.
Operating expenses assume a pastor’s salary and property as foundational expenses. Neither may be necessary anymore.
There are many other things in a congregation that can be measured (but aren’t) and there are even more things that are difficult to measure.
If we start looking at other sources of data, our view of parish ministry might change.
Internet ministries are very measurable and can be very helpful in directing church ministry. Very few congregations bother or work only half-heartedly in a self-focused way.
2×2 concentrates on internet outreach — and we’ve only begun!
Here are some statistics on our first 10 months of internet ministry.
2×2 published its first post in February 2011. We had practically no traffic for six months. In mid-summer, we began publishing daily and the site has grown since. There was a slight dip at Christmas time but we have already recorded our most traffic ever only four days into 2012, so we expect the statistics to continue to grow — as long as we continue to work at it.
We have recorded 2100 site visits. For the last two months, 2×2 has consistently registered 100-150 views each week. We have about 70 subscribers/followers who receive our posts by email and so are not counted in site visits data. Our average daily on site readership is about 25. So it is fair to say that 2×2 has 100 daily readers.
2×2 has been visited by someone in all but three states with regular viewership in several states. We have viewers around the world with regular readership in several European countries, Canada and Australia.
We can follow our reader’s interests and provide content accordingly. 2×2 readers are most interested in Social Media and the Church and Children’s Sermons. Our articles on Multicultural Ministry were republished by a reader in Texas. The Editorial Calendar we created to correspond to the Lectionary has been downloaded dozens of times.
2×2 has a presence beyond its online ministry that is more difficult to measure (like most ministries), but in 2×2’s case, it is made all the more difficult to measure because the members of 2×2, who are also members of Redeemer, East Falls, have been excommunicated from the ELCA — without discussion or congregational vote — with the denomination claiming our property and financial assets against their own denominational rules.
Imagine what might have been accomplished if our abilities had been measured!
The church needs to take a fresh look at how they measure ministry.
Creative people are often not welcome in the church.
That may seem like a bold statement, but there is some truth in it. Creative people insist on change. The Church talks about wanting change, but it is often presented by people who are rather transparent in their real goals. They want the Church to change their way. They want the Church to be more secure financially. They want the congregation to give and get along.
If the formula is so simple, why are most churches in decline?
If Churches are to embrace change they must embrace creativity, and that is a rare commodity within the rigid framework that many churches have. In some of our Ambassador visits, we have encountered congregations that post in their bulletin or web sites a list of ways newcomers can contribute: sing in the choir, serve on a committee, join the altar guild, usher, read lessons, etc. That list can be a formidable barrier to thought leadership or creativity. There is a sense that people are pegs that fill the Church’s predrilled holes.
Today’s Church needs to explore the concept of “creativity” and the power (and change) that word can create.
Creative people solve problems. Often “creative” is used to describe talent. “John is a creative person. He plays the organ so well.” But what problems did John solve? It is indeed a blessing to have talented people. But creativity is something different. It’s an atmosphere . . a way of thinking. When creativity is nurtured, talented people come out of the woodwork! You might be surprised at the talent you didn’t dream was there!
Here are some traits to nurture in your creative congregation.
Creative congregations are motivated by mission. It begins with a personal sense of mission and is later applied to a group’s sense of mission.
Creative congregations foster prayer. Prayer reminds us of Whom we serve and why we have a mission. Many opportunities should be provided for individual and community prayer.
Creative congregations discourage labels. If your Church has been exploring a problem for some time they have probably subconsciously labeled every aspect of the problem. “Those people are adversarial.” “The pastor won’t like this idea.” “Old members won’t go for it.” “The community is going to object.” “We don’t have people who can do that.” Get rid of the labels. Just stop it!
Creative congregations challenge the advice of “experts.” Would the Church be facing such problems today if the “experts” had all the answers? Experts have some answers. However, experts can have their own agendas. They want to see their pet solutions put into place. Don’t ignore them — just don’t be afraid to challenge them. Creativity requires fresh thinking. If every problem is approached with a “must do” list, you will end up with the same solutions, proposed by the same experts.
Creative congregations explore ideas. They ask the question “What if . . . ?”
Creative congregations look for order in confusion. By sorting through a mess, you might find some treasures. By rearranging the chaos, you might find exciting connections between ideas.
Creative congregations embrace serendipity. The unexpected can spark the change you are looking for. In church work, serendipity can walk through your door any Sunday. It can be a new person, a new community event, a new learning, a new pastor. Embracing serendipity can change the definition of success and failure. Make it a habit. So what if only three people showed up at your special event. What did you do with those three people that gave them something to talk about the next day?
