Transforming the Church with Disruptive Ideas
Eighteen months ago some of the remnant of Redeemer, East Falls, began visiting their sister churches that voted in 2009 to confiscate Redeemer property for their own enrichment.
Bishop Claire Burkat decided the way to transform Redeemer is to deny the congregation the services she is pledged to provide member congregations, make sure they have no professional leadership, lock out the loyal members, and sue their lay leaders. It is exactly as it sounds — ridiculous and cruel. Nevertheless it has been tacitly endorsed by the clergy and laity of a synod that is struggling and fearful that any misstep will find themselves undergoing similar “transformation.”
After our third visit, a pastor reported our activities to Bishop Burkat, which didn’t bother us. We saw nothing clandestine about attending church. We have made our reports quite public. As of this writing we have visited 52 SEPA congregations.
Bishop Burkat responded by issuing a warning letter to all pastors including instructions on what to do if we became disruptive—a new slant on the standard All welcome! sign.
Perhaps she thought we would behave the way her representatives behaved when they visited Redeemer.
But we didn’t set out to disrupt. We came to worship, learn and share. Period.
One of things we learned is how many of the congregations exist under the watchful eye of the synod. They are in transition with a synod appointed professional leader or they are in some form of mission development with clergy reporting regularly to synod.
One term cropped up regularly — transformational ministry. It actually is a common term used by church leaders, who have published many books on the subject. It sounds inspiring. It is really quite vague.
- It is unclear what the term means.
- It is unclear when it is successfully achieved.
- It is unclear as to how it happens—if it happens.
- Is is unclear if the term addresses a ministry model that is replicable or a fluke.
Generally, transformation seems to happen when a struggling church is by some means able to once again support the hierarchy.
Recently, we came across a book:
This is a fascinating concept and one which Redeemer had unwittingly stumbled upon entirely ignorant that Harvard thinkers were concurrently developing a new business model that mirrored our experience.
Disruption Can Spur Success
Redeemer didn’t set out to be disruptive. Nevertheless, we had a track record for success in doing ministry in unconventional ways. The Synod and its voting membership never took the time to know or understand our ministry. They were better off without our people. “Hand over your money. Good riddance. We’ll pray for you. See you in court.”
It’s going on four years since East Falls Lutherans were locked out of the ELCA. Our visits reveal that SEPA has not experienced much innovation or transformation in the three years they have worked so tirelessly to exclude us.
We are going to look at the concept of Disruptive Success and see if it might be the catalyst that is missing as the church gropes blindly for “transformation.”
Look for at least four more posts on Disruptive Innovation in the Church.