Creative congregations are patient . . . to an extent. They know that the creative process takes time. They know the discipline required to work at it. As long as the process has direction, their people will exhibit patience. But if the process is stone-walled, they will leave. Water and watch creativity grow. Ignore and watch it wither.
Creative congregations are tenacious. They will work hard at a project given an environment that allows them freedom to make a difference.
Creative congregations network. Change requires fuel. Networking with other churches and neighborhood groups provides the opportunity to share objectives and ideas. This helps congregations find resources and ideas.
Creative congregations are expressive. They are confident in their mission and are not afraid to say so — as individuals or as a group. Provide venues for members to express themselves. These might be within worship, a parish newsletter, or as part of discussion groups. Create a congregational blog!
Creative congregations follow their instincts. It may be the Holy Spirit nagging at you.
Creative congregations are courageous. A truly creative congregation is going to be challenged. The Church must at times challenge hierarchical and societal policies. Congregations that have fostered creativity are best equipped to face such challenges.
Creative congregations challenge naysayers. And there will be plenty of them.
Creative congregations constantly reassess. They are not afraid to admit they are wrong. They try new ideas, assess progress and tweak with abandon. Failure to try will leave you with the same old church. Good ideas that may one day fulfill their promise will be abandoned too soon.
Creative congregations are not afraid to have fun. People discover themselves in games and laughter. Provide many opportunities for your congregation to enjoy themselves. Send your members to church camp! You will be creating creative people. Creative people create creative ministries.
Community Managers coordinate the various Social Media used by your church, whether it be the blog, Facebook, Twitter or the web site. It’s a new job description even within the corporate world. Churches using the internet will need to address this new societal role as well. Within a decade, this may be one of the standard church positions along with pastor, sexton, music director, organist, or youth leader.
Social Media is a powerful ministry tool which must be managed to be effective. It is not enough to simply advertise that you are on the web or have a Facebook page. These are tools that must be used in real time!
Our Ambassadors have explored the Facebook presence of a number of churches we visited. Most have very little interaction on their Facebook pages. We were surprised to see that one of the smallest churches had a much higher “edge rank” than larger churches. It was not surprising to us that this church had impressed us with their connectedness to their neighborhood even before we saw their internet stats.
In contrast, a denominational internet presence can reveal very little interaction with readers — typically a few posts in the months after the site was announced and not much but announcements from the denomination since.
We are all learning to use this new tool.
As you develop your internet usage, think about the day when you might need someone to coordinate things. Social Media must be managed. It is a role which is important enough to fund and can promise a measurable return on investment (to borrow a business term).
A Community Manager must be a social person. Look for a person who would be interacting with members and visitors even without the internet.
A Community Manager must have good communication skills. He or she will be writing a lot and the ability to express your church values clearly and accurately is paramount.
A Community Manager must be nice. People won’t interact with an authoritarian, judgmental, didactic or sarcastic moderator. The church forum is not a place to show cleverness but concern.
A Community Manager must care and be prepared to act on their concern. If people pose a problem to your church on its internet forums, they are looking for more than offers of prayer. A Community Manager must be prepared to channel important inquiries to appropriate leaders for action. Some action must be taken or your internet presence will become dormant.
A Community Manager must be able to work with many people. The information gleaned from the internet must be channeled to others.
A Community Manager must be flexible. This is territory where the best planning can go out the window at any time. Planning is important, but the ability to respond to the realities of the present is also vital.
A Community Manager must like technology. They don’t have to come into the role as an expert on all the resources and techniques available (no one in this field knows it all!), but they must embrace learning, be willing to become engaged with online experts and communities and adapt as things change…and that is often! They must be willing to try ideas an honestly measure their effect. They cannot be tied to one medium. Facebook might work best with one community. Twitter might be more effective in another. Blogging might work with all.
A Community Manager must reflect the values of your church. He or she may be the first person outsiders come to know. Of course, every member is a face of the church, but the Community Manager will be in the spotlight.
Our Ambassador visits have revealed some stereo-types of small churches. We heard some professional leaders referring to them mockingly as “old-folks homes.”
Offensive as this terminology is — some congregations are aging. Unfortunately, leadership mindset sees this as the end of ministry. Pastors adopt, sometimes with the encouragement of denominational leadership, a caretaker approach to serving. There are no plans for growing the church or any reason to look for mission opportunity. They are playing a waiting game.
It may be up to the laity to turn things around.
Our ambassadors have seen some small, aging churches making the transition to becoming welcoming places for families and children. They invariably have only supply pastors or part-time professional leadership. Imagine what might happen if the leadership saw this as a door opening for ministry.
Our own church made this transition and grew from a church of seniors to a church of young families.
Our transition began when we noticed a number of children returning week after week without parents. At first a couple of girls (about aged 10) came and sat in the front row. After a few weeks, they brought an older brother (about 12). Soon they started bringing younger children.
We weren’t prepared to deal with this. That’s not the way church works! Parents bring their children to Church and Sunday School.
Things have changed!
We have noticed some similarities in other churches we visited. The early focus of our visits was the urban church. In cities, children pass the church as they walk home from school. Curiosity brings them back. Yes, their parents should accompany them. But children are playing the cards they have been dealt. They may come from homes with only one over-taxed parent. The parent may know the children have gone to church and consider it baby-sitting, or the parent may be at work unaware of that their children have turned off the TV and wandered out on their own. In the worst case, the parents may not care. In that case, the church must not turn their backs on the children because they have arrived on their doorstep in an unconventional way. Small churches with aging memberships can be particularly attractive to children who are seeking.
Young children have some things in common with older folks. They are crossing paths in life. Children are dependent growing into independence and older folks are independent growing into dependency. Young children often like the attention of seniors who can understand them in a way their parents don’t. They have time for them when their parents are preoccupied. It is validating to seniors.
Congregations can see this as a nuisance that must curtailed, or they can see it as outreach coming to them.
There are good reasons to discourage unaccompanied children.
They do not contribute to the offering.
They do not behave.
They are lively, energetic and strong and may seem threatening to the frail.
They may be there only only for donuts at fellowship.
Raising them is the responsibility of the parents.
Or
They may, in their own ways, be seeking.
They may enjoy the music.
Older children (as young as 11 or 12) may have been left in charge of yournger siblings and are following an instinct to parent them.
They might might feel part of a family of God when their own family is dysfunctional.
Raising them is the responsibility of the community of God.
Here are some first steps to take when children start coming to church by themselves.
Make sure an adult sits nearby, perhaps in the pew behind them.
Teach the church service. Pastors can give a brief explanation as your worship moves along. The adult sitting near them can whisper in their ears. “We are now going to stand to honor the reading of the Gospel that tells us about the life of Jesus Christ.”
Engage the children in conversation. Find out where they live and who their parents are.
Plan to visit their homes with the pastor. You may be hitting a brick wall, but you may find a parent receptive to help. At the very least, the parents should know with whom their children spend Sunday mornings.
Pray for them. Assign each child to an adult as a prayer partner. Engage the children in the prayer if possible, but they don’t need to know you are praying for them!
Our Ambassadors study web sites as we prepare for visits. A few have snappy web sites or adequate, static sites. Some have barely functioning web sites. A surprising number have no internet presence whatsoever.
Now and then we come across a web site that features a Pastor’s Blog. This raises our interest. Blogging is a passion of 2×2’s. We have come to expect disappointment. The blogs are often no more than a few posts, months apart, and the most recent post is often years old. The blog posts tend to be personal musings aimed at the congregation’s existing community. No wonder they ran out of steam!
Ministry opportunity is being lost! Pastors should blog. Congregations should blog. Here’s why:
Blogging is team work. Maintaining and growing a blog is work that should be shared. Working together on developing a good congregational blog will help your members and leaders bond, build community, and find ministry and mission opportunities.
Blogging provides direction. Blogging is a tool to help your congregation stay connected with the people you serve. Posting content several times a week is good lubrication to keep your ministry from getting rusty. You will be looking constantly for issues to address. You will meet new people and organizations. Who knows how this could impact your ministry?
Blogging builds trust. Bloggers wear their hearts on their sleeves. Publishing daily in a forum where your thinking can be challenged as easily as applauded keeps your thinking grounded. Readers will notice, respect and trust that you have others’ interests at heart.
Blogging helps you reach out.Blogs help seekers find you. This won’t happen with four posts a year though! You need to treat your blog with the same importance you treat the preparation of a sermon or worship service. It is likely that it will be read by many times the number of people who attend worship! (2×2 started our blog nine months ago. We now have 100-150 new readers every week!)
Blogging expands your point of view. Blogs allow for interaction. Your readers can comment on the ideas you present. Commenters influence the dialogue. They may applaud your efforts; they may point you in a different direction. Good bloggers listen and respond to all legitimate comments whether they agree or not.
Blogging returns us to Christ’s approach to outreach. Congregations often exist with a fairly narrow focus on the world, fashioning ministries around tradition and doctrine. Outreach efforts often focus on trying to find people who fit into the community culture as it already exists, with thinking that mirrors their own. In contrast, Christ’s approach was to build upon encounters with the least likely prospects. With disciples grumbling in the background, Christ approached lepers, the possessed, children, women, criminals, rulers, church authorities and outcasts.
There is power and momentum in blogging. It takes work, but it is work that can bear fruit and multiply.
Interim Ministry is a fairly modern trend of assigning a short-term minister to a parish that has recently ended a relationship with one pastor and intends to call a new pastor. The process is described in a similar manner by various denominations as a time to minister to the people and help them identify ministry objectives.
One denomination described the interim period as a buffer between a congregation and its relationship with a former pastor and expectations of a new minister. One said, “The interim minister makes the necessary changes in a congregation. No reason to have the congregation get mad at the new minister. Let the interim take the heat.”
The days of a congregation enjoying the leadership of a single pastor for decades may be numbered.
This sounds like a good idea on the surface, but there is a danger that the practice could serve less noble purposes. Our recent visits to 34 congregations found a surprising percentage engaged in some stage of interim ministry. Some were just beginning the process. Some had been in interim status for more than a year. One had a new interim at our first visit and we learned a few weeks later that another interim was stepping in. “It didn’t work out,” the newer pastor explained.
Both the number of interim ministries we encountered and their length raised questions. We do not claim to have the answers but the questions could be important.
What other aspects of our lives have such long fallow periods? We change presidents and mayors, jobs (and even spouses) without months of interim work. An argument might be that presidents and mayors have long campaigns before they are chosen for their jobs. That leads us to consider the call process.
Perhaps it is the call process that needs changing? With the average length of pastorates fairly short — less than seven years — an interim ministry can be a frequent occurrence, adding to instability. The scenario could be 12-18 months of interim ministry, 12 months of honeymoon, three years of ministry, 12-18 months of interim ministry, etc. (Revolving door). While pastors may feel that the interim has eased the transition process, the lay point of view is that the process starts all over again every time the face in the pulpit changes — interim or not. The call process, at least in our denomination, can be unsettling. Candidates are given every opportunity to learn about the congregation, while the names of candidates are withheld from the congregation until a sample sermon is delivered. The approval process is often based on little more — yet congregations expect so much more!
Shouldn’t congregations undergo a constant process of self-examination? If ministry is to be effective, congregations will change constantly. Communities also change quickly.
Shouldn’t all pastors have skills to help congregations assess goals and strategize?
Does the interim process change the role of lay representatives? Who does the interim pastor report to and work for — the congregation or the regional body? In several of the churches we visited, the interim pastor announced that he or she would be making a report to the bishop that week. There was no mention of any lay involvement.
Wouldn’t it be easier to train one leader to handle change than to try to work with dozens of congregation members?
Is the interim process good use of congregational resources? Congregations pay good money to the interim for a very short-term investment. If this is a period where ministry concentrates on self-analysis, that translates to a long period of time when resources are spent on activity that is not, at least for the time being, outreach-oriented. Are visitors during the interim going to be attracted to a congregation in long-term transition?
Do interim ministries meet the career needs of pastors and administrative needs of regional bodies more than the ministry needs of congregations? Interim pastors are making short-term commitments. Short-term commitments are safer entry points for the many seminary candidates entering ministry as a second career. Interim pastors don’t have to consider the hassles of moving and relocating families. It’s an attractive opportunity for pastors who don’t want to make changes in their lives that may not match the career objectives of their spouses. But the congregations are expected to change!
Do interim pastorates change the political balance? An overlooked consequence of the over-dependence on interim pastors is the shift of power away from the congregation. Interim pastors have close ties and loyalty to the denominational body and its current leadership. When a high percentage of congregations have interim ministries, that has the potential to skew the decisions of representative governing bodies.
Why should the interim process, led by experts in interim ministry, take more than three months?
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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
Many church leaders are bemoaning that Church isn’t what it used to be. Bishop Claire Burkat wrote to her rank and file lately warning that the road ahead is uncharted and there is no blueprint for moving foreward. The old ways just aren’t working.
The Church lives in the same world. It has relied on hierarchical control for a very long time and so change may come a bit harder and a tad slower, but things are changing. Hierarchies are crumbling under the weight of their own weaknesses. Rank and file spiritual church members are resisting the support of vertical management and for good reason. It’s expensive, unproductive and crippling. Offerings, we can conclude, are better spent on direct service than on supporting hierarchy.